My phone rings in my back pocket. When I look at it, I'm surprised at whose name comes up. A part of me thinks I might be dreaming.

"Hey Jake," I greet.

But I barely even got the words out before Jake starts blubbering at me.

"Tristan, you have to come back. You have to come back right away because Orion. Orion-he-he did something stupid, and I don't know what's going on, and Simon asked me to call everyone, and-"

The very pit of my stomach went cold, feeling like it had dropped right out of my body. "Woah woah woah, Jake, what? Slow down, you're not making sense-"

"You have to get on the first flight you can, but aren't you like, five hours away? Fuck, if he dies and you're not here-"

"Dies?! Who the fuck is dying?"

"O-Orion," Jake had hiccupped at me. And as my world tilted, and I thought for a moment I might actually faint, Jake somehow managed to cry harder. I could barely understand the man. "Simon found him, and he said, he said he took a bunch of pills, and I'm at the hospital right now but they're not giving me any details-"

"Fuck!" I shout, going into a full blown panic immediately. "Jake-are you alright? Is someone with you?"

"B-Ben's here. Gloria is on her way. I called-wait, hold on, a nurse wants to talk to me-"

But instead of waiting, I hung up and booked a flight to Vermont.

Next thing I know I'm at the hospital, rushing down the hallway. I don't get very far before a nurse stops me.

"Excuse me sir, can I help you?"

I grab the nurse. "Orion Bauwens-is he-is he here? I'm supposed to meet Jacob Larson and Benjamin Hill here-"

"May I have your name?"

"Tristan. My name is Tristan Smith."

"Can I please see your ID?"

"What?" I balk. "See my ID?! I don't fucking have time for this-"

"Sir, I once again kindly ask you for your ID-"

Annoyed, I fish my wallet out from my back pocket. "I swear to everything that's holy if he dies before I see him because you held me up-"

After looking my ID over, the nurse looks sympathetic and nods. "Follow me."

It seems like forever before we get to the third floor. As soon as the elevator doors slide open, I want to run, I want to find Orion, even if I have no idea where I'm going to. Instead I merely walk behind the nurse, wishing we would walk faster.

By the time I'm led to the small waiting room, everyone except Gloria is there. As soon as he sees me, Jake gets to his feet and rushes over. He had been texting me the entire plane ride, simply "he's alive" at random intervals. It was a minor consolation, but I genuinely appreciated it. It was the only thing keeping me from losing my damn mind on the plane and scaring the rest of the passengers.

Jake starts to cry as Ben gets to his feet. I pull Jake into a tight hug immediately. I want to cry, but fuck that. Jake looks absolutely wrecked. Everyone looks wrecked. So I do something I'm really good at; be strong for everyone. I can fall apart once we have definitive answers.

"What in the hell happened?" I manage, not liking how my voice broke. "Why am I here?"

Jake pulls away from me, wiping his eyes. Off to the side, Amy had started crying, clinging to an older woman. Orion's brothers are there as well, the eldest drinking coffee, the other looking like he's trying really hard not to cry.

"Simon called," Jake filled me in with a quivering voice. "He's in jail because he gave Orion some pills-"

I run my hands through my hair. "What the fuck..."

"And we don't know what all he took. They drew blood but the results haven't come back yet-"

"It's been five hours!" I holler.

"The labs are behind," Ben tells me quietly.

"Well how the fuck are they treating him if they don't even know-"

"Tristan," Jake interrupted me. "I'm getting to that."

I cross my arms. "Sorry."

Jake's face crumples again, but his red rimmed eyes no longer release any tears. "They, uh, they pumped his stomach. Simon and the ambulance arrived at the same time, and he was unconscious and had started vomiting-"

I sink into an empty chair and hold my head. "Fuck..."

"So they cleared his airway, got him here and pumped his stomach three times."

"Didn't pump it," Ben corrected, "they shoved a tube down his throat and filled him with charcoal."

"Activated charcoal," one of Orion's little brother's basically whispers, the one who is trying not to cry.

"The fuck does that do?" I bark.

"Stops whatever drugs he took from absorbing into his bloodstream," Ben replies.

"Further."

I look over. It's Amy who said that, and she's glaring at me, but I know it's not at me.

"It stops whatever he took from getting into his bloodstream further."

I swallow, because Amy looked scary, and she also looked so much like her brother, and it was breaking my heart.

"They're worried because he hasn't woken up yet," she finishes, angrily wiping a tear off her cheek.

It's stupid, but it strikes me how she and Orion even look the same when they cry. Their skin is porcelain, so their faces and eyebrows turn all red, and their chins wrinkle with the texture of alligator's skin. And while Amy's eyes are pale, almost ice-like compared to Orion's dark orbs, they're even rimmed bright red the same way.

"What does that mean?" I ask Amy in a panic. I swivel my head to look at Jake and Ben. "What does that mean?"

And then there's a flurry of activity, and some nurses and doctors rush down the hallway, and I immediately worry they're going to Orion's room. I look back at Amy, who merely shrugs at my question and goes back to crying.

"They're also worried that the tube might've torn his throat," Jake explains.

"Wow," I say, and I couldn't help myself, but I laughed. "This just keeps on getting better and better."

There's a drawn out pause. I don't look at anyone. I can't. So I just sat in my chair, staring at the floor instead.

~

Slowly, my eyes peel open. It takes me a moment to get my bearings.

I wasn't in the hospital waiting room. Orion had survived, and was at a rehab facility right now. Everything that had just happened was a memory, just a nightmare.

Yet somehow, even with that knowledge clutched in my mind, it didn't help. I was still miserable. I feared that nightmare would haunt me for years to come, just like the nightmares of my brother.

I didn't want to do that to myself. I couldn't do that. So instead I rolled over, closed my eyes, and told myself I was done with Orion.

For good.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hey guys. I wasn't sure how well this would work, and how apparent it would be that Tristan was dreaming about what happened. From an artistic standpoint, I do want there to be some confusion; I want it to be like what happens in dreams, where you don't know you're dreaming at first.

But, if it's just confusing, can you please leave a comment and I'll edit it accordingly?

Thank yooooooou.

~Sarah