“Regret”

Colin closed the door to Abby’s room and made his way down the hall to the elevator. He’d planned on stopping in to see how Maximus, Alex and the others were doing, decided to head downstairs to the nurse’s station to see what he could find out.

Both Maximus and Alex had suffered massive blood loss and were both still undergoing transfusions. Colin stopped by to check on Alex first, but the man was asleep, and according to the nurse, most likely would be for a few more hours thanks to the pain medication they were giving him.

Colin paused by the side of his bed, looking at all the wires and tubes attached to him. “That could have been me,” he thought to himself, “Should have been me.”

He quietly stepped out into the hallway, closed his eyes briefly, then headed down the hall to find where Maximus was. He got halfway there, saw Robin, Julie, Cort, and a few others and just couldn’t face them. He could have prevented this, all of this, he thought grimly, as he hung his head and headed down the opposite direction.

Once back out in the parking lot, Colin pulled out his cell phone and looked at it. It was the middle of the night and he had no one to call, no one to give him a ride back to The Glen. He sighed, dialed the number for a local cab company. Ten minutes later, the driver pulled up in front of the hospital and Colin got in and headed back home.

By the time the cab driver dropped him off in front of his home, he felt like shit – inside and out. When he opened his front door Colin was startled to find his sister, Raine, curled up on the living-room couch, sound asleep. Colin tilted his head as he looked at her, wondering to himself why she wasn’t in her bedroom. He’d seen Adam’s car out front when he’d come in, so he knew the man was home. He came closer to her, gently pushed a strand of her away from her face. She stirred, yawned, and slowly opened her eyes.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Colin told her.

“No worries,” she replied, sleepily.

“Everything okay?”

“I.... um... I’m not sure,” she told him, sheepishly.

“What do you mean?” Colin asked, a bit worried.

“Adam’s...”

“What?” he pressed, concerned his brother-in-law had done something – something Colin might have to have a little “chat” with him about.

“No worries, really, Colin,” she replied, not wanting to worry her brother, “He just came home really late, wasn’t acting quite like himself. Pretty sure he was drunk or... something.”

“You want me to talk to him?”

“Oh Colin, don’t go starting up any trouble or anything,” she replied, worried what Colin might do or say to Adam. “I think maybe he was really bothered by that tow job earlier. Yeah, maybe when he wakes up you might find out if he’s okay?”

Colin looked at her, nodded. “Yeah, yeah I can do that,” he said, setting his crutches aside and falling back into an armchair across from her.

“How ‘bout you?” Raine asked, sitting up.

“What about me?”

“You... okay? I mean, I know you were friends with all those people. And that girl, Abby... you dated her?”

“I’m... fine,” he lied, grabbing his crutches again and quickly getting back to his feet. “Best let you get back to sleep.” He turned and headed towards his bedroom.

“Yeah,” she said, watching him, ‘You’d best get some rest yourself. Col? If... if you want to... talk, I’m here, you know?”

Colin stopped, turned back, “thanks,” he replied, then headed off to bed.