I was balancing Mari on one arm while trying to open a can of dog-food with the other when my phone started ringing. Of course. Always in the worst moments. But maybe it was Jack. It was already 6.30 pm and he still wasn’t home. I was a little mad at him but maybe he had already made friends. I trusted him not to drink.

I set down Mari in her chair and patted the overly excited dog Danny before taking the call.
“Mr Gaskarth? Baltimore State hospital calling. We have your husband here, we found your number in his address book,” a female voice said. I stood still. Jack. What had happened?

Anxiety started rising, sickening me.

“Um… Yes? What is it with him?” I wanted to know, my voice quivering. Please God, let him be okay.

“We need you to come here. This information is confident,” she replied.

“Just tell me, is it bad?” I asked, tears already streaming down my face.

“We don’t know yet.” With that, she ended the call and left me standing there. Mari started crying, the dog started barking and I was in the middle. I poured some food into the dog’s bowl and Danny started eating happily.

I packed Mari into her buggy and gathered some things for Jack, for example a toothbrush and underwear. I got in the car and drove off.

---

At the hospital, I was led to see Jack after I had showed them my ID to confirm that I was, in fact, Jack’s lawfully wedded husband. I pushed Mari’s buggy in front of me and soon arrived at Jack’s room.

“Mr Gaskarth, in here is your husband. If you would like to enter…” the nurse, a woman with quite some curves, said. I pushed open the door and went inside. Jack was on the bed, his face looking slightly green. I approached him. He didn’t open his eyes.

“We’ve had to put him under general anaesthetics to pump his stomach, he should wake up soon. It appears he has had some kind of poisoning. We picked him up at a bar together with two of his friends,” the nurse softly explained.

Jack? At a bar? What was going on?

“Could I maybe see his friends?” I requested. She nodded and pointed to two chairs behind me. I hadn’t even noticed the man and the woman sitting there.

“Hello, I am Alyssa Marbler,” the woman said, standing up, eyes rimmed red. “We are so sorry about Jack. He was just taking a shot with us but then he collapsed.”

“He had a shot? Why? He isn’t supposed to drink alcohol!” I exclaimed furiously, not sure whether I was angrier at Jack or Alyssa and the guy. The very one got up to look at me.

“I’m Martin Almar. We are so sorry. We didn’t know he had problems with alcohol and we kinda persuaded him to have a shot. We called an ambulance immediately,” he explained.

“Well, there he is now. Thanks.” With that I ignored them, turning to Jack. I sat down by his side and stroked his cheek.

“Jay… Wake up. I love you,” I whispered in his ear. I put back an errant strand of his hair and looked at him closely. He was still greenish but better than before. A teensy bit of stubble was growing on his chin. He looked good to me.

“Please wake up. I miss you,” I added. And his eyelids started fluttering! He slowly opened his eyes so I could appreciate their full beauty. Brown, very dark and so deep you could probably fall in them and never get out again.

“Hi Jay,” I greeted him, snuggling close to him. I laid down on the bed and thanked God for Jack being alive and well.

Notes

Wow yay Jack's alive! c:
It's kinda weird to have a hospital scene in both my current stories haha :P

Guys, please please comment!

-Laura