“Hello?”

“Yes. May I speak to Burt Hummel?”

Finn shrugged and handed the receiver over to Burt.

“This is Burt. What can I do ya for?”

“Mr. Hummel, this is Greg over at Lima County Hospital. You son Kurt was brought in –“

They were in the kitchen making dinner, Carol swatting Finn’s hand away as he tried to steal another carrot that she had just rinsed off. Burt began to shake, dropping the knife he was holding. He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his heart in his ears. “Burt, honey, what’s wrong?” Carol took the phone from him. A sob escaped her lips as she told the man that they were on their way. The car ride over was a tense one. Carol was the first to grab the keys, not trusting Burt to drive at a time like this. She held his hand over the center console, her thumb stroking his knuckles every so often.

As she pulled into the emergency parking lot, Burt got out of the car before she even had a chance to put it in park. As he rushed up to the counter frantically telling the nurses that his son was just brought in, a doctor approached him. “Mr. Hummel? My name is Dr. Lira. Your son, Kurt, was in a very serious accident off of highway 36, just outside of Westerville. From what the responding officers have told me, he lost control of his vehicle and hydroplaned.” After that, Burt tuned out. He was up on his feet and pacing, his ball cap in one hand, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands, willing the tears to stop. He looked down at the doctor sitting next to his wife and asked, “When can I see him?”

“Well, he’s in surgery right now. There was severe swelling of the brain, as well as internal bleeding in his abdomen. We’re doing everything we can. I’ll be back soon with another update.” And with that, the doctor shook his hand, and went back into Kurt’s surgery. Burt took the seat between Carol and Finn, taking her hand in his and holding on for dear life. “Finn. Do you have Blaine’s number?”

When Blaine got back to his room, Sebastian was nowhere to be found. The only evidence that he was there at all was a note on his pillow, “Don’t worry about him. I’ll be back later to make you forget.” He crumpled up the note and threw it across the room. He hadn’t changed out of his now soaking wet sweatpants – hadn’t even bothered to dry off once he came back inside. All he could do was close the door quietly behind him, slide down the wall, and cry. How could he have been so stupid? Kurt was everything. Why did he make such a stupid mistake?

He looked up suddenly, remembering that Sebastian had turned his phone off. A flicker of hope sparked through him as he thought maybe Kurt would call him or text him. Something. Anything. He frantically searched for where Sebastian had thrown the battery. Once he found it, he put it back in the phone and impatiently waited for it to turn back on. As soon as it was on, it started buzzing.

2 NEW VOICEMAILS

“Hey babe, it’s me. Again. Just wondering when we were gonna see each other again. How about this weekend? Call me back. I love you.”  

He shuddered at the sound of Kurt’s voice. He sounded so sad – so alone. Tears began to well up in Blaine’s eyes as he went on to the next message.

“Blaine. Hey. It’s uh – it’s Finn. Man, I don’t know how to – shit. Kurt’s been in a car accident. We’re at Lima County Hospital right now. It’s pretty bad, dude. He’s in surgery right now. They said something about his brain being swollen and – oh! Here’s the doctor again. Get here as soon as you can.”

Blaine didn’t even think twice. He hopped up from his spot on the floor, changed his clothes, and headed for the hospital.