The Jet (A Sandlot Story) Benny Rodriguez

Chapter 26

You started to wake up slowly, your eyes having to adjust to the bright light of whatever room you were in. You felt the cold white sheets of a hospital bed underneath you, and thought 'That must be where I am, but how did I get here.'

You tried sitting up, but your chest and ribcage instantly hurt you. You winced slightly at the sudden pain before cradling your arm around yourself. You pressed up on one elbow, and saw your mother passed out in a chair by the window. She was sleeping not so peacefully, as she looked stressed even in her sleep, eyes closed tightly and everything.

You didn't want to wake her up, she looked like she'd been through hell last night.... Last night! Brady! You felt a sudden rush of adrenaline surge through you, whipping the sheets around in the bed as you struggled to get out of it. Man did that hurt, but you had to see if Brady was okay. He did get shot after all.

You noticed you'd been stripped of your shoes, so you made it out of the room barefoot, trekking down the hall to find a nurse. When you spotted one, she looked back at you with wide eyes, almost as if you were a ghost or something.

"Hun, you really shouldn't be out of bed. You cracked a rib last night and it has to heal. Moving around too much could cause some serious pain." She told you, even though you were standing up fine, it still hurt like hell.

"Yeah, no shit." You mumbled. Cracked rib or not though, you had to know where your boyfriend was. "I'll be okay, but... do you know where Brady McSims is?"

"Oh dear, I hate to have to tell you this, but.... We're not letting anyone see him except his family right now. I hope you understand."

"Well what if he wanted to see me? Could I go in then?" You pleaded.

"I can ask him, but he's been pretty out of it. He got shot you know."

"I know," You were a little ticked off at her tone, seeing as though she didn't even know who you were. "I was with him when it happened."

"Look, I'll ask him, but if he says no, there's nothing else I can do for you."

With that she went down the hallway a bit, just a few rooms down from yours. She opened the door before walking in and closing it. You leaned up against the wall to relieve some of the pain you were feeling. You waited about thirty seconds before the nurse came out, with Roger, Jake and Brian trailing behind her.

"He wants to see you. These boys say you're their friend, so I suppose you can go in with them." The nurse told you, walking down the other end of the hall, right passed you with some paper-work.

"Mack, you're finally awake. We've been scared to death for you two." Roger came up to you, embracing you in his big, muscular arms. It felt nice to see him, really it did, but your rib was still just as cracked as it was two seconds ago, which meant this bone crushing hug, was even more bone crushing than it was a hug.

"Careful, man... didn't ya hear? Apparently I cracked a rib." You joked it off, even though the effects of being squeezed to death still hadn't worn off quite yet.

"Sorry, we're just glad you're okay."

"How's Brady doing man?" You looked in the direction of the room he was in, and left your eyes on the door.

"Ask him yourself, he wants to see you. He's worried about you." Roger replied.

"He's worried about me? Heck, I'm worried about him." You said, carefully beginning to walk towards where Brady was. "How'd y'all get in here anyways, the nurse said that only family is allowed."

"We just told her we was all brothers. She let us in no questions asked."

"Funny, y'all don't exactly look alike." You smirked back at all of them, realizing you were now in front of the door, you pushed it open and walked inside. They all followed.