Laura was coolly assessing her body in the privacy of the yoga studio. The large mirrored wall in front of her served as her looking glass, letting her gaze at her reflection in the stark mid-day light. For being in her early thirties she felt she was in fantastic shape. Her large full breasts still sat high and proud on her thin frame. Her belly tapered to her waist which flared in a womanly way and not with excess weight. Her bottom was firm and smooth with only the barest hints of cellulite. There were no blemishes on her soft pale skin and her face was still very beautiful. She smiled at her mirror-self and felt happy with how she looked. Typically she felt like she needed to improve something here, something there but not today. Today she felt gorgeous.
The yoga studio that she and her sister owned had done well all month and she had a bit of extra money in her pocket and planned to spend it. Rather than reward herself with a day at a spa or a shopping trip she had already decided to take her twin children out for a nice dinner and a movie. A real family night, one like they used to have before her troll of a husband left. It had been so long since they had really had one of those. She had already spoken with Cyn, her sister, about taking her class for the evening and she had happily agreed to fill in to teach.
Her cell phone rang, the standard ring, not one of the personal ones for her sister or her children so she ignored it. She looked over herself once again, wearing a sports bra and yoga pants, her firm belly rippling slightly, not overdeveloped, just enough to be sexy and she was indeed very pleased for the first time in three years. The first time since her divorce was finalized. She finally had hope that she might move forward from her broken heart and her past life and start something new and exciting. Her phone chimed then, letting her know she had a voice mail. With a sigh she called the voicemail box then entered her passcode, the message began...
"Mrs. Mendine this is the St. Joseph Trauma center, your son has been in a car accident and....", Laura was already grabbing her shoes and running out the door, not even listening to the rest of the message.
* **
Chris awoke in pain. His head felt like it had knives made of ice and fire stabbing repeatedly into it. He tried to open his eyes but wasn't sure that he did, everything was blackness. Wait, he felt some movement there along his eyes but still all was darkness. He tried to say something, to call out, but found that he could not something was obstructing his mouth and tongue, something was filling his throat. Through the fog of pain and the haze of confusion he began to form a coherent thought or two.
Something had happened. Something awful. The memory of it was tenuous and elusive. What was it? What had happened? There was the scream of rubber tires on asphalt, the breaking of glass and the screech of metal, then nothing. No, that wasn't right. There was a constant pinging noise of some kind. There....he could hear it now actually. A monitor? Was he in a hospital? Why couldn't he remember?!
Pain lanced through him once more but this time the pain cleared the fog of his mind. It helped him to focus on what had happened to him. There was a car accident. His best friend Rick had been driving too fast. The car stereo had been blaring so when Chris tried to warn him about the sharp corner Rick had not heard him. His friend had lost control of the vehicle and they had hit the guard rail then broken through it. The rest was a jumble of chaotic images, the world spinning, light and darkness, the smell of burnt rubber and stale airbag fumes, then he must have blacked out.
"Chris?" a voice called to him as though far, far away, "Baby? It's your mom. Don't try to talk," there was a pause, the voice sounded so distant, "Don't try to open your eyes sweetie. There was an accident," her voice caught, his mom always cried so easily, "Chris I'm so sorry. You hurt your head...the doctor said you hurt your brain. They had to do surgery and they don't know if you'll be able to see again or not."
This thought was a powerful one and it struck him hard. He felt a hand squeeze his though it seemed that it was through a pillow or layers of soft cloth, there was a numbness there.
"Just try and rest. Your sister and I will be here when you wake up," her voice was quavering and he knew his mom was crying now. He tried to squeeze his hand around hers to let her know he was ok and it would all be alright but his fingers did not want to respond, they barely moved at all but his mom grew excited by just this small motion. "You're so strong baby ...I'm so proud of you. It will all be ok, don't worry," she didn't need to reassure him, he knew it would fine. Somehow he just knew. With that though in his mind he went drifting back to sleep.
Three weeks later he still could not see. He was sitting up in the hospital bed and talking to his sister when something changed. At first he couldn't quite place it then he realized he could see light. Maybe not light, but he could see grey. Not just black.
"Chris?" his sister Tina asked," Everything ok?"
"I think," he said carefully, not wanting to somehow jinx himself, "that I can ...well that my eyesight is coming back. I can see grey and there are lighter shades and darker shades!"
"Really?" Tina was amazed and surprised and happy all in one, "oh my gawd! Let me go tell the doctor!" with that she ran out the door and down the hall to the nurse's station. Chris could hear the heavy thump of her feet as she flew down the hall and he laughed. For such a small girl how did she make so much noise?
A moment later the doctor came in with Tina and ran Chris through some tests then confirmed what Chris believed, that his eyesight was slowly returning. This was welcome news and Chris wept, his sister wept, and when his mother arrived later she broke down in tears of happiness.
"You have a long recovery yet Chris," the doctor cautioned. The man had a kind voice and sounded like he was older but Chris couldn't be sure as he had never seen him. "The damage to your brain was extensive and even though we did what we could you may not have all the same abilities and aptitudes that you did before. Now I'm not saying that you'll never regain your full vision or full motor skills but let's take it slow ok?" the doctor cautioned.
(It would take a miracle kid.)
"I'm sorry?" Chris said, confused by the doctor's last statement.
"It might take a long time to fully recover Chris," the doctor stated before Chris interrupted, "No the last part, about it taking a miracle."
"I didn't say anything like that," the doctor said and Chris's mom chimed in, "Chris he didn't say that."
"I heard him," Chris insisted, a frown on his young face.
(The kid is losing it.)
"No he said I'm not losing it!" Chris almost shouted, growing angry.
