The Silenced Drummer

Chapter 5: Exit

Ringo lifted himself up and put his arms around George, clenching his teeth together as his tears started to escape from his eyes. His breathing became unsteady.

"I... I'm sorry..." George whispered to Ringo, wrapping his arms around him.

The drummer and the guitarist both began to cry.

Ringo closed his eyes as his breathing became uneven. He wasn't even able to produce a whimper. 

George lightly sobbed as he ran his hand through Ringo's hair. His tears fell from his face, soaking into the drummer's dark brown hair. 

John and Paul stared at the scene in front of them, eyes becoming glossy all the while. Paul grasped John's hand, trying to keep himself from crying once again. John looked over at the bassist upon feeling his hand grabbing his own. He turned towards him.

"Y-you can l-let it all out, Paulie," he said, touching Paul's cheek with his free hand. Paul got close to John and placed his head on the guitarist's shoulder, letting out a small cry. John felt his heart break a little when Paul began to cry more.

Ringo heard the bassist's cries, but he didn't look in his direction. George's grief-filled sobs where the ones that he was able to focus on right now. His own sobs did not sound like how they were supposed to be like. There was no voice behind them, only breath.

Ringo slowly began to realize the enormity of the situation.

His voice was taken away from him. He wouldn't be able to have a normal conversation with anyone ever again. He wouldn't be able to sing, to laugh, and to offer compliments ever again. He could just write them down, but his spelling wasn't very good. 

And after all, how do you sing if you don't have a voice?

Ringo opened his eyes as George placed a hand on his face. His blue eyes met George's brown ones. Both were red, raw from tears. Their crying slowly subsided as they focused on each other, not caring about the crying that came from the two other people in the room.

"R-Richie... I... I..." George tried to speak, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop stuttering.

"I... j-just-" his eyes grew wide when Ringo briefly pressed his lips up against his. The kiss lasted for a few seconds before the older man pulled back and starred at him, as if to say that George didn't need to apologize again. He had nothing to apologize for, after all. No one did.

No one, except...

It was then that the door to the room opened. The four musicians all looked at the two doctors that entered.

"After we unhook him, you three can take him with you," one of them stated. He wasn't surprised by the fact that they all had red eyes. He himself had almost lost his nerve upon seeing Ringo on the operating table earlier that day. 

"O-okay," John stated, Paul pulling away from him in the process.

George let go of Ringo as he sunk down onto the bed. He moved away to allow the two doctors to have access to him.

The youngest Beatle walked over to the other two, wiping his eyes in the process.

"S-so... w-we're going to Brian's c-car, right?" George asked.

"Yes, if there isn't a crowd blocking our way," John responded. 

They all knew that this had to be all over the news by now. However, the rest of the world did not know about Ringo's condition yet. The announcement about his voice had to be made sooner or later.

"I j-just w-want this day to be over," Paul quietly said, looking at the floor.

"We all do, Paul, we all do," John assured Paul.

"Okay, you can have him," one of the doctors said as the other one helped Ringo to get off of the bed. He guided the drummer towards his friends.

"Thank you," George said as he took a hold of Ringo. After John and Paul thanked the doctors, they all exited the room.

No sounds came from the four Beatles as they walked through the hallway. George had an arm around Ringo, who was wearing a hospital gown.

"B-Brian's waiting for us outside. H-he has clothes that y-you can put o-on when w-we're back at t-the hotel," George told Ringo, who only glanced at him before looking in front of him again.

Ringo was broken. Today had started out like any other day. He couldn't, in a million years, have guessed that anything like this would happen. He knew that his bandmates were all devastated as well. When he tried to touch the scar on his throat again, Paul, who was next to him, stopped his arm.

"I-I wouldn't t-touch that u-until later t-tonight..." the bassist said. Ringo understood.  He knew that it was going to sting if he touched it, but it was almost impossible to resist. He lowered his arm to his side.

The walk to the elevator seemed like it had lasted years for the drummer.

John pushed the down arrow button, which glowed red as the sound of the elevator moving down was heard.

They all waited.

When the red glow of the button disappeared, the elevator door opened. It was empty. The Beatles stepped inside and Paul pressed the button for the first floor. The door closed soon afterwards and the elevator began to move.

It was not going to take long for the elevator to move from the second floor to the first, but to all of the musicians, it felt like an eternity. The elevator music did not help the situation.

Once the doors opened on the first floor, the two guitarists, the bassist, and the drummer all walked out and made their way towards the entrance of the hospital.

Almost everyone in the lobby stared at them. Most of the people there were expecting them to be there, but they still held their breath upon seeing Ringo's scar. Ringo tried his best to not look at them.

Upon looking through the glass doors, The Beatles saw that the sun was starting to set. It was then that Ringo realized how long he was in the hospital for. It was around 9 in the morning when the concert had started.

When John opened the doors, he saw a large crowd of people, some of them with news cameras, being held back by the police. 

The four of them saw Brian waving his hand out of the opened window of the black limo. They all made their way towards it quickly.

George tried to hide Ringo from the view of the cameras, but he knew that they had caught him nonetheless. They opened the doors to the third row of seats and got inside the vehicle. 

Mal and Neil both looked at them as the car doors were shut. Brian quickly rolled the window up and drove out of the hospital's parking lot.

"Lads, is he alright?" Neil asked in a panicked tone.

"Well... mostly," George stated.

"W-what do ya mean by that?" Mal said in the same tone.

"Boys, we can ask them once we're at the hotel, give em' some space!" Brian said, briefy looking behind him.

Mal and Neil both turned away from the four musicians and followed Brian's orders.

Ringo leaned against George, hugging him. The guitarist looked down at him, along with John and Paul.

They all were waiting for when this day would end, despite knowing of the problems that they would have to face tomorrow.