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MASON

I awoke to strange sounds and pain shooting through my upper body, from my shoulder to my chest. I couldn’t move my left arm and noticed it was in a sling, which lay over my chest. Oh God, my chest hurt, and I could only take short breaths due to the pain. My head pounded, and it seemed my brain was swimming through pudding. I was disoriented and confused.

A cheerful female voice sounded from the side of my bed. “Well, good morning, Mr. Hardy.” I turned my head slightly and fought the stab of pain when I did. All I saw was a wall of pink. Between that god-awful color and the pounding in my head, it made me nauseous.

“My name is Amanda, and I’m your…” was all she got out before I heard a voice I recognized come into the room.

“Oh good, you’re awake, boo,” Connor said cheerfully as he walked up to the side of my bed. He smiled, greeted the pink object on my other side, and then leaned over, took my hand, and kissed my forehead. Surprisingly, it made my head feel better.

I tried to clear my throat, thinking it might ease some of the heaviness in my chest. It didn’t. “Wha…where…?” I tried to ask, but my throat was dry and raspy. It almost hurt more than my chest. Connor quickly poured me a glass of ice water and aimed the straw at my lips. I took a sip as I watched the woman in pink walk around the end of my bed and head out of the room. It dawned on me she was a nurse in pink scrubs.

“That’s Amanda, your morning nurse,” Connor whispered. “She can be kind of a bitch.” I wanted to chuckle at that, but my head and throat said not to try.

Connor sat next to me and sipped his coffee, and I took in its intoxicating aroma. I could see he had dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept well. He pulled out his phone, and I heard him type something.

“You’ve been in the hospital just over two weeks, and I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” he said when he put his phone away and laid his hand over mine. “Firstly, you had some freight fall on you as you tried to unload it, and things were touch and go for a while. You’ve been unconscious for two weeks.”

I stared at him in disbelief and tried to remember what had happened. The only thing that came to mind was talking to Claudia as if it were a dream. “Two weeks? Where am I?” My throat burned, and I pointed at the water. Connor shushed me.

He put the straw to my mouth again, squeezed my hand, and sat closer. “Yes, it’s been two weeks and a few days. You’re in Harborside Hospital in Seattle. They had to airlift you here from the middle of the state.”

Time had escaped me. I had so many questions, but they left my brain as soon as I thought of one to ask. The one burning question I had was why I was in the hospital. Connor started to tell me about the injuries I’d sustained from the accident, but I needed him to slow down. My head wasn’t taking things in clearly. I made him go over the details a few times. The only clarity I had was the conversation with Claudia.

“It…it feels like someone danced on my chest.” I coughed and winced.

“It’s because you have fractured ribs, but they needed to do CPR on you too. You had a heart attack, and your heart stopped. I’m sure having chest compressions didn’t help.” I noticed his eyes watering as he continued. “I-I saw you flatline and watched them work on you.” He brought his hand up to his mouth to stifle his uneasiness at his last statement. I closed my eyes and thought of how hard that must have been for him to witness.

At that moment, I saw Eli come up next to Connor. He smiled down at me, and I felt relieved that the people closest to me were there. I felt such emotion as I looked at them both.

“Hey, buddy,” Eli said. “How are you feeling?” I wasn’t sure if that was a general question about my condition or if it was because of the look I’d given them.

“I hurt everywhere,” I replied with a grimace. I noticed that Pink Amanda had returned and was working on my IV.

Within seconds, I drifted off into nothingness.

When I came to, Eli was sitting beside me, looking at his phone. I cleared my throat, which didn’t hurt quite as badly. The worst part was the effort to take a deep breath. “Where’s Connor?” I asked before I coughed.

“What? Am I not good enough to be here with you?” Eli replied with a smirk. I blinked at him, trying to get my eyes to focus. “He needed to use the bathroom. He said he’d be right back.”

My throat felt slightly better once Eli had given me more ice water after I pointed at it on the table. He told me that when Amanda had come in earlier, she’d given me a push of morphine to help with my discomfort. It helped, considering it made me fall asleep again.

“Connor told me I’ve been in the hospital over two weeks. How…how long have you been here?” I asked as I put my hand up to the bandage around my head.

“Connor got here the day after your accident, but I arrived the following day because I needed to dig up your power of attorney and all your health directives. I found your will too. At least it had instructions on where I needed to bury your body,” he quipped with a grin. Eli always had a dry sense of humor. Normally, I would have laughed, but even the thought of laughing made my head pound.

I looked at him in amazement. “You’ve both been here the entire time?”

Eli furrowed his brow and said, “Of course, Mason. We love you and wanted to make sure you behaved yourself. It’s been easy, though, because you’ve been unconscious most of the time, and we didn’t need to hear your constant whining.”

Eli’s hands were on the bed rail, which allowed me access to slap his hand closest to me lazily. He laughed. I was overcome with the thought that these guys were there for me all that time. I had gotten so used to being independent and alone over the years, but these guys made me think I was never truly alone.

Connor still hadn’t returned, so I asked Eli a few more questions about what the doctors had said. He explained a few details and how I could control my pain if I needed to with the push of my thumb. I understood most of what he said, but there was plenty of time to go over my condition later. He felt I didn’t need to be overwhelmed right now.

We heard a knock on my door, and Eli turned around. I couldn’t see who was there because Eli blocked my line of sight.

“Hi, is this Mason Hardy’s room?” she asked. I recognized the woman’s voice, and Eli stepped out of the way so I could see who it was. Again, I was overcome by who stood there along with a young man at her side.

She walked up next to Eli. The tentative young man followed and stood slightly behind her shoulder. I reached out with my hand, which she immediately took hold of. “Hi, Sharon,” I said.

Before she could respond, I said, “Eli, this is Sharon, Connor’s mother. And the gentleman next to her is his brother, Kyle.”

Eli extended his hand to her, and they greeted each other warmly. Sharon introduced Kyle to him as well. I noticed Kyle seemed a bit out of place as he stood there.

There was a moment of silence until Kyle stepped up next to the bed. He looked remorseful and said, “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Mr. Hardy. Connor called Mom a few times and kept her up to date, which she relayed to me. But I felt we needed to drive up from Portland so Connor could have family with him.” Sharon nudged him, and he continued, “And, of course, to check on how you were doing.” He feigned a brief smile.

I was touched by what he said and replied. “I’m glad you’re both here, Kyle. And please, call me Mason.” My pain had begun to return, so I pushed the morphine button with my thumb.

“What the…?” Connor exclaimed as he stood in the doorway, holding his laptop. Everyone turned in unison, and I could see Connor’s lower lip start to tremble. His mother was the first to approach him as he rushed into her arms. Kyle took his time to join them, and when he did, Connor pulled him into their hug. I heard Connor’s light sobs. No one spoke, but they didn't need to.

Eli looked back down at me with a pinched smile. “I’m glad they came too,” he said. “Connor told me how much he’s missed them.”

Suddenly, I remembered I had a cell phone. “Where’s my phone, Eli? Do you know?” I asked in a panicked tone, thinking maybe other people wondered where I was after so long.

“Yes, it’s with your personal belongings in the cupboard there,” he replied. He retrieved it for me and powered it up. “I can open it for you if you give me your passcode.”

I told him, and he handed it to me. I tried to read the small text, which was impossible, so I dropped my hand in frustration. “I can’t read it. I don’t have my glasses. I think they’re still in my truck.”

Eli chuckled. “Okay, old man. I assume you’d like to know about emails and messages since you’ve been out of the loop. I can help you go through them.”

The Olsen family came to the bedside, and Connor took watch over me on the other side of the bed. He placed his hand behind my neck, and I felt him knead it gently. Kyle watched him closely as Eli and Sharon chatted quietly. I felt the tension between Connor and Kyle had begun to ease some, and I knew they’d get their differences figured out.

Sharon and Kyle planned to stay in a downtown hotel, and since it was Friday afternoon, they wanted to stay the weekend. After a brief conversation, they decided to let me rest and said they’d be back in the morning. I looked at Connor, and he said he’d stay with me and see them tomorrow when they’d have plenty of time to talk. He escorted them out of the room.

We got back to my phone and saw I had numerous texts, phone calls, and email messages to go through. With Eli and Connor as my hands and eyes, they whittled down the emails quickly. The voicemails and texts were another thing. I needed to know what the voicemails said first, so Connor played them on the speakerphone.

As soon as I heard Sylvia’s voice, it struck me that neither she nor Jack had any idea I was in the hospital, and I was in Seattle. She’d left a few voicemails over days, and with each message, it was clear she’d become extremely concerned. They had expected to see me at Thanksgiving.

Connor dialed their number and handed me the phone.