The Story of Jackson

Some would think that I had a pretty ordinary life, with an average job volunteering at the local hospital just because I could, an average school, normal family life, and normal academic records. But when you think about it in more detail, I am not normal. I don’t work at the hospital because I can, my family life is no where near normal, and my academic records…well you can’t really change those can you…

It all started a while back, and if hurts to think about it. The experience was extremely confronting and not something I look back on often. And that is where the hospital comes in. Working there helps me to count the blessings I have been given, and accept that life just goes on the way everyone else’s does. As much as hospital food smells, I go about my daily jobs, working my way through the corridors. Chatting to the long-term patients, comforting the short-term ones, and every so often, I will join them for a game of bridge, or poker if we’re lucky.

Essentially, I stay at the hospital because I feel obliged.

The things that this place has done for me? Well, that is something that I will not delve into at this point in time. I don’t want to bore you with recounts of the numerous times where I have resorted to these plain corridors, the blue wallpaper against the cheap wood hand rails that went along every single hallway within the building. You could say it was a kind of reprieve from the live I was living at the time. The hospital was a place for me to get out of the hectic lifestyle that I had laid out for me, and the sameness along every walkway almost felt comforting to me.

Hmm…family? Well it depends what you classify under that heading. Two older brothers who were smart enough to leave the fucked up town I call home, a drunk for a father, and a mother who was hooking up in motels for 25 days of the month. Reliable…probably not. When you grow up like this, you work out what to do by yourself. The groceries, no problem. Public transport? No problem, when your Dad is a drunk, it isn’t like he will be using his car anytime soon. Money? Parent’s savings cards are amazing things these days. But the one thing that I struggle with at the moment is health care. Still being 16, I’m not quite eligible for any form of health care scheme, and so I tend to rely heavily on the first aid box we keep above our kitchen sink. And when the going gets tough? Neighbours are always there to help, along with a couple of friends…it just depends on who likes me at what time!

But this story isn’t about the life I have now, no! It is all about what I went through in order to get to where I am now. The hurdles, and the obstacles that stood in my path to recovery. The relationships formed, and those that were subsequently broken. Over all else, this story is about Jackson.

Let my version of events, begin!

Fingers drumming on the steering wheel, the music became louder and louder. Pounding through her ears, eliminating anything else. Surrounded by sound, anyone would have thought that I wouldn’t see what happened next, let alone hear the screeching tires or smell the burning rubber as the massive collision unfolded before me.

My eyes widened in shock, and I jerked back in my seat, almost as if I were trying to back away from the tragedy unfolding before me.

It felt like a repeat of the past. Surely this had been in so many movies, advertising the side effects of drink driving, driving home after massive parties with too many people in the car at a time. But this was different. It was the middle of the day, no one sane enough in this little town would be out drink driving at this time, and from what I saw, there was only one person in that car.

Both of these options eliminated from my querying, I was left in wonder and confusion. Yanking the earbuds from my ears, I began processing the scene, analysing what was happening, what wasn’t happening, and wondering over and over again…

‘How did this happen…How How How?’

Unsure of whether to stay put or get out and help, unease settled over me. I felt the air grow thicker and my head began to ache, a sharp pain behind both of my eyes, penetrating through my skull.

Using my two forefingers, I applied pressure to my temples, then got out of the car and walked towards the collision. Slowly, my jaw began to drop, my eyes widening at the same time. Looking over the scene before me I instantly regretted getting out of the car. I should of just called an ambulance or the police or something!

If there was one thing that I needed to learn to get over, it was my disgust of blood. The fear was completely irrational, but that didn’t stop me. Taking deep breaths, I continued on forward. The blood was giving me a headache, making me grimace in pain from the new surge of pain forming, now at the base of my skull. Knowing that the world did not just revolve around me, I drew on the little skills I had in the area and observed the scene with a new frame of mind.

Ticking off a list as I went, I began with the obvious. Were there any body parts? Oh god, if there were...  Finishing empty handed, I made my way through the rest of the checklist.

Happy to see that there was nothing amiss with her checklist, I was nearing the bottom. Walking through the now crowded area, my brain kept on working; ignorant to the pain becoming stronger and stronger the longer I stayed in the vicinity of so much blood. As I drew up closer to the smaller of the two cars, well one was an 18 wheeler, I could hear the sirens in the distance.

‘Well at least someone thought to call  the authorities.'

Pausing in place, Alice squeezed her eyes tightly shut, ‘just wait, when the ambulance gets here I’m sure they will have a Aspirin or something, this will all go away!’ The growing sirens were certainly not helping with the ache in my head, but pushing it away again, I bent down slowly to check the insides of the car.