The Boomerang Effect

~3~

I gasp, looking around me. I start to sit up, but gasp again, in pain.

"Hush," someone says, "it's alright. You're alright."

I look around in fright, but relax when I notice I'm in the hospital with a kind nurse staring me in the face.

"Wha-what happened?" I say. I start to sit up again, but the sharp pain comes back. I scream in agony.

"Shhh, just lay back. You were in an accident," she tells me softly, as if her tone could soothe the feeling of pain that rattles my insides. 

My heart stops as I remember what happened, "what... what happened to me?"

"Well... due to some... debris," she says struggling with the words that both her and I know could damage me in an instant, "your kidney has been ruptured-but don't worry, we took the kidney out before any real damage was caused. People can live with one kidney."

I heave out a sigh. The headrest must have been the 'debris' she was talking about. And then I remember, my body going rigid as I force out the words "what about my parents?"

The nurse looks sullen. She sits on my bed. I'm suddenly intoxicated with nervousness.

"What?" I ask.

She hesitates, "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but... you're mom is in a coma-" I cut her off with a strangled cry.

"We don't know when she will wake up-we don't know if she will wake up-but we'll try our best," she continues.

"W-what about my dad?" I manage to choke out as I feel my body start to shake. 

"Well, when the ambulance came, we found your dad in..." she stumbles for words, "very poor condition. Some glass entered his body and hit him in the liver. He's stable now, but he's going to need a liver transplant. I say the most he has without a new liver is... 3 months?"

"What's the date today?"

"June 6th. You have been knocked out for a week. Not just because of the kidney, but because of the shock done to your head. A large object must have hit you during the accident."

That's right, the prong hit me in the head.

"You had a concussion, but you're recuperating and you can leave pretty soon. You will also be able to visit your dad once you get a little bit better," she says, giving me a polite smile.

"Thank you," I say dismissively.

She leaves. 

At first, everything is normal, and then suddenly I can hear the beeping of the monitors around me, their beeps getting louder. I never noticed them before, but now their sounds are blaring in my ears and I can't stand them. I focus on my breath. My breathing is steady as I breathe in and out. In and out, in and out, in and out. We can get through this. I can get through this. I can. I can. I can-c-can't. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't I-

Silence.

Pure...

Silence.