AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's another chapter of the "sad one", as I call it. To princess max: my lips are sealed! LOL!

Thanks for the reviews, everyone!

Chapter 2

Why do hospitals always smell so … death-like? I mean, there's the stench of disinfectant – and I do mean stench. It's like they hose the hallways down in the stuff to make it reek so bad no germ could stand the odor. Then there's the stale food they serve. They put it on brightly colored trays in sanitary wrapping but it always smells spoiled. My granddaddy spent a lot of time here in his last months, and every time I visited him the stink would haunt me after. Even at his funeral, I could smell it clearly. Almost like it came to pay its last respects. But I knew that time it was in my head. With that many flowers around him, granddaddy would have been pleased. He always liked flowers. Had a garden full of him every summer I knew him. I liked my granddaddy a lot.

I still liked Jeff a lot too, I realized as I stood there over his prone and unconscious body in ICU, hooked up to all them machines. I never got why they had to be so damn loud. The respirator one bothered me the most, with that rubber tube going up and down as it forced oxygen into his lungs, making a sucking sound. I stayed home from school that day so I could set with Jeff, though he couldn't hear me. I knew he couldn't. The nurse said he hadn't woken up once since he got there. I sat back and thought about what happened. I shouldn't a left him there with Frankie. I knew that now, my initial anger disappearing. I should a taken him home and left him there then cooled down. Life's funny like that. You make better choices after the situation's over. This one though? This one Jeff paid for.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," I whispered to him as I studied his broken body.

The nurse couldn't tell me anything so I got the story from Jeff's mom. She came in before she had to go for work. I could tell she wanted to stay here with him. But bills needed paying and his sisters relied on her to put food on the table too. 'Sides, he was still covered under her health insurance plan, which her job supplied. It wouldn't do him no good of she was fired.

Anyways, she told me he had four cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder. They also apparently smashed his hands in something. Both had lots of broken and shattered bones. One leg was also broken and the other was dislocated at the knee. The injury they were most concerned about though was the hairline fracture to his skull. The doctor told her that it was causing fluid to mass around the brain. They were watching him to see if they'd need to drain it, or if it would go away on its own. I remember she cried as she hugged me and thanked me for watching her boy form the day. What could I say? I should a come clean then, but all I could think about was how mad she would be if she knew I'd left him there.

So there I was sitting in a chair next to his bed, watching his ventilator thing go up and down and listening to the beeps and thumps of the rest of the machines. Nurses would come in and out periodically to check the machines and change his bandages. One nice one asked if she could bring me anything but I shook my head, my own guilt eating a hole through my stomach. She nodded kindly at me and left. I thought that would be the end of it, but she returned about a half hour later with a ham and cheese sandwich and a small bag of pretzels. I tried to refuse but she didn't take no lip, saying I'd be no good to my friend if I starved myself. What could I do? I just sighed and began eating, paying no never mind to what went in my mouth.

I came back Saturday and Sunday too, but on Monday my dad said I had to go to school. I didn't want to go. That asshole would probably be there and he was the last one I wanted to see. Just looking at him would remind me what I done to Jeff. Still, dad ain't no one to mess with, so Monday morning, there I was at school. I made it through most of the day without seeing Frankie and was hoping it'd stay that way. But my luck ain't ever been good and there he was, smirking at me from his locker as I walked by.

"Your friend staying home to hide from me?" he asked when I got to him.

I glared at him long and hard before I finally couldn't take it no more. I rushed him and slammed his head into the locker, then pulled him back by the hair and rammed it in again and again. Until his sleaze ball friends dragged me off him. A teacher poked his head out of the nearest classroom and yelled at us to quit before he called the principal. Then he ducked back in real quick. None of the teachers there really like getting involved with student fights if they don't have to. The hallway cleared out as most everyone rushed to class.

"What the fuck?" Frankie cried, pissed. He looked funny too with that bruise forming on his brow and a trickle of blood down the side of his mouth. "You a fairy too?"

"Jeff ain't no fairy!" I raged. "And he ain't at home!"

"Yeah, well he ain't here," snickered one of Frankie's friends.

"That's 'cause he's in the intensive care unit!" I rounded on him, ready to ram another head into the locker.

"Back off!"

"Make me!"

He went to make me too, but Frankie got between us and turned to me, his face contorted in disbelief.

"He what?"

"What, you don't hear so good?" I sneered. "He's in the hospital."

He ran a hand through his hair, a desperate look creeping into his eyes. "H-how …"

"You best tell him to keep his mouth shut!" the other of his friends said, cutting him off. "He tells his mama or anyone what happened, we'll finish the job!"

"You may have already, asshole!" I shot back. "He ain't woken up since I left him with you. He may never wake up again! That make you feel good? HUH?!"

"Stop!" Frankie pleaded, grabbing my arm. "Stop!"

"Stop what? Calling you and your friends what you are? 'Cause if he dies, you ain't no better than murderers in my eyes!"

"You best keep that opinion to yourself too," the other guy said quietly. "We know where you live."

"Know what?" I taunted back, not scared of him or no one in that hallway. "I know where you live, too, Troy." That was his name. Now I remember! Troy Griffin. My father worked with his in construction. And John Sanchez was the other guy. "I also know your daddy works for my daddy, so you really want to start a pissing match?"

Troy's face paled slightly but he attempted to stand his ground, though he shut the fuck up right quick enough. John stood there stone cold silent. But Frankie? He looked like death was after him.

"How is the kid?" he asked me once Troy and I were done.

"I just told you."

"He'll wake up, though," he pleaded. "He will, right?"

I watched him unsympathetically. One of those there SAT words, huh? Yeah, no pity at all. As far as I was concerned, he deserved none. For the first time, I saw him for what he really was. He'd always done the talking when the three had tangled with me and Jeff before, so I assumed he was the leader. But apparently he wasn't. Either Troy or John was, though after that talk, my money was on Troy. Frankie was a follower.

"I don't know," I said clearly and darkly, making Frankie freak out all the more.

"Calm the fuck down," John hissed at him, dragging him away.

Troy lifted an eyebrow as he watched them go then turned back to me. "You better keep it zipped," he said. "You know you ain't no better than us."

"How do you figure that?"

He snorted then leaned in for effect. "You knew damned well what we were going to do to him," he drawled. "We even gave you plenty of time to drag him away from us. But you turned around and strolled away, leaving him to us. How do you think that'll look?" Then he grinned widely and backed off, waiting for me cave. I'm glad at least, to say that didn't happen.

"It'll look how it looks," I shrugged.

"I mean it, kid," he growled. "Not one word!"

I shrugged and walked down the hallway, letting him wonder about what I would do. He wouldn't have to worry though. I still wasn't planning to rat him and the others out. But I was sure he'd start praying Jeff did wake up soon.