SEVEN: Cursed Souls

CHAPTER 55: HOPE

Ryder woke at an unfamiliar place, blinded by a white light above him before his eyes could adjust.

He tried to move his head but couldn't. He used his eyes to look to his side where he found his father sleeping beside him.

"W-What happened?" Ryder asked, clueless to why he is there. He wandered his eyes to his surroundings, the walls are white, and so as the ceiling.

"He's awake!" a woman said, "CALL THE DOCTOR, HE'S AWAKE! NURSE! DOC!" she yelled in a rush but the joy in her heart is not contained when she came near Ryder and held his hand.

His father on the other hand immediately ran outside the room and called the attention of the nurses and doctors.

A nurse and a doctor immediately ran to his room and started taking his vitals.

After some time, the Doctor explained what happened.

"You've been in a coma for almost 6 months after an accident, you may not be able to remember what happened or the memories before that, but it may come back. You may also not be able to move your body after laying down for so long, though it is a medical dilemma that you were able to talk immediately after you woke up from that 6-month sleep, still you'll regain full control and movement after some time," the Doctor said, "For now, focus on recovering than stressing yourself of the accident, your parents waited for you for so long. I'll attend to other patients now, we're just here if you need help" the Doctor smiled, letting Ryder's parents come close.

Victoria and Rycardo rushed to hug Ryder again.

"Ryder, I am sorry if I had been a bad parent to you!" Victoria cried.

"I'm sorry, Ryder. I had been selfish and had forgotten my responsibilities. I promise to be a better father now!" Rycardo added.

Ryder had longed for such warm embrace for ages. His heart overflows with the love and words. Tears unknowingly started tumbling down his cheeks.

"Ma? Pa? I may not know what happened, but I am also sorry if had done things," Ryder said.

"No! No! None of it was your fault, your friend was right, we've been bad parents to you. It's all our fault, Ryder," Victoria told Ryder.

"Ryder!" a familiar voice, someone darted towards them to hug him, "I came here immediately when your father called, I missed you!" he said.

"Logan? What happened?" Ryder asked in confusion.

Logan started to tell what happened six months ago. "During that night, we were coming home from our trip at Busilak. It was already late since we had to settle down for a while due to our diarrhea...do you remember that? But despite the dark and eerie way through Takipsilim, we got out all in one piece.

"It wasn't Takipsilim that we should've been afraid of, but rather the imminent danger ahead of us when we approached a turn leading to the way to your house.

"As we came close to the intersection, a black cat ran in front of us. Lazy who was already exhausted due to the diarrhea and from driving was shocked and lost control of the steering wheel. The car went rogue, and when we reached the intersection, a white blinding light from the left side of the road sped towards us.

"At that time, you were just waking from your sleep but all of us looked to our left, shouting as we accept our fate for no second could Lazy react and avoid what was already bound to happen--a collision of two vehicles," Logan said before gasping.

"The next thing I knew, I was already lying in bed. They told me that I was in a coma for 2 months then it took you four more months to wake up," Logan said.