The Outside Series - Complete Trilogy: Books 1-3

by Kristina Renee

  In the background, I could hear the sound of a PA system. “Are you at the hospital?”

  “Yeah, we are,” he sounded exhausted. “They’ve got a bed for me, wanna make sure I don’t have a concussion or broken ribs or anything. But I don’t know where Dad and Allie are. Bry, there was so much blood...” With that, Adam broke. He was sobbing into the phone as the trauma of what happened caught up to him.

  “It’s okay, babe, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just, try to rest.” As much as I didn’t want to hang up, Dean had pulled my parents into the living room where they were all staring at me, demanding an explanation.

  “What happened?” Mom asked as soon as I ended the call.

  “I don’t know exactly,” I admitted. I dropped onto the sofa and started jamming my feet into my shoes. “Just that there was a car accident. Adam’s been admitted to the hospital, he said he’s mostly okay though. What he’s really worried about are his Dad and Allie. He said they were both hurt bad but doesn’t know where they are.”

  “I need someone to take me to the hospital,” I said as I stood. “I’ve got to help Adam.”

  “I’ll do it,” Dean volunteered, “but the doctors aren’t going to tell you anything.”

  “What? Why? They’re hurt, he’s worried about them, I’m going to get him some answers.” I balled my hands into fists.

  “But you’re not family,” Mom gently informed me. “You might be able to get in to see Adam if he’s awake and the doctors let you, but they won’t tell you anything about his family.”

  “They don’t have anyone else,” I said, sitting on the arm of the sofa and letting my shoulders droop. “It’s just the three of them, unless you count their mom, but she disowned them.”

  “And technically, she’s still their family. Adam and Allie at least are still her children. She’s got more chance of getting in to see them than you do,” Dad explained.

  “I’m still going to the hospital,” I said, regaining my resolve. “I’ve still got to see Adam at the very least.”

  “You should call the rest of your friends, Allie’s too,” Mom said helpfully.

  “Come on,” Dean gestured for me to follow as he charged toward the door.

  I spent the entire ride to the hospital texting everyone in our group of friends. We had a group text set up for arranging get togethers and things like that. I figured it would keep me from having to explain the story four different times. The responses were immediate. Kim’s parents were doctors, and she vowed to do what she could to find out what was going on. Liz and Logan had been at his house, which was closer to the hospital than mine, so they were going to try and figure out what rooms they were in. Austin, was at his house on the other side of town and offered to pick things up for people on his way over.

  It was nice to see them pulling together like this. I’d kind of fallen into the group by accident after meeting Adam. I hadn’t really spoken to any of them very much before Winter Formal. But after that they brought me into their tribe; Adam, Allie, Kim, Austin, Logan, Liz, and me.

  They were the first people, besides Adam, that knew I was gay. They’d been there for us, for me, from day one. The circumstances may have changed, but their support hadn’t.

  When we got to the hospital, Logan was waiting for us by the front doors. He ushered us up to the room where Adam was staying. Liz was already inside, doing her best to try and cheer him up.

  The lights had been dimmed, but I could still clearly make out every detail of Adam’s face. There was a bandage around his head. Shallow nicks and scratches dotted his cheeks. He looked like he hadn’t slept in years. His hospital gown had shifted toward his right shoulder a little so that I could just make out the edge of the vicious purple bruise that underneath.

  “Bry,” Adam sounded rough, but relieved. He lifted a hand and held it out to me.

  “Oh my god, Adam...” I breathed circled to his side.

  “It looks worse than it is,” he said as he took my hand. “Bruised up pretty bad, but no broken bones.” He looked up at me with desperation in his eyes. “I need to know what happened to Dad and Allie. All they’ll tell me is that they were taken into emergency surgery. They won’t say anything else.”

  “Kim’s trying to get her parents to look into it,” Liz said, reassuringly. “We’re gonna do everything we can to find out what happened.”

  I looked up as the door to the room opened and nurse slipped in. “Someone’s popular,” she said with a little laugh. “I’m just here with a new IV.” I stepped out of the way and let her switch out the IV bags.

  “What about my family?” Adam asked, looking up at the nurse as she finished switching out the lines.

  “No news yet, I’m sorry,” she said as she quickly scanned his monitors. “I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I hear anything. Now, I’m going to give you some stuff for the pain. It’s going to make you drowsy and I’d really like it if you tried to get some rest.” She looked up at the rest of us expectantly before injecting some medicine into his IV.

  “We’re gonna head out into the waiting room,” Liz said, rising from her chair and patting Adam’s unbruised shoulder. “We’ll be here the minute you wake up.”

  She turned and nudged Logan and Dean out the door.

  “You can stay,” Adam told me, gesturing to the chair that Liz had just vacated. He looked up at the nurse possessively. “He’s my boyfriend. He’s staying here.”

  “That’s fine,” she said reassuringly. “As long as he lets you sleep, he can stay.” She looked me in the eye and I nodded in silent agreement.

  Satisfied, the nurse slipped back out into the hall.

  “You’ve got to promise you’ll find out what happened to them,” Adam said. His words were starting to slur together.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best,” I told him as I held his hand. It was taking everything I had not to burst into tears right then and there.

  He didn’t say anything else. The meds were clearly starting to kick in and he couldn’t fight the exhaustion any longer. Once I was sure he was completely out, I snuck out into the hallway.

  The waiting room was just up the hall and around the corner. Kim had arrived and she and Liz were talking intensely when I approached.

  “How is he?” Liz asked, looking at me with concern.

  “Asleep, for now,” I sighed and shook my head. “He’s really worried about his Dad and Allie.”

  “My Mom says that they were both taken in for emergency surgery as soon as they arrived and they haven’t come out yet,” Kim said with a shrug. “She can’t get anything more until they’re out of surgery. She’s pretty good friends with one of the surgeons though so she’ll get what she can.”

  “How long have they been in there?” I frowned.

  “Three hours.” Kim pursed her lips and looked away. “Whatever happened, they must’ve been really badly injured. It’s amazing that Adam did get hurt worse.”

  “And there’s no way to know when they’ll be out of surgery?” I asked, wringing my hands. “No estimate or anything.”

  “Not really.” Kim looked at me apologetically. “It was an emergency situation, which could mean just about anything in terms of what injuries and how long it’ll take to repair them. Usually, surgeons do as much as possible to try and stabilize the patient. Then, once they’ve had a chance to rest, there might be more surgeries to help repair further damage that wasn’t necessarily life threatening.”

  “So the fact that it’s taking so long isn’t good,” I summarized.

  “That, or the injuries are hard to access. Internal bleeding can be hard to narrow down. There’s all kinds of reasons,” Kim laid a hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “The point is, we just don’t know what’s happening right now. All we can do is wait.”

  My heart sank a little at her words, but I nodded in understanding.

  Austin arrived a few minutes later, loaded down with snacks and drinks for everyone. A few of the nur
ses gave us nasty looks as they walked by, like they expected a group of teens camping out in the waiting area to be nothing but trouble. We did our best to keep quiet and not disturb anyone. Picked up after ourselves and generally just remained calm even though that was the last thing I wanted to do right then.

  If it hadn’t been for Liz forcing me to take a seat, I would’ve been pacing up and down the halls like a caged animal. I still got up to check on Adam every few minutes though. I didn’t want him to find himself alone when he woke up.

  It was almost an hour before Kim’s phone chimed.

  “Mom says Allie is out of surgery,” Kim said, sitting up straight and reading off the text. “She’s being kept in the ICU right now. No visitors. They’re waiting for her to wake up before they do anything else, but she’s stable for now.” She quickly scanned a few more lines and then looked up at everyone. “It looks like Allie and Mr. Fischer were both sitting on the driver’s side of the car when they were t-boned by a one of those big, extended cab pickup trucks, in the intersection. The guys in the pickup were drunk, heading home from a friend’s house. All of them were uninjured save for minor bruising.”

  “Assholes,” Austin snapped. His face was a mask of anger that mirrored what I was feeling inside. These irresponsible jackasses had endangered everyone else on the road the moment they climbed in their car.

  “Is Allie going to be okay?” Liz asked, leaning over Kim’s shoulder and trying to read her text.

  “Gimme a sec, I was getting there,” Kim shrugged Liz away. “Mom says that Allie suffered a massive concussion, possible TBI. Multiple fractures including left arm, left leg, and several ribs. The impact trapped her left leg between the door and the seat causing severe trauma to the bone. She’ll need extensive surgery and physical therapy if she ever wants to walk again. There was severe internal bleeding caused by broken bones, the believe they’d stopped all the leaks but the only time will tell. Various other injuries, lacerations, whip lash, bruising...” Kim trailed off and shook her head. “I can’t believe this is Allie we’re talking about. I can’t imagine her being that hurt.”

  “At least she stable for now,” I said. That was some small relief. It didn’t mean she was out of the woods, but she was out of immediate danger.

  That news was the morale boost we needed to maintain our vigil. There was nothing we could do except be there for each other and for Adam. He was still fast asleep and the nurse said he probably would stay like that for a while. His body needed to heal and he had been fighting to stay awake ever since he got there.

  Kim got another text not long after the first. Her mom had dug up some info on Mr. Fischer’s status. A lot of his injuries were similar to Allie’s, though his legs were fine. “But...” Kim looked up from her phone. “He’s in a coma.”

  47

  I sat beside Adam’s bed and watch him sleep. It had been almost twelve hours since he called me.

  Allie and Mr. Fischer were both still in the ICU. Allie, at least, had woken up for a few minutes, long enough to ask about her dad and her brother. Mr. Fischer was still unresponsive. They were hoping he’d wake up one the swelling in his brain went down but, according to Kim’s mom, comas were tricky. The only thing we could was wait and see.

  The others had all gone home to shower and get some sleep. Dean had work and couldn’t risk skipping a day, so he left too. Mom was supposed to be on her way to pick me up, but I didn’t want to leave Adam alone. Not like this.

  I didn’t look up from him when the door opened. I assumed it was just another nurse with a new IV.

  “Get out.”

  I snapped upright and glared at the person that had just entered the room. I would’ve recognized her voice just about anywhere.

  “Mrs. Fischer,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm but I remembered what my mother said last night about family ties. I already knew what was coming and I wasn’t backing down.

  “I said ‘get out,’” Mrs. Fischer growled as she progressed into the room. “The last thing my son needs right now is your ungodly influence.”

  “That’s funny, didn’t you disown him a couple weeks ago?” I asked with a sarcastic chuckle. “Why the change of heart?”

  “Whatever else he may be, Adam is still my son,” she said. “And with his father’s current state, I’m the only guardian he has left. I’m not going to abandon him when he needs me the most.”

  I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I hated her more with every passing second.

  “Now, get out or I’m calling security,” she continued, glaring at me with an intensity that sent chills down my spine.

  This was a fight I couldn’t win.

  In one last act of defiance, I gave Adam a parting kiss on the forehead. When I finally withdrew, I could feel her glaring daggers at me until I was out the door. I hated that I couldn’t stand up to her. Adam needed me to stand up for him against that harpy and there was nothing I could do.

  To say that things were difficult would’ve been the understatement of the century. Over the next week, Mr. Fischer’s coma persisted but he was stable and moved out of the ICU. Allie’s remained under observation for the first few days, but once they were certain all danger was passed, she was released into her mother’s care, as was Adam.

  I wasn’t allowed to be there when they went home. Mrs. Fischer locked them up inside her house and threw away the key. At least, that’s how it seemed to me. I wasn’t allowed within ten feet of their house. If I so much as showed up she threatened to call the cops on me for trespassing.

  “Non-gay” friends were still allowed brief moments to visit. But Adam’s cellphone and internet privileges had been completely restricted. He couldn’t communicate with anyone on the outside unless his mother was present.

  Thankfully, Logan was able to smuggle a cellphone in to Adam when she wasn’t looking, but the only time he could risk using it was in the middle of the night when he was certain she was asleep.

  From our brief exchanges, and the occasional picture he sent, his wounds were healing up nicely. Allie was healing too, though her process would be longer and more painful. Her entire left leg was in a plaster cast to keep it immobile while bones healed. She was trying to stay positive, but the environment they were in made it difficult.

  “She’s agreed to let me start going to the hospital to see Dad,” Adam’s text read. “She’s got a strict list of visitors that are allowed in to see him so she thinks I’ll be safe from your corruption.”

  “But they’re divorced. Why does she get to dictate who can see your dad?” I typed back. I was sitting on my bed, texting in the dark. It was two AM, but the moonlight shining through my window made it lit everything up.

  “She can’t,” Adam’s reply was followed the emoji sticking it’s tongue out and winking. “Dad’s sister in Wyoming is the next of kin. She’s flying out next week to try and stop my mom’s meddling...this morning I caught her googling how long someone has to be in a coma before you can pull the plug.”

  “What? There’s a difference between coma and brain death.”

  "Not to my mom.

  So, will you be there? At the hospital tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, of course. You don’t even have to ask.” I added a heart emoji for good measure.

  We texted for a little bit longer before Adam had to go. As always, it felt like there was so much left unsaid. No matter how many I <3 U’s or heart emojis I sent, it would never be the same as a kiss goodnight, and a hug goodbye.

  I barely got any sleep that night. My thoughts were snarl of hopes and dreams and fears. By the time morning arrived, I’d given up on getting any rest.

  My mom had some errands to run on that side of town, so I hitched a ride with her and had her drop me off at the hospital.

  Mr. Fischer’s room was in a quiet ward at the end of a long corridor. He was allowed to have visitors now, no matter what Mrs. Fischer’s list said about who was allowed in or not. Besides, this wasn’t a cl
osed ward. They didn’t check your ID at the door or grill you about who you were here to see. She might have been able to bully her son into doing what she wanted, but her power didn’t extend to the hospital staff.

  Mr. Fischer’s bed was surrounded by flowers from friends and family. Vases crowded the window sill and several tray tables. With the sunlight pouring in from window, the scene was absolutely peaceful.

  “Hey, Mr. Fischer,” I said as I stood somewhat awkwardly by his bed. “It’s, um, Bryant. You know, Adam’s boyfriend. Well, technically not anymore as far as your ex is concerned. She’s taking care of Allie and Adam now and she’s doing her best to reform him. She’s been trying to dictate your medical care too, but thankfully you don’t have to worry about that too much.” It was a little weird, talking to someone who couldn’t answer. They say talking to coma patients might help though and I wanted to at least do something.

  I cleared my throat. “You know, um...we really need you here,” I said. “Especially Adam. He’s been trying to hide it from me, but I can tell that there’s something really bothering him. I’m worried Mrs. Fischer’s gonna do something drastic to try and get him to stop being gay. She’s already cut him off from me and she’s limiting his contact with his friends. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop her, either. Adam’s not fighting back because he’s worried about Allie. She’s got a long recovery ahead of her and he doesn’t want to risk getting them kicked out again.

  “I feel so helpless. I care about Adam more than anything, but right now the only one that can do anything for him is you.”

  “He answer yet?” Adam’s voice interrupted my train of thought. My head snapped up and a smile spread across my lips.

  “I was worried you weren’t gonna make it,” I said as I flew across the room and into his arms. It was the warmest, most satisfying embrace I’d ever felt.

  “How could I stay away?” He asked me as he pressed his forehead against mine. “I had to see you.”

  I stretched up to meet his lips with mine. When I withdrew, he was frowning.