Jake Bellerose's Story

---

---

Jake Bellerose sat alone. In the corner, as he had most days since he was checked into the hospital. With him sat his plate, on which sat three bananas and a muffin, his journal, and a glass of milk. There he had sat, and there he had silently watched the other patients go about their breakfasts, talk with their friends, and generally find happiness despite the less then fortunate events that had landed them in this miserable place. Jake was far from happy. He was, in his opinion, out of shape. Granted, this thought was largely untrue. Jake was still significantly more in shape then the majority of boys his age. But the doctors had advised that he ceased his normal workout routine until after his body had adjusted to the his new medications.

However, Jake was not only unhappy. Jake was also lonely. He had barely talked to any of the other young patients in this hospital. He had a room to himself, which would likely be considered a blessing by many, but this, coupled with his newly hurt self esteem, had caused him to avoid contact with his fellow patients. He had no one to, for lack of a better word, commiserate with. And had, over the past month slowly and methodically bottled away all of his feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy that had came with his diagnoses.

And so Jake sat. Alone. At a corner table. In the cafeteria in the pediatric ward of the Arden Hill Hospital in Los Angeles. Feeling small and helpless and alone. And he watched as a very attractive girl from his ward, whos name he had not yet learned walked into the cafeteria and got her tray. He watched as she sat at the table, that the other teenagers always sat at. The possibility of getting up and sitting with them had occurred to him a great many times over the past month, but he had always decided against it. They all already seemed like such good friends. And he likely wouldn't fit in. But then he would mentally attack himself for deciding against it.

He was Jake Bellerose. He was the high school football captain. He was confident. He was charming. He was perfect. Well. He WAS Jake Bellerose, football captain, most popular guy in school, confident, charming, and perfect. Now he was Jake Bellerose, a mentally shattered hospital patient. His self esteem was as broken as his liver. He was, in many ways, a hollow shell of his former self.

There was absolute silence in the room. It was dark, curtains were drawn, and if it weren't so clean, you would think it were a set meant for horror films.

That, or you would realize it was around 6:30. In the morning. However, this didn't mean the room was empty. It currently had a single occupant, who was gripping his smartphone, wide awake. Or at least as awake and alert as one who was dealing with cancer medicine hangover could.

He was waiting on a call. From his youngest sister. He would wait for up to two hours, to make sure he didn't miss it. It wasn't like she missed him so much she had to call him at that hour. It was more that she needed help with her homework and Rose was completely useless. She wasn't stupid or anything, it was just that homework was her kryptonite. She could barely do her own, much less Evie's. And Sara was never considered for homework help, for some reason.

The phone screen lit up, as the call came in. It didn't even get a chance to buzz, Henry had already taken the call. "Gooooood mooooorniiiiing~" he slurred. Well. His mouth seemed to want 5 more minutes to sleep, but that wasn't stopping him from forcing a smile for his little sister, who was way more awake and had already dressed for school.

~
He decided against snoozing a bit after the call ended, two hours later. She hadn't needed so much help, it was just a study guide for a test that she needed to fill in and memorize. Teachers seemed to get more and more brutal. She was ten. And she already needed study guides. But she spent a good bulk of the time telling him that her report card came in, and that her mom would start letting her drop by again.

Rose and Sara had a bit more freedom to drop by, the high school wasn't that great a detour on the way home and vice versa, but the elementary school was farther. So Evie needed a ride. And the price for the ride was good grades, which had dropped significantly after the hospice incident, but many early mornings( ,bedtime stories, and good nights) later her grades improved. That put Henry in a good mood too, even after the slow first hour of adjusting to the fresh batch of IV medication, before they let him shower-without the IV- and going to the cafeteria with the rest of the meds in one hand, in a little condiment dish, as he called it. The other held the cane. Without it, walking was considerably more painful, but he couldn't take any more meds for pain and he didn't want a wheelchair.

"Oh hell yes," he cheered to himself as he saw the breakfast spread. He put 4 pancakes, a banana, and a glass of orange juice on his tray, setting his little condiment dish between the banana and pancakes, and proceeded to walk towards the usual table, before stopping suddenly.

Despite the fact that everyone in the cafeteria was sick and probably almost on their way out- either because they got better, as not everyone was terminal, or because they suddenly took the fast track to heaven, like his old roommate, who had gone into ICU late one night and never came back- almost no one sat alone. Except for that one guy. He was newish, but he hadn't tried going up to anyone, and no one had gone up to him, apparently.

He decided the guy was probably a bit introverted and had a hard time branching out, so he decided to pull him into the circle so he wouldn't be alone. As he approached and sat down across from him, he noticed that the guy was pretty well built, despite having been here for a while. Henry didn't look like a pipecleaner yet, but he had leaned out, and the meds made him too sick to try anything to change his body type. "Food's great here, right?" He asked, before moving the condiment dish to the side so it wouldnt be in the way as he began sawing away at the pancakes. He decided just being as casual as possible wouldn't startle him to silence, but catch him off guard enough to get the conversation going.

It was painful to wake up. Adam tried not to wince as he felt some stomach pains as his body shifted to a sitting, and then to his normal standing position. He arched his back, placing his one hand in the center and feeling, and hearing it crack. He took a deep breath in, and then exhaled. This was his normal routine, day in and day out. His eyes wandered around his blank room. There wasn't much around. White walls, tile floor, one window, and a bed. Across from his bed was a dresser full of clothes. There was also a night stand next to his bed. All that was on it was a copy of One flew over the cuckoo's nest, a polaroid photo of his mom when she was a kid, and a pack of cigarettes. He has read that book at least six times before he got bored with it. It sort of made him feel at home in the hospital, since it was about the same type of subject.

There wasn't much to do in his room. Adam just let it be like that. Before he went to take a shower, he grabbed his cigarettes and went to an open window. He slid one out, lit it and smoked for a few minutes. After he let it drop and stomped it out, Adam went to the bathroom with a towel. He dropped his sweatpants and boxers, and took off his shirt before stepping in the shower. It was a short shower, but it felt good as the warm water soothed his skin. Adam finished washing himself and stepped out, drying off with the towel and going back to his room. He dropped the towel and went to his dresser, putting on boxers, jeans, and a white v-neck.

Adam slowly made his way out of his room and into the hallway where his day really began. Nothing ever really happened, and every day seemed to drag on, but he just went with it. One of the few pick-ups that he had was seeing and hanging out with Isabella. He's been with her for a while, and every time he is with her, there are always joyous thoughts going on inside of his head. It was one of the few times when he actually doesn't feel depressed. Adam's walking led him right to the cafeteria. There he could smell the fresh pancakes. It made him hungry. He went right up and got himself a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice. He looked around to see who was sitting where. He saw Henry sitting and trying to cheer up that new kid. Adam thought about going over, but then saw Isabella sitting at the usual table. Adam walked over, taking a seat next to her. He didn't look at her once he sat down, but just said a simple ""Hey," and took a swig of his orange juice.

Elyse had been told for awhile that she'd be getting a roommate. It didn't really bother Elyse much, it would give her someone new to talk, and a fresh breath of air. She didn't have any particular problems with people and what she had wasn't contagious, just genetic. It made plenty of sense to give her a roommate rather than other people who were very picky about sharing a room. Elyse could probably judge that Isabelle wouldn't like someone in her room, it'd be someone to take up all the space, and tell on nurse Taylor for her.

It hadn't been a long time Elyse had made friends. She had been here for a long time more than seven years, more than half her life. No one else had really even been here a year. In the grand scheme of things, most of her days she had been lonely, but treatment for her wasn't easy. It is generally painful. In general most days Elyse can't even get out of bed let alone her room, because she's too sick.

Luckily today wasn't one of those days. Today was the first day in about three that she had been feeling a bit better to go out and interact. Elyse hadn't bothered to change out of her cozy pajamas, she was certain that she would be coming back to nap after she ate something small. It was unfortunate, but she had to carry around her pole that had her baggy of fluids to help minimize the mucus. It really wasn't easy for her to feel normal most days, but this was the closest she could get. Walking in she went over and just grabbed an apple and started heading towards the table she normally sat at with her friends. She did however noticed that Henry was talking to the one boy in the back corner. Elyse also saw Adam and Isabella at their usual table. Elyse decided to walk over to where Henry and the newer guy was. She stood there holding her apple and her pole and she cleared her throat a little and she softly spoke, "Good morning, I uh wanted to see if you guys wanted to come sit over with Adam and Isabella with me." She said nodding her head over towards the table with a small smile on her face.

On the car ride there she was quiet, despite everyone's attempt to make conversation or to make this sound like it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Jan begged her parents not to make her go to the hospital, she spent days trying to convince them that she was healthy enough to stay home but nothing worked. Of course her condition was getting worse, according to the doctors, but she didn't want to live away from her family. Now they were on their way to the hospital, on her way to her new life that she didn't even want.

When they arrived her dad parked and helped her with her bags, and when I say helped I mean carried about 90% of them. they went inside, with Janelle following quietly and as far behind as possible but close enough so she wouldn't get lost. At the front desk the woman smiled and dealt with her parents while she just scanned the area. It seemed nice, as nice as a hospital could be. There were a lot of teens here, people her age which meant her parents would expect her to make friends. Making friends wasn't something She was good at, not because she was a bad person and no one liked her she was just quiet and wasn't the type to make friends herself. Pretty soon a woman, probably a nurse, walked up to them and lead them to Janelle's new room. The nurse talked about the hospital with her parents, and mentioned things to Jan that she thought would help her be more comfortable.

Her room, which she would be sharing, wasn't too bad. Two beds, on opposite walls and half the room was furnished and decorated while the other side was bare. Her father put her bags at the foot of her bed and she took a seat on it. "Please don't make me stay here. I feel fine." She said giving her parents the look she'd been giving them for the past few weeks, that look that is supposed to make them feel guilty but it never seemed to work. "Jan, we aren't doing this to hurt you. It's just better for you to be here than at home. This way you can get help whenever you need it. We won't have to worry about not making it to the hospital if you're already in one." Her mother said sitting next to her on the bed and wrapped her arms around her.

So for the next five minutes there were tears and a million goodbye's and promises of frequent visits before she watched her parents drive off from the room window. She sat looking out the window even after she could no longer see the car. The nurse who had shown her to her room came in "There is breakfast in the cafeteria. I could take you there if you're hungry." The woman's voice was slightly sympathetic, which Jan hated. "Already ate." She said looking at the woman's reflection through the window. She nodded and left the girl alone once again.

---

---

Henry held up his hand, as he had decided to shove nearly a whole pancake into his mouth. Well. He shoved the whole pancake and chewed for nearly 5 minutes before finally managing to swallow. "We'll catch up in a bit. But... maybe we won't be able to eat together after all, Elyse," he said, as his free hand pointed to Nurse Taylor, " "You know what happens when they encounter each other the cafeteria, especially with her food in mint condition." He proceeded to drink his juice.

He wished he could go and stand up for her, for at least a chance to get her to eat at least half of what was on her plate so they could fake the rest for her. But they were too far, and his ill and nearly pipecleaner body was no match against a healthy nurse. Maybe he had timed his attempt to lend a branch poorly. Very poorly.

Less than a minute passed, before Isabella's screams could be heard throughout the cafeteria. The hospital wasn't that small, why did they have to make her go through the place with most people at the moment?

Eventually, her screams subsided, and everyone slowly began to go back to eating, but the subject the little groups had held shifted to the sudden freakout. At least, those in earshot. He began to pick at his last pancake, before peeling the banana, placing the peel to the side, cutting away small pieces and eating them.

Some friend he was. Definitely a great way to bring more people to the group. Just sit and eat the banana while your friend breaks down for some reason because you can do anything at all, he thought to himself. "Makes you question why the hell our families dumped us here, of all places, since the staff doesn't seem to know how to handle us," he sighed.

---

---

Jake watched as one of the other teenagers walked up to his table and just sat down in front of him. He had silently watched the others from his table for the past month. And yet he struggled to remember this one's name. Harry? Hugo? Hunter? He was almost completely sure that it started with an H. But here he was, sitting at his table. And, despite his best attempts to put on a confident face, he was apprehensive.

For the past month Jake had talked almost exclusively with his mother. Well. His mother and the nurses. But somehow conversations with the nurses never felt like real conversations. It was superficial "hello"s and "How are you"s and then the daily reminder to rest and take his medicine. His father hadn't visited since he was diagnosed. His mom said he was probably still grieving from the death of Ryan. But then again, so was everyone else in his family. To Jake, that didn't feel like a fair excuse to completely ignore your sick son.

Jake put on a smile, attempting to regain his once abundant confidence. "Honestly, it's definitely better then I expected." He extended his hand across the table.

"Hey. I'm Jake. Jake Bellerose"

However, Jake was quickly distracted by another, semi-familiar voice. Feminine and soft. He turned and saw a girl, blond and small. Still dressed in her pajamas. Holding an apple. She was attractive. Not supermodel hot or anything. But a sort of understated cute that normally would have interested Jake, had his mind not been busy attempting to keep him from making a fool of himself in front of two new people. She invited them to sit with their group, but as suddenly as that happened their was some commotion between a nurse and the skinny girl who normally sat with the other teenagers. Followed shortly by her leaving and some fairly audible screaming. Jake had not yet become used to all of the commotion of the hospital so this caused him to jump a little.


"There isn't a quiet moment here, is there?"

"There are, depending on where you are at the moment. If you're doped out in your room, then its pretty peaceful," he said, picking up the condiment dish and tilting the pills around. He turned his attention to Elyse. "Sit down, Elyse, so you don't sit alone at the usual table," he said, patting an empty chair next to him.

He turned his attention back to Jake."By the way, I'm Henry. Henry Bacon. Also knows as 'Hen', 'Bacon', anyway you feel like pronouncing that last one. But not hot sizzling delight. That one's wierd."

...Damn it, shes mad, Henry thought to himself. A sudden, curt answer. He had sisters. He understood the levels of passive aggressiveness very, very well. "Then again, that's also a generalization. I suppose some people don't really have a choice that to be here with regular monitoring,"He said, watching the pills clumsily roll around in the paper container,, "while others are here because their families don't want to be burdened with someone who keeps causing death scares and grief."

He looked up, from Jake, to Elyse, to Jake again, and grinned. "But there's no point in complaining, at least for us, I mean, if complaining made us better, that would be the only thing you'd hear around here. Peeps here have hobbies. I like to doodle, for instance. Do you have a hobby?" He pointed to the journal. "Do you like writing stories, music, scribbling...doodles? Or having a nigh endless supply of paper you can crumple into a ball to chuck at nurses or other patients?"

---

---

Adam watched as Isabelle left the room. He knew she was upset at him. He knew that, but he didn't let it phase him. To be completely honest, Adam was confused at why she left. He knew it must have been his insensitive action of licking the icing when he knew she had an eating disorder. Or maybe it had to do with something else. It was tough being in a relationship in this sort of environment. It really has to do with everyone having their own issues, and not everyone can be so social or interactive with others the way that they should. Adam was depressed, mainly because he knew he had kidney problems and might get cancer or something, but it was just the fear of becoming very ill. Most of the teens at the hospital were ill in their own ways, but Adam was scared of death. He didn't want it to fall upon him when he was sleeping. He wouldn't get to say goodbye to those he loved. He didn't get to say goodbye to his mother when she passed, and he didn't want that to be the case when it could be his turn.

A tear fell from Adam's eye. He let it slide down his cheek, dripping onto the ground. He turned to the wall with the cupcake icing smeared on it. Without hesitation, he punched the wall several times, each time harder than the last. When he looked at his fist he could see the blood on his knuckles. The icing on the wall was smashed up and all bloody. He turned and walked out of Isabelle's room. His first instinct was to go to the cafeteria where everyone would be. Adam walked into the cafeteria and found the usual crowd now all sitting and eating. Even Isabelle rejoined them. Adam went up and found a seat at that table. He looked over at Isabelle "I'm sorry for being an ass. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't like acting distant and uncaring towards you. Sorry."

Henry nodded quietly, motioning Isabel to sit- it seemed almost anytime someone talked to him he had food in his mouth.

Then his stomach muscles tightened. He hoped she didnt get triggered by him still having a pancake on his plate.

Then Adam came along. He made a resolve and stayed very, very quiet. He didn't want to be a moment killer. Peaceful moments were pretty rare, but happy moments even rarer, so if he ruined this one, he was breaking his leg again. He could really use a happy moment to break the tension. Everyone could, really.

Meanwhile, Chloe Hayes had just had her left foot examined and they discovered bone spurs in the ankle area, which was the cause of her collapse on the court at her high school. She was scheduled for surgery in due time. She sat in her bed awaiting the next days before the surgery. She was very nervous about what was to happen next. She knew her high school basketball career was over for at least a year or two.

Chloe was 15 years old, about 5'9", 145 pounds, athletic build, blonde hair, blue eyes. She didn't have too many friends. Maybe being in the hospital would help her find some.