Ride the Lightning
Spark 1.2
I woke up feeling stiff. The room was dark, quiet except for a regular beeping noise. Looking over the side of the bed I saw a…. heart monitor? I was in a hospital bed. Sliding up into a sitting position I felt something tug painfully at my elbow. An IV? A sharp tug and a look under the blanket showed me another tube, leading to a bag hanging off the side of the bed. A … pee tube? I didn't know the technical term for it, but I'm pretty sure you don't get one unless something goes really wrong for a long period of time. What happened to me?
The background beeping started to get faster. I think I was starting to panic a little, the heart monitor was speeding up. 120 beats per minute….. 145 beats per minute….. 160 beats per minute… that seems like a bit much. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind then an alarm started going off. The door to my room opened and a man in hospital scrubs walked in. The man came to a stop when he saw me sitting up. I gave him a little wave and, in a weak voice said, "Hi."
—
It's amazing how much can happen in an hour. Take the last one for instance; since I woke up I have been visited by four different doctors, eaten a cup of jello, had blood drawn and got to go to the bathroom like a real person. Now I sat in the bed and watched the door waiting for someone familiar. And sure enough, there he was. Visible through the window in the door, I saw my dad.
The door opened and my dad stepped into the room, stopping as he saw me.
"Hey Kiddo."
Dad… did not look good. It was like the last month had aged him by ten years. Always a thin man, his skin still managed to hang loosely from his face, a rough beard covering him jaw. Licking dry lips, he spoke again in that shaky voice.
"Taylor, think your up for giving your old dad a hug?"
"Of course Dad," I whispered, opening my arms. In the blink of an eye he had crossed the room and crushed me against his chest.
"I thought I was going to lose you kiddo. If I had, I don't know… I'm glad you're ok."
Shrugging out of the hug, I gave my dad a minute to compose himself before trying to broach the elephant in the room.
"So Dad, can you tell me exactly what is going on? All I've got so far is that I got hit by lightning, then coma, then now."
Dad ran his fingers through his hair while he composed his thoughts.
"Well Taylor, that is actually a pretty good run down. The short answer is that they aren't really sure. We know that you were not in school when the lightning struck. As far as the coma goes, the neurologist said it's not unheard of for lightning strike survivors to end up in a coma. Apparently lightning can really mess up how your brain sends and receives signals and sometimes you just kind of…. sleep until everything resets."
"Any idea on how much longer I'll be here?" A month or, from my perspective, an hour, was already long enough as far as I was concerned. My kingdom for some underpants.
"A few days at least. They are going to want to do some scans, watch you to make sure you don't develop seizures or some other disorder," Dad answered with a sheepish roll of his shoulders.
A pause.
"Taylor," he began again, "can you tell me why you were down the street from the school? When you were hit was a couple of minutes after the first bell, by all rights you should have been in class."
I thought back on that morning, or at least I tried to. I could remember heading to school but then….. nothing.
"Sorry Dad but no, I can't think of a reason why. When I try to remember that morning I can see myself getting on the bus, see myself getting off the bus and walking into the school. After that? Nothing. It's like there's some white fog obscuring everything."
The heart monitor beeping sped up again.
"It actually scares me a little."
Dad put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry Taylor, I'm sure we will get it all sorted."
***********Authors Note***************
Ack. I hate this. Making people talk is hard. Still I feel like these are needed scenes. Skipping from lightning strike to ZOMGSUPERPOWERS?! would be kind of a big skip.
Soon my pretty, soon.
