CHAPTER FOUR #2
Franks left and Lance closed his eyes again.
His shoulder hurt so badly that he wanted to cry, but then he thought about Angus and how much worse his injury was, and he forced himself to deal with the pain.
There were others besides Angus who were probably fighting for their lives tonight.
He'd seen so many injured. What the hell had happened?
They'd just wanted a good night with the family.
Now he wasn't sure if anything would ever be the same.
He'd feel a lot more confident if he hadn't seen Angus's ghost, but the fact that he had made him scared and nervous that Angus was already gone.
If that was the case, why wasn't he here with him, even in ghostly form?
They had a pact that if one died before the other they'd at least stick around for a while in ghost form to say goodbye.
He opened his eyes again when he heard a noise at the door. He smiled at Megan as she stood there. The ghostly image of her father, Isaac, stood behind her. "Hey, Meg."
Jackson jumped up and went to her, gently wrapping her in a hug. "Everything okay?"
"Thirty-two stitches on seven cuts, and about fifty more smaller cuts that didn't need stitches." She held up her arms. "The worst were on my legs."
"You and Lizzy were wearing dresses. You didn't have anything to protect your legs." Jackson led her over to the chair.
"I'm proud of her. She didn't cry a bit. When I took her to get stitches when she was ten, she wouldn't stop crying," Isaac said.
Lance laughed and told Megan, "Your dad's here. He said you handled stitches much better today than you did when you were ten."
"Dad's here?" Megan looked around. "Where is he?"
"At the foot of my bed." Lance pointed.
"Dad, you didn't have to come." Megan smiled. "But I'm glad you're here."
Isaac nodded. "You told your mother to stay home so she wouldn't be in the way, but I knew I wouldn't be in anyone's way in this form." He gestured his hands up and down his ghostly body. "I had to come make sure everyone was okay."
Lance repeated what Isaac said.
"Thanks, Dad." Megan leaned her head against Jackson's hip as he stood beside her.
"Isaac, have you seen Betty?" Lance asked.
"No, I haven't seen any ghosts since I got here. Is she not with Lizzy?" Isaac asked.
Lance told him what he and Lizzy had witnessed right after the explosion. "I don't know what that means. I always thought if a spirit left the body, they were dead, but Angus is alive."
"I wish I had answers for you, but I don't know anything about that stuff.
I know when I died, I floated out of my body and was able to see my physical body.
I was alert and there long enough to make a decision on whether I should go into the light or not.
" Isaac frowned. "I'll go check things out.
I can go into the operating room and see what's going on with Angus.
" He turned and floated out of the room.
"He just left to go check on Angus," Lance told Megan.
"I'm glad he's here. How are you?" Megan asked.
"I'll be better once I can get up to that surgical waiting room." Lance glared at his shoulder. "Can't you put it back in place?" he asked Jackson.
"I could, but you'd hate me after. Let the docs take some of the edge off before they do it.
It's going to hurt like hell either way, but at least you won't blame me for the pain later.
" Jackson smiled. "Besides, you need to get some of those cuts taken care of.
You looked like a porcupine right after the explosion.
Those small fragments of glass need to come out. "
"I feel like they're mostly in my ass." Lance wanted to roll to his side, but with his shoulder, he could barely move.
He vaguely remembered crawling over to Angus after the explosion and sinking down on his butt beside him.
That was probably when he'd gotten most of the glass in his ass.
His arms and face were covered in cuts and scratches, but it was his legs and ass that felt the sting. Yet nothing hurt more than his arm.
"I've always said you're all ass, little brother," Jackson teased.
Lance flipped him off, then sighed as the I.V. tube got caught on the bed frame. "God, I hate this. I just want to be up with Angus."
"We'll get you there as soon as we can. You can't do anything but wait right now, and you can do that here just as easily as the surgical waiting area," Megan told him. "Dad will come back and let us know what's going on."
"I can't lose him." Lance closed his eyes again, but the tears escaped anyway.
"Here." Megan handed him a tissue.
Lance took the tissue, glad that no one was trying to tell him that everything was going to be okay.
He didn't need the lies when they all knew that Angus's life was in danger, if not already over.
God, seeing his ghost was something Lance would never forget.
The instant feeling of loss. The knowledge that what they shared was over, at least in the physical.
Now he had no idea what to think. It could go either way.
If his ghost was free from his physical form, where was he? Where was Betty?
The curtain moved again and Lance found an older man in scrubs walking into the room. He wiped at the tears and tried to focus.
"I'm Doctor Bigelow. I hear you've got a dislocated shoulder.
" The man glanced at a chart that had been in a tray by the door.
He was probably pushing sixty with graying brown hair and eyes that showed his fatigue.
"And like most of our other patients tonight, you've got some glass that needs to be removed.
" He shook his head. "Never seen anything like this. "
"It was hell," Megan told him.
"You were all there?" Dr. Bigelow let his gaze travel over Megan, then Jackson. "You should probably get that cut on your arm looked at." He pointed with a pen at the cut on Jackson's arm.
"Just waiting until those with worse injuries are taken care of. This is nothing. It can wait until others are seen." Jackson rested his hand on Megan's shoulder. "And she's already been seen."
"Then it looks like you get my full attention." Dr. Bigelow came to stand beside Lance's bed. "If you two don't mind waiting in the hall for a few, I'll get some help and we'll get that shoulder back in place, then start cleaning up those lacerations and removing the glass."
"Lucky me." Lance sighed.
"Be right outside the door." Jackson tapped the foot of the bed as he walked out with Megan.
Lance took a deep breath and prepared for more pain. The sooner the better, because once he was done here, then he could be upstairs waiting for Angus.