A voice of desperation
A single moment, an unbidden thought, is all it takes to change a man’s life. Or at least motivate him to change. John became conscious and without even opening his sky blue eyes, he knew he was in the hospital. The stale quality of air and the constant beeping of the monitors were all familiar.
His body hurt like hell, he had the mother of all headaches, and when he tired to flex experimentally, every bone in his body started screaming out in pain at him. He opened he eyes slightly, confirmed by the sight of white bedding, bandages on his arms and hands, a large mound of plaster on his leg with a the curtain pulled around his bed. That yep, he was indeed in a hospital, and closed them again. The last thing he remembered was…..Crap! He had been driving on the I 95 interstate occasionally passing up slower moving cars; until on oncoming vehicle w/headlights had momentarily blinded him and he’d swerved wide enough to scrape the guardrail catching some road debris on the shoulder of the road, yanking the wheel back into oncoming traffic as he struggled with the steering wheel the back tire blew out causing him to fish tale around on the busy highway.
He fought to regain control of the car; the spurt of fear of death coupled with the adrenaline caused a flash of his true hearts desire as the cement barricade rushed towards him. The car jackknifed in the air flipping wildly upon impact. He recalled knowing he had lost all control of the vehicle. He felt his ribs and leg brake as his body hit the pavement scraping and rolling on the ground. Then nothing…..Pure blackness.
Hearing footsteps, then the rattle of the curtains made him open his heavy shy blue eyes slowly again. An older Caucasian nurse smiled at him. “Well, Mr. Mc Bain. You’re finally awake. How are you feeling?” She asked checking the hanging bag on the IV pole beside the bed while charting his vitals.
“Hurt” His voice came out raspy, “Accident?”
“Yes sir. Don’t you remember? You were very fortunate that you weren’t killed after being injected from the car.”
“Eva?”
“Yes, Mr. Mc Bain she always here sitting with you. She’s told the nurses that she might not be in this week because she has to be in court. But I will call her and your family in a minute to let them know you’re awake.”
“Nat?”
“Yes, she was here before.” They stated dryly.
“Leg?” he croaked.
“You broke it.” She said patting him lightly on his cast. “Now Mr. Mc Bain no more questions I’ll have the doctor come in and talk to you.” Five minutes later the doctor and a young intern arrived to recite off a laundry list of his bruises, burns, contusions as well as couple cracked ribs, broken leg in three different places, and concussion to explain the bandage on his head.
“My car?”
“From what I hear a mangled mess.” The doctor stated. Sorrow is what John felt. Damn it, he’d worked hard nearly six years to restore that 1950 all Black Ford Mustang.
“I know when we get in contact with your family they’ll be excited. You know with the amount of injuries you stained you should be a dead man. But it looks like our creator is given you a second chance at life. Boy are lucky.” The doctor added while scanning over John.
Funny thing he’d already lost the most important thing in his life 2 1/2 years ago. Lucky? Maybe not? John thought as the doctor left the room. Pain shock through his body as he closed his eyes. He saw him self falling towards the pavement again. He laid there staring into oblivion when he realized he had no idea how long he’d been unconscious. Had it been hour? Days? Months? Dismissing the thought he turned back to his preoccupation as he felt the pull of the darkness beyond the unknown calling him.
Pulling him out of the darkness was her smiling face. Fantasies like this were a brief surfacing of his subconscious, but visualizing her face was a great comfort. Bleakly he examined the possibility. Would she come back to me? He was flirting with death that night he started speeding on the interstate when discovered his heart and he rushed back to ask her to marry him, but first he knew he had to rectify the biggest mistake of his life in order to get his princess back.
The mistake of not fighting for the love of his life. It haunted his memory day and night. As he turned and ran away from her to ran to what was easy instead of what was right. His attitude had turned into the mirror image of the grim reaper. With her he called his life a dismal failure of cynicism. Loneliness was his choice at first. A choice that meant darkness. Until she fell from heaven found him in Angel Square and showed him the light.
Either way, laying in that hospital bed, he saw that he had fight to show her his choice was her. Evangeline Williamson. He was in love with her and at his happiest, and he wanted that with her everyday for the rest of life. He shifted in the bed and had to go still until the pain eased back. One leg hadn’t shifted at all because of the weight of the plaster. “Okay” he thought with a flicker of humor. He wouldn’t try that again for awhile.
Once the cast comes off he would get out of this bed and find away to fight like hell to get his life back together. The nurse came in and showed him how to give himself mini-shots of morphine. John pushed the button and felt a wave of relief cloud his mind and made his eyes heavy. As he drifted, he heard himself saying, “I love you Evangeline.” That’s right he knew who belonged by his side as his wife and life partner for eternity and Evangeline did. He smiled at how at ease and at piece he felt when he said those words while sleep sedated him.
The voice on the phone was light and pleasant. “Mrs. Williamson, I’m calling from the ICU Burning Victims Unit at Llanview Medical Hospital. I’m a RN, my name is Mary Wilkins and I’ve been trying to reach someone about Mr. Johnathan Mc Bain. We tried to contact his family with out success, so far. Since he’s been awake he has been asking for you. Your name is written down as an emergency contact. I was hoping you could come in for a visit.”
“He’s awake?” She asked stunned, John had been in a coma for 5 months now. She wished and hoped that he would wake up soon, but her heart ache with the news that she would have to deliver if he asked about Natalie. For she had ran off suddenly with Vincent Jones and got married to him in AC. Griping the steering wheel she hesitated as she started to maneuver her Suburban in the parking garage.
Letting her fingers linger on the keys, delaying the end of her life changing journey that she had been on since his supposed death and resurrection. She realized that she was forcing herself into a relationship that she knew in her heart just wasn’t working out on so many levels. That relationship that she had with Chris was a doom form the beginning because she was lying to her self about her feelings for him and John. Just for a little while longer she wanted to ignore the fact that his awakening had already turned-upside-down her world and had it spinning on a completely different axis.
She switched off the ignition silencing the engine and Maxwell’s smooth voice on the CD. Quite. Such extraordinary quite washed over her. “okay” she said out loud, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “Okay, you can do this Eva.” she climbed out the car then headed inside of the hospital. Opening the door leading into John’s room, “Hello, John.” She called out in case the doctor or a nurse was in the room attending to him. “I’m here just pull back the curtain.” He stated.
To be continued......
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