2011 Submissions:
Against the Sunrise
by Diamond
Prologue
Isaac Hanson watched a string of hollow gray clouds drift across the sky through the window of his brother's hospital room. They seemed to be moving in slow motion, just barely motivated to exist at all. It was a feeling that Isaac had grown to understand quite well.
Each day blended into the next and he didn't care about the passing of time. He couldn't relate to the person he used to be, his former life that was dictated by tour schedules and pressing obligations. Those things used to be so important to him - to all of them - but they weren't anymore. Now, the only thing that mattered was that Zac was in a coma and might never wake up.
He pulled his eyes from the window and focused on his younger brother's limp body on the bed. He would never get used to seeing Zac so frail and absent, a shadow of the strong, vibrant person he used to be. It was like his brother had gone missing even though he was just a few feet away, across the tiled floor. There was nothing about the man on the sterile bed that Isaac recognized; even his hair, which was once so thick and full, had thinned out and paled and seemed to be wasting away just like the rest of him.
Three months. It had been three months since Zac's accident. Three months since he'd seen his brother smile, heard him laugh. Not a day went by without Isaac questioning if there was anything he could have done to stop Zac from almost drowning in that river. If there was anything anyone could have done.
Sometimes he wished he could be more like his other brother, Taylor, or his best friend, Wyatt. They had this way of moving forward through a difficult time without falling apart or looking back. Sure, they were similarly devastated by what happened to Zac, but they didn't wear the pain of possibly losing him the way that Isaac did. They continued living their lives because they knew that giving up and cursing the world for the unfair hand they were dealt wouldn't help or change anything. But Isaac was different. He sat by his brother's bedside day after day, waiting for the second shoe to drop. Waiting for Zac to either die or wake up.
Please wake up, Isaac said, his voice echoing in the otherwise empty room. He wondered if his pleas would ever reach the ears of a God he wasn't sure he believed in.
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