Mistakes and Misunderstandings

    Sam suddenly awoke, frightened. “Where am I?” was his first question.  He could see nothing; this alien place was in utter darkness.  He had so many thoughts running through his mind.  Where was his girlfriend? His friends?  The answers would come soon enough. 

Knock, knock, knock. Three quick raps on the door, and a sliver of light appeared, growing as a dark figure of a man approached.  Sam could sense this man was not here to help, and the slight glow of light from the door was not enough to offer comfort to the helpless young man.  He faked sleep, hoping whoever was approaching would exit the room.  Sam felt a cold, gloved hand on his forehead and he panicked, attempting to lurch away from the man.  He was frozen, he could see, hear and speak, but his muscles wouldn’t work, he was paralyzed.

“Why can’t I move?” Sam screamed, trying desperately to move any part of his body.  When the man began to check his vital signs, he knew he must be in a hospital.  He was so confused, he couldn’t think. He couldn’t even talk or scream for help anymore.  He knew he was doomed.  Another person came in, wheeling something into the room.  It looked as if this person was a woman, but the darkness was so suffocating he wouldn’t have been able to recognize his own mother. It grew darker as the “woman” closed the door, leaving only a slight green glow from the machine she was rolling.  He was afraid of this machine. Will they use it to kill me? Or even worse, torture me? Sam thought.  The man grabbed his arm, quite forcefully, and placed a wrap around it.  Sam could tell this was a blood pressure cuff but why?  These people were checking up on him, but wouldn’t speak to him. Had he gone crazy? Was he even alive?  The fear of not knowing where he was, who these people were, and what had happened to the people he was with, his best friends.

         His thoughts quickly turned from his safety to theirs. They were all together what seemed like minutes ago, but when he searched the room, with his paralyzed head, he could only see the ceiling and these strange people staring at him.  Straining his memory, he thought hard about the last moments he could remember.  They were driving, he was sure of that.  Was he driving or John, his lifelong best friend? Was anyone else with them?  He had to think, and think hard.  Struggle he started to picture the evening, it was a beautiful day, and school was out.  The only thing to do in that situation was to get together with his friends and smoke a blunt.  It was relaxation for him, his method of calming down.  He remembered driving around with John, but he wasn’t in the front seat.  It was Lisa! Lisa was Sam’s current love interest and was the most promising so far.  They were really great for each other.  He kept thinking, it was a full car, who was the fourth?  He couldn’t think of the name, he just kept wondering about the other two.

         All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his arm.  He was so concerned about the fate of his friend a girlfriend, he forgot about the commotion around him.  Someone had just put a needle into his vein, and it seemed to miss.  His voice returned with a passion as he screamed in agony.  The saline solution used to clean out the IV was going directly into his skin, he felt as though his arm would fall off.  A second later, he felt calmer, more relaxed as the needle found it home.  He felt as though they were injecting more than saline into his veins, he needed an explanation, and he needed it now. 

“What’s going on here?” he asked on, the verge of tears, “What are you doing to me?”

“Merely think back young man, you’ll remember soon enough. And you cannot move because we have implanted an inhibitor chip into your Cerebellum, in order to prevent you from hurting yourself or others” The voice of the man was grim, and deep.

“Hurt myself or others? I get upset when I kill an ant! I would never hurt anyone! Please believe me.”  Sam felt as though he was slowly dying inside.  Once again he tried to think back to the last time he was with them.  They were driving on back roads around sunset, doing their favorite thing; driving around, blasting the music, and smoking weed.  They were going to see a movie once they were done with that.  It was a typical Thursday night for these young teens.  He could now clearly remember Lisa sitting next to him in the front seat, and John behind her.  He had to remember who was behind him, and with a burst of recollection, he knew it!  It was David, the quiet, new-addition to the happy threesome.  He was a new student from California, not many friends, and Sam was such a nice person.  He had the strong urge to bring this sad, lost boy into their group.

  “I-I remember driving and smoking with my friends, then nothing.”

“Think harder! Think about what you did!”  The man’s tone was much more grim, it was fierce and violent.  Sam had a feeling that this was somehow a personal vendetta, but why?  Sam was loved all around town and helped anyone he could.

He concentrated, and then he remembered David suggesting they take the freeway back to town to make it faster. All three of the others did not like to drive on the freeway while, or even after smoking.  It was just not worth the risk, but on this fateful day they decided to go.  Once on the freeway David began to act strange.  He was asking if the friends really wanted to see the movie and other odd questions.

“Uugghhhhh!” Came from the backseat and Lisa turned around.  She screamed as she was the blade sticking out of John’s chest, him gasping for air as David began to laugh. Sam began crying as he recalled the events as the unfolded.  Lisa reached over the seat in order to try and help John, but it was futile.  As she reached to comfort her dying friend as his eyes slowly got dimmer, David, without haste,  took the blade out of John’s chest and in one fluid motion slit her helpless throat.  By this time, Sam was in shock at the loss of his best friend and girlfriend he continued driving, planning on heading to the nearest public place to try and prevent the taking of his life. 

David had other plans as he put the bloody blade into Sam’s mouth.  Sam tried to scream, but if he had the blade would have sliced the sides of his mouth.

“You don’t remember me do you, Sam? After all these years, you don’t remember little old Melvin?  The boy you vowed to protect and to be his friend? He didn’t need friends, Sam.  But, since you insisted on being there for him, the rest of the school thought he needed your assistance.  People even thought he was gay for you.

“Of course I remember him, I liked him.  What was wrong with being his friend and stopping other kids from hurting or abusing him?”

“He never asked for it!  And the rumors, they made him and his whole family have to move, to California.  When I moved there, I changed my name from “Melvin Stuart” to “David Stuart,” much more normal, don’t you think?” Sam had no idea they were the same person, or that he had such a negative impact on anyone’s life.  He felt so bad he tried to apologize.

It’s too late for apologies, Samuel, you ruined my life, now I’m going to ruin yours. Sam began to panic, he knew this was his moment to die, he was just happy he could see Lisa and john again.  He didn’t know what to do, he was contemplating his life, the good times, the bad, his regrets and successes, and especially going to Disney World with his dad.  He closed his eyes and accepted fate, losing control of his car.  He swerved into oncoming traffic and barely sideswiped a semi sending his car into a ravine without enough water to sink a car.  During the crash, the knife cut Sam’s face, as if he would have screamed before, it then somehow miraculously landed between David’s neck and the back of the front seat causing him to bleed out.  The car stuck in the ravine, Sam was bleeding badly from his face, going in and out of consciousness, when an ambulance showed up.

The man in the ambulance couldn’t believe his eyes.  He had never seen such a gruesome scene with such young people.  He found three dead kids, all with stab wound, a fourth, clinging to life and a strong smell of weed in the car.  He had to call the police as well.

Sam remained motionless, trying to soak in everything his mind had blocked out. How long had it been since then?  He still could not tell if he was really alive until the man spoke again.

“Now do you remember? Now you know what you did to my son?  David never hurt a fly and you murdered him, it’s your turn now. 

“I didn’t do that I swear, I remember everything now! I can tell you what happened!”

“It’s too late for that, now is your time.”

Sam finally realized what was going on, where he was, and couldn’t help but cry.  He’d been convicted of the murder of the other three in the car, the people he loved and the one he tried to help.  He felt the needle move a little in his skin as he felt himself get sleepier and sleepier.  He could feel his heartbeat slowing and his breathing became labored.  He was on his deathbed. He had been on death row. How long had he not known what happened? What kind of condition had he been in and for how long?  He had no idea how this had happened to his life and as he began to pray, everything went dark.

He could feel himself getting lighter, he felt as though all the stresses in the world were away from him and he was free.  He could sense himself rising up, over the father of David, who so ruthlessly injected the poisons that ended the innocent Sam’s life.  Because of circumstances and misunderstandings four young lives were cut short, and as Sam drew his last breath he knew how it felt to die, and he knew he was going to be saved. For the kindness he bore, made him a saint in the eye of the beholder.