Chapter Four: Will Visits

Josh put down the letter. He was speechless. Of all the things he would have expected, this was the last. He didn't know what to do. Ever since he'd moved in, it seemed as though Ember had gone out of her way to be rude to him, to cause him misery. He could recall many times that she had been openly hostile and even malicious towards him, for no apparent reason. And yet here in his hands was an apology for all those things. Josh was confused. This had been one of the most solid things in his life. And it had changed. But he wasn't upset about it. Quite the contrary. He was quite pleased. Maybe he could finally ask Ember out, as he'd been wanting to for a few years. Maybe there was a chance now that she would say yes to him.
Josh reread the letter. He held it in his hands for an hour, and when he began dozing off, he put it back in the envelope, then put the envelope on the table next to his bed. Then he went to sleep, and not waking up until morning the next day.

Josh woke early the next morning. The sun was just beginning to shine over the horizon and in through his window. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was warm and cozy. It was barely six o'clock. So he rolled over and watched the sunrise. The glorious colors shone in a warm light that filled his room. Reds and oranges filled the sky.
It's days like this, he thought, That I'm happy to be alive. It seemed only seconds later that somebody was tapping his shoulder gently. Josh sat up with a start, and looked about. It was much later in the day than he remembered.
"Sorry about that. But you were asleep."
"Will?" Josh was thrilled that somebody had come to see him. He'd been so bored all day.
"Who else? How are you?" Will looked at Josh. "What's the official damage?"
"Eh. I'm alright. Only have a broken nose, stitches in three places, immobilized shoulder, concussion, and major bruising everywhere."
"Three places? That's pretty impressive! Where?" Will inquired as he pulled up a chair to the side of Josh's bed and sat on it.
Josh pointed as he spoke. "Here on my jaw, down my chest, and on my forearm."
Will pulled a face. "That's really unfortunate. I'm sorry!"
"Yeah. It's a bit uncomfortable, really."
"And your shoulder is... immobilized? Care to expound on that one?"
"Well we're not sure about it. The doc wants to x-ray it later this afternoon. He thinks it may be broken."
"Sheesh! Why didn't he do it yesterday?"
"There was a little..." Josh pulled a face. "Commotion around here..."
Will raised his eyebrow inquisitively.
"Well, they had to sedate me while they were stitching me up because I became conscious sooner than they expected."
"Nice one!" Will laughed. "Is that all though? Seems pretty petty to put off an x-ray on account of sedation."
"No, no... it turns out that the anesthesiologist gave me a serious overdose of whatever they were using... and I didn't wake up until late last night."
"Oh man! That's awful! He could lose his job because of that!"
"I sure hope something happens to him. I could have died!" Josh exclaimed.
"No kidding!" Will agreed.
"I really think that they should have just x-rayed me while I was out. No chance of me moving while I'm out like that!"
"Yea. But the staff here in this particular hospital don't have the greatest reputation for their brains. How some of them ever made it past their first year in medical school, I'll never know."
Josh and Will both laughed at this. Then they were quiet for a minute.
Josh looked at Will. "So... I got a letter yesterday after I woke up."
"Oh really? Who was it from?"
"It's there on the table top, find out for yourself."
Will took the letter in his big hands and read it. When he finished, he looked up at Josh. "Step one: Break the Ice. Completed. Finally!" Will laughed. "And you didn't even have to do any work! She came to you. Good going!"
"What do you mean?"
"She brought you this letter. With an apology and a thank you. She doesn't think  she can ever pay you back for what you did. So I suggest you play off of that."
"Oh. And do you have any other useful suggestions?"
"Just go right up to her and say 'Hey Em! How's it going?' and she'll say 'Go away. I already said sorry.' " Josh laughed. "Oh stop it." He said.
"Then you say 'I know how you can repay me.' and she'll say 'I told you that I couldn't.' Then YOU have to say 'It won't cost you anything but time.' And then she'll probably either look interested or say 'Pervert!' And then you say..."
"Please?"
"That could work. Then she will think about it."
"And then I'll say 'It'll only be a few hours. A movie and dinner.' "
"And she'll look at you. Smile kindly at her. Then she'll agree. Are you ready to get out of here so that you can talk to her?"
Josh's confidence wavered. "Maybe not yet." He said.
"When are they going to check you out of here?" Will asked.
"Tomorrow probably. If everything goes well. They still have to x-ray my arm and 'determine the extent of my head injuries.' "
"You're going to have a busy day."
"Yeah."
Both of the boys thought for a minute.
"Look, Josh. There's nothing for you to be afraid of. You risked your life for her. She'll go with you to get dinner. She will. It's the least she can do."
"You make it sound like I'm some courageous hero or something. I'm not, Will. I'm not."
"Josh, listen to me. You are a hero. Maybe you don't feel like one, but to Ember you are. Those guys, they wouldn't have stopped hitting you until you were dead. They would have killed Ember if you hadn't intervened."
"I don't even remember it, really. Just what my mom told me happened."
"Wow, that's an impressive head injury."
"Yeah, and it hurts like hell."
"Well, would you like me to tell you about it?"
"Sure. But don't exaggerate TOO much." Josh replied.
"Aw, that's no fun!" Will complained.
"You'll get over it." Josh stated humorously.
"How far do you remember, precisely?"
" I remember.... coming out of school with you... and seeing a big crowd. We walked towards it. Then everything goes black."
"Well," Will narrated, "We walked towards the crowd, wondering what the ruckus was all about. Halfway there, we realized that there was a person in the middle of it, but we couldn't see who it was because there were too many people.
"You walked up to the crowd and peered in, and then I guess you discovered the victim. You jumped into the middle of the crowd, and that's the last I saw of you. After you jumped in, they attacked you like angry piranhas and I saw Ember getting out of the crowd. I figured I better go get some help or else. So I brought back some of the admins. After they disassembled the mob-which wasn't very easy-they found you lying there. An ambulance came shortly thereafter and you know the rest, I guess."
Josh sat there and pondered the events that his friend had just informed him of. "Well, I've come to the conclusion that you're as much of a hero as I am. If it hadn't been for you, they would have killed me."
"But there's a difference. You see, I wasn't risking anything to go get help. You risked everything. You risked your life."
"Well..." Josh couldn't think of anything else to say. Just then, his mom came in.
"William! It's good to see you. Are you staying long?"
Will glanced at Josh. "No," He said. "I'd actually better get going. My mom will KILL me if my homework doesn't get done tonight."
"Bye Will!" Josh said as his friend walked out the hospital room door.