"Jason?" He heard a familiar voice say off to his left. He turned his head and saw Craig sitting right next to his bed. He noticed that he still had his clothes on, so he must not be too bad off.

"Jason? Do you know where you are at?" Craig answered, standing up so he could see Jason better.

"What is going on? Why am I here?" Jason asked, in a very confused tone. He was a little groggy and was trying to sort everything out in his head.

"You went a little nuts out there and you just fell over. So I brought you here in the van," Craig answered. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah...Oh God! Where is Adam? Is he still alive?" Jason asked, as he just figured out what had happened that night. Craig looked down and away from Jason.

Jason did not like this and he felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He sat up and made Craig look him in the face. "Tell me Craig!"

But Craig just looked down at the floor. His eyes began to water as he fought looking Jason in the face. However, Jason was determined to find out what was wrong. "Craig, he is my brother. I have a right to know!

"I don't know Jason. After you collapsed, the squad took off and that was the last that I heard," Craig said sitting back down. By now Jason, was sitting on the edge of the bed. "They came in and took blood from you. Chuck's parent's came back to check on you and they said that Chuck was going to be fine. I am supposed to go and let them know when you wake up. They are watching over you until your parents get here. I have no idea about Alyssa."

Jason looked at his arm. "Do you think they took blood for Adam?"

"Probably because they took two bags of it from you. Thank heaven that you told the paramedic that you were willing to give blood," Craig said. "Otherwise they would have had to wait until you came around."

"Jason! Are you alright?" He heard a voice say. "I thought you said you were not hurt. What is wrong? Chuck's mom said that you were in here." It was Laura Kramer. She grabbed a hold of Jason and almost smothered him. Jason could feel his mother shaking as she held him.

" I am fine, I just got a little upset," Jason replied, downplaying the situation. He did not want to worry his parents.

"Have you heard anything? We just got here," Mr. Kramer said. It was easy to see that he was very upset, but he was calmer than his wife was.

"No, it has been awhile," Craig said. "I will go and tell the front desk that you are here."

After Craig left, Mr. Kramer asked Jason if he knew what had happened. Jason told him what he knew from the accident scene and from Chuck. Mr. Kramer said that he would talk to the investigating officers after he knew that Adam was okay.

Craig came back into the room and Mr. Kramer was asking him about what he knew about the accident. However, everyone was mostly quiet. Mrs. Kramer sat in the bed, still holding on to Jason as if in fear of loosing him too. Chuck's parents came into the room to see if they had heard anything. Chuck had a badly sprained leg and had to have stitches on his face. He was so visibly upset that the doctor gave him something to calm him down and he had been asleep for the past hour. They said that Alyssa was in the operating room and that only an older lady had come to even see about her. This alarmed Mr. Kramer, but he was too worried about his own son at the time. Jason, however, was very angered by the absence of Alyssa's uncle. Even the thought of Alyssa angered Jason. He could not help but feel that she was responsible for Adam's predicament in some way.

"Jason, what on earth are you thinking about?"

It was Carl Kramer who broke the silence of Jason's thoughts.

"Uh?" Jason replied as he came out of his daze.

"You just had an awful look on your face," Mr. Kramer remarked.

"I can't help but wonder if it was truly an accident. And if I find out Alyssa had anything to do with it..." Jason said through his glinched teeth. "She will pay for what she has done to my brother."

"Jason, I don't think Alyssa meant for this to happen. She is in bad shape too," Craig spoke up. "She really liked Adam."

"Maybe that was the problem," Jason quipped.

"I don't think so! Alyssa would never hurt Adam. He was all she talked about!" An older lady said as she entered the room. "I am Clara. I have taken care of Alyssa and I know she does not have that in her heart."

"Maybe her whacked out uncle had a problem," Jason responded in an angry tone.

"Ashita would never harm anyone. He is a peaceful person," Clara said in defense of her "family". "He has had enough tragedy in his life without this happening."

"Then where is he?" Jason shot back. "If he is so worried, why isn't he here?"

"He is in seclusion praying and making offerings for her recovery," Clara answered with a sure and steady voice. She seemed very calm as she stood in the doorway. Her brown eyes looking straight into Jason's own angry eyes.

"Probably hiding the evidence," Jason quipped back at her.

"Jason! That is enough! As far as we know this was an accident and you will not talk to this lady like that," Mr. Kramer said as he reprimanded his oldest son. "You will apologize this minute!"

"He is just upset. I understand because I am angry too. Ashita should be here, but I can not question our leader, " she replied sympathetically. "I just wanted to see how your son was doing. Alyssa thought a lot of him. I have already spoke to Chuck's parents."

"We don't know yet," Mrs. Kramer answered softly. "How is Alyssa?"

"She will be fine, but she will have to make a lot of changes. The accident severed her spinal cord. They operated on her, but they think that she will be paralyzed from the waist down, "Clara said, her eyes watering as she spoke to the group. "She is still unconscious, but they said that she would probably be this way until tomorrow. We will know more when she wakes up."

"I am so sorry," Mrs. Kramer said as she walked forward to hug Clara.

"She is like my own daughter. How am I going to tell her? " She said, trembling. "She had dreams."

"It will be okay," Laura Kramer assured her. "They can do so much now and she is very smart."

About that time a man with scrubs peered into the room. "Is this the family of Adam Kramer?"

"Yes," Mr. Kramer replied as he walked over to his wife.

" I am Doctor Coykendall. I have just came out of surgery with your son. Please let me speak and then I will answer any questions that anyone has afterward."

Everyone nodded. Jason felt like his life was dependent on this moment so he took a deep breath. He knew it had to be bad if Alyssa was paralyzed. He tried to mentally ready himself for what he was about to hear.

"First of all, Adam quit breathing a total of two times. Once in the squad and once as he arrived here at the trauma center. We could not figure out why this was happening because he had a nice clear airway. After scanning his internal organs, we discovered an internal bleed in his spleen so we had to remove the spleen. It is a very small incision," Doctor Coykendall stated, using his hands to show the group where the incision was in relation to his own body.

A relieved sigh came from the listeners, but Doctor Coykendall spoke up again.

"That was the easy part of this case. Adam also has head trauma due to the nature of the accident. His brain is beginning to swell and we are trying to keep that under control. We can not cut into the skull to relieve this pressure due to his unstable vital signs. At this point he is in a coma. We are hoping that the brain will not swell anymore and that he will regain consciousness soon. But we will just have to wait and see. I will take questions now."

Mrs. Kramer was the first to speak up. " Is he in any danger?"

"At this point he is in the ICU unit. I don't know if he has suffered any brain damage at this point. The brain is a funny organ. I have seen people wake directly up and I have seen people have to relearn everything. It is a very individualized thing. He has to have a will to live because I myself am really surprised that he is even alive after being in that wreckage for some time. We had to give him blood from you oldest son just to be able to operate. I am very glad that we had that available without having to call the blood bank."

"Is he going to be able to recover if he is brain damaged? Are there other things to try?" Mr. Kramer asked, almost looking for hope. "He is not going to be a vegetable?"

"People do recover Mr. Kramer, yet some do not. He is not out of danger yet. Your family may still face some important decisions concerning if his brain activity ceases and organ donation. His license shows that he is an organ donor. However, let's remain positive," Doctor Coykendall said, noticing the looks of the Kramer family.

"Can he just wake up and be totally normal?" Mr. Kramer asked, holding his wife arm.

"It is very doubtful. He will have permanent problems, but how severe and to what extent is unknown at this time. He took some bad hits to the head. We are sure of that. The sooner he wakes up, the better the prognosis. He is still under medication at this point so I would give it at least 24 hours before I would start to take count.

"Is he going to die?" Jason said. That is the question that stuck in his head. "He is a fighter, but he can't fight if he is dead." He had been listening to the doctor with his head down, trying to control his emotions. But for this question he looked up and looked Doctor Coykendall straight in the eye. "Do YOU think my brother is going to die?"