The Day Before You Came

Chapter One

People came and went through the cold corridors of the hospital, despite the hour there was much movement. It was winter in Sweden and people tended to catch cold, specially kids and older adults, the streets were full of snow and it was increasingly difficult to transit the streets which often caused accidents.

A tall blond nurse walked through one of the highways of intensive care, carrying with her a tray. She turned left to a narrower hallway, meeting several doors. She arrived at the door with number 112 and opened slowly, trying not to be noisy. A lamp in the corner subtly illuminated the room. The sound of the drip of serum and the heart rhythms recorded by the monitor flooding the environment. She approached the stretcher where a man's body lay, it was time to change the serum. She checked his blood pressure, it was a little low. Poor man, she thought. It had been four days since he arrived to the hospital and he still hadn't woken up.

The blanket had fallen a little so she accommodated it, in that very moment the man let out a gasp, it seemed that he was beginning to wake up. "Sir? Sir, can you hear me?" The nurse asked putting her hands on his right arm.

The man let out another gasp and opened his eyes, turning his head a little to the right and dedicating a confused look to the nurse. "I..." he cleared his throat. "I h-have headache".

The nurse pushed the red button that was at edge of the stretcher. Two minutes later, a doctor entered hurriedly the room. "What happened?"

"The patient has woken up and complains of a headache," the nurse informed.

The doctor took a small lamp from his pocket and examined the patient's eyes. "Can you tell me your name? Do you remember it?" He asked to the patient.

"Benny Andersson."

"Very good Mr. Andersson. Do you know why are you here?" The doctor asked, ready to take notes.

"I think so," Benny answered by closing his eyes, the headache was intensifying.

<<< "Come on man!" Said Acke hitting his shoulder. "Let's continue the party in my house, everyone will go!" Benny's friends could be very insistent when they wanted.

"No in this ocasion Acke. I have some issues tomorrow morning." Benny said while he was taking out his car keys from his leather jacket.
"Pff... you can see Christina another day or later, it's boys night!" Said raising the bottle as a toast and staggering a little.

"And you should stop drinking if you don't want to end up lying on the sidewalk like a wanderer."

"Hurry up, Acke!!" Someone else yelled out behind him.

"Well boy, you will miss it!" Said Acke moving away. "Goodbye bro."

"Goodbye, take care please" Benny said raising his voice a little. He went to his car and got in. He had a good night but he was already tired, he'd had a few drinks but not too many, next morning he would go to breakfast with his mother.

He was a few blocks from his apartment. The Beach Boys were playing on his radio while he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He was about to turn right on one of the main avenues, when suddenly he heard the tires of a car braking fiercely only two seconds before feeling a blow and seeing black. >>>

"My head hurts," he said coming back to reality.

"Don't worry Mr. Andersson, in this cases could be normal." The doctor turned to the nurse and spoke sofly. "Please, call Dr. Larsson, from the Department of Neurology, and ask him to perform an encephalogram."

"Sure, right away." And left the room.

"How many days have I been here?" Benny asked.

"Four days, sir. Apparently you have crashed into a car."

"Damn it." Benny put his hand on his forehead in agesture of frustration, he had just bought his car a few weeks ago, and now surely it was destroyed.

"Take it easy sir, in this moment your health is the most important." The doctor told him being reasonable. "Do you have any other disconfirm apart from the headache?"

"I need to pee," he tried to straighten up a bit, but something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, but it's not wise, you just woke up and..."

"My legs!" Benny interrupted him. "I... I cannot move them," he began to panic and threw the blanket leaving his legs uncovered, the hospital gown reached his knees.

The doctor immediately approached and put on his gloves and massaged the soles of his feet. "Can you feel it?"

"No, it's only like a little tingling" he said worried. "What's wrong?"

"We'll realize a serie of studies to determine your status. For now I need you to calm down, okay?"

Benny nodded, trying to assimilate everything; he had just woken up on a hospital bed after four days, an unbearable headache and the possibility of being able to walk again. He was not stupid and he knew it, he saw it in the doctor's gaze.

***

He was broken, completely helpless.  A week ago he received the worst news of his life. After countless studies, the doctors had determined an incomplete spinal cord injury in the lumbar region had caused Paraplegia. Dr. Larsson was very optimistic, since Benny's legs had a little sensitivity and he could feel a little tingling, that was a good sign. Although the rehabilitation could take a couple of years, he was convinced that with a good therapy they could make Benny's legs work again. But for Benny it wasn't the same. He was convinced that if the accident didn't kill him, this situation definitely will do.

"Benny, Benny... Hey, Bror!" His sister,
Eva-Lis, took him out of his thoughts. "Everything is ready, we can go now."

He realized it was time to face reality. There he was, in the middle of the room, siting in a wheelchair about to go to his house. Eva-Lis and her mother, Laura, had taken care of him the time he was in the hospital. His mother had insisted the best for him was to move with her and his sister, but Benny flatly refused. He had an apartment in the center of Stockholm and he decided to stay there. He would have the care of a nurse 24/7. At least, he had a good job, his family had always been good at business and kept a small fortune, he could afford to pay that service.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." He said coldly adjusting the little black blanket that covered his legs. Eva-Lis was about to push the wheelchair when Benny protested defensively. "I can do it alone!"

"Come on Bror, I can help you. Just from here to the exit."

"Exactly, it's only to the exit, so I can do it myself." Benny answered taking the command control attached to the right armrest of the chair, heading to the door. Eva-Lis picked up the suitcase, took a deep breathe and followed his brother. It would definitely not be the same.