Part 8. Movement.

"You're back! How do you feel?" asked Joseph, holding David's hand.

David breathed in. "I'm okay," he replied raspily. Hearing his voice was a relief to the nurse staff and to Joseph.

One of the nurses chuckled. "I'll go get the doctor. You," she said, pointing to Joseph, "should call your other friends and tell them he's up."

"Will do," said Joseph. His smile wasn't fading anytime soon.

-----

Nate was back at his apartment, a few days after recuperating from the accident. It was slowly hitting him that he was going to jail, that he was going to serve a lot of time -- maybe even a lifetime -- in prison.

He didn't even know it was his fault until that officer told him. He remembered the night rather vaguely, like it was something he wanted to forget forever because it was marred with loss and defeat.

He remembered getting in the car while he was high on marijuana, then getting depressed that Evelyn was breaking it off. He couldn't figure out why Evelyn would do such a thing, especially since she was the one who initiated it. Then, he remembered screaming at David, then, bright lights, and then, vomiting.

It scared him every time he thought about it, that he killed some guy driving a truck and that he was going to jail for it.

He knew he deserved it somewhat, but he didn't want to face the facts.

He reached for the phone, and saw his medicine on the stand. It stared back.

He grabbed it, gave it a once-over, and opened the childproof cap. He took two pills, popped them in his mouth, and swallowed them without water.

He didn't need them anymore, since the pain was gone during his last day at the hospital. But he asked for a prescription refill since he couldn't go to sleep without them.

Fifteen minutes later, he called Mike to see how things were going, but fell asleep in the middle of dialing his number.

-----

Gabriel headed to County General as soon as he heard from Joseph that everything was going to be fine with David. He was hoping that Joseph was smart enough, too, to not call Evelyn yet, or better yet, that he had already called Evelyn so that she had already visited.

As soon as he arrived, he saw Leah and Mike in the lobby, speaking to a clerk about visiting David.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked.

"Not much," Leah said, "we're good. David's back."

"Yeah, isn't it a relief?" said Mike.

"Sure is," said Gabriel.

The clerk checked something on his computer, and faced the three again. "Go on ahead. Room 415."

"We'll meet you there," said Leah. "Go on ahead."

Gabriel smiled. "Sounds good."

-----

Leah called Joseph. "He's on his way up," she said, "and Evelyn isn't here yet."

"Good," said Joseph, "you know what to do when she gets here."

"Yeah. Sounds good."

Leah hung up the phone, and looked at Mike, who was still smiling. "You know," she began, "I've always noticed that despite anything, you're the first one to smile and get everyone back on their good side."

"Why, thank you," he said.

"Yeah, but can I ask why you're always smiling?" she said, as she poked his side.

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah, I would."

"When I was seven, my mom got diagnosed with cancer. And every time we went somewhere or had a get-together or anything, people would keep asking me if I was okay. They'd think that I wouldn't know what was going on, that I was too young to know what my mom was going through. But I knew that my mom was dying.

"So they'd ask me if I was doing fine, and I was honest -- I said, 'I'm okay,' and I'd give them a smile, and they'd smile back. I was fine, I was okay. My mom wasn't but they already knew that.

"From then on every time I got asked how I was doing, I'd smile, I'd let people know I was okay all the time. It made them smile too, so they didn't have to worry about me."

Leah looked at him in the eye. "Is that why you smile every time we talk about David?"

He smiled, bigger than usual. "Exactly."

-----

"RINGRINGRINGRINGRING!"

Nate, startled, woke up by his cell phone ringing. It was Joseph.

"Hello?" he answered, groggy.

"Nate! Joe. Listen, I've got great news, David's awake."

"He is? That's good to hear."

"Yeah, so, if you wanted to like swing by later, let Leah or Mike know, 'cos they can pick you up or something."

"All right. Will do."

He hung up, and realized he was parched. He started mumbling to himself about getting water, about the lights and the horrible nightmare he had. After downing two glasses of water, he grabbed two more pills, and went to his room.