Sleepless Night

    “Hey…” Ash said as she walked up to Karl who was standing on the roof of his hotel building staring out at his college town at night. The sky lit up from the full moon, but a few large clouds slowly rolled in.

    “I’m having trouble sleeping, I guess. Had to come up here to clear my head.” He said as he turned around to look at Ash. Ash could tell by his face he has not been getting much if any sleep at all.

    “I am surprised that you got any sleep at all with everything that has been going on in the last few days. You have had a lot to process through in the last few days.” Karl looked at Ash trying not to tear up. She was right he went through so much and found out information that changed his life forever. Karl felt his eye start to fill with tears, so he quickly turned to look out at the city again. Once he did Ash stepped closer putting her hand on his back.

    It has only been 2 days since he has received that call that has changed everything in his life. He could still remember it very clearly or at least part of that day. It was a very nice day in April the sun was out and not a cloud in the sky. It was that point in spring where everything has bloomed, and people are now cutting grass. Karl was walking on his lunch break passing the local playground and seeing the parents with their kids playing. Watching them play filled him with joy, his fiancé and him have been planning to adopt and start a family of their own. He walked past the park and to a group of his co-workers sitting at a table they were talking about a police chase that was going on in town. 

    Karl's phone rang he looked at it and it was the hospital Chase his fiancé worked at. Weird seeing the hospital call one rule was never to call while he was at work at the hospital unless it was an emergency. He answered it “Hello?”

    “Hi, there is this Karl?” He was thrown off by hearing a woman’s voice ask for him he was expecting Chase.

    “Um... Yes, this is him. Who is this?”

    “This is Carol I work with Chase. We are needing you to come to the hospital as soon as you can there have been an accident. Chase was walking a patient to their car in the parking garage and as he walked across the street a car that was speeding hit him the car was being chased by police. Chase is in critical condition and we are needing you here.” Karl was trying to process everything that was just said to him at the moment.

    “Is he okay? Will he survive?”

    “I am sorry, but I can’t discuss this over the phone Carl.” Carl looked around and Ash his friend, coworker and neighbor could see that something was wrong she quickly got up and went to him.

    “Karl is everything okay?”

    “It’s Chase... he was in some kind of accident. The hospital wants me to be there now.” At the table eating with them was his supervisor and she allowed Karl to leave work early. Ash got off early as well to drive him to the hospital because Karl was not in the right mind to drive.

    Once they arrived at the hospital, they were able to speak to a doctor who told Karl “Chase was hit at high speeds, he has broken ribs but the worse was his head injury and one of his lungs keeps collapsing. They were able to bring some swelling down around his brain. They were still trying to get him stable.”

    The waiting is what Karl hated. Minutes turned into hours of waiting. His phone would ring a few times as he waited but he did not want to talk to anyone at the moment. After a long wait, they came out to Karl and gave him the news which changed everything. “Karl I am sorry, but it seems like he is brain dead. His brain has suffered a lot of damage he is still alive but being kept alive from the machines. Anytime we try to take him off of one he crashes. I do know with him being an employee here that he is on an organ donner. I need your permission to do anything.”

    Karl broke down crying, he thought to himself this has to be a nightmare one of those long ones that's hard to wake up from. He went to the bathroom where he threw up and then tried to splash cold water on his face. When he exited the bathroom, the doctor was speaking to Ash which he gave permission to do so. “I need to... let his family know.” How long...?”

    “We can keep him on the machines for a while if you like.” Karl was exhausted, it's 2in the morning now and he still has not slept. Now he has to make the calls to Chase’s family. Calling his parents was hard then making the call to his sisters and brother was harder. Having to repeat the situation over and over, hearing each one start to cry. Most of his family is out of town and get her the next day.

    Back on the roof, Chase closed his eyes and tears fell down his face he turned to Ash he pulled a letter out of his pants pocket and handed it to her. “I got this in the mail I haven’t opened it they have also been calling me.” Chase pointed to his phone behind her. Ash looked at it and it was the adoption agency. She picked up his phone and unlocked it and was able to read the voicemail that was left. She looked up at him. “I don’t even want to know do I, just more bad news on top of everything.”

    “No Chase... You have been approved for adoption they have been trying to reach you to further the process...”