Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Angela sat in a dirty old maroon colored chair, her legs tucked under her chin and arms wrapped tightly around herself. She stood looking dead ahead, almost unblinking. Surrounding her were stark white walls dotted with glass windows that provided a descent view of the flowers, trees, plants and pots that decorated the surroundings of the hospital. Under the chair the bare tiles that made up the floor of the building could be found, other chairs, similar to the one Angela found herself seated on lay against every corner, in the middle of the back wall there was a dark wooden coffee table with sofas of the same fabric as the chair surrounding the table. There was that hospital desk on the opposite wall and next to it a hallway with the sign “emergency” hanging ominously. In the room there could be found two or three people, deep in a pointless and monotonous conversation as if to get their mind of things, in addition to a single nurse which attended the desk, however she seemed more concerned with her computer screen than whatever could be happening in the hospital
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
She had been waiting for hours, hours seated down waiting for news to come and yet none had. The fact that she seemed to have been endlessly waiting was only made worse by the fact that she had no choice; she had to stay and wait. And she did so nervously, her eyes flitting at the sign of any movement; any chance that it might be the doctor she was looking for, anything, anything at all that would let her know if they were still there. If they were, for any reason dead or alive. But it seemed time moved slowly when you wanted it to move quicker and she felt the hours drag and all she did was wait and wait. She would not dare move a muscle until news of their condition arrived.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
But she was getting desperate. Her head rotated almost mechanically to look at the clock, only to realize that exactly three hours and twenty-three minutes had passed since she had first sat down and waited.
She bit her lip, ran her pale hand through her wavy her and came to the decision to ask the nurse yet again what was happening. Three hours was long enough for anyone to wait, she figured there must be news of their condition by now. With this in mind she stood up, and walked towards the desk. Angela was annoyed to see that the nurse didn’t even lift attention from the computer screen to look at whoever was approaching, merely just ignored her completely.
“Um, excuse me.”
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
“Yes?” inquired the plump nurse, her tone expressing how displeased she was at being interrupted.
“Are they out yet?” Angela asked hopefully, keeping her tone low and polite, mentally crossing her fingers that they were out of the ER and completely safe. However, she was merely responded with a glare and a polished red fingernail pointing at the seat “Well let you know when they are out, O.K.?” Not waiting for any response the nurse merely turned back to her computer.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
The girl stood there; almost unwilling to go back to her seat, but in the end she had no choice. What else could she have done? There was no point in standing there when all she would receive was either silence of a glare commanding her to sit down.
She dragged her feet heavily on the floor, practically throwing herself at the chair, hoping and hoping they would be out of the operating room soon. But time only seemed to drag by.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
“It was your fault, you do know that,” said a rasping male voice, the kind you get only from years after years of smoking.
The voice was enough to snap her out of her trance and she looked blankly at the aged man that stood before her, arms tucked behind his back. He wore an untidy, worn suit with dirty old sneakers. His face was wrinkled by the rays of the sun, his eyes small and gray, hair thinning and dark, a beard stubble upon his chin. However, what bothered her most was the sarcastic smirk he wore, almost like if he were sneering at her or finding her current predicament amusing, in the same way you found a fish gasping for water amusing.
“Wha-”
“I said, it is your fault,” he cut in, “If they die it’ll be your fault, you were the one that suggested that little race, you were the one that got them in that accident. Which means you are the one that had them all killed,” he explained, patiently, like if he was explaining this to a child, and never once did he take those pale eyes off her.
“No it’s not, they won’t blame me, I didn’t know that would happen, if I did I wo-”
“But it did,” he persisted “it did happen which means it would be your fault, they might not tell you that it is but they will always loathe you and hate you for what you did. You know that.”
“No…”
“Yes.”
“But I know Mark and Ali-”
“So?”
“They wouldn’t.”
“They would.”
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Angela blinked, for once completely confused, she didn’t know this man and yet he obviously seemed to know her. But she was sure the accident wasn’t her fault, or rather this is what she kept telling herself. It had been a game, a playful race between the two cars; they were only five minutes from her house. She thought it would be fun, with her boyfriend pitting himself against her friend’s boyfriend who was in the other car. She dared them to do it, at first Christina seemed to have doubts, it would be dangerous, she had said, we’re nearly home anyway. But Angela had insisted and so they convinced their respective boyfriends, of course they would mind it; in fact they found the idea of a little friendly competition just what they needed. But just when they were nearing home, when they could taste victory it was there.
But…
She couldn’t hold the train of thought and slowly she surrendered to sleep.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Her sight was blurry, the early rays of sunshine filtered through the window. Angela blinked, once, twice, trying to clear her vision, but if anything it just seemed to make it worse. A weary groan escaped her lips. Her pale hand brushed against her face only to feel moisture there, realizing that it was tears that blurred her vision she rubbed them furiously yet again, blinking out the salty tears from her line of vision.
“She’s awake!” she heard a voice announce loudly, almost excitedly. There was a small commission, she felt someone yanking lightly at her close, people shifting nearby to look a hand pressing against her forehead. She blinked again, annoyed because she could not find a way to clear the tears out of her eyes.
“Who-”
“Its O.K. now honey, everything will be alright.”
Slowly realization flooded through her and she realized she recognized this voice, she recognized it quite well. “Mom…” Angela began, her voice ending in a yawn, she felt a thin finger press against her lips and someone murmuring in her ear that everything would be alright that she should get some sleep, that she looked tired. Oddly enough Angela felt tired, and not only that but she still couldn’t manage to either blink the weariness or the tears from her eyes. She nodded dumbly against the hand, closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Noises. Sounds. Smells. All seemed to smash against her sense and the shock was so much and the contrast from nothing to everything so severe that a scream ripped from her throat. Then came the pain, she was suddenly very aware of severe pain shooting from somewhere in her legs, she couldn’t move her arm and her chest was pinned against two objects. Her breath came in sharp gasps, the objects that pinned her to the spot making it impossible to breathe without difficulty.
The noises was that of blaring sirens, ambulance and police, she could identify those two above the rest. The sounds were groans of pain, rasping breaths, screams and the crunching of feet on earth. The smells that stood out the most were gasoline and blood.
Angela didn’t understand what was going on, why couldn’t she move? Where was she?
She shifted her head around to look next to her, only to gaze at the dead empty eyes of Brandon. A trickle of blood had slipped from his mouth and stained his shirt, his chest and stomach was pierced with metal, rods, tubes in her panic and horror Angela couldn’t tell. But she could clearly see that he was dead, blood flowed freely from wounds and then she was conscious of her own blood dripping from gashes and wounds on her body, but she seemed to be beyond noticing.
There was only horror.
And the echoes of her own screaming.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Angela gasped, her eyes suddenly snapped open and she heaved in her bed.
The nurse paused in her job; she had just been checking this patient’s vitals and she definitely wasn’t expecting the woman to be suddenly wake up on her. But the shock quickly passed and the nurse hurried to get the doctor.
“Where am I?” Angela rasped, to no one in particular since the nurse was long gone.
Her eyes inspected the room seeing white walls, half-dead flowers lying in a stand next to her hospital bed. IV tubes sticking from her hand and pumping fluids into her body, a flimsy hospital gown her only clothing.
- - -
Story of a girl in a coma, well during. It's all bleeeh. Anyway the 'tick, tock, tick tock' represents how much time she's been out.
- P&U
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