Overcoming Obstacles
By Alex Michaels
May 25, 10
I can hear all of these voices. They call to me. They whisper to me. They yell at me. I hear the voice of my mom. She cries. She hasn't stopped crying. Then I hear Grandma comforting me. She says that everything is going to be alright. Which is impossible, because Grandma's dead. Simple truth of the matter is that while my body is lying in the ER, while some voice that sounds like mine screams. While some teenage boy in bloody clothes that looks like me flails around, punching doctors randomly. While I am torn between living and dieing, I hear a single, deep, voice say, "Not yet." Then unconciousness rushes upon me, and I am alone in the darkness. The way my body slumped over suddenly, doctors probably thought I died. Ha. If only I were that lucky.
I don't know how long I laid there. I don't know how long I allowed myself to be swallowed up by the abyss that was unconciousness. What I do know... it hurts like hell to move. It sucks waking up. It's not like in the stories. It's not like you wake up in increments, slowly coming back from the edge of death. One second your nowhere.... The next your disoriented, lying in a hospitable bed, with my mom, dad, and little sister all asleep in the chairs there. It must be like 3:00 A.M. I looked to the left and to the right groggily and saw a pile of envelopes on the side table. Nice to know I'm being thought of. I could tell they were those, 'Get well soon' cards, probably from kids at school.
I don't feel very energized. It doesn't feel like I got very much out of my unconciousness. I heard a flushing noise from the bathroom, then the door opens and my six year-old brother, Johnny, is standing there, looking at me.
"Alex!" He bolts over to the side of the bed and awkwardly tries to hug me. "Mom says we've got to be careful around you. She says your hurt reeeealllly bad." Then his voice dropped to a whisper and he got a really fearful look in his eyes. "Are you gonna die?"
"No." I patted his head. Ugh. Now I feel woozy. "I'm not going to die... Not now anyway." I looked for a clock. "What time is it?"
"I'll check." He walked around to mom's chair and started digging in her purse. "Here it is." He pulled out the phone. "It's-s....... 3:35 A.M." See, I was pretty close.
"Why aren't you asleep?"
"Cuz' I had to pee." He looked like he was thinking real hard about something. "Alex, what's a.. para-poo-leaves-jack?"
"A parapooleavesjack? No idea. Why?"
"Cuz I heard the doctor tell mommy and daddy something about one. Then mommy started crying real hard, like when grandma died, and daddy sort-of walked off. When he came back, he looked real sad."
"Well, if I ever figure it out, I'll be sure to tell you." I went to sit up, when I felt a whooshing sensation through my gut and my neck twinged. I fell backwards. I heard Johnny as though from far away and blackness was creeping along the corners of my vision. I saw my mom startle awake, before I went unconcious again.
Janet
"ALEX!" I startled awake from a nightmare. For one fleeting second I thought that it was all just a dream. Then I realized where we were. The sounds of big rig honks and crunching metal came back to me. It would never be a dream. This was all too real. "Alex. Alex, wake up."
Then it dawned on me. That was Johnny talking. I pulled my head out of the crook of my elbow and saw him leaning over Alex, shaking him. "Johnny! What in God's name are you doing?! Get away from Alex!" I got up and walked over and got him by his arm. "What do you think you're doing? Do you realize how sick your brother is? He doesn't need you shaking him."
"But he was fine! He woke up when I was in the bathroom."
"What? He woke up?"
"Yes! We were talking and and he asked what time it was and I told him, then he tried to get up and then he passed out!"
"Oh my! NURSE! NURSE!" I ran out of the room to find a nurse.
6:00 A.M.
Alex
I've been sitting here for five minutes. I woke up at about that long ago. There have been a few doctors coming in and out of my room. My mom and dad are happy (to say the least) about me waking up, though they seemed nervous about something. Apparently, it had been about four days since my trip to the ER. I still have no idea why I came here to begin with. Hell, I don't even remember coming here. The only thing I can remember is flashes. I remember screaming. I remember pain. I remember a lot of crying and being pushed down the hospital hall on a stretcher or something.
"Alright what's wrong with me? Jeez, I feel like I'm getting ready for a funeral or something, it can't be that bad."
"You mean you don't remember?" My mom looked really upset.
"Not a thing. So please, go ahead. I guarantee I can take it." I really did want to know. I figured it would be no big deal. I figured I wouldn't be greatly affected by it. I guess.... my figuring wasn't right.
A doctor walked into the room. His nametag said 'Dr. Morrison'. He was actually pretty good looking. Black hair, blue eyes, strong jaw. Anyway, he asked my parents to leave the room. So my mom and dad got up and walked out.
"Do you know how you got here?"
"No sir."
"Well, it seems that you were in an accident. Your were parked at a gas station after coming back from a family visit, and... it seems tha-" His voice quieted. My mind was racing. I was no longer in the hospital. I was in our car almost five days ago. I was looking at the letters M-A-C-K. I was remembering.
A few days earlier...
Nov
I was sitting in the back seat of our prius. I absolutely hated riding in the back. There was no leg room whatsoever. I looked out the window while my dad was pumping gas. My mom was in the station paying for it. It smells like fuel and tobacco. I put in my headphones and rifle through the songs on my iPod. I find the song, 'Alive' By P.O.D. I mouth along with the words while they play.
"I-I I feel so alive." The car begins pulling forward. My eyebrows knit together. I didn't here the door shut. I didn't here anyone get in. I pull the headphones out of my ears. I bend forward and.... there's noone in the front seat. The fuel pumps on the gas station that we are at were built on a small hill. There was just a small decline in angle on the ground. But it was enough. I looked around, out the back windshield. There were several people standing there looking at me. Or the car, I couldn't tell which. Some old lady pointed at me(and I could tell she was pointing directly at me) and screamed something. Then my dad ran out of the store with my mom right behind him. He takes one look at me and takes off booking it as fast as he can towards the car. I turn back around and try to open my door. It's locked. I unlock it, scrambling in my attempt, and look up. It all seems to happen in slow motion. I hear a horrible trucker honk, I hear the door unlocking, I read the word MACK across the trucks grill. Then blackness.
Present time
"Alex, we've done all possible tests and procedures. You suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury..... and are paralyzed from the waist down....." He looked genuinely sad about it. Which is surprising considering doctors aren't supposed to let their personal feelings interfere with their work. He looked into my eyes. "You'll never walk again." NO! I slowly buried my face in my hands. IT'S NOT FAIR! I tried to wiggle my toes anyway. I tried to move any part of my legs. NO! I felt the tears start rolling down my face. Why me?...... Why me?..... WHY ME?! I began pulling my own hair. I was never one of many words. I suffered in silence... Until now.
I let out an animal-like snarl of a noise and blindly took my lunch and threw it against the wall. Taking pleasure in the explosion of my drink. "NO!" I began shaking. "NO! NO! NO!" I jerked and twisted and thrashed wildly into the machines and IV's. I tried smashing my beds' control against the metal railing. I grabbed ahold of my left leg, and hauled it over one side of the bed.
"No." The doctor rushed over and grabbed my shoulders. "Listen to me. LISTEN! You can't walk."
"NO!" I punched him in the chest.
"You can't get out of bed."
"Agh!" I writhed and attempted to break his grip. My eyes were closed. I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to see anything. I pounded against the doctor. My fists were so tight that I could feel my fingernails cutting into my palms. I screamed. I cried. I yelled. I yelled at the doctor. I yelled at the walls. I yelled at the sky. My right hand found the IV stand and I threw it down. The needle was wrenched from my arm.... and I fell into darkness once again.