Life's Luck

Chapter 3: Waking Up

Opening my eyes I remembered where I was. I said one word and waited for a response. There was no answer for a long time and then I heard a familiar voice, “you woke up dis day! I thought you was long gone.” I recognized him as Jaro. “How long was I out? How’s my mom? Is she still in urgent care?” Surprisingly he answered all of my questions. “You been out fo three days. yo momma is not well, and no she was moved ta a recovery room on level three.

I was so relieved, I noticed that I was smiling for the first time in about 5 days. I was overjoyed that my mom wasn’t gone and that she was on her way to recovery. The first thing I said was, “where’s the nurse? I want to talk to her.” Jaro said, “Why yo expect me ta know I don’t know shit. Buh there’s a button on the side of yo right arm click it and da nurse will come help.” I totally forgot about my arm and reached for the button but squeaked because of the pain that shot through my arm. That squeak triggered a doctor to come in.

“What is the problem little lady?” said the doctor. I said, “I have a question and Jaro told me to click the button on the right side of my bed for assistance and I forgot about my arm so I moved it and it hurt.” “Well accidents happen right? What’s your question sweetie?” There were many questions racing through my mind at this point but only one came out, “Can I see my mom?” He looked at me with wide green eyes and said, “Tomorrow, right now she’s getting x-rays done and she won’t be suitable to see until tomorrow evening.” I screamed at him and cried, “I want to see her now!” My heart rate started going up, I could hear it in the monitor.

Jaro screamed, “Just leave god damn it! You’re stressing her out! get the hell out!” The doctor left immediately. My eyes started closing and I tried to fight it; I felt the unconsciousness slipping into me little by little. Finally my whole body just stopped fighting it and I just closed my eyes.

I woke up to Jaro shaking me with tears falling down his face. I asked, “Why are you crying? What happened? Where’s my mom?” He just let go and sniffled, “Your heart stopped beating on the monitor and I thought you were dead! You’re da third room mate I’ve had an I don’t want yo to die too!” I widened my eyes hearing that and started crying; I didn’t want to die but what Jaro’s been through oh my goodness he’s had it really hard. After the tears slowly ended I finally asked again, “Where’s my mom?” Just like he had said before, “Woman I don’t know!” “How long was I out?” He said, “probably half an hour.”

I just laid there examining Jaro’s face. I didn’t think that he was white when he had talked it sounded like he was black, but he was white. “Where are you from Jaro?” He said, “... I actually don’t remember.” I asked, “What happened? Why are you in the hospital?” “Well I got hit by a car when I was walkin cross da road. I’ve been here fo a while cause o’head trauma. Dat nurse dat has been comin in… Well yo ony saw er once, buh she says dat they don’t even know who ma family is. Er name is Anna; she’s stayed wit me fo a long time. I’ve probably been in dis hospital fo two years. What bout you Hannah? What happened with you? Why you always asking where yo momma is?”

The only words that came out were, “My… mom…. got in a… crash…. and I ran…” He got confused. “Hannah ya have ta explain more, I don’t understand.” I began my long-short story, “Well Jaro my mom left on Sunday morning; when I got up I read the note she left and continued to the living room with chocolate ice cream. I turned the TV on, took my first bite, and the news said there was a crash on highway 89, where a woman driving a deep blue GMC suburban crashed into a tree. I knew it was my mom immediately, so I rushed out the door, pj’s and all, and ran and ran and ran until I closed my eyes for too long wanting the tears to leave my eyes. I lost all control and tumbled down a hill, all I remember was I saw a tree, then I woke up here in this hospital, and got moved to this room with you. I was told I had a broken neck and right arm from hitting a tree after my tumble. So now I’m here, hoping that life will get better. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Jaro just stood up, I saw his face once more and then he must have got back on the bed because I heard sounds like someone had just sat down then he said, “Wow, dat sounds perty bad… Do ya know when yo be gettin out o’ dis hospital?” “No, I have no clue. I’ve pretty much just been awake enough through the past 5 days to know only why I’m here.” “Well it’s purty late Hannah I’mma go ta sleep. See ya tamarra.” “Good night Jaro.” I said.

Everything was just roaring through my mind after Jaro stopped talking. I wanted to know where my mom was, if she was ok, when I could see her, and how long I would have to stay here. All the questions kept racing through my mind and drowning out the other sounds of the world. My breathing became ragged and that was all I could hear other than my thoughts; my eyes slowly started closing and I knew something was wrong. The next thing that shot into my mind was hit the button.

I reached my left hand to the button slowly, finding that my body wasn’t responding as quickly as I hoped and finally pressing the button. My left arm moved back to where it normally laid and my eyes closed completely. The last thing I heard was the door opening and a yell, “She’s going into cardiac arrest! Bring the defibrillator!” After that I quickly fell into the darkness of the night.