Jump (Dear Evan Hansen)

The Incident

The sound of beeping fills my ears. My eyelids begin to flicker and I wake up to a white room with bright lights blinding me. I jolt upwards and nerves flow through my body. I look down and I'm on a white bed, hooked to various machienes. I begin to hyperventilate and someone comes around the corner. It's a woman, one I've never seen before.

"I see you came to, good," she says calmly.

"W-w-w-where a-am I?"

"The hospital. You're Evan, right?

"Y-yes."

The hospital?! I try to recall what happened and I just remember Connor's cold grasp, and tumbling down the stairs. My breaths become quicker, and I feel like I am suffocating in reality. The woman rushes over and tries to help me calm down. She talks me through my anxiety as I try to take deep breaths to her counting. In, one, out, two, in, three... Once I finally can breath normally again, questions burst into my head. My lungs feel weak, and my eyes are storing up tears, but I need answers.

"What happened? Why am I here?"

"The Murphy's said that you took a tumble down the stairs, and then their son, I think his name is Connor? He jumped on you. He's here too, but his condition isn't as bad as yours."

My face goes numb. Connor jumped on me, but why? I turn my head back towards the nurse, and she is scrawling notes on a clipboard.

"Does my mom know? Did anyone call her?"

"Unfortunately we weren't able to get her number, the Murphy's said they didn't have it, and we couldn't get it from you because you were out cold."

I go to move my arm to grab my phone from my back pocket, but my body aches. I inhale deeply, and begin to notice marks of black and blue. I shut my eyes tightly and quickly grab my phone. A few breaths of oxygen enter and exit my body before entering my passcode and dialing my mom's number. The phone rings, and rings, and-

"Hi, Evan. Do you need something?"

"Um, hey mom. I uh, I-i-I'm at the... the hos-hosp-hospital."

"WHAT," she half screams as the tone of her voice changes. I open my mouth to say something, but she cuts me off. "I'm on my way, Evan!" The line goes dead and I sigh. Instead of putting myself through the pain of putting my phone back, I put it onto the table next to me. I begin to twiddle with my thumbs when the curtain opens, closes, and I hear a voice saying hi. It's soft, and kind. I look up, and it's Zoe.

"Oh, hey Zoe."

Her smile wraps around me like a hug. Gracefully, she makes her way over to "my" bed and sits sideways on the edge of it. For just a moment, we stare into each other's eyes. I want it to last forever, and it feels like it does. I could sit here, in the hospital, alone with Zoe, staring into her eyes, for forever.

"So," she says, breaking the silence, "how are you feeling?"

"Uh, I'm a little bruised, but it's not too bad."

"I'm really sorry about my brother, I have no clue what he was thinking."

"It's okay... you did nothing... I mean, not like in a bad way, like "oh you could have done something", but like in..." my awkward words face away and I begin to fiddle with my fingers.

"Yeah, I understand," Zoe says quietly, although I'm not sure if she does.

We look up at the same time and meet each others eyes. It's like we are having a full conversation. My eyes become the person I want to be, the person who walks up and says "I love you", the person who knows how to use words properly. The person who is filled with confidence.

"EVAN?"

A voice yells my name, making us both jerk up and look towards the sound. The small curtain rips open and in comes my mom, holding what looks like my medication. Great, Zoe is going to see it. I'm not surprised that my mom thought that anxiety was the reason I was here. If I were her, I might jump to that conclusion too. Mom rushes over to where I am sitting and grabs my hand.

"It's okay, Evan. Dr. Sherman walked me through a plan just in case this ever happened."

"Mom," I say under gritted teeth as I try to secretly motion towards Zoe, who then smiles, and makes a swift exit. "I'm fine, they just wanted to make sure I didn't have any major injuries... from the fall."

"The fall?"

"I may have accidentally rolled down the Murphy's staircase... and someone may have jumped on me... I think."

"Wait tell me again, Evan. Tell me everything. We could press charges."

"NO... I mean, the Murphys are not bad people. I don't want to take their money. Even if we aren't the richest people in the world, I don't think that they deserve to-"

"Okay, okay. Geez Evan. I get it. I guess I overreacted. We're just a little tight on money right now and I don't know how we are going to pay for this."

Once again, the curtain opens and in comes a nurse, Mr. Murphy, and Mrs. Murphy.

"Hi," I say shyly, "um, this is my mom. Mom, this is Mr. and Mrs. Murphy."

"Hello," she says getting up to greet them, "Heidi Hansen."

They all greet each other and I awkwardly sit in the hospital bed. I look to the nurse and she walks over to me. I whisper to her, and she nods. I can go home. I'm about ready to get up and leave the adults behind. About ready to run to Zoe, and forget my worries for just a minute. As I slowly remove myself from the bed, trying not to hurt myself, the adults turn to face me.

"Evan can go home, and so can your son, Connor."

"Thank goodness," Mr. Murphy says, "I'm don't know how we can make this up to you, Heidi. Would you and Evan like to come over for dinner tonight? We can discuss bills afterwards. I'd feel terrible if my son costed you."

Mom smiles, accepting their invitation. Nerves ignite in my stomach and spiral throughout my body. Dinner with the Murphys.

Dinner with Zoe.