Dan eagerly paced the emergency room doors waiting on news about Jack’s condition. She had been in there for well over nine hours, and the wait was beginning to stress him out. He needed to know what was going on, what had gone wrong, and why he wasn’t able to see Jack. Darren tried several time to calm him down, but nothing he tried seemed to work. He, too, was extensively nervous and wanted to see her, but managed to stay in control.
“Calm down, Dan,” Darren said, trying once more to keep him from going insane.
“Shut up,” Dan snapped back as he kept pacing in front of the closed double doors. His mind was definitely somewhere else. Darren stood up from his chair and stuck his foot out in Dan’s path. He tripped over it and fell to the floor. “Where did that stick come from?” he asked, embarrassed that he had tripped on something he didn’t even see.
Darren held back the smile that crept upon his lips as he replied, “I don’t know, but I’m glad it stopped you. Your pacing was making me dizzy.”
“Sorry, I’m really nervous,” Dan answered. He sat down on one of the old gray chairs in the waiting room. Seconds later, a doctor in green scrubs walked through the double doors. Dan shot up and asked, “Are you Jack’s doctor?”
“Yes, are you immediate family?” the doctor asked.
“I’m her cousin,” Dan almost angrily answered.
“I’m sorry about the wait. Your cousin has been in surgery for the last seven hours.”
“Why? What happened to her?” Dan interrupted.
“I’m getting to that,” the doctor calmly replied. “You see, it took us two hours to stabilize her because she suffered a punctured lung caused by a broken rib. We needed to patch that up before sending her into the main surgery. Her neck was broken in three places. The medics told me that you saw the accident. Can you tell me what happened?”
“She was about 25 feet off the ground when the chain of her bike just snapped, and then she fell, and the bike fell on top of her. Is she going to be okay? Will she still be able to walk?”
“It’s too soon to tell. She’s resting in recovery right now, and if you want to see her, I might be able to sneak you in.”
“Please,” Dan begged. The doctor held the doors open for him as he waited. “Daz, come on.” The three of them walked down a long, dark corridor towards another set of closed double doors. The doctor led them through and to a room that was also darkened.
“She’s in here, but please don’t make any noise,” the doctor said.
“Thank you…” Dan trailed off realizing he never heard the doctor’s name.”
“Dr. Herbert Walters, and you’re welcome, Mr. …”
“Daniel Jones.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Jones.” Dr. Walters walked back down the hall towards the doors that they had come in through.
Dan braced himself for what he had see, but he hadn’t been expecting the horrific scene that unfolded as soon as he opened the door. Inside, Jack lay in the hospital bed, her neck supported by a think brace and her head bandaged with gauze. Her skin was the color of chalk and her eyes were closed making her appear as if she were dead. She had a tube running down her throat helping her breathe and several other machines monitored her heart and other organs. Dan’s head dropped into his hands as he began sobbing. This was not what he expected to see.
After a few moments, he composed himself and walked over to her bedside. Dan picked up her cold, limp hand and whispered, “Jack.” He knelt down, praying, “God, please let her be okay. Please keep her safe.” His head fell onto her mattress as he continued to cry.
Darren stayed frozen at the door as he stared at the almost lifeless body of a girl he remembered as being vibrant and full of life. Just the night before they had made the most beautiful love he had experience in his entire life. How could she be gone just like that? Darren wanted to run, to cry out and beg for him to be in her place instead. ‘Jack doesn’t deserve this,’ he thought. He walked out of the room and sat down across the hall on the floor against the wall. He curled up into a little ball tried with all his might to keep the tears back, but they had already begun to flow, and he couldn’t stop them.
~~~~~~~~~~
Darren didn’t know when he had fallen asleep or for how long, but the next morning he felt someone shake him awake. “Daz. Daz!” Dan’s muffled voice called to him.
Darren rubbed his eyes open and asked, “What’s going on? Where am I?” He looked around as his eyes focused and remembered the hospital. He stretched his stiff and numb legs, recalling the previous night’s horrible events.
“Have you been here all night?” Dan questioned when he saw Darren struggle to get up.
“I guess so,” he replied. “How’s Jack?”
“The same,” Dan said, walking into her room. He sat down in a chair beside her bed and took her hand.
Darren slowly tip toed in behind him. He didn’t feel up to seeing Jack that morning especially after what happened the night before. Just looking at her in such a terrible state made him cringe, but he didn’t want to lose his composure again. Instead, he sat down across from Dan and stared out the open window. News crews had gathered outside the hospital doors waiting for news on Jack’s condition. This had definitely become an international interest story now that Dan and Darren were involved. Darren sighed. He really didn’t want to deal with the press today. Dan was thinking the same except for the fact that he didn’t want to face the press at all.
“I hate accidents,” Dan blurted as he looked out the window.
Something triggered a chain reaction in Darren’s mind when he heard the word “accident.” He remembered Jack telling him about the bet she had made with Seth the morning of the competition. He also remembered seeing him slip into her tent just before the blading competition. It all clicked in his mind.
“What if this wasn’t an accident?” Darren asked aloud. Dan shifted his gaze to meet his with confusion. “What if someone intentionally did something to her bike chain?”
“Who?” Dan replied, still baffled.
“Seth,” Darren growled. “He made a bet with Jack the morning of the competition that if either one of them lost to the other, they could never compete again. I saw him go into Jack’s tent just before the blading competition.”
“But why would he do that?”
“To ensure that Jack would never compete against him again and that he had every opportunity to win without her as a threat.”
Dan almost perked up when he heard Darren’s reasoning. “On top of all that, she broke up with him after the one fight in which he hit her. Do you think he also wanted revenge?”
“Maybe,” Darren replied. “But even if Seth had a motive, how would we find evidence against him? Everything we have right now is circumstantial.”
Dan slumped back into his chair. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “You’re right,” he mumbled. He rubbed his temples with his cold hands and sighed. “How am I going to tell her mother?”
Darren shook his head as Dan stood up. “Where are you going?”
“I need some time to think. I’ll be back in a little while. Call me if anything happens,” Dan answered as he walked out of the room.
Darren switched seats so that he could sit beside Jack. In the quiet of the darkened room, he gently picked up her hand and kissed it. “I miss you,” he whispered, his hand gently touching her cheek. Even it was cold. “I wish you could hear me.” He thought back to the morning before when she was crying in his arms. She looked so sweet and fragile, but then he remembered what she had said to him.
“What’s life if you can’t do the things you love?” Jack had asked. Darren realized what it meant now. Being paralyzed, Jack would never be able to get on a skateboard again. She’d be confined to a wheelchair and end up tortured for the rest of her life.
Darren squeezed her hand a little tighter and said, “I’m sorry.” He stroked her cheek again hoping that this really wasn’t true. His other hand didn’t move out of hers for the next half hour as he watched Jack lay lifeless on the bed. He must have asked God a thousand time to wake her from this coma until finally he saw her eyes flutter.
“Jack!” Darren whispered, encouraging her to open them. “Come on, sweetie, wake up.” She struggled, but soon gave up. He leaned over her and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. Jack’s eyes shop open. She blinked a few time until her sight cleared and she saw Darren.
Jack wanted to ask where she was, but something running down her throat prevented her from speaking. She tried several time to more her head, but nothing seemed to be working. It was as if her entire body had shut down. Her eyes wandered around the room until she realized she was in a hospital and that fall she had taken the day before wasn’t a dream. Tears filled her eyes when reality hit her.
“I’ll be right back,” Darren whispered. Twenty minutes later, a doctor had removed the tube from her throat and she was able to speak.
Dan returned a few minutes later to find Jack awake. He ran to her side and asked, “How do you feel?”
“Like shit,” she mouthed. Her voice still hadn’t returned. Dan picked up her hand and held it. Jack’s eyes filled with tears again when she realized she couldn’t feel his touch.
“Jack?” Dan asked when he saw her weeping.
“I’m paralyzed,” she whispered.