The Reinholt Academy Part IV

After my mother and Eve left the diner, I started to get really tired. I looked around for Bristol and Lorrie, but I didn't think it was really worth it. I didn't see Logan either. The funny thing is, while I was getting on the bus, all of the people started running the way that I was coming from. I didn't really care all too much though, because I was so damn tired. I don't know what it is about those kind of days. You can sleep for fifteen hours, wake up and look outside then just want to get right back to sleep. Sometimes though, it feels like my life is sort of like that.

I woke up at around 9 pm when Bristol ran into my room. He was yelling something I couldn't understand so I had to try and calm him down and wake up a little bit before I could actually figure out what he was trying to tell me.

"Lorrie! Michael you gotta come with me back down to Crisfield. Lorrie's in the god damn hospital!"

"What? Slow down, Bristol, I can't understand what you're trying to say to me right now," I said. I actually did comprehend what he told me, it was just buying me time to collect my thoughts before I had to talk again.

"A buncha frigging drunkards from the bar started drag racing down the street and Lorrie got clipped by one of the cars," he said, catching his breath. Bristol was actually a little scary when he was serious. He really was actually trying to communicate with me. Maybe that's what was strange.

"Jesus. Is he all right? I didn't even know they had a goddamn bar in Crisfield for God's sake," I said, grabbing my jacket off of the chair. The funny thing was I usually get some kind of premonition when something this big happens, but nothing even clicked today. I took a second to look at Lorrie's side of the dorm but Bristol pretty much pulled me out of the room. No one was around the dorms because everyone was out for vacation, so it didn't take too long to get down to the street.

We actually found a bus still running, but it wouldn't take us as far as downtown, which was a shame. We started walking towards the hospital Bristol started to tell me about all of the details of what happened when Lorrie got hit. "So Lorrie thought it might be a good idea to go get a little drunk before we got back to campus on a count of there being no idiots around to stop us, you know? And so we started walking towards this place he saw a little while ago. Then, he hears this loud ass engine start revving and it starts to get louder. The bastards didn't even have their lights on and before I knew it, I saw Lorrie lying on the ground holding his hip. I think the sonuvabitch broke it. All the car did was swerve off of the road for a second then drive off. I couldn't catch the plates on a count of it was dark already."

"You gotta be kidding me. Aren't there cops around looking for this guy or what?"

"That guy's probably half way to Pittsburgh right now. And Lorrie's laying in some stretcher in the ER. I don't even know if it was that bad. He was actually conscious enough to tell me to go tell you about that. I would've called you but you turned your goddamn phone off."

"Oh, sorry about that," I said.

"Sorry?" I could tell Bristol was getting annoyed. There were a few times when he didn't follow up anything he said with his classic "Ha ha ha"s and that's when you knew he was a little off. I admit it though, I can come off as a little apathetic sometimes. I don't really care though because I bet after I get out of Reinholt, I'll never talk to these guys again. We kept walking in silence for a little, only getting little glimpses of one another whenever we passed under a streetlight and I could see he was grinding his teeth. Bristol was just full of nasty habits once you got to know him.

"Christ. That must've taken an hour," he said, as we reached the front doors of a sad-looking building.

"This is the hospital?" I said. I looked it up and down and it was just kind of a pathetic excuse for a building. I wondered if people being brought to this building were scared of going in because of how shabby it actually looked.

"A hospital's a damn hospital," Bristol said. The woman working the front desk at the lobby seemed really fed up with something - or maybe it's just everything. I don't think I could ever work in a hospital. All of the walls look the same and everything's white. I guess they're just trying to prepare you for how bright it'll be when you get judged when you die. That is - if Heaven is even real to begin with.

"Well, unless you're friends or family, I cannot let you see Mr. Ports...Portslander tonight. He's doing okay though."

"I am family, dammit. Let me see Laurel," Bristol said, trying his hardest to act outraged.

"Okay, sir. May I have your name and relation?"

"Of course. I'm Doctor...Roy...Mar...vin...Portslander. I am his uncle on his father's side."

"And you?"

"Michael Portslander, brother," I said, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. I could tell that she didn't believe us, but she brought us back anyway. Lorrie was sitting up in a thin stretcher-looking contraption strapped to an EKG.

"Oh thank C it's you guys," he said, sitting up straighter. He flicked his head back, motioning to the monitor behind him. "They said I got damn lucky I didn't break anything. All it is is a scratch on my left arm and a bruised thigh."

"Bristol said that you fell down holding your hip,'' I said.

"Give me a frigging break, Michael, it was dark. Besides...had you actually been there, you would've seen it yourself." He was starting to get a little personal, and I didn't really feel like dealing with that at the moment.

"So are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. They said they're going to release me as soon as I feel like I'm ready."

"When'll that be?" Bristol asked.

"I don't know. Hell, I feel okay to leave now, just can't lay on my left side."

"Hm. Well if you're okay...I think I'm going to head back to the dorms," I said. I know that it wouldn't necessarily further my friendship with them, but I had this splitting headache. That and I didn't really feel like talking to anyone at the moment. Being social isn't exactly one of my strong suits.

"Okay," Lorrie said, after a while. If I was lucky, I could catch a taxi or something because it was a hospital. I went with Bristol to the front desk again.

"Do any cabs roam around these parts?" he asked the woman.

"What? There's a phone book near the booths over there and any of those services'll bring you wherever you want." I went to the little corner with the payphones and opened up the phone book. I finally found all of the taxi cab services and called the number that was printed largest, I wasn't in any mood to do any price comparison.

"Hey...Michael are you all right?" I heard Bristol ask me.

"Yeah. I just have this headache is all," I said. But before I knew it, I was holding onto the payphone trying to keep my balance. I heard Bristol's voice say something again, but I couldn't concentrate on anything. "Maybe I need some aspirin or something."

Bristol told me later that I passed out while I was in the middle of asking where the bathroom was. Luckily, it was in a hospital, so I didn't have to go far for any treatment.