A Sun Lit Path

Chapter 19 "Destruction Tears Everything a Part" Part 1

      Everything is dark. It surrounds me. I hear nothing, I can't feel anything. Am I...dead...?

"Police and special forces are still trying to find the victims who where in the Femboy Hooters bombing. Recent reports say that at least 12 people were killed, 16 are injured, and 24 have yet to be found. More information coming at 11." The TV woke me up. 

"So I'm not dead. That is a good thing."

I try to lay upward from the bed I am sitting on. 

"Ugh..ow." I said in agony. 

"Oh! Doctor, he's waking up!" A nurse in my room says to the hallway.

A doctor comes rushing into my room. He bends over at me checking my temperature and heartbeat. It was blurry at first but my vision starts to clear up. 

"What? Where am I-? OH! The bombing! I was at Femboy Hooters and...Where are my friends?!" I said anxiously to the doctor.

"Don't worry. Your friends are all right. They are just in different rooms." The doctor says to me. "They just have some serious burns, deep cuts, and some broken bones." 

"Oh I see. What about me?" I said to the doctor questioningly. 

"Your whole right leg and left foot were destroyed in the bombing. Bones were shattered, pieces of metal debris stabbed into your leg and kneecaps, your foot was nearly chopped off but some flesh was still holding it together. We tried to fix it but there was nothing we could do. We gave you a prosthetic leg and foot where your right leg and left foot would be respectfully." 

I flung off the blanket covering my legs. I am in shock. I never would have imagine for me to get prosthetic's before in my life. It looks all metallic and shiny. Almost like stainless steel. 

"Unfortunately," Says the doctor "You have to go under some physical therapy in order for you to get used to your prosthetic's. It should take about 3 weeks to about a month. We will start tomorrow." 

"Oh I see...Alright then." I said not looking at the doctor while putting the blanket on my legs again." 

      The doctor and nurse leave my room. The TV was still one so I just laid back in the hospital bed and watched the TV hanging from the ceiling, 

"Parents are furious, scared, concerned, sadden, and confused. They want their sons and daughters back home but the Mr. Kaw is not letting them leave until they find who planted the bomb. Principal Kaw as stated, not live in person, but on a letter sent to us. It reads, "Our mall is not for the use of citizens of Colorado. It is only for the students to use. We have intense high level security so that no non-students can enter. Someone for this year's class must have planted the bomb in Femboy Hooters. We will not send kids back to O-side until this is resolved." That was principal Kaw's statement on the issue. We will continue this more at 12." 

      "Who could've planted that bomb? It has to be one of  the students from the school! But who...was it...?"  I fell back asleep in my bed waiting for tomorrow. 

      I was woken from the nurse gently shaking my shoulder. She tried to help me get up from my bed but I nearly fell to the floor. She is still holding me trying to get me up. I grab on the edge of the bed and try to stand myself up. I'm nearly out of breath and sweating like crazy! I sat myself on the wheel chair and the nurse pushed me to the physical therapy room. We took the elevator  down three floors. She pushed me along the hallway until we get to the gym. She used her ID to unlock the security door and it automatically opened for just the right amount of time to get us through. 

I was greeted to the nice cool air and lo and behold it my friends! They are all in hospital gowns as you might expect. Ryan is sitting on a hard foam block with bandages around his hand and legs and a cast is around his right arm. Joey looks fine. He's standing upward with a thick cast around his left foot. Terri and Simon seem to be less damaged. Their foreheads are bandaged up with their necks also having bandages. What weird is that there is no sign of Jess anywhere. The nurse pushes me towards them. They noticed me when I'm about 6 feet away from them. 

They walk over to me. Joey is limping a bit. They came close to me and just stared at me. Without warning Simon falls to the floor on his knees breaking down into tears. We all turned around to look him. He cries, 

"No....Not the Femboy Hooters..." He says while tears began to fall down his face while his hands covering his eyes.

"Are you SERIOUS right now?!" Joey yells causing a scene. "We all COULD'VE DIED during that BOMBING and you're CRYING about a GOD DAMN RESTAURANT?! Alex LITERALLY has a PROSTHETIC LEG AND FOOT and you're UPSET ABOUT A RESTAURANT?!" 

Simon stops crying and angrily stands up to look at Joey in the face with a fist in his right hand. 

"Now now guys please do not fight. You'll hurt yourselves even more than you do already." The nurse says in a soft like tone.

Terri steps in between Simon and Joey looking both of them in eyes like how a parent is motioning them not to do it. Simon releases his fist and takes a deep a breath. Looking away from Joey. 

"Now that is over, how you doing fam?" Ryan looks at me. 

"Could not be better." I said sarcastically. "I have to do under some physical therapy for about 3 weeks to a month. So I'll miss school."

"Wait...We're still going back to school? That's horse crap!" Simon yells. 

"Actually the people who were injured had made a speedy recovery. This hospital is connected to the school you are currently going to." The nurse says is a soft happy tone of voice. 

"Soooooo....What about us? And Jess?" Terri says confused while looking at the nurse standing behind my wheelchair. 

"You four will go back to school on Monday, December 2nd 2019. However, depending on Alex's physical therapy, he'll most likely go back to school on the December 23rd or January 20th 2020." The nurse says while looking at her notes. 

"Oh geez...That must really suck fam." Ryan says while looking at my prosthetic right light and left foot.

"It's fine. Don't worry about me. Just continue to have fun. I hope it's not awkward for you guys...Wait what about Jess?" I said. 

"Jess? Jessica?" says the nurse questioningly at her notes.

"Yeah her. What happened with her? What's her deal? Is she going back to school or needs physical therapy or what?" I said to the nurse.

"I...I'm sorry but...your friend, Jess, she is in a coma." The nurse says with a sadden look on her face.

      The group goes silent. We all know it's too early to deiced when she's going to wake up or not. 

"I'm sorry to take your spirits away but Alex needs to start is physical therapy right now." The nurse says to the gang. 

"Yeah. Let's go back to our hospital rooms and rest. We have a big day tomorrow anyway." Joey says while opening the door the rest.

"I hope you recover soon." Says Terri as they walk away from me. 

      Ryan and Simon both walk away without saying anything. I was pushed to my doctor as he helps me get up from my wheelchair. I have to learn to walk again. I hold on to the bars beside me as the doctor hold my back and chest. I feel like I am about to die. It so hard to move my right leg just an inch. It feels heavy like it's make of stone. I finally put my right leg in front of me and I try to move my left leg in front of me as well. It was not too bad but it was still hard. After I got to the other side when the bars end. I sat back down on my wheelchair and the doctor calls it a day. I'm pushed back to my room where the nurse helps me get back on my bed. I lay down staring at the ceiling thinking to myself, 

"This is my life now, huh?" 

I fall back to sleep as the thunderstorms help me to relax. 

"I have to do 21 days worth of this BS. I have to stay strong no matter what, but most importantly...I have find out who put the bomb in the Femboy Hooters..."