Ricky’s POV

When Chris fell, we all held our breath and expected him to get right back up. But when he didn’t get up, we began to fear the worst. Devin and I both ran to the edge of the stage and looked to where he lie motionless on the floor. Devin handed his bass off rather quickly and jumped down there. I saw him land funny but thought nothing of it. Chris was out cold and was bleeding. Devin literally looked like he was about to have a panic attack right then and there but he kept calm and talked to the crowd before the paramedics took Chris away.

Chris has been out a week and Devin has not left his side. We tried to convince him to go back to the bus but he refused. Unfortunately, we had to drop out of the tour until Chris was awake and able to return. There is still no explanation for why the riser he had been standing on broke.

The guys and I had returned to the hospital once again and found Devin in the same spot. Balz bet that he hadn’t even gone to the bathroom but Ryan said he saw Devin go to the bathroom at one point. We all pretty much knew Devin hadn’t eaten either. We offered to bring him food and he sat there and stared blankly at the wall. He didn’t talk at all and it began to worry us a lot. Vinny also told Ryan that it looked like Devin didn’t even sleep; he just sat there.

When we went in today, we found Devin passed out on the edge of Chris’s bed. Balz touched Devin’s shoulder and he didn’t move. Most of the time, if you poke him when he’s asleep he usually wakes up. How he shares a bunk with Chris, I don’t know. But when Balz poked him, he was out cold. We stayed for a while before returning to the bus. We were there for like 4 hours, and Devin never woke up and neither did Chris.

When we went back to the hospital after eating, Chris was awake, but Devin wasn’t. Chris had a killer headache but for the most part, was ok. His concussion was slowly healing and he’d be released from the hospital in a day if he passed the doctor’s tests.

Devin still was passed out sleeping with his arms as a pillow, leaning at an awkward angle. He literally slept all day. Even Chris poked him and he didn’t wake up. It was some random late time when a nurse checked on Chris and when we told her Devin had slept all day, she poked and prodded Devin.

Devin didn’t move or anything. She sighed and said, “he probably passed out from exhaustion and his body is just in shock from all of this. He hasn’t really moved for a week, let alone eat or stay hydrated. I’ll have a bed brought for him.”

We had to explain to Chris that the entire time he was out, Devin literally refused to move and leave his side. If we suggested going back to the bus to sleep, he said no. When we asked if he wanted to go to the cafeteria, he refused as well. It saddened Chris that Devin didn’t take care of himself.

We helped the nurse move Devin from the chair to another bed, where they then moved him to the other area of the room that was for a second patient. The curtain around his bed was closed for a bit but we heard some of what they were saying, and it scared us. About an hour later, the nurse came out and told us what was going on.

“We gave him a feeding tube because his body is severely weak. We also have an IV going to get him dehydrated. At this point, he needs rest.”

I internally sighed. Devin has had I don’t know how many trips to the hospital and needed hospitalization because he hasn’t taken care of himself. It’s sad. He’s not a bad person; he just doesn’t take care of himself like he should. Chris was upset but Ryan talked to him about it.

It was sometime the next morning when Devin finally woke up. He looked like shit but he was awake. Chris and him and had a serious conversation while the rest of us were out. From what I could tell, Chris was upset that Devin didn’t take care of himself and Devin was upset because Chris didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Which left two very grown men ignoring each other like teenage girls.

They would literally say, “tell him I said this…” and the other would reply in the same matter. I could see it in Devin’s eyes that he was upset. Chris was also upset but there was something else in Devin’s eyes that I found odd.

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Two days later, they both were released from the hospital. Devin had been told to keep drinking water and eating regularly while Chris was told to avoid bright and flashing lights and loud noises for a few more days. We decided that we wanted to play the last few dates of the tour and then go home, so we caught up with the tour and tried to make it up to the fans for the shows we missed. They still sold our merch, and stuff but people were disappointed that we weren’t there, but they understood why (Chris was hurt). No one outside of the room knew about Devin and his hospital stay.

Chris and Devin both had communication issues. Chris was upset at Devin and Devin looked miserable. He sat in his bunk and didn’t move more than he needed to. When we did get back to playing shows, he looked off but I couldn’t tell why.

It was after the last show when I figured out why Devin was off. He had been changing and I accidentally walked into the room. He had his ankle wrapped and it looked massively swollen. When he saw me, he casually tried to act cool but I could see his distress. “If you tell me what it is, I wont tell.” I said softly.

He ran a hand through his hair and said, “I rolled my ankle. Its nothing. It’s just a little sore, so I wrapped it. Nothing to worry about.” I nodded and said, “right…”. He changed the subject and I forgot about his ankle for a while.

It took the drive back to Pennsylvania for Chris to finally talk to Devin and for them to reconcile. From what I could tell, Devin hadn’t told Chris about his ankle yet. As we were all getting dropped off, I told Devin, “Get that ankle looked out soon, or I will tell Chris myself.”

He shook his head, and promised me. Three days later, he texted me saying it was broken the entire time and he fucked it up really bad. Like so bad that the original pins in his ankle needed to be fixed and reconstructed because one was sticking out. Chris had been staying with me and had no clue about Devin’s situation.

I love having Chris around, I really do. But after some point I really want to be alone and send him off to the next person but I cant exactly do that. He and Devin were in a funk and had a lack of communication at this point. I knew Devin was hurting a bit, but Chris didn’t want to talk to him yet.

So when Devin needed someone to drive him to the hospital, and because I was the only one who knew, had to take him. I simply told Chris that I needed to go get some groceries and left without another word. Devin stayed in the hospital for like a week, because he needed to recover. His mom took care of him for a while and that was the last I heard from him. Two months literally went by and I didn’t know what happened and neither did the guys. When Chris finally came around, he called Devin and he never answered. It worried us all but we went to his apartment and he wasn’t there. Chris ended up calling Devin’s mom and she told Chris that Devin had been with her, she had a cold and he was taking care of her. I got suspicious so on a random Tuesday afternoon, I went over there to talk to him myself.

When I got there, he had crutches and wasn’t standing very long when he stood. “What’s going on Dev?” He looked down at the ground and sighed. It took him a moment but when he talked he said, “So when I broke my ankle, it was bad. When it didn’t get set immediately, it healed incorrectly. The surgery was going to fix that. But when they opened up my foot, they realized it was broken worse than thought. I have like severe damage in my foot. Like so bad that I might need a cane and shit for forever.”

“Damn. And you haven’t told anyone?” he shook his head no.

“You need to talk to Chris.”

“What am I supposed to say? I broke my ankle and let it be fucked up and now I might never walk normally again. They aren’t sure what to do. There isn’t enough bone to but more pins in to hold it together. It’s a fucking mess and it hurts and it sucks. I don’t know how I’m gonna play when we tour. I cant fucking stand without crutches. Honestly, if I cant, y’all are gonna have to look for a new bassist.”
“Dev, they’ll figure it out. And if they don’t, we will. What if since you wore a dress once, you wore it again but underneath was something that took the pressure off your ankle and allowed you to walk?” I suggested.

“I don’t know. I miss Chris and I want to tell him, but he’s going to be even more Mad.” He confessed.

“Look, just come back to my place with me and we’ll talk to Chris. Tell him you broke it a few weeks ago, not on tour. He doesn’t have to know when. You’ve been busy with physical therapy and it takes so much out of you that come home and just sleep.”

He shrugged and said, “It really does though. At first, I couldn’t even use crutches. If I twitched the wrong way, it was painful. I was in a wheel chair for a while. I should probably still be in it, but hey fuck that.”

“Lets just go back now. Is there anything you need?” I asked.

He shook his head no. “would it be easier if I just carried you?”

“Probably for me, not you.”

“Eh, its fine.” I said before giving him a piggyback ride to the car. Once in the car, we jammed out like old times and forgot about his problems. Once we got back I texted Chris and said, “need help unloading car, come here real quick.” Like two minutes later he walked out.

“Hey, its in the front seat, can you carry it in for me?” I said to Chris.

“Sure.” He said as he opened the door.

“Dev?” he asked. Devin nodded.

“I was serious about carrying it in, please. I’m too small for this shit. I’m too small for everything and it sucks.”

Chris and Devin both laughed at me. Devin managed to get out of the car but he couldn’t put weight on his foot. “Can you uh help me in? I can’t put pressure on my foot whatsoever.”

Chris nodded and helped Devin into the apartment.

I got everyone a cup of coffee and sat down near them in case I needed to step in and say something, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

Notes