Slashed Wings

Chapter 2- Wait

Chapter 2

    Once in the car, all of the group's focus was on getting to the hospital as fast as possible. And John's scattered complaints about not going fast enough were meant to serve this purpose, but also to possibly take their minds off of the issue that seemed too large to fathom not thinking about. The hospital was unfortunately an 11 minute drive from where the conference was held, even at the speed they were going, (which was most likely noticeably over the limit.) The drive was continuously painful, with an overlying sense of hurt and awkwardness to go along with it. No one knew what to say. What could you say?
    "Why George.." Paul suddenly murmured. Ringo turned, not quite hearing him. "What?" A moment passed. "I said, why George?!" Paul's fist and jaw were clenched in frustration now. "What did he freakin' do to them?!" He yelled. John kicked the seat in front of him awkwardly, and seemed deep in thought. Ringo just shrugged, a tear threatening to spill from his eye. "People are just idiots..." The rest of the ride was silent.
~~~~
    Finally, they pulled up to the hospital. And thankfully 11 minutes wasn't long enough to spread the news, there were no reporters there yet. Most of the ones at the scene of the 'attempt' were probably still in too much shock to follow them.
    The three other Beatles quickly piled out of the car, pulling on their coats and running up to the hospital doors. Brian trailed after them quickly, and they pushed the door open and headed inside.
    The color of the lobby was the sickening starch white that Ringo knew all to well. They made their way awkwardly around to the waiting area, and Brian to the reception. Ringo caught a few glares and points, but that was the far least of his concerns right now. As they all sat down, he tried to clear and blur his mind of the situation to the best of his ability; as he knew if he didn't he wouldn't be able to wait.
     As John picked up a magazine and started to read and Ringo deciding to as well, Paul found himself gazing around. His head was still spinning, but maybe seeing some other people could take his mind off of it. He noticed a few interesting people. One had a Rolling Stones T-shirt on, and he actually found himself smiling at that. Another, sat in the corner, was attempting to sip from a drink, but to no avail because for whatever reason they couldn't get a hold of the straw.... Finally, he saw a family with a small little girl waiting across from them, the little girl seemed very impatient, but still sad. And the biggest surprise is when she started walking over to him.
    "Hey mister, why are you here?" She asked. Paul almost gawked, luckily she didn't seem to know who they were. "W-well... a close friend got hurt." He tried to explain without seeming to morbid for the girl, or for himself. She just nodded and then responded with a sad face, "my family's here 'cause my mommy's sick." Paul gave a look of sadness and sympathy, this was something he went through as a child too. "I hope she gets better, I'm sure she will." The girl seemed to contemplate for a second. "Thanks mister, I gotta go." Paul gave a little wave. What a nice kid.
    Ringo noticed Paul speaking to the girl, he seemed to have such a way with kids, it was pretty cute to watch. But he was still concerned about John, who was at this point far into a magazine and seemed a bit too focused. Ringo didn't touch him though, he didn't want to poke the bear, and he knew this was hard for all of them anyway. And it was only going to get harder.
     "Those here for George Harrison?" A nurse called. Paul's breath hitched and Ringo was wide eyed. They stood up quickly, and John threw his magazine down to join them. As they made their way up to Brian and the... technician? This wasn't a nurse. They began to start heading down the hall. Ringo's mind raced with even worse thoughts than before that didn't even cross his mind.

    What if George was pronounced dead on arrival? What if he never even made it to the hospital?