Changes

Awake

"Just tell me if he's going to wake up, Doctor Stephens. Is my boy going to be alright?"

The worried woman paced back and forth in front of the lone hospital bed which sat in the white room, constantly glancing over to see if its occupant showed any signs of movement.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Marlow. Its just too early to tell. Judging by how far from the vehicle he was found, he may have suffered a traumatic brain injury when he flew through the windshield. Quite frankly, he's lucky to be alive."

At the sound of these words, the woman burst into tears. She held her face in her hands and wept willfully. The doctor tried to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but was met with a quick rebuke.

"Don't touch me you... you... you QUACK!" with all her emotions coming to the front, she placed strong emphasis on this final word.  "We pay thousands of dollars just have him sleep here, let alone YOUR overpriced fees just to moniter him. We pay all this money, and you tell me we have to WAIT AND SEE! Christ almighty, we live in the twenty-first century. Cars are driving themselves, and you tell me there's NOTHING YOU CAN DO! I might as well just take him back home. At least then he won't wake up to Dr. Mengala poking and prodding him!"

"Mrs. Marlow, that wouldn't be wise. He needs us to moniter his vital signs in case he shows any..."

"I was just making a point. Don't Worry, I'll keep your money rolling in." with this she spat on the floor and made her way towards the exit. 

Without turning around, she called back "Just make sure you call me when he wakes up, I have to get to work." 

A moment later, the doctor stood alone in the room with his patient, wondering what he had done to deserve such animosity. He walked over the screen which showed the patient's vital signs, ensured everything was stable, and turned around to walk towards the door. Just as he was turning the handle, he heard a low moan emit from the bed. He checked over his shoulder and saw the boy was rubbing his eyes with one of his hands.

"Jack, Jack can you hear me?"

"Wh...Where am I?" said a low voice, sounding gravelly in his dry throat, having only taken in water through an I.V. which still hung out of his arm.

"My name is Dr. Stephens, you're in St. Violet Hospital. You were in a bad car accident."

"How long have I been here?" Jack said, still too dazed to remember anything.

"I'll answer any questions I can in just a moment. Your mother just left, she's been worried sick over you. Let me just see if I can reach her before..."

"No!" Jack suddenly said, grimacing at his aching body as he quickly sat up. " I don't want to see her just yet. I'm still too groggy to deal the emotional overload of her seeing me like this."

"I understand, I may have experienced some of that "overload" just before you woke up." the calm doctor said, showing the slightest signs of a grin on his aged face. "To answer your question, you've been here for about a day and a half. We estimate you were lying in the road for at least a few hours before you were found."

"What happened? The last thing I remember is looking for a pack of cigarettes when I heard a loud thump. After that everything is black."

"Well it seems you were driving down one of the dirt roads outside of town, strongly inebriated I must say, judging by the alcohol levels in your bloodstream, when you hit a cow which had wandered out of a nearby farmer's field. The animal was killed instantly, and you flew about ten feet from the vehicle. The strange thing is, as lucky as you were to survive that, you were even luckier. Sometime before you were found, what is assumed to be a small pack of wolves came across the cow's carcass in the road. They did quite a number on the remains, but left you alone for the most part."

"What do you mean "for the most part"?" Jack asked, bewildered by this strange news.

"Well this is what I mean. Its seems as though one of the wolves found you lying off to the side of the road, and if you weren't wearing a cast on your left arm, you would notice puncture marks along your forearm. Though you escaped with a single bite, we estimate it was strong enough to cause a hairline fracture. Maybe it was the liquor in your blood, maybe they were full on beef by the time they found you, but you're lucky that there's anything left of you but bones."