Dreamjumper

Chapter Seven

I heard where I was before I saw it.

The sound of faint beeps echoed from a machine somewhere nearby.

Much farther away, there was the soft murmur of voices.

And finally, I could hear a woman crying, right beside me.

I opened my eyes slowly; it took a second for them to adjust to the sudden light.

The first thing I noticed was the state of my hands. An IV had been inserted in the left one, and was connected to a bag of fluid. As I looked up, I noticed that the tops of my arms were covered by a faded blue hospital gown.

I took a breath of surprise, and found that something odd was in my nose.

Oxygen tubes.

I looked to my right, and the big white tank sitting beside my bed confirmed my suspicions.

"You're awake!"

I turned around to face the voice weakly, not lifting my head off the pillow. It was my mother, her honey blond hair pulled off her face in a messy ponytail and her eyes puffy and red.

She jumped up from her chair immediately and wrapped her arms around me, making sure to watch out for my IV and breathing tubes. "Anne ... I'm so sorry this happened to you, my sweet girl..." She started to cry all over again, though I had no idea why.

I struggled to find the words to ask what was happening, my mind still in a sleepy state of confusion. "Mom ... why am I here?" I asked, my voice quiet and hoarse.

She reached out for my right hand across the bed, and held it tightly. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she replied shakily, "You were in a car accident, Annie."

The headlights flashed through my mind again, the sound of my body hitting the windshield making me cringe.

"Oh, that's right," I said stupidly.

My mother's lip trembled again, and this time I could barely make out the words. She was on the verge of breaking down, her eyes glassy with tears and her face turning red.

"I'm so sorry, Annie, I'm so sorry..."

Before I could figure out what she was sorry for, she squeezed my hand tighter. "Honey, while you were asleep the doctors performed some operations on you. The accident damaged your spinal cord, and they tried very hard to fix it, but..."

"What?" I asked, not connecting the dots. I still felt half-asleep. What did a spinal cord injury mean for me?

"Annie ... you won't be able to walk," she said, and at these words she reached her breaking point. She ducked her head down and started to sob.

So I was paralyzed? I felt my heart start to beat faster as the situation became clearer to me. I looked around the room frantically, for some sort of confirmation of my handicap.

I eventually turned my gaze back to my mother, figuring that I wouldn't find anything; all I saw was an empty chalkboard, patient pain rating and information, and health posters.

"But I can learn to walk again, right?" I asked hopefully.

I felt my body go ice cold as my mother's expression turned even more painful. "No, sweetie. No, you can't," she said gently.

I couldn't accept that - there had to be a way, a way to get up and start walking again. I couldn't just stop. I tried to push myself up and fling my legs off the bed - and, to my surprise, I felt nothing below my waist. My legs didn't budge; they were dead weight.