Pentatonix: Was I Mistaken?

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Avi's P.O.V

"...thank you guys so much for coming out here! We love you and have a good night!"

Scott's parting words only made the crowd scream louder. The five of us walked off stage and headed to our green room. 

The crowd had been amazing tonight. They were amazing every night but tonight was something special. 

"OMG! That was awesome guys!" Kirstie's excited squeal seemed to bounce off the walls.

"I know right? That crowd was so responsive!" Kevin was grinning from ear to ear.

"And did you see the look on that girls face when we asked her to come up?" Scott looked tired but extremely happy.

"It certainly seemed like we made her night." I was feeling as tired as Scott looked, but there was no way I could sleep right now.

"She really did look happy." Mitch's quiet voice spoke up.

I smiled at him. It had been a year since Grace left. Mitch had slowly been coming back to us. The fans didn't know. He always put on a show for them. As far as they know he's still the same Mitch Grassi they'd always known. But to us he's changed. Drastically.

He often had touble sleeping, so much that he had been prescribed pills from the doctor. The rest of us guarded those pills carefully, only allowing him to have one a night. We were all too aware that he could follow in Grace's footsteps and I doubt we'd be that lucky again.

He missed her so much. I almost wanted to be angry at Grace for leaving, but I couldn't. I'm not even sure why.

Kirstie yawned and stretched.

"Wow, I'm tired as heck. What do you say we head out, grab a bite to eat and then hit the hay?"

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Sounds like a plan."

We walked to the nearest fast food outlet. After everyone had eaten, we went back to our hotel and crawled into bed.

I was almost asleep when Kirstie whispered my name from beside me. I turned to face her.

"Yeah?"

She bit her lip, looking as though she was considering something.

"Have you noticed anything... odd about Mitch recently?"

"What do you mean by odd?"

"It's like he's on autopilot. He just goes about his days without caring."

Her eyes shimmered with tears in the moonlight.

"I hate seeing him like this. I know that Scott acts like it doesn't affect him but I know it does. It's hard to look at Mitch and only see the shell of a person."

I pulled her close, hugging her to my chest as she cried.

"I know, I know. But I can only think of one thing that would snap him out of it."

Kirstie nodded. Then she suddenly sat up in bed. I followed suit, wondering what was on her mind.

She kissed me gently, then pulled back and met my gaze.

"I have her number."

"What... You mean Grace?"

She nodded.

"She said only to use it in an emergency. But I'm starting to think that this is an emercency."

I thought for a moment. Then I came to a conclusion.

"Call her tomorrow. Not to ask her to come back. Just so that he can talk to her."

Kirstie smiled.

"Good idea. Hopefully she'll agree to that."

After talking for a bit more we decided that Kirstie would talk to Grace first and explain what was going on with Mitch. Then hopefully Grace would agree to talk to Mitch even if it was just for a bit.

But of course, like most of what's been happening recently, it didn't go according to plan.

The day started out alright. It was a nice day, so we decided to go into town and look around.

We had just stopped for a break on a bench when it happened.

A little girl, who couldn't have been older than seven, walked by with her mother. The young girl looked so much like Grace that we couldn't help but watch her.

She was waving a childish drawing about.

"Look Mama! Look what I drew today at-"

A gust of wind yanked the paper out of the small girl's hand. It blew away from her and stopped in the middle of the street.

The little girl ran after the drawing, ignoring her mother calling after her. She had just picked up the paper when I saw it. A car was racing towards the girl, going much too fast to be able to stop in time.

Mitch saw the car before any of us. Before we had time to react he was already running towards the girl. Before any of us could say anything he had reached the girl and pushed her out of the way. And before it had even registered with us that he had been hit, Mitch was already lying in the gutter with blood oozing out of a cut on his head.

Kirstie and Scott screamed, Kevin grasped his hands over his mouth in shock and I just stared for what felt like ages before I finally snapped into action. I pulled out my phone and dialed an amulance, my voice shaking as I did so.

By the time I got off the phone, Scott was holding Mitch in his lap and Kirstie was holding Mitch's hand. The were both crying almost hysterically. The mother was hugging her little girl tightly while thanking and apologising to Kevin.

The ambulance arrived soon enough. All four of us begged and pleaded until we were allowed to go with Mitch to the hospital. When we got there, he was whisked off to be examined while we sat anxiously in the waiting room.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, a doctor arrived and asked if we were friends of Mitch Grassi.

"Yes." Scott's voice cracked as he spoke. The doctor sighed sadly.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. Your friend is-"

"He's not dead, is he?" Kirstie had never sounded more panicked in all the time that I had known her.

The doctor smiled softly.

"No, he's not dead. But he is in a coma. And unfortunately his chances of survival are very slim right now."

"So what you're saying is, he's not dead, but he could die soon?" I had to make sure I understood.

The doctor nodded.

"That is correct."

There wasn't really anything else to be said so the doctor simply smiled sadly at us again before walking off. 

Once he had left I turned to Kirstie. I took her hands in mine and looked her in the eyes.

"I think it's time to make that phone call now."

Kirstie bit her lip and looked off in the direction the doctor had left. Her eyes filled with tears again and she nodded.

She took out her phone, dialed the number and then put it on speakerphone. There were several rings before it was finally picked up and answered by a voice that we hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Hello?"

"Hey Grace, we have something to tell you..."