THE COLOUR OF LOVE (Wattpadprize14)Completed

Chapter 15 - Sudden Impact

Cole breathed an unexpected sigh of relief when he realised where he was.

The nurse came running in, asking him if he was okay, and he replied that he was, he just needed to get up and wanted the wires disconnected.

In the doctor’s room, Cole sat quietly while the doctor spoke about his night’s sleep, saying that his heart had appeared to race suddenly towards the end of his sleep, just before he woke up so unexpectedly. Cole was lost for words and somewhere deep down inside of him, there was a deep well of doubt that he should not continue with this therapy.

“Cole, what’s wrong? You seem very subdued today.  Did you have a dream that’s troubling you?  You did seem to wake up rather abruptly.”

“Doc, I can’t remember my dream and I don’t think this sleep therapy is helping me anymore.”

“Really, Cole. Why is that?”

“Well, my wife doesn’t come to me anymore and I think that the dreams I’ve had lately are just like any normal dreams a person has.”

“Cole, did you dream something last night that has upset you and given you cause to not wish to continue?

“No, Doc. No, not at all.  I can’t even remember my dream last night, if in fact I did dream at all.”

“Well Cole, I can’t insist that you continue if it’s not something you want to do. I’m just a little concerned that you’ve changed your mind so suddenly, as our previous session was very positive. The other woman you kept seeing in your dreams is gone now?” the doctor asked, his voice full of concern.

“Yes, Doc,” Cole lied. “I haven’t seen her again. For that matter, I haven’t even thought about her again.”

Cole hoped that his lie sounded convincing.  There were red lights and red flags going off in his head; there was something about the woman in his dreams that he no longer wanted to accept.  He didn’t want to see her again for reasons he couldn’t explain. The strongest compulsion to banish her from his mind was overwhelming.

“Alright, Cole. Let’s leave it for now, and if you should want to come back at any time in the future, please do not hesitate to call.”

“Thanks, Doc. Thanks for all your help.  I think that talking things through with you every day has helped me to put the events of the past into perspective.”

Deep in thought, Cole drove to his sister’s florist.  He hoped that the distraction of taking her to lunch would help to chase away these weird feelings. Cole parked across the road from the florist, and lost in thought, walked across the road. A flash of light caught his attention and he looked up at the sign board above the florist.  The words in bold italics jumped out at him.  They had never made an impression on him before now. The Purple Orchid.  His concentration was lost in that moment and he didn’t hear or see the car that sped around the corner, till he heard the squeal of breaks, and suddenly he was flying through the air.

The car had been speeding to get through the lights before they changed from amber to red.  The driver saw Cole too late and hit him.  The sudden impact knocked Cole completely off his feet and sent him flying over the car bonnet, smashing into the windscreen and shattering the glass in which he became wedged.

Cole blacked out as his head smashed into the windscreen. His shoulder broke through the shattered glass and lodged inside the shreds of glass that sucked into his flesh.

There was no pain, no shock, nothing but empty blackness into which he sank deeper and deeper.  He never heard the sound of the sirens or his sister’s tearful hysteria when she saw him stuck in the driver’s windscreen. One of the wipers had pierced right through his arm.  His head lay at a peculiar angle, his eyes were open but glazed over, and blood trickled out from the corners. 

Blood oozed from his ears and his mouth, and his tongue hung out the corner of his mouth. His legs were at odd angles to his body.

The paramedics quickly set to work prying him out of the shattered windshield and after inserting the drip, they strapped him down on the gurney.  The oxygen mask filled with blood as Cole coughed suddenly.  His sister burst into another bout of hysterical tears as she gripped his hand and pleaded with him to live. The paramedic replaced the oxygen mask after wiping up the blood and the gurney was lifted into the ambulance, with his sister climbing in beside him. Squeezing his fingers, she kept begging him to fight and stay alive.

With lights flashing and sirens blaring, Cole was rushed to hospital. En route to the hospital, he coughed and vomited up blood into the oxygen mask again. As the paramedic lifted the mask off, the heart monitor flat lined and Cole’s heart stopped.  His sister screamed.  The paramedic pushed her aside and pressed the paddles onto his chest, shouted clear, and everyone in the ambulance backed away as they attempted to shock Cole’s heart back to life.

Cole looked down on the bleeding body lying on the white sheets.  He couldn’t see who it was under all the blood and the oxygen mask. He couldn’t understand why his sister was crying so much.  Her eyes were swollen and red and there were streaks of blood on her cheeks and hands.

He felt disjointed and spaced out from this scene.  He tried to talk to his sister but she totally ignored him.  The paramedic, who was trying to jump-start the stranger’s heart, briefly looked up at Cole, but did not acknowledge him.  Confused, Cole looked around the ambulance, not understanding why he was there in the first place. In that instant, the paramedic closest to Cole, reached behind him to grab something off the shelf, and Cole was horrified to see the paramedic’s hand go straight through his stomach.  He backed up against the side of the ambulance but instead of knocking into things, he seemed to fall straight through onto the road outside.

He stood in the middle of the road staring after the ambulance, confused and shocked. Cars whizzed past him and through him. He found himself spinning round and round not knowing where to go, what he should do or what had just happened.

Out of nowhere a hand reached down and pulled him up.

‘Cole you have to go back.’

A voice came to him from out of the dark.

“Back? Back to where?” Cole askedthe voice in the dark.

‘Go back, Cole. You must find her.’

“What do you mean? Where am I? What’s going on?”

‘The ambulance ….. go back Cole, she needs you.’

The hand that had materialised out of nowhere, suddenly pushed him back into the ambulance.

Cole stared down at the pale, lifeless body and saw his sister crying like her heart would break.  He heard her saying through her tears, “Cole, please don’t leave me. Fight, Cole. Please stay with me.” She choked on her sobs.

The paramedic removed the gas mask and shook his head. His sister cried out and threw herself over the body. Her tiny fists thumped furiously on this person’s chest.

Cole looked from his distraught sister to the face of the man lying pale and lifeless on the gurney. In shocked disbelief, he saw that it was him.  The face was bloodstained and the lips were blue.  The body looked dead.  He heard his sister’s heart rending sobs and in that instant, he realised that she was crying over his dead body. Or was he really dead?  Could he go back now? Was he too late?

As he stared at his own pale face lying there lifeless, he heard his wife’s voice, and when he looked up, she was standing by the gurney. She reached out her hand and pointed to his body.

‘It’s not too late, go back.’

The paramedics tried to pull his sister off him but she refused to give up and continued thumping away at his chest, screaming at him to breathe.