“KRISH!”
Krish looked up to see Silas’s smiling face seconds before the tent collapsed. The pole Krish was standing near hit him in the head on the way down, leaving a stinging swipe down his scalp.
“Krish!” Silas untangled himself from the tent and ran toward him, pushing people out of the way.
The band all jumped back from the table… except Brains.
A group of kids fell onto the table, and it collapsed on top of him.
Fans scattered, and shouts filled Krish’s ears as something warm ran into his eyes, clouding his vision. Someone knocked into him, and he tripped over the curb and fell onto his ass. At least two people stepped on him before he scrambled back out of the way.
“Krish. Oh my God, you’re bleeding.”
“Silas, I’m so sorry. I wanted to tell you—”
“Stop. Let’s get you some help.”
Krish sat holding his head, stunned by the amount of blood that was running down his arm and feeling a bit faint. His father was a cardiologist, but he’d never done well with the sight of blood. It was a good thing he was sitting down, because his vision was spotty all of a sudden.
“Silas. Brains is hurt bad,” Jordan said as he ran toward them.
“Go to him,” Krish said. “I’m okay.”
Silas looked torn, and for a moment he stood and watched the chaos. He muttered, “What the fuck?” before attempting to reach Brains.
Security took several more minutes to settle things down. Krish saw several kids with scraped up legs who’d fallen in the ruckus. Medical personnel rushed to the tent, which several men were now trying to clear.
Krish’s blood turned cold when he heard Brains scream.
When the tent was finally pulled away, the scene was horrifying. Brains’s legs were under a now-flattened table. Mischa was on the ground as well. The first to get to Brains was an older man in plain clothes who said he was a medic. Brains grabbed for his hand and spoke to him as the medical staff worked on him. They moved the table away, fitted a neck brace on him, carefully loaded him onto a backboard, and then did the same with Mischa.
“He’s going to be okay,” the medic said to Los, who had tears running down his face.
Brains said something to the man, and he nodded and continued to hold his hand as they put the backboard on a stretcher and carried him to a waiting ambulance.
“Krish!”
Krish turned his head to find Jake running toward him. He was at his side in an instant with a woman on the medical staff, and she began looking at his head. Krish saw Silas run to Jessica. The two of them had a frantic conversation, and then they returned to Krish and Jake.
“God, Krish, what happened to you?”
“The tent came down and caught me on the side of the head. There must have been something metal sticking out. I’m okay, though.”
“Actually, this is going to require sutures, or staples maybe,” the medical staff said. “Is there someone who can take you to the hospital?”
“We will,” Silas said. “Brains and Mischa are going by ambulance. We’re going to follow in the bus. Can you stand?”
Krish tried to nod, but his head went fuzzy again. Silas took his hand and slowly pulled him up. He stumbled a little, and Silas steadied him.
“I got you,” Silas said softly. “I got you.”
Krish felt those three words were a little like “I forgive you,” but he didn’t want to get his hopes up. Silas kept a steadying arm around Krish’s back, and he was grateful.
“I’m coming with,” Jake said.
Jordan wandered over and leaned on Jake. He looked as dazed as Krish felt.
“What happened to you?” Silas asked, concern evident in his expression.
“I fell down. Hard. On my ass. The tent collapsed and fell over, and I kinda tripped over my own big-ass feet. I’m okay, just sore.”
“Anyone seen Los?” Jessica said, searching around frantically as they began to move in a group toward the bus. She called out his name, and he whistled from by the ambulance where they were loading Brains.
“I’m going to go grab him. You guys get to the bus and stay put. This place is a fucking disaster right now.”
“If you need to go with her, I’ll be okay,” Krish said. “You should go check on Brains.”
Silas once again seemed conflicted. He walked Krish over to Jake’s other side. “I really want to see him before they leave. Jake, don’t let him fall.”
“I won’t. I might trip him, but—”
“Not fucking funny,” Silas said. He gave Krish an exasperated look and squeezed his arm. Then he ran after Jessica.
They jogged together to the ambulance, and Krish saw him hug Los for a long time. He poked his head in the ambulance door and reached up to touch Brains’s foot, but had to step back as the paramedics closed the doors. Then he walked to the other ambulance and checked on Mischa. Theo was with her, holding her hand for support. When they lifted her inside, Krish saw Theo climb into the ambulance with her.
“Come on,” Jake said, moving their trio forward. “Let’s get you both on the bus. Krish, you’re bleeding through that bandage. We better get you to the hospital quick.”
“I need an ice pack,” Jordan moaned. “Damn, that hurt. I think I landed on something. My ass hurts like fuck.”
A couple of minutes after Jake got Krish and Jordan settled on the bus, Jessica and Silas made it in with Los, who thankfully was uninjured. The driver had to maneuver a bit to get them out of the line of buses, but they were soon on their way. Jessica sat up front with the driver to give him instructions. Jordan took a bunk with some ice from their freezer in a bag and moaned for a while until he got comfortable. Jake stood by him, a frown marring his face.
Silas sat next to Krish without speaking, but the rapid rate his leg was bouncing let Krish know how stressed he was.
“Who’s the guy with Brains in the ambulance?” Jessica asked as she joined them in the back.
Los shrugged. “I don’t know. He was at his workshop earlier.”
“You mean the guy he was having the crazy debate with?” Silas said, laughing. “I wondered if he knew him or something.”
“Who knows? When the paramedics started working on him, he grabbed the guy’s hand and was, like, not letting go.” Los crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.
“They think his leg might be broken,” Jessica added. They all exchanged worried glances at that news. “What even happened? I was just coming back from trying to find Krish when everything went to hell.”
“All I know is some drunk assholes were causing issues at the front of the line, so I told them to fuck off, basically. They were arguing when they moved to the side, but I don’t know what happened. I saw Krish, called to him, and was headed his way when the fucking tent got knocked to the side and fell over. I ducked out and found Krish bleeding, but there were people everywhere. How’d you get out?”
“I was headed to get security on those two bastards,” Los said. “I stepped out the back to wave someone down, and everything went crazy. They started beating the shit out of each other, and they knocked into a couple of kids… like, fell on them. One of the kids was with the guy that went with Brains. Like, maybe his kid or something.”
“Shit,” Silas said quietly.
“Silas?” Krish asked. “Can you help me—”
He held out his bloody hands, and Silas jumped up. “Let’s get you over to the sink.”
Krish stood while Silas scrubbed the blood off of his hands and arms. He was careful and gentle, and he muttered under his breath a few times, but Krish couldn’t tell if he was frustrated with the whole mess or something in particular.
“I’d get you a shirt, but you’re probably not done bleeding yet,” he said with a humorless laugh.
“Silas, I’m so—”
“Don’t fucking worry about that right now. Okay? All I care about is getting you to the hospital and stitched up, checking on my merch girl, and making sure my best friend is okay.”
“What about my ass?” Jordan whined from his bunk.
“Your ass comes fourth.”
There were a few snickers, but everyone was in shock and too out of it to joke around.
The bus was quiet the rest of the way to the hospital. The driver pulled up as close to the entrance as he could and still be able to get out. He told Jessica he’d be parked and ready for whatever. One by one they left the bus and Jessica counted heads.
“All right. How many of you need medical attention?”
“Jordan and Krish, I think, is it,” Silas said. “Jake?”
“I was with Jessica, watching all of the chaos unfurl.”
“Great,” Jessica said. “Let’s get everyone inside and see if they’ll tell me anything about Brains. Silas? They’re going to ask about next of kin. Do we know?”
Silas shook his head. “He won’t want them contacted. Guess you’re his sister or something.”
“I’m so glad you didn’t say his mom or I would have socked you, so help me God. Okay, Jake? You’ll get Jordan signed in?”
“Ain’t the first time and won’t be the last,” Jake said, rolling his eyes. “Krish, you need me to call your parents?”
“Not yet. I don’t want them to worry. I’ll call when we actually know something.”
“I can call for you,” Silas said. “I promised your mom I’d keep you safe, and I fucked up. Better if I tell her.”
“Silas—”
“Besides, you’ll just bleed all over your phone.” He offered a half smile.
Krish thanked him and went to sit with the others. His head still felt fuzzy, and he felt gross. A shower would have been heavenly.
What a mess. And poor Brains. A broken leg would be devastating to the band, sure, but he could have been killed. All because two drunk guys decided to get into a stupid brawl next to their tent. That type of stuff never happened at shows Krish had been to. He’d seen a couple of tussles, but this was like a mob scene. He hoped and prayed that none of the kids in line got hurt. He knew the band would feel awful if they had. Krish planned to write a blog post about what happened when his brain stopped spinning, so he could reassure folks that concerts are safe, relatively, and that anytime there was a large gathering of people, something like that could happen. It had nothing to do with the band or even the show. But that wouldn’t make the band feel any better if someone other than them got hurt.
“Okay, Mr. Guruvayoor, let’s take you back.”
Krish stood up shakily, and Silas walked with him, a hand supporting his lower back. His presence reassured Krish that all hope was not lost, but things were still incredibly awkward between them.
“Right in here,” the male nurse said as he guided Krish to sit down in a chair. “Okay. What happened?”
“A pole fell on me. I fell. I got stepped on. I don’t really know what else.”
The nurse chuckled and removed the bandage. “How long ago?”
Silas pulled out his phone. “Shit. Maybe an hour ago? I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”
The nurse kept sneaking looks at Silas as though he maybe recognized him or at least knew he was an important person.
The bandage came off, and Krish winced as Silas sucked in a breath.
“Holy fuck, Krish. That’s big.”
The nurse laughed a little louder this time. “I’ll say.”
“I’m serious, babe. That’s huge.”
“Stop,” Krish said, laughing a little bit too. He couldn’t look up at Silas as he was being worked on, and that was probably a good thing.
“I haven’t seen one this big for a while. Yeah, the doc is going to have to staple this.”
Krish looked at the guy’s badge. Garrett Chu. Garrett was a bit of a flirt, which normally wouldn’t bother Krish, but if he started flirting with Silas, he was going to tell him where he could stick his staples.
“And I have worse news. I’m going to have to shave around the wound.”
“Awesome,” Krish said, his head starting to pound. “Didn’t realize I’d be getting a makeover.”
Silas reached over and squeezed his shoulder, and the gesture made Krish breathe a little easier. As long as things were salvageable with Silas, he could handle this, even if it meant a new haircut.
Krish zoned out while the nurse got to work, first cutting his long curly locks and then shaving around the wound. They must have given him some numbing stuff, because once it came time for the doctor to staple him together, he just felt tugging on his skin and heard the clicking sounds. It was surreal.
When they finished, Krish looked up at Silas. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was chewing on a nail. He made eye contact and smiled a little at Krish.
“Okay, let’s finish cleaning this up, put some goo on it, and you’re good to go. Do you have someone to watch you—”
“Yeah. He does.”
The boldness in Silas’s tone made Krish’s wishful heart thud, but he didn’t want to read too much into it. For all he knew, Silas was doing what he did best, being good to others. If only they could get a moment alone to talk, but it was selfish of him to even think that while the band’s future was threatened by Brains’s injury.
Once Krish was fixed up, he excused himself to go to the restroom, and Silas said he was going to check on Brains. Their parting was awkward. Krish wondered if they would ever be able to have that easy way between them again.
He used the bathroom, and while washing his hands in the sink, he cringed over his appearance. He wasn’t a vain guy at all, didn’t really care much for his appearance, but having a big chunk of his hair gone on the side of his head was ridiculous. The staples, all twenty of them, were severe. His scalp was somewhat lighter than his face. Wow. Not attractive. And what if he had a huge scar? And what if his hair didn’t grow back right?
Yeah, and Brains might have a broken leg, and God only knew what had happened to Mischa, so get over yourself.
That thought sobered him enough to end his pity party and send him back to the waiting room.
No one familiar was around, so he took a seat in the corner by the door and rested his head against the wall with his eyes closed. He listened to the sounds of children fussing and adults scolding them, of sick people moaning softly, coughing, or even crying in one case.
It was the first time Krish had been on his own during a crisis, and he hadn’t fallen apart. His head hurt and he was going to look funny for a while, but he’d survived. He was making adult decisions and taking steps toward a self-sufficient life with his interview Monday—
The interview.
How the hell was he supposed to show up with his head stapled together? How could he leave Silas and the band in this state? And would Silas even want him to be there for him? So many questions with no answers, so he just sat there, trying his best to block out the noise and concentrate on what he did have control over.
“HEY, YOU’RE not supposed to be asleep, are you?”
Jake nudged Krish’s foot, which had fallen asleep. Krish opened his eyes and tried to shake out his foot.
“I can sleep. I just have to be woken up. But honestly, I don’t think I have a concussion or anything.”
Jake laughed. “Well, you’re awake now. You look fantastic,” he said, brushing some of Krish’s hair to the side. “Like Indian Frankenstein.”
“Shut up. How’s your brother?”
“Bruised but fine. Mischa broke her wrist, they think. Waiting on X-rays. Brains is bad, though. He fractured his femur. They don’t think they need to do surgery, but they need to do more X-rays once the swelling goes down and see if there’s anything else going on.”
“That’s awful,” Krish said, any humor between them totally evaporated. “They just started the tour.”
“Yeah. The guy with Brains, his name is Paul, he said he’s taking Brains back to his house from here. I think we’re going to follow in the bus.”
Krish frowned. “Okay. Yeah. You’re going to stick around?”
Jake nodded. “Jordan was pretty stressed about everything. I’ll stay long enough to make sure he’s hanging in there, and then I’ll go home. How about you?”
Krish shrugged. “I’m supposed to go to the interview Monday in San Francisco.”
Jake beamed. “I’m excited for you. That’s exactly what you were hoping for. I want everything to work out,” he said, looking around. “Especially with Silas.”
Krish smiled. “Thanks.” He wanted to be excited about the job, but he wanted to know where he stood with Silas even more. Maybe he had his priorities mixed up, but that’s how he felt.
Krish’s phone buzzed. Chantal. He was doing a terrible job so far on his internship.
I heard about what happened, and I heard you went to the hospital with Hush. Are you okay?
Krish sighed. How was he supposed to answer that?
Mostly. Staples in my head. Being watched for concussion, but I don’t think I got hit that hard. I’ll be okay. I’m sorry.
Her answer came back shortly.
Don’t be sorry! I’m glad you’re okay. Kevin said to please pass along his well wishes to the band and for them to keep us posted. Do you have any updates?
Krish was faced for the first time with a conflict of interest involving his relationship status with Silas. People would expect him to give details on the band, and he was absolutely not going to do that. He would never be like one of the assholes who did them wrong in the media. This was one of his worst fears moving into journalism from what he’d been doing. He’d never wanted to put the story before humanity. Humanity was the story for him, and he wanted to do everything in his power to help people, not hurt them. It was one of the tenets he’d been taught to live his life by. Do no harm.
Chantal wanted an answer.
It would be best to ask Jessica. I don’t have any updates on the band. Thank you for checking on me, and again, I’m sorry I’m falling down on my intern duties.
Shit. San Francisco. Speaking of duties. He needed to let her know.
I have been asked to come to San Francisco to the Alt-Scene offices on Monday morning. I’m going to get myself there, and then I’ll let you know when I will be rejoining the tour. I’m sorry if this causes any problems. I feel like I haven’t really earned my intern badge.
He hoped he wasn’t blowing his opportunity, but he had no control over any of it. He was an unpaid intern only because the tour and magazine had to do something to get him there. He couldn’t worry about it right then. His head was pounding.
OMG Krish your poor head! Don’t worry about us. Just take care of yourself. The ‘intern’ duties are all taken care of. Are you sure you don’t need anything? I can come to you if you need. I’m responsible for you.
They’d barely had any time together, but she’d been so nice to him.
I’ll be okay, but thank you. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all you’ve done. I’ll see you soon. I’ll keep you posted.
She texted a final goodbye, and Krish’s phone gave up the ghost. He hadn’t even told his parents anything yet. He was just so tired….