Hello Charlie

After the Accident

I woke up to the sound of crying. Why was there crying? Had someone died? I felt a pang of worry in my chest as I listened to the rise and fall of the wailing. Then I realized the crying wasn't near me, considerably. Also, it sounded like a child. A new born baby. I opened my eyes to find- wait. Why wouldn't my eyes open? I'm not asleep any more! Unless I was in a terrible nightmare in which I had no control over my body what-so-ever. But there was no zombies or blood thirsty teachers out to get me. (Please, don't ask. I've had traumatizing experiences with homework)

I tried pulling my hand up to my face to slap myself, or something that would indicate this wasn't a nightmare, but my hand wouldn't move. Neither would my feet. I tried every possible muscle I could think would react to my desperate situation. No luck. I had no control over myself, whether I liked it or not, and let me tell you, I sure as heck was far from liking it. 

I started to panic after realization hit me that I had to wait this out. My heart hammered in my chest in response to this newfound panic. My eyes would have widened if they weren't ignoring me. I had found a muscle that actually responded to me. And in response to that, an extremely annoying beeping sound mirrored my pulse. I wanted to groan. Why did heart monitors have to be so annoying? 

Then it hit me. 

Heart monitor? Smell of antiseptic, which I hadn't bothered paying attention to before? I was in a hospital. Why was I in a hospital? Did I drink and drive or something? I wasn't old enough for that right? Only, what, 16? I think so. Why wasn't I completely sure how old I was? Oh God, I really wanted to wake up from this nightmare. 

My mind was becoming fuzzy with the overwhelming amount of worries and panic that I hadn't noticed the soft footsteps enter my room. I was in a room right? They wouldn't leave me in the hall way- ok, stupid thoughts. 

"Are you awake,..." There was a pause in the persons question, then the sound of papers shuffling, "uh, Adriana?" I wanted to smirk at how the person said my name. They must have been reading it through someone's crappy penmanship because it took them awhile to decode the 'r' and the 'i'. 

"Oh wait, you wouldn't respond because your in a coma. Oops, i'm sorry. Wait, why am I apologizing? You probably can't even hear me." This was followed by an embarrassed smirk. The voice sounded closer now, so I could conclude it was male. The shuffling of feet made their way over to my left, leaving me feeling quite unprotected and anxious. 

"You seem to be awake because your heart monitor is freaking out. Either that or you're having a nightmare." He continued to mutter to himself, but all I wanted to do was scream at him ' YES! I AM IN A NIGHTMARE! WAKE ME UP!'. Unfortunately, my body was still at a stand still with responding to me, so I continued to lay there like a dead person. At least I wasn't dead though, whatever happened must have been quite bad if I am now in a coma. Oh, I'm in a coma. Huh, this just hit me. The random man in my room had mentioned that. News for both of us, I guess. I should be freaking out about this, but oddly, this reassured me in a way. For the first time in 10 minutes I know what's wrong with me. 

Then the worry kicked in. Comas could last for months at a time. Maybe even years, but I don't pay attention in class so I'm not quite certain about that. I was going to be unresponsive for who knows how long. Minutes? Hours? Maybe even months. This gave me a new wave of uncertainty, making me want to hurl. 

The obnoxious beeping picked up pace as I thought through this. That was going to give me a head ache. 

"Oh gosh, don't die! I was just looking!" I heard the thump of an object fall onto a surface and the surprised shuffling of feet back step. What had he been looking at? How would I have even known he was looking at said object, let alone die from it? Weird kid. 

A muffled call came from what sounded like another room, followed by a quiet curse from my visitor. If only I could chuckle. 

"Well, I have to go. Get better soon, I guess." He muttered, then a quiet sliding sound came from where he dropped the object, followed by hurried footsteps out the door. 

Did he just steal something I could die from if I knew he was looking at it?