All Falls Down

Jimmy sank into the driver's seat after he tossed his cellphone into the center console. He knew Brian would be a bit upset by him telling Matt and Val to quit searching the beach, but it was a lost cause searching a place that Reggie hated. She despised going to the beach. Everyone knew that. If they could get her to go she'd just spend her time on the pier either shopping or with her acoustic guitar providing sweet melodies to the tourists as they surrounded her. He knew in his heart that Brian knew that, but he couldn't leave any place unchecked.

He understood his best friend's desperation to find his wife. They'd already checked the local hospital in Huntington and were currently checking Long Beach General. Jimmy allowed Brian to go inside on his own as he checked the list of hospitals. Brian's handwriting was frantic chicken scratch across the page. He tried making out a few names on the list, but it was impossible. He put the list back onto the seat just as he saw Brian being escorted out of the hospital by security.

A string of curse words spilled out of Brian's mouth as the guards tried their best to subdue him. He didn't mean to grab the nurse's arm that way, but she had an attitude. He only asked her to check if there was someone admitted under the name Regina Murray-Haner. She was so preoccupied with her manicure that she didn't even attempt to check for him. So against his better judgment he reached over the nurse's station and grabbed her – perhaps a little too tightly.

Immediately he felt bad for being so angry that he lost control and hurt the young woman. He let her go, but that alone couldn't make up for what he had done. He looked at the woman and all he could see was what he had done to Regina. This was all his fault anyways. If he had just kept his mouth shut and not push the conversation with her then she would be at home now. There were so many different ways that it could have been handled, but he chose to do something that he thought he incapable of doing.

He tried to apologize to the nurse, but she called for security. He was willing to leave quietly on his own and never return to the premises. The guards, however, had a different plan entirely. They had been rude from the moment he stepped out of the small office just to the side of the registration desk. The more Brian insisted that he was okay and that he didn't need them to escort him the more physical the guards became. By the time he got outside he and the guards were in a glorified shouting match.

Jimmy sat in the car watching as his friend continued to yell obscenities at the security guards. As he continued to watch the situation he noticed one of the guards place his hand on his taser. He quickly got out of the car and ran to Brian's aid, “It's okay. He's with me.”

The guard nodded and shoved Brian into him.

“Fucking rent a cop,” he yelled as the men walked back inside. Brian readjusted his clothing and stormed away to the car.

“What the fuck happened dude?” asked Jimmy as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“I don't want to talk about it,” snapped Brian as he scribbled out the name of the hospital on his list, “Wyndsor Medical Center.”

Jimmy's blood froze in his veins. Why out of all hospitals did he have to check out [i]that[/i] hospital? He had done his best to stay away from that place, “I highly doubt that she's at Wyndsor. That place is nothing more than a glorified rehab center.”

“Do you know where the fuck she is? Unless you can fucking make Reggie appear before my eyes then we're going to fucking Wyndsor,” Brian barked. He hated being that way with his best friend, but he was desperate. He needed to see Regina. He needed to know that she was okay. Until then he wasn't going to be his normal goofy self.

Jimmy pulled into the parking lot of the small hospital and watched as Brian hopped out of the car. He was going to let him go inside on his own, but the voice in the back of his head told him to go. He followed him inside slowly as Brian rushed inside to the reception desk. As Brian talked with the nurse Jimmy took in his surroundings. Things had changed since the last time he had been here. There were more patients roaming the halls and there wasn't the usual overpowering stale sterile smell in the air. Then the subtle smell of lavender hit him. As he looked down he saw those doe-like brown eyes that he fell in love with long ago.

“Hi,” he waved nervously unsure of her reaction to him. She wasn't really paying attention to him standing there. She was a bit disheveled and confused. She was having one of her minor episodes.

“One twenty three, one twenty five, six steps...six steps...six steps to the left. No, to the right. You know this. You fucking know this,” she whispered to herself as she counted on her thin fingers. She wrapped her finger around her hair tugging on the ends lightly.

“There you are Ms. McFadden,” said her day nurse Corey. Jimmy had made sure that Leana was constantly cared by the same two nurses so that it kept down on her confused states. Corey tried his best to usher Leana back to her room, but nothing he did was working.

She looked at the nurse, but he was unrecognizable. She kept trying to fight his grasp and Jimmy knew this wasn't going to end well. When he first brought her here she had been going in and out of her trance like episodes so often that she couldn't remember where she was and who the people around her were so they had to sedate her. Jimmy hated watching them when they sedated her the first time. She was kicking and screaming so they had to hold her down. The worst part of the entire ordeal was that she was screaming for him to help her. He knew that this place was best for her as the unforgiving disease took over.

Jimmy glanced up at the registration desk and saw that Brian was still preoccupied with the nurse, “Don't worry about it. I'll take her back up to her room. If she doesn't mind?”

Leana looked into his crystal blue eyes and felt her insides explode with pure excitement. She was drawn to him, but she couldn't understand why. He didn't look like any of the other people who worked in the hospital. They were mostly clad in mismatched one size too small scrubs and an array of colorful Crocs. He was tall, but he didn't tower over her too much. A bit on the lanky side without too much muscle although his tattoo covered arms gave him a bit of a dark edgy look.

Part of her thought she should have been afraid of him, but he didn't scare her. He seemed like a friend she lost long ago. She took his hand in her own and pulled him along the hallway with her. Jimmy followed along with her until they reached the elevator. She stopped staring at it confused as to the next step to get back to her room and he pressed the button to go up. One ding and a quick ride up to the fifth floor they were both to her home of the Rehabilitation and Psychiatric Center of Wyndsor Medical Center.

“Three twenty one, three twenty five, six steps ahead, three twenty six. Ah, three twenty seven. Here you are my lady,” said Jimmy in poor English accent as he opened her room door.

“You want to see my room?” she asked quietly.

Jimmy smiled at the thought. It had been almost a month since his last visit. He hated not being able to see her, but with his recent schedule it was hard. It was even harder for him to see her in this condition. Although seeing the smile on her face now made his heart swell. He stepped inside her room and he was greeted with a mini tropical oasis. Even though he couldn't visit as much as he wanted he often sent her little things that he knew she would love.

“You must really like the beach,” he said as he reached up and held a sea shell.

“You know I love the beach Jimmy,” she smiled. She reached up wrapping her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. In this moment Jimmy and Leana were one. They didn't speak they just held one another hoping they would be granted forever, but just as quickly as their moment came it was taken away.

For a moment he had his best friend and lover. The one person who understood and loved him unconditionally for the rest of his life. They were once one vibrant soul and now they were two lost souls trying to find one another for comfort. He released her and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was slowly slipping away from him.

Leana looked up at the man who was standing in her room. He was tall and lanky, but part of her yearned for him she just didn't understand why. She longed for something outside of the walls of the hospital and somehow she felt that it belonged to him.

“This is where the fuck you ran off to?” snapped Brian as he propped against the doorway. Jimmy moved Leana behind him. Not that she cared because something about the vibes coming off the man in the black beanie made her extremely nervous.

“Brian man I can explain,” rambled Jimmy, “I was just helping her to her room and I lost track of time.”

Brian was scribbling another name from his list unaware that his best friend's wife was hiding in plain sight, “Huh? We need to get going before I get myself thrown of here too. The fucking nurse thought that I wanted to see Reginald Murrey, a heroin addict from Long Beach. He's a forty-two year old white man with dark curly hair. I almost lost it on her when she brought me up to his room.”

“Uh, yea I'll meet you in the car,” Brian walked away and Jimmy finally let out the breath he'd been holding. He turned to see Leana slowly backing away from him and he smiled softly. He reached into his jacket pocket and he pulled out a small angel figurine that he always carried with him so that he'd always have a piece of her with him where ever he went. She took the angel in her small hands and smiled brightly.

“I'll see you again soon Leana,” he said as he backed out of the room slowly. He took one final look into the room and he watched as she placed the small angel on her shelf of sea shells. He slowly walked away from the room and the thought of seeing her again was once again on his mind. He was lost without her, but trying to distance himself from her wasn't going to work either. It was time for him to embrace the few moments they were going to have with one another instead of waiting for the Angel of Death to take his lovely little angel away.