Sensation

Chapter 32 - Azalea

I was blinded by the white lights as the sound of the shattering glass filled my ears. The force of the other car ramming into our car knocked me into my door, bashing my head on the window.

Waking up in the hospital bed again was the worst feeling ever. I slowly began to move to only be restricted by tubes coming out of my arms. My head began to ache viciously and I reached up to rub my head but only feeling gauzes. I looked around the room to be interrupted by Laila.

"Oh my gosh, Zale! I'm so glad you're okay." She jumped up out of her chair and hugged me gently. Pain shot down my back but I didn't want to let her know that. My eyes wandered around the room, confused and curious.

"Laila, where's Franky?" Laila hesitantly backed out of our hug and looked down at her hands and then back at me.

"Laila! Where's Franky?" I couldn't contain myself. My mind began racing with thoughts. What happened? The last thing I remember was being outside the sperm bank talking to Franky. She said something that made me upset and... I let my foot off the gas leading us to ease back into the street. The next thing I saw was a bright light and then... Oh no, Franky.

"Laila why won't you answer me?" I grew angry and grabbed her arms beginning to get aggressive with her. Two tears came down her cheek and I let her go.

"Zale," she grabbed hold of my hands and took a deep breath. "Zale, Franky is in ICU right now. She was banged up pretty badly. You both have been unconscious for fifteen hours, you were responding well so the doctors didn't take you to ICU. They told me that she has traumatic brain injury, a couple broken ribs, one of them punctured her one of her kidneys and the bleeding was horrendous. They're feeling really positive but that's all that they've told me."

I sat back in my bed and let what Laila just said sink in. I didn't know what to say. My heart began to ache, leading me to forget about the pain coming from my head. Tears began pouring from my eyes and I started crying hysterically. I couldn't believe this happened. My wife is in the ICU... I feel like this is my fault. If I hadn't put the car in reverse instead of parking then we wouldn't be here. If I hadn't wanted to find out who the sperm donor was then this would have never happened. Mateo.

Tears still running down my cheeks, "Laila where's Mateo?"

"My friend, Maya, is walking him around. He began crying and so she took him for a walk. They should be back any minute. We've been feeding him his baby formula, so he'll be good for a couple more hours."

I sat back relieved that at least half of my world was unharmed. Being a veteran leads me to not be as emotionally inclined in certain situations but this was different. This girl is the love of my life, my wife. I don't know what I'd do without her. I don't know how I'd raise Mateo without his other mother. All this thinking overwhelmed me and the next thing I knew, I had fell asleep.