When Kelly saw the car hit Zack's, she ran in to get her friends and had a waitress call 911. She could not believe the carnage she saw. One of her best friends was in that car. It hardly even looked like a car, just a bit of metal that was mangled into nothing. "Who could be in there and get out okay?" Kelly panicked, and immediately burst into tears. Another thought hit her. That she really did love him. She may have dumped him, but she still loved him.
"Zack will be fine Kelly, I promise." Slater hugged Kelly and gave her a shoulder to cry on.
It had been days since the accident. Kelly knew Zack was in danger, but alive the day of the accident. But they weren't allowing visitors till today. She wasn't sure she could bring herself to go see him. But, as she climbed into her car, she decided that if he was awake, he could use the company of a best friend.
The first person Kelly ran into at the hospital was Slater and Zack's parents.
"Kelly, we need to talk about a couple of things before you go in," Mr. Morris warned as she walked up.
"No kissing the Preppie, Kelly. No matter how bad you feel for him. And no crying." Slater told her, patting her on the back.
"Also, his head hurts from the impact on the dashboard and his face is a little... cut up from all the glass. He's got a couple of broken... bones and his back is bruised up really badly. There's also a really bad cut on his back," Mrs. Morris stated, tearing up.
"Wait, what type of bones?" Kelly questioned, fearing the answer.
"Vertibrae mainly. They say he suffered some nerve damage. He took most of the power of the accident in his back because the car hit him when he was turning right." said Mr. Morris. "Go ahead in Kelly."
Zack groaned as he tried to situate himself further up on the pillows he was on. For some reason, he wasn't getting any response from his legs when he tried to push himself up. The crash... He remembered so little. All that he could think of now was the pain on his head and face when his pain medicine wasn't working well as it could've been. They said he had a big cut on his back and broken bones and the works, but he couldn't feel it. They said the pain medicine was doing it's job.
The door opened on him. Zack immediately tensed, worrying it was another doctor coming to prod and probe at him, not that he hadn't tried to weasel his way out of examinations.
"Zack?" a familiar voice floated into the room. He relaxed, but was worried about how Kelly would judge him by his looks.
"Hey Kel." Zack tried to smile bravely.
"Uh, nice... haircut." Kelly remarked. The doctors had to get to the cut in his head to treat it and they said that it was too hard with all the hair, so they cut his hair where the damage was. This also resulted in Zack getting a haircut all over so he wouldn't look "weird."
"One of the perks of a head injury," Zack grinned slightly, but that hurt the cut near his mouth.
"You're looking a lot better than your car," Kelly tried to smile for him.
"Aww, man, do you have to remind me? My parents won't cover the repairs because they're paying for part of my college, too much money, you know? So I'll be working extra hours forever to pay for that and college next year," Zack groaned, but flashed her a smile to let her know he wasn't mad at her.
"I saw your accident," Kelly said suddenly.
"You, what?" replied a confused Zack.
"Nobody told you, I know. But I was there, one car back, I narrowly avoided being missed because I could see in that direction. You couldn't because of the trees," Kelly breathed in hesistantly.
"Kelly, it's a lot better me than you. I couldn't bare to see you the way I am," Zack comforted her. Kelly started to tear up. "Kelly, Kelly, you couldn't have prevented it! You didn't know I was at the other exit!"
"But, but, had I pulled out, I would've stopped him!" Kelly sobbed.
"Kelly," Zack yawned. He was not up for an argument. "There's nothing you could've done. You would've been an idiot to pull out. I'll be perfectly fine. I'll probably be back by when school starts. This is just a little extra adventure for the Christmas break."
"I guess you're right Zack. Oh, we're going to do white Santa here tomorrow, if that's okay?" Kelly asked him, pleadingly.
"Yeah, I still want to participate. I'll have my parents bring my gift," Zack then gave a genuine smile.
"I'll see you Zack. You scared me, Zack. And... I love you." Kelly said, a little startled by the last thing she said.
"Don't I always scare you? And... I love you too, Kelly." Zack sunk into his pillows and sighed as Kelly left the room.
Just as Zack got settled, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Zack called.
"Good afternoon, Zack. We've finished with your test results. Your head injury has just about healed." Dr. Gemm told him. "Would you like me to invite your parents in?"
"Uhh, sure?"
A couple of seconds later all three Morris' were in the room.
"Well, Zack seems to be healing well. His head injury just needs to heal from the stitches, the cuts on his face might scar if you don't keep putting cream on them. The final thing is... your back. Zack, you said you get absolutely no response from your legs? In our tests we tried heat, pain, cold, anything to stimulate them, but we couldn't," Dr. Gemm said grimmly.
"Wait, so... what does that mean?" Zack asked, but he knew the truth.
"It means there's a near 100 chance you'll be in a wheel chair the rest of your life. The cut on your back is healed, the vertebrae is healing extremely well, but the nerve damaged is forever. Spinal cord injuries can be permanent and we fear yours might be." Dr. Gemm stated.
"Yeah, well, thanks," Zack glared at the doctor. The doctor took his parents out in the hall to talk to them.
"Stupid doctor. I HATE him. I do. What does he know. Can't walk. I'm on the basketball team! I'm only 17! This can't happen to me..." Zack said it all rather coolly, but ended his speech by throwing a pillow at the other end of the room.
(Watching a little too much Degrassi made me decide on that injury. I couldn't stand to make Zack mentally disabled, though it might play a part later.)
