The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

The morning following Landon's drunken visit to Jared's dorm was a quiet one despite the very loud snoring coming from both Landon and Jared. Their arms and legs were wrapped around each other, as if they were engaged in some sort of odd Twister game. Though, neither of the two found it uncomfortable. In fact, they both enjoyed the warmth radiating off the other. Unfortunately, their peaceful moment together was about to be ruined by two noisy intruders that decided to invite themselves into Jared's dorm.

"Up and at 'em, lazy bones!" Ember hollered, causing both Jared and Landon to begin stirring from their sleep.

"Quit spooning and get your asses out of bed!" Reed added with a laugh that earned a sharp glare from Jared. "Don't go glaring at me. She's the one who wanted to wake you guys up at the crack of dawn." He jutted his thumb to the right and to Ember.

"Both you and Landon need to visit Casper! He's been out of intensive care for almost three days, and you two haven't even visited him once!" Ember scolded them with the tone of a disappointed parent.

The exhaustion clinging to Jared left him as a saddened and borderline annoyed look crossed over his face. "Why would I visit him when he's just gonna be laying there and shit? I don't want to see him like that, so you can drag Landon along, but I'm not coming."

"No, you're coming with!" Landon shouted, clinging onto Jared who was just about to hop out of bed and escape from the dorm. "You need to visit him! We all do! 'Cause if we visit him, talk to him, and keep him company, he might come out of his coma! I've also heard of this thing where people play musi–..." 

"Can it, motor mouth," Jared snapped, silencing Landon with a swift smack to the head. "I'll go with you three idiots. But! You guys gotta let me draw a mustache on him so he sees it in the mirror when he wakes up."

Ember and Reed snorted at Jared's childish idea, both shaking their heads in disbelief. Such a request was a simple one that they wouldn't deny, though they knew Casper would most definitely be livid when he awoke.

After Jared retrieved a sharpie from his desk, all four of them exited Jared's dorm. This was the first time in a while since they last went to the hospital all together.

Fortunately, this time around, there were no rude reports awaiting their arrival. It was relieving for them, allowing for small smiles to break over their faces as they headed toward Casper's room. Though, when they opened the door to the room, they were surprised to find the large cot to be empty. The sheets were folded and the pillows were arranged neatly, as if no one had been in the bed to begin with. As they stared at the empty bed, multiple scenarios ran through their heads. There was only one that was most likely to be true, but neither of them wanted to consider the possibility that somehow Casper had passed without their knowledge.

"No fucking way in hell!" Jared seethed, storming out of the hospital room to find the doctor that was in charge of Casper's care.

Soon, the others followed him down the hall, equally as eager to figure out just what happened to Casper. Eventually, Jared located the poor doctor, roughly grabbing two fistfuls of his white coat.

"You better start explaining what the hell happened to Casper Clay before my patience ruins thin, doc," Jared threatened him.

"Move aside, Jared!" Ember shouted, unsuccessfully trying to shove Jared out of the way until Jared finally let her take his place in front of the doctor. "If you try to tell us some sob story about how you tried your best and did all that you could, I'll put you in a damn coma myself!"

"Hey, hey, Little Rabbit," Reed called to her, softly placing his hands on her shoulders and pulling her away from the terrified doctor, "Let me handle this."