Broken Past, Good Path

The More It Goes, The More It's Gone

    Bradley Thomas stood at the corner of one wall, blending himself into the background as he looked into the medical room. Every day had been nearly the same. He would spend most of the day working out in the gym, exhausting himself. He would eat at peculiar times when no one else would likely eat. He would sleep for long chunks of the day, remaining in the gym, and then he would be doing exactly what he was doing now, which was spying on Morgan from a distance, making sure to never be seen by her. It was true. He was afraid to face her again. He was scared of the words that might escape from her. He was terrified of being the one person she would never forgive or the one that she detested the most in the world

                This was the only time of day that he felt the least bit human while looking in on Morgan from a distance. At any other time, it was as though he was a machine running on auto. The corridor was quiet. Nobody was stirring besides Morgan and himself. A sense of peace washed over Bradley from where he was standing until Morgan turned in his direction. Even from a distance, her blue eyes shone like icy globes. Bradley held his breath for a few short seconds thinking he had been discovered until Moran glanced away and Bradley was able to breathe again. He continued onlooking, finding it painful to watch Morgan beat herself up over her friend. None of it had been her fault. It had been his and his alone. It was his duty to find out who had killed Morgan’s mom, as well as, the person now targeting Morgan and yet, he was nowhere closer than they had been ten years ago. I’ll have to work harder in the future, he reminded himself, clenching his fists. He turned to leave, preparing himself for the long, tiring workout he had planned. He took two steps when an ominous alarm rang out, past him and into the hall. The sound made him forget everything. His blood chilled.

                Bradley turned slowly, inching back to the corner. He peered into the medical cube that now looked completely different. Strobe lights brightly lit the room. Sirens echoed down the halls. Morgan was bent over Noah as Olivia hobbled out of her own bed to see what was happening. Bradley frantically pranced in the corner. He had lived in a dream where he believed if Bradley remained in a coma, if he could continue seeing Morgan like this, everything would be ok. That world was now shattering before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do about it.

                “Out of my way,” The doctor shuffled past him towards the medical cube.

                “Wait! What’s wrong?”

                “Noah is going into cardiac arrest.”

                “What can I do?”

                “Nothing.”

                “Can you save him?”

                “I don’t know.”

                “Please Doc,” Bradley followed the doctor, tears leaking from the sides of his eyes. “You have to save him! Please! I beg you!” Bradley pleaded, stepping in front of the doctor.

                “To do that, I need to see my patient and unless you have a blood type of AB you are useless to me,” The doctor brushed him aside. Bradley spun, following the doctor into the medical cube. He watched as Morgan and Olivia moved away from the bed, still remaining close but allowing enough room for the doctor to get through. He assessed Noah and then the machines, wearing a grave face.

                “All of you out! Now!” The doctor suddenly screamed, shooing at them. Olivia and Morgan instantly headed for the door. “You too Bradley!” Bradley shook his head.

                “You need AB… I’m your man,” Bradley rolled up his sleeve and patted his arm. The doctor gave him a stern look, nodded, and pointed to the bed.

                “My earlier assumption appears to be wrong. He didn’t go into cardiac arrest,” The doctor prepared a needle. Bradley averted his gaze to the two figures standing outside the cube. Morgan was peering in at them through a tear-stained face. “A little prick,” The doctor announced placing the needle against the skin of his inner elbow. Bradley covered the view with his free hand, remembering what Morgan had told him. “I believe he has some internal bleeding somewhere. This will stabilize him until I find where,” The doctor continued.

                “Don’t you have a blind to cover the glass? And once he is stable please tell Morgan at once,” Bradley gritted his teeth. Almost instantly the strobe lights and beeping died to a regular pattern.

                “Yes, at once.” The doctor left his side to push a curtain across the entire length of the glass, removing them from the vision of Olivia and Morgan. “I will go let them know at once and then we will have to get through surgery,” The doctor bustled away and out the door, leaving Bradley with Noah. Bradley looked at the pale face that was so scratched and bruised it was almost unrecognizable. Pity crept up unawares from the pit of Bradley’s stomach.

                “Why wasn’t I nicer to you?” Bradley mumbled to himself. He ran his free hand through his hair. “Because I was jealous of you…” Bradley followed up with his own answer.

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                Morgan Dylan leaned from one foot to the other nervously, only half aware that Olivia was beside her. She was curious as to why Bradley was allowed to stay and not her. Her curiosity grew as she followed the doctor’s actions to Bradley’s arm. That was when she understood. They had the same blood type. Bradley was giving his blood to Noah. How had he shown up so quickly? Or, was it possible that he had, in fact, been looking in on her? Why had Bradley covered up his arm? It couldn’t possibly be that he remembered her telling him that she didn’t like the sight of blood, could it? Her mind was so filled with riddles by the time the curtain was pulled over the glass and the doctor came out to talk to them.

                “Doctor, what’s wrong?” Morgan asked immediately. The doctor stopped in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

                “I originally thought that he was going into cardiac arrest. However, upon closer review, it seems that it is probably internal bleeding. Bradley is the same blood type as Noah, so he will be assisting me during the surgery. Before beginning, I was told to let you know he is in a stable condition and I believe in the best results,” The doctor gave a nod of his head and returned to the medical cube.

                “That means he will be ok, right?” Morgan turned to Olivia. Her blond air was up in a messy bun and her eyes were just as red-rimmed as her own felt. Olivia rested a hand on her back.

                “If anyone can do it, it’s my dad,” Olivia gave a small smile. “Come on, let’s take a walk while we wait. It could be a few hours…” Olivia pulled her away from the medical cube and through the hallways. Most of the time they were silent, however, there were a few periods of chatter between the two of them, in order to take their minds off of the current event. They walked through the entire house it seemed before they stumbled on a glass door that led out to a small outdoor area, surrounded on all four sides by walls of the house. In the center stood a bench made of black iron, or at least it looked black in the near absence of light. “Should we sit for a while?” Olivia asked, pulling her outside into the chilly air without waiting for an answer. The fresh air hit them both, their breath fogging the area in front of their faces. “It’s so nice to be outside, isn’t it? Even if it is blocked in by these four walls.” Morgan nodded, silently agreeing with her that it did feel good to be outside. She hoped that she would be able to find this place again when she would need another breath of fresh air. “Can I ask you a question?” Olivia broke the silence once again as she took a seat on the bench and patted the free space beside her. Morgan sat next to her, nodding. “What do you think of Noah now?” Olivia asked suddenly. Morgan turned her eyes to look at the woman next to her, the lightness in her orbs fading to dark, forbidding icebergs. “I mean… I just wondered if your feelings changed towards him… since so much has happened maybe you have realized that your feelings match up to more than just friendship… Sorry, I’m blabbering…” Olivia visibly turned a different shade.

                “My feelings have not changed. Noah remains my best friend, as always.”

                “So, you don’t mind if I start to have feelings for him then?” Olivia asked bluntly. Morgan eyed her in surprise.

                “You like Noah?” Morgan questioned, her eyebrows raising. Olivia was the one to nod this time, a smile spreading on her lips. “When? I mean why? What?” Morgan felt silly, unsure of what question she should ask in this situation.

                “Well, the first time we were injured together… he protected me. I thought that was very manly and courageous… This last time, he did the same. I was the one who was in real danger but he sacrificed himself. He’s a hero and so much more to me.” Olivia kicked at the ground underneath the bench. “It doesn’t hurt that he’s handsome either…” Olivia smirked. Moran picked up her hand and squeezed it.

                “I hope you will make him truly happy when he wakes up,” She smiled sincerely. Olivia turned her body to face her.

                “How about Bradley?”

                “WHAT?!” Morgan exclaimed, dropping her hand.

                “The two of you would make a cute couple!”

                “Let’s go back. I think you are starting to talking nonsense from not seeing him for so long,” Morgan joked, pushing herself off the bench and back inside. As they walked through the halls, the grave situation of Noah’s surgery washed over them again, allowing them to be silent. But, at least they weren’t talking about a possible relationship between Morgan and Bradley, of all things.

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                Bradley Thomas laid on a gurney, looking up at the popcorn ceiling of the medical cube in boredom. It had been at least an hour since he had laid there. His arm was now patched up from the needles and the doctor was doing a few last checks on his patient.

                “What’s up, doc?” Bradley drawled out.

                “Well, it was relatively easy to find the source of the internal bleeding and it was in an area that was a relatively easy place to quickly fix the problem. His latest blood work shows that the inflammation is going down. We will just have to wait to see if that includes his brain. An easy job for a sophisticated doctor like myself, don’t you think?”

                “Sure… sure…” Bradley rolled his eyes at the doctor’s incurable disease of praising himself.

                “Although, if it weren’t for you… Noah would most definitely not be alive today. Very brave of you to do that,” The doctor continued to talk. Bradley saw the resemblance between the doctor and his daughter whenever he became this way.

                “Let’s not talk about that. I’m going back to my room,” Bradley swung his feet over the gurney and jumped down.

                “I wouldn’t do that! You’ve lost a lot of blood and you might become light-.” The doctor’s words were lost on him as he took one step and swayed. “Light-headed,” The doctor finished as Bradley leaned forward unsteadily, stumbling into someone or something.

                “I’m sorry,” Bradley murmured, doing his best to straighten up and clear his vision.

                “What did you mean by that?” Morgan’s voice immediately snapped him to attention. He looked up finding the cool, icy blue eyes staring at him with questions swimming in the liquid orbs.