A Rose Amongst Thorns

Chapter Twenty-Four

Three months later...

"Darkness. Pain. Screaming. People. Sirens. More pain. Nothing."

These thoughts all passed through Kongpob's mind in a matter of seconds. His eyes slowly opened. The room was dimly lit. He blinked several times trying to focus on the things around him. The sound of steady beeping could be heard in the background. Kongpob couldn't tell where he was. His surroundings were foreign to him. He wanted to call out, but his could not find his voice. He tried to lift his hand but his couldn't get his hand to obey his commands.

"Am I in the hospital?"

There was no antiseptic smell. No doctors. No nurses.

"What is that beeping?"

He thought he was verbalizing but he didn't hear his own voice. He realized after a couple of minutes that his dialogue was completely internal. There was no sound other than the incessant beeping. His confusion soon gave way to panic as he began to scream.

"HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

In his head he was thrashing about, but his body remained immobile. His voice silent.

"Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming. Why can't I move? Where is everyone?"

No sooner had he asked the question did he hear the door open. His squinted his eyes trying to focus on the figure moving towards him in the low light of the room. As the person moved closer to him, he saw that it was a young doctor. She stared at him for a moment, pulled his chart from the front of the bed and started looking at all the machines around the bed.

"Hello? Where am I?"

The doctor did not answer.

"Why aren't you listening to me? Help me. Can you hear me?"

Kongpob grew frustrated and did his best to get the doctor to pay attention. A single tear rolled from his eye, which finally caught the attention of the doctor.

"Oh my God! He's awake. Welcome back Mr. Suthiluck. I'm Dr. Garrick."

"Not Thai. She speaks perfect Thai though. Maybe from the U.S.?"

Kongpob blinked several times at the doctor hoping she would answer the questions he couldn't seem to verbalize.

"You must be wondering what happened to you, right?"

Kongpob blinked furiously in response.

"You were in a serious car accident. From what we can tell you were t-boned by a large delivery truck in an intersection. You weren't wearing your seatbelt and was ejected from the car through the front windshield upon impact. Bystanders called paramedics who brought you to Bangkok Hospital. Your brain sustained severe trauma and your spinal column was also injured, which rendered your paralyzed from the waist down. However, we believe the swelling and pressure on your spinal column can be alleviated with surgery, but we didn't want to operate until you were out of the coma. After the surgery, and with significant physical therapy, we believe your paralysis is temporary. Additional injuries led to you being comatose for the past two months. Your parents had you transferred from the hospital to our rehabilitation center for further treatment."

Kongpob's eyes widened and his breathing increased rapidly causing the slow beeping to upsurge.

"Dr. Suthiluck. I need you to breathe and calm down. Your body is still injured and being agitated can worsen your condition. Focus on my voice Dr. Suthiluck and calm down. You family is outside, and they would like to see you. They will be very happy to know that you are awake."