A Teenager's Challenge in a Small Town

The only Survivor

The next day we all went to a restaurant for dinner, but things didn't go exactly as planned.

We were supposed to go to Corky's for a BBQ dinner because I had never had an authentic southern barbecue. Dinner went well it was so fun being together as a whole family. On the way home the unexpected happened.

We were driving along and all of the sudden another car hit ours. I don't remember anything else after that until when I woke up when I was in the hospital. I woke up to strange surroundings and I didn't recognize anyone. I felt like my legs were tightly strapped down because I could not move them, but I could move my arms. I looked around to see a lot of medical equipment. The door opened and I was hoping it was my family but it was a nurse. When she saw me awake she ran out and I heard her saying on the phone "Come quickly! She's awake!" She hung up.  A few minutes later I saw dad and Tori walking up to the hospital through the window I feel so relieved knowing that they were alright. I heard my dad's voice from down the hall saying "We'll be there in a minute!"

Tori opened the door and peeked her head in.

    "Were we in an accident?" I asked Tori.

Tori responded, "Yes, and apparently you were the only one injured." Tori stepped into my room.

"Tori can you unstrap my legs, I want to walk to dad."

She came to my side and said, "What's wrong?"

    "My legs!" I said a little frustrated, "Can you unstrap them for me? I want to go see mom and dad in the hall." At that point, I saw my dad come through the door. He came to my bedside and gave me a hug and a kiss.

He said, "You look fine but, I heard from the doctors that you can't move your legs is that true?"

I replied flailing my arms about "See I can move my arms!" I tried swinging my legs but they wouldn't go.

He says, "That's odd!"

I ask, "Where's mom?"

He responds "Staying home with Oreo!"

I forgot about Cookie Boy! "How's Oreo!"

"He misses you for sure but he has Tori and you look just alike so I don't think he's too lonely," my dad says with a crooked smile.

               By now the doctor had stepped in and asked me "Hey, Bekah glad you are awake. How are you doing?"

"Fine, but I miss my dog!"

Tori asked the doctor, "Can we bring Bekah's dog here?" He nods Yes!

"HURRAY! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" I scream excitedly.

Dad said, "I'll bring your mom and Oreo here! Tori, you stay and keep Bekah company!" Dad runs out of my room and, a few seconds later, I see his car fly out of the hospital's garage.

Then about 10 minutes later he was back in my room with my mom and Oreo! My mom ran up to my side and put Oreo on my bed.

"You okay?" asked my mom.

I said, "Fine but will you unstrap my legs? Tori wouldn't do it for me earlier. Oh my gosh!" Oreo licks my face as if he hadn't seen me like in forever!

"I'm sorry about your legs honey, let me go talk to the doctor," she says as she walks toward the door.

She leaves and in a few minutes the doctor steps in and says, "We don't know what exactly what happened, so we are going to run some more tests, is that alright with you Bekah?" he says.

"It's okay, as I've got lots of company!"

Tori tried to pet Oreo but again he licks her hand! We both giggle at the same time and say, "I love him!"

               The doctor told my parents, "I'm going to take her for an X-ray to see if anything is broken. It could be her spine." They both nodded. Tori picked Oreo up and they rolled me off to the X-ray room. The x-ray room had a big device. The technician rolled me over to a table and went behind a wall with glass and I laid still. He pressed something to bring up a square on the device. "All done! Now the radiologist will have to take a look of those x-rays." He said in a worrying tone then he rolled me back to my room. Tori and Oreo were sitting on my bed. The nurses rolled me back onto my bed.

"Do you know what the X-Rays say?" Tori asked.

"No. The X-ray tech wouldn't say, but his face didn't look so good when he saw my X-ray," I tell her. She places Oreo in my arms and I pet him for a while. Our parents come back with a Hawaiian pizza because Tori and I both love pineapple on our pizza. It tastes so good! I don't know how long it's been since I ate last but I ate at least four slices of pizza. No, I'm lying to myself, I ate five pieces of pizza.

"Beks, I have to go home, I got school tomorrow," Tori says around eight o'clock.

"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!" She walks out of the room. About half an hour later there's a knock at the door and the doctor from earlier leans in and says, "Is it alright if we talk now? All the test results are in."

"Of course!" my mom says nervously. He steps into the room and sits in one of the chairs across from my parents who are on the couch.

"This is going to be difficult for you to hear, so I'm going to need ya'll to be prepared. In the accident, Bekah's fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae were damaged."

"What does that mean?" my dad asked in a super worried tone.

"Well," the doctor continued, "the vertebrae houses the spinal cord and with the damage to her vertebrae, I'm afraid her spinal cord was also hurt. She can't move or feel anything past her waist. I'm so sorry, as I know this is very difficult to hear." he says somberly, as he turns his head toward me. My mom is a nurse so she knows it already.

The next afternoon, around three o'clock Tori came back to the hospital. "Hey, I got checked out early so I could come see you!"

"Thanks," I say. I don't know how I am going to tell her about my legs. "Out with the news, I guess," I say, "The doctor said that my spine was damaged in the accident. He says that I'll probably never be able to walk or feel anything past my waist ever again." I said it out loud but it's still hard to believe.

"Wow," Tori says "That's big news, so what will you do now?"

"I really don't know," I say, "It's all so hard for me to believe."