Chapter 28
Everything was black. I was laying down somewhere . I could hear voices all around me. At first I couldn't recognize them but then I heard the voices of the gang screaming something like "no!" or "Kelsey!" or anything that you might say to get a dead person to come back to life. Then there was a bright light in front of me. The scene in a 1966 Tulsa hospital room was becoming clear to me. I could see the whole gang standing in the room and the doctors trying to get me to come back. They were using every trick in the book but the line was still flat.
Then I could see another scene. It was a 2006 Jacksonville hospital room. I could see my mother standing by a bed in a room that was decorated with flowers and balloons. I could see myself in that hospital bed with all sorts of machines hooked up to me and soon I could feel myself being sucked into that scene. I looked back and the Tulsa hospital was getting farther and farther away. I tried to get back to it but Jacksonville won and I soon found myself lying in the 2006 hospital room, screaming bloody murder.
"Soda! Dallas!" I screamed. My mom came rushing over to my side, pushing the help button frantically. A doctor came running in a gave me a medicine to calm me down.
"Where's Dallas? I want Dallas!" I demanded.
"Sweetheart, what are you talking about? You don't know a Dallas" said Mom.
"Yes I do! Dallas Winston! Where is he?" I asked.
"Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad your back" said Mom giving me a hug, trying to change the subject.
"Where is Dallas? Where's Soda? Where is everybody?" I asked.
"Honey, I don't know what your talking about. You don't know a Dallas Winston or a Soda" said Mom, "everybody went home earlier today." I sat back a relaxed for a minute. Maybe Soda and Dallas and the rest of the gang really where gone.
When the doctor came back in to check on me, my mom asked to talk to him outside. Lucky for me, my mom doesn't know how to whisper so I could hear the whole conversation.
"Why does she keep asking for these people? I have no idea who these people are" said mom.
"We think that these people that she keeps mentioning where in some sort of a dream when she was in her coma. We believe that, perhaps while she was in her coma she was living in another world and time and that's why it took her almost a year to come out of it" said the doctor in a hushed tone.
"Is there anything we can do to help her?"
"I would suggest a psychiatrist. Maybe a psychiatrist will help her realize that these people are just figments of her imagination" said the doctor.
"But what about Tori?" asked mom. It hadn't even occurred to me to ask about Tori.
"You should tell her what happened. I think she is stable enough to handle the truth" said the doctor, holding the door open for my mom. I went back to whatever position I was in before she left the room to make her think I wasn't listening.
"Mom?" I asked.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"What happened to me?"
My mom took a deep breath before telling me, "sweetheart, when you and Tori were coming home from school, you were in a very bad car accident. It was raining very badly and a car from the other lane slid and hit you. You've been in a coma for almost a year now. You won't be able to walk without a cane or crutch or something" said Mom, tears filling her eyes.
"What happened to Tori?"
"She disappeared the day after the accident. She couldn't handle you fighting for your life every day" said mom.
"What happened when I was in the coma?"
"Nothing. We talked to you and I read you some of your favorite books a couple of times" said Mom.
"Like what?"
"Um……… Tuck Everlasting, to kill a mockingbird, A river runs through it, I think I even read The Outsiders to you once. Played the movie a couple of times too. I did anything to try to get you to wake up. The doctors probably thought I was crazy or something" said Mom, holding her head in her hands.
"No. They probably think I'm the crazy one but these people I keep talking about really did exist. I really did meet them" I said.
"I'm sure you did, sweetheart. I believe you" said Mom. Obviously she didn't believe me either.
"You don't believe me. I can prove it to you. See this scar on my cheek? I got this when Soda and I got jumped by the Socs. Two-Bit used black thread to stitch it up. You see, Soda ran away 'cause he was upset about his girlfriend and I had to go find him and……"
"Kelsey, Soda and Two-Bit are not real. You don't even know a Soda or Two-bit. You got that cut from the accident" interrupted Mom.
"But Mom it was real I swear" I pleaded.
"You know, maybe Dr. James was right. Maybe we should look into getting you a psychiatrist." Dr. James? Dr. James? Where had I heard that name before?
"Dr. James, that's the doctor that I had when I was in the hospital after the accident when Steve, Soda, Tori and I were on our way to the Tastee Freeze" I said. Mom just set her head down on the table and after awhile, she fell asleep like that. Mom had probably spent every night with me since this so called car accident.
"Mom, are you ok? You look sick" I said.
"I'm just exhausted. I want all of this to be over so that we can get on with our normal lives. The whole family is exhausted. Your father and I have spent nights and nights here with you since the accident" said Mom.
"But mom……."
"Don't start with me now. I'm overly happy to see you awake but I am in no mood to deal with your stories right now. I would love to hear them in the morning."
