Help! - Part 14 - Conclusion.

Welcome to the final chapter of “Help!”. This continues from parts 1 through 13, which you can find on my author profile page . :) You can get to this by clicking on my username (web cam). I hope you enjoy reading it...

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Danny lay unconscious on the hospital bed after a long and difficult operation. Jake sat quietly by his side, simply watching him sleep. He had been out for almost twelve hours now and he was due to wake soon. They had discovered in the ambulance on the way to the hospital that Danny had indeed broken both of his arms and the left arm, which was the one he’d broken when diving out of the way of the truck, needed a metal plate in it. However, in the end, this turned out not to be the biggest worry. All of that kicking had left Danny with a punctured lung. That’s where all of the bleeding must have come from. It had been caused by a broken rib which had actually completely snapped under the sheer force of the beating. This was the main reason why they needed to operate fast, and why the operation was so difficult and risky. There was a chance that if the operation was unsuccessful, Danny may even have lost his life! It was also the main reason why Danny would never want to see or hear from his father ever again! Thankfully, the operation had gone very well and now they were just waiting for Danny to wake up after the heavy anaesthetic drugs had worn off. He was likely to still be in a lot of pain and Jake was worried about what was going to happen once he woke up. However, whatever happened, he wanted to be there when it did.

Jake was exhausted, he needed nothing more than a good night’s sleep. His whole life was a mess recently. The madness that had gone on had left him feeling deflated and worn out. He was beginning to wonder how much longer he could stay awake. His head was still hurting from the nasty blow he had received the night before. Still, he cared so much about Danny that no matter how he felt, he was going to stay up so he could be there for Danny when he woke up. Jake was sure that Danny was going to be in a lot of pain and that he would need someone there to comfort him and offer him moral support. To Jake, this was far more important than how tired he felt or how much his head hurt. He loved Danny and felt that he would do anything for him.

Another half hour or so passed and still, there was no sign of Danny waking up. Jake was now getting increasingly disturbed by the lack of movement. He stood up from the comfortable, worn brown leather chair and walked nervously over to the window which sat at the other end of the dull, uninteresting, plain white hospital room. Leaning on the window ledge with both hands, he looked down at the people below. The people were simply living their lives, just doing what they had to do to get by. The hospital was close to the town centre. This meant that the people below were not all there on hospital related business, they were just normal everyday people doing normal everyday things. Jake saw many different things going on. Everyone down on that street had something different going on. There were mothers with their young children carrying bags of shopping, teenagers just hanging around chatting to each other and messing around having fun, old ladies popping to the bank or the post office to collect their pensions. The thing they all had in common was that they were all just getting on with their `normal` lives. Gazing down thoughtfully, Jake contemplated recent events in his own life. He considered how `un-normal` his and Danny’s lives had been recently. He wondered if life would ever be `normal` for them. But then he thought to himself, what is `normal`? Is there any such thing? Everybody’s different right? So how can `normal` even exist?

Jake turned his head away from the window to glance back at Danny. Even though he was unconscious and in a very bad way, he still looked cute. His chiselled facial features were highlighted by the overhead lighting. He really was one seriously gorgeous boy! Jake so badly wanted to tell him how much he loved him and how badly he needed him. He walked back over to the small bed and knelt by his lover’s side resting his folded arms on the side of the bed. He placed his head on his own arms and looked up at Danny’s bright young face. He watched his dry lips as they got ever so slightly wider and then narrower again as Danny heavily drew in air and then exhaled it all out again. He hadn’t seen Danny awake since the incident the night before with his dad. He was so desperate to speak to him, or even just look into his beautiful eyes. It seemed like such a long time since he had seen those big brown eyes and he was desperate, almost to the point where he wanted to grab Danny and shake him until he woke. But he knew he couldn’t. All he could do was wait. Jake hated it!

“Is he still out?” said one of the nurses to Jake as she stood in the doorway of the small white room watching him, the light pouring in from the well lit corridor.

“Yeah” Jake sighed, “is that normal?”

“That he is still asleep you mean?” she questioned.

“Yeah” Jake nodded in agreement.

“Well it depends on the patient, some wake up really early, some later. It’s just one of those things but listen, don’t worry! He’ll wake up in his own time and everything will be just fine, you’ll see”.

“I hope so” he answered glumly.

Jake felt comforted by what she had said and he smiled at the kind lady before she returned the friendly smile and returned to her job, leaving the doorway and heading back into the bright corridor. Then, remarkably, Jake noticed the first sign of Danny’s return to reality. Jake felt elated and excited when he saw Danny’s hand twitch, lifting up off of the white sheet and then returning to its original position. Jake leapt up onto his feet before placing his hand gently on top of Danny’s. Danny’s hand twitched again at his touch.

“Danny?” Jake whispered softly, curious to see if he would get a response.

Danny’s hand moved again, but this time it slowly rotated, flipping over, placing it on top of Jake’s hand. This told Jake that Danny was conscious again, but his eyes remained closed. Jake wondered why he didn’t open them, he was slightly concerned that he was clearly conscious and yet unable to talk or open his eyes. His concern grew with every passing second and his heart beat began to rise. Jake nervously watched his lover and best friend’s face with heavy concentration as Danny’s mouth slowly opened again.

“Jake” was what softly emerged from his dry weak lips.

The tone was gentle and quiet and it was hardly a ground breaking statement, but it was enough!

“Danny! Oh Danny, I’m so happy your awake.” Jake said elated as he massaged his lover’s hand with his own before alerting the nurses by pressing the `attention` button on the panel beside the bed.

The kind nurse from earlier immediately re-appeared in the doorway and entered the room with haste.

“What can I do?” she asked quickly.

“He’s awake.” Jake responded, joy in his voice.

“Alright, I will inform the doctor right away. I told you everything would be fine” she said with a smile.

“Thank you so much for your help” Jake said gratefully.

“Aww that’s ok, it’s all part of the job” the friendly nurse replied.

Then, at last, it happened. The moment which Jake had been waiting for all day! Danny’s eye’s slowly widened revealing the bright, beauty of those bewildering brown orbs. Jake’s smile said it all, he was the happiest he had ever been, just to see those beautiful eyes again. That one simple, wonderful sight made him feel like the happiest man on earth. Danny was in pain, but even so, seeing the huge smile on Jake’s face after his eyes had adjusted to the light, put a grin on his own face. Danny’s lips opened again but this time he managed to say something more substantial;

“I love you Jake”.

There was a short pause.

“I love you Danny”.