My Romeo

Silence

Blinding light.

That's the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. Then, faces came into focus, some familiar, some not.

Mom. Dad. Ana, my sister.

Someone, who I assume to be a doctor, was waving a hand in front of my face, asking me to tell him what number he was holding up, a three by the way. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out.

The doctor shook her head, and put a delicate hand over my mouth to prevent me from trying again. After, I heard her talking, but I wasn't paying attention, either because of the pounding pain in my head or the fact that the only thing I could concentrate on was my voice, and why it wasn't working.

"..... The car accident may have damaged her vocal chords beyond repair. There's nothing we can't do...."

After that, there was black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I woke up my head was considerably better. That was the good part of the news. The bad part was that when I tried to speak, I realized that there was a tube down my throat, preventing me from even trying.

Jakob, my best friend, was sleeping with his head resting on my hospital bed.

Wait, hospital

Hospital

I'm in the hospital.

I shook Jakob awake, making a
What the heck is happening to me right now motion with my hands.

"Easy tiger, you were just in a little accident, that's all"

Tiger was his nickname for me after we read the book Tiger's Curse together. We still disagree over who is better, Dhiren or Kishan.

After Jakob phoned the doctor, he told me that I would likely not be able to talk again, which rightly put me in a panic. The doctor assured that I would be okay and then scolded Jakob for telling me so soon. I didn't mind. I would rather have the truth. Then again, who wouldn't.