The Accident

Beep, beep, beep. . .
“Thirteen year old male . . .”
“Auto accident . . ."

         Josh slowly woke, his head was pounding. Strange noises filled his ears. The beeping, people talking in the background, something wasn’t right . . .
         “Josh, can you hear me?” the male voice asked. “Josh? I’m Dr.  Jackson.”
         Slowly he tried to open his eyes. It was like his mind was swimming to the surface. His throat was dry, so dry.
         “Mom,” he tried to call out, but all that came out was a hoarse whisper. His tongue was dry. Something was over his mouth.
         “Josh, can you open your eyes and look at me?” the man asked again.
         The light stabbed at his eyes. They felt so gritty, what was going on? A poster of a waterfall on the ceiling; people were moving around the room. He snapped his eyes closed against the intrusive light.
         “Mom,” he tried to yell again. His chest burned, his breathing was hard.
         “Josh,” the man said again. “Can you look at me?”
         The light stabbed at his eyes as he tried to open them again. “Mom, Dad?” he tried again.
         “Josh, can you squeeze my fingers,” the man said.
         He could feel the man’s fingers on his hand. Closing his hand, sending a wave of pain up his arm.
         “Very good Josh. Do you know what happened?” the man asked.
         He tried to shake his head, but couldn’t. He was met with more blinding pain. Why did he hurt so bad.          His face felt burning, his arms hurt. He tried to move his head up in the first part of sitting up and was met with more pain than he had ever felt in his life. The world around him started spinning and then it went black.

         He woke to strange sounds around him. He didn’t want to open his eyes, move or do anything. He just wanted to lie there and sleep some more. What were those sounds. There was a steady beeping, and the sound of air hissing. Was that normal? No, oh why couldn’t he think straight.
         Slowly he opened his eyes. There was that picture of a waterfall on the ceiling. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. His eyes really hurt. He started to raise his hand up to wipe his eyes, but he couldn’t. The pain that burst into his body at the slight movement made him clench his eyes shut and groan.
         “Josh,” a woman’s voice said. “I’m Sally, your nurse. How are you feeling?”
         Slowly he opened his eyes to see a woman smiling down at him. “Where am I?” he asked.
         “You’re in the ER, you were in an accident,” she answered. He watched as she pressed a button on something around her neck. “Dr. Jackson, Josh is awake.”
         “Mom,” he tried to shout, but it came out as a raspy. Something was over his mouth. His lips were so dry.
         “She can’t come to you,” the Nurse stated. “What is your pain level?” she asked.
         “I hurt,” Josh answered flatly.
         “Can you rate it for me on a scale of one to ten?” she asked.
         “No,” He said stubbornly.  I want my Mom!” he tried again to shout, but only came out with a scratchy sound.
         “Hello Josh,” a man said coming into the room. “I am Dr. Jackson. You have kept us busy. How are you feeling?”
         “I want my mom!” he said again, tears coming to his eyes. He tried to raise his hand to wipe them away only to have pain go shooting down his arm again.
         “You have to stay very still,” the nurse instructed.
         “Your mom can’t come to you right now,” the doctor said. “You have to stay very still until we get you down to Xray. You have been in an accident. Do you remember anything at all?”
         “No!” Josh stated. He was aware that his whole body was hurting his face and arm burning. He mentally went down and everywhere he concentrated on hurt, burned or felt sore. Everything but his legs. At least they didn’t hurt.
         He tried to move again. This time the pain was almost blinding. He tried to shout only to have his burning lungs cause him to start coughing. The coughing hurt so bad, too bad, too . . .

         He woke up, the room was quiet. He was glad for that, he had been having the most bizarre dreams. Thank God he was waking up. He needed to get a drink. His mouth felt like he had been gargling sand. He opened his eyes. Boy he must have really slept hard, his eyes hurt to open. The room was dimly lit. Everything seemed wrong. Where was he? This didn’t make any sense at all.
         “Josh,” a voice said beside the bed.
         He turned his head and saw a young woman sitting next to him. Then it hit — he wasn’t in his room, he was in a hospital. “I want my Mom,” he said. His voice scratchy and muffled. Something was over his mouth. In panic he tried to reach up and get it off. Pain ran through his arm and the weight of it was too much to lift. He moved his eyes to look down at it and saw a cast on it.
         “Josh, I am Lori from Child Life Services,” she said. “You were in an accident and are in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?”
         “No,” he said, tears rolling down his cheeks into his ears.
         A man came in wearing a weird blue shirt and pants. He was holding a digital pad and looking at it.
         “Hi Josh, I am Dr. Grey,” he said. “You are in ICU. How are you feeling?”
         “I want my mom!” he stated again.
         Lori put her hand on his shoulder. “She can’t come to you Josh. I’m sorry. Right now focus on the doctor.”
         He looked up at the doctor. He wanted his parents, he didn’t want to be here.
         “Josh, you were in a car accident. You were thrown from the car and hit a guardrail. You have bruising to your liver, spleen and one kidney. You have first degree burns on your face and arms. Besides all the cuts and abrasions, your legs and right arm were broken. Somehow you were fortunate enough not to have any severe head injuries.”
         He looked over at Lori before continuing. “Josh, when you hit the guardrail you damaged your spine. There is too much swelling for me to know the long term effects of it yet. But at this point you have no feeling or motor control from the waist down. I’m sorry.”
         “I want my mom and dad,” Josh cried. This couldn’t be happening.
         “Josh, I am sorry but your parents didn’t make it,” Lori said softly. “If you hadn’t been thrown from the car, you wouldn’t have made it either.” She watched him as he struggled with what he had been told. “We are trying to find relatives who can come to the hospital.”
         “Go away and leave me alone!” Josh cried. It was all a lie. It couldn’t be real. He knew that at any time his parents would come walking through the door and tell him that they were all right. As the tears really started flowing the coughing started again. He felt something cold on the back of his hand and everything went dark.