ENG - My best friend's sister ᵐᶦᵏᵉʸ ˣ ᵒᶜ

16

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The next few hours pass extremely slowly as we wait for news from the doctors. The agonizing uncertainty weighs on all of us and my thoughts constantly circle around Kenny and the terrible idea of losing him. I try to distract myself by walking around and taking a closer look at the surroundings. It smelled strongly of disinfectant, and I could hear the hum of fluorescent lights above me. The walls were painted white, the floor was covered with green tiles, and there were a few chairs along the walls for those waiting to use. The walls are bare and empty, there are no pictures or decorations to brighten up the space a bit. It is a place where people are shuffled back and forth when they are sick or injured, a place where you can't really feel comfortable. The air was dry and stuffy, and I was constantly coughing or sneezing, and there were no windows to let fresh air in. The movement doesn't do my head much good either, because every now and then I have to stop short and hold my head as my vision darkens.

I looked over at the others and noticed Takemichi pacing nervously, rubbing his hands together over and over. Emma sat with her head down, crying softly to herself. Hina held her hand and whispered soothing words to her. Mitsuya sat quietly, staring at the floor. Sanzu and Chifuyu both have their cell phones in their hands and Mikey, he also just sat there silently, stubbornly fixing his gaze on me, definitely making me more nervous than I already was.
"Mei you're annoying me, your running around, sit down," Keikei breaks the silence and looks at me by my hips on his lap and puts his arms around me.
"Come on I'll warm you up a bit, besides we can't have you falling over here yet," he says resting his head on my shoulder.
"But I can't just sit still, I'm too excited," I say quietly, leaning back and against my best friend.
"That's normal, you're full of adrenaline right now, try to calm down even if it's hard," he tries to reassure me and somehow it works because I take one deep breath and close my eyes.
"I'm scared," I then say quietly, taking my friend's hand and pressing it against mine.
"I know we all are."

Finally, the light in the operating room goes out and the doctor comes out. He tells us that Kenny has survived and is stable. Everyone rejoices, and a huge stone falls from my heart, which immediately makes me cry again, but this time out of joy.
"Can I go see him? I'm his sister," I ask the doctor and at that exact moment my throat has to start scratching again and I start coughing.
"You'd better go home and get some rest. When you are well again, you may visit your brother, and the same goes for the rest of you. You can visit him tomorrow, as long as you're not sick!" the doctor says. Sulking about this, I leave the hospital with the others. I understand, but it still makes me sad.

Outside the front door everyone splits up and goes their way into the night, luckily it has stopped raining. I look around and see the lit streets and the shadows of the buildings silhouetted against the night sky. The air is cool and damp, and I pull my jacket tighter around me. The sky is cloudy, and the wind carries the smell of wet concrete and grass to me. Suddenly, my best friend's voice appears beside me, "Come on, I'll take you home. You can't possibly go alone now." I look up at him and shake my head.
"No, you don't. Mikey's already taking me home. He'll be here in a minute," I lie, still a little pissed at him.
"Alright, I'll call you tomorrow and make sure you've actually arrived, otherwise Mikey will get a beating from me if you haven't," Keikei grins and I can't help but roll my eyes and lightly punch him in the shoulder.
"But not too soon, I'm sure I'll sleep until noon," I say, and then I do have to laugh.
"Just give me the jacket back next time, kiddo. See you around," he says and I just nod. We say goodbye with a hug before he walks off with another boy who also said a quick goodbye.

Sighing, I take my cell phone and realize that it is already after midnight. My head is spinning like hell and now I also feel the fever again, which robs me of all strength. Couldn't you keep me here? After all, I'm sick too! Preferably in a room with my brother.
I look around briefly in the hope that I can spot Mikey, I want to apologize to him for hitting him, by now I already have a guilty conscience about it. And what I said wasn't quite fair either.
Then I see him running around the corner and I follow him, but I have to lean against the wall. When I arrive and look around the corner, and what I see makes me incredibly sad. Mikey is sitting alone on the floor crying. He's hiding from the others and pretending inside that he's strong and it won't affect him, but it doesn't.

With slow steps I walk up to him and kneel down in front of him. As I look at him like this, tears form in my eyes. He's just as worried about Kenny as the rest of us. He looks at me in shock and immediately wipes away his tears. He wants to get up, but I just hug him and thus keep him on the ground and let my tears run as well.
"You don't always have to go through everything alone, because you're not alone, Mikey," I break out in tears and whispering. He understands well, because at that moment he puts his arms around me, rests his head on my shoulder and pulls me into a tighter hug, pressing me closer to him. He doesn't say anything, but I can hear that he is still crying, and I just cry with him. We both say nothing and just give each other silent comfort. The only sound to be heard is the rustling of leaves in the wind, a few cars driving in the distance, and my sobs and sniffles.
At some point Mikey breaks away from me and looks at me smiling slightly. He stands up and helps me to my feet, as I was swaying a bit from the jerky movement.
"I'll take you home. I'll be there with the motorcycle," he speaks. I wipe my eyes once and nod.
"Okay."

We walk back to the road and stand in a parking lot. I see Mikey's motorcycle and feel a mixture of excitement and fear. I've never sat on a motorcycle before, let alone ridden on one. Mikey hands me a helmet and hesitantly I put the helmet on and get on the bike behind Mikey. I'm not sure where to hold on, so I lightly grab onto his top, but I'm careful not to touch him too much! Mikey laughs and hits the gas once to make a loud hum from the machine.
In shock, I literally cling to him, but he just laughs and then drives off. We drive through the night, past illuminated streets and dark houses. The wind whips in our faces, and I feel like I'm going to be let go at any moment. The cool wind hurts my ears and intensifies my headache, but I try to concentrate on not falling off.

It gets faster and faster, and the faster it gets, the tighter I cling to it. I squint my eyes and just hope that we will arrive quickly. All I hear from him is a laugh, but I can't say anything back right now because I have to concentrate on holding on. The cool wind that comes our way as we ride does my fever no good at all, and since I'm still wearing the soaked clothes, I'm incredibly cold. Although I try hard, I lose more and more strength and my eyes fall shut.

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