Chapter 3: Rallying Support
As soon as the doctor had left the room, Delia went to comfort Carla, who sat in a chair in the corner of the waiting room crying softly. It was hard for her to see Carla so upset.
"I know this is hard for you, dear. This is a terrible situation. Just know that you aren't alone. We're going to stay here with you through this whole thing." Delia said softly as she put a comforting arm around Carla.
"Thanks, Delia. Oh my gosh. I just realized that I am going to need to call Tracey's family. They're going to need to know what's going on." Carla realized.
"Why don't you go and find a telephone. Delia and I will stay here and if anything happens I'll come and find you."
"I guess I'll do that. It's not something that I'm looking forward to."
* * * * *
Carla finally found a telephone and went about the difficult task of notifying Tracey's family that he had been in an accident. She knew this was going to be hard for them, especially coming only seven months after Tracey's mother died.
At the Sketchit home on Pinkin Island, things were seeming to shape into a pretty normal day. Little did they know that within a few moments, as the result of a phone call, that would all drastically change.
"Hello." Bobby said as he answered the phone. "Oh hi, Carla."
"Bobby, may I please talk to your father. It's really urgent that I talk to him right now." Carla said shakily.
"Sure." Bobby turned to head down the hallway. "Dad! Telephone!"
"Who is it?" Ray asked his youngest son.
"It's Carla. She seemed upset and said it was urgent."
"Carla. What is it? Is something the matter?" Ray asked when he saw the look on Carla's face.
"Ray, I'm not sure how to tell you this but Tracey has been in a serious accident."
"An accident! What happened?" Ray exclaimed.
"We were outside playing with the Pokemon this afternoon and when Tracey was trying to get Buddy out of the street a car came flying around the corner and hit him. He's in surgery right now. He was in a coma when they brought him in. We're at the hospital in Viridian City. How soon can you get here?" Carla explained as calmly as possible.
"I'll get the first flight out and we can be there in the morning. We can't lose Tracey too." Ray said in shock.
"I'm not going to let that happen." Carla said as she cut the connection, realizing that there may be nothing she could do.
When Ray hung up with Carla he had to find a way to tell his children what had happened to their older brother.
"Bobby! Evelyn! Can you two come in here right now please?"
"What's the matter, Dad? What did Carla say?" Bobby asked as soon as he reentered the room and saw the look in his father's eyes. Evelyn just stood there looking terrified.
"We're going to need to take the next flight to Viridian City. Tracey has been in a serious accident. He was hit by a car this afternoon."
"Oh my God!" Bobby exclaimed.
"No. We can't lose Tracey too. He has to hang on." Evelyn cried.
"Hurry and go pack some things while I call and try to get us a flight." Ray said as Evelyn and Bobby ran down the hall to their bedrooms. He hoped that they wouldn't lose their brother when they hadn't completely gotten over their mother's death.
* * * * *
Back in Viridian City, Carla arrived back in the waiting room after calling Tracey's family. Delia and Professor Oak were sitting there in silence waiting for her return. They both looked up when they heard her.
"Any news?" Carla asked.
"Not yet. Did you get hold of Tracey's family?" Professor Oak asked.
"Yes. They're on the next flight here and they'll be here in the morning. That was the hardest call that I'll ever have to make."
"I understand how they feel. I remember how helpless I felt the day I heard that Ash had been taken to the hospital. It was the worst feeling in the world. Which reminds me, I called and checked the messages at the lab and there was a message from Ash. Apparently he and Misty heard all the commotion from the accident. I was wondering if you wanted me to call them or do you want to?" Delia said.
"I guess I'd better do it. Tracey's my fiancé so it's my responsibility."
"Here, you can use my cell phone."
* * * * *
At the Ketchum house, Ash and Misty were still wondering what in the world they had heard earlier. Misty had just managed to get Aurora back to sleep when the phone rang. Ash immediately rushed to answer it to keep it from waking the baby again.
"Hello. Carla! Did you see what happened earlier? We heard the ambulances and police cars. It was so loud that it woke the baby up." Ash said and stopped when he saw the tears in Carla's eyes. "What is it?"
"It's Tracey. He was in a serious accident earlier this afternoon. A car hit him while he was trying to get Buddy out of the street. That was all the commotion you heard."
"Oh no. How bad is it?" Ash asked as Misty came up behind him.
"He's in surgery right now. He was in a coma when they brought him in and he has some internal injuries. We don't know anything else right now. Can you and Misty get here soon? He needs as much support as he can possibly get. I've already called Tracey's family and they'll be here tomorrow." Carla explained.
"Give us some time to find a babysitter for Aurora and we'll be right over there. Where are you?"
"We're in Viridian City. Can you call Brock and Angelica and let them know what's going on?"
"Sure. Hang in there, Carla. Support is on its way." Ash said as he cut the connection.
"What happened, Ash?" Misty asked startled.
"We need to see if we can get the babysitter to take care of Aurora for a while. Apparently that commotion we heard earlier was because Tracey was in an accident. He was hit by a car and he's in pretty bad shape. Carla said that he's in a coma and they've got him in surgery now. She also wants us to call Brock and Angelica and let them know what happened. We need to get there as soon as possible. She's going to need all the support she can get."
"Oh my God. I had no idea. You call Brock and Angelica and I'll use the cell phone to call the sitter for the baby." Misty said in shock as she hurried into the kitchen.
* * * * *
At the Pewter City Gym, Brock and Angelica were sitting down watching some television after Brock's last gym battle of the day when the telephone rang. Brock got up and crossed the room to answer the phone.
"Pewter Gym. Oh, hey Ash." Brock greeted. When he saw the look on Ash's face, Brock's smile faded. "What's the matter? There's nothing wrong with the baby is there?"
"No. Aurora's fine but we do have a problem. There was an accident at Professor Oak's place earlier this afternoon." Ash began.
"Yeah. We heard about that on the news a minute ago but there wasn't a lot of information. What happened?"
"Well, Tracey was hit by a car. He was trying to get one of his Pokemon out of the street and a car that was going way too fast came around the corner and hit him. He's at the hospital in Viridian. Carla just called and told us. She said that he's in surgery right now and that he's in a coma. That's all she knows right now. She needs all the support that she can get. Misty and I are going to go right over as soon as we can get a sitter for the baby."
"We'll head over there right now. We're a little closer than you are so we can see if there's anything we can do to help."
"Okay. Hurry over there and we'll be not far behind you. Bye." Ash said quickly as he broke the connection.
"Angelica! Honey, we have to go!' Brock called.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Angelica looked at her husband, startled.
"That was Ash. He said that there was an accident at Professor Oak's lab this afternoon. Tracey was hit by a speeding car. He's in Viridian at the hospital. Ash said that Carla told them that he's in a coma and they have him in surgery at the moment. We need to get over there now." Brock explained.
"Oh my God! Carla must be completely freaked out. Let's go. She'll need support from her friends. I can't imagine ever being in her position." Then Brock and Angelica closed the Gym and hurried out on their way to Viridian City.
* * * * *
Back in Pallet Town, Ash was in a complete state of shock. He couldn't believe what was happening. Just then Misty came running in from the kitchen.
"Hey. Did you get a sitter?" Ash asked.
"Yeah. Mrs. Jones is on her way. She said she'd stay with Aurora as long as we needed her to. She should be here soon." Misty confirmed.
"Good. I can't believe this is actually happening, Mist. I mean, Tracey's a young guy. Too young to be fighting for his life. Why do terrible things have to happen to such good people?" Ash said angrily, slamming his fist on the table.
"I don't understand it anymore than you do. I just wish that we were capable of turning back time and making this whole thing never happen." Misty said as the doorbell rang. "That's the sitter."
Misty opened the door for Mrs. Jones. She was a kindly older woman, a widow, who was always willing to help out her neighbors whenever she could. She was especially fond of Ash and Misty because they were very kind to her when her husband died.
"Thank you for coming over so fast, Mrs. Jones." Ash said as he came to the door behind Misty.
"It's really no problem at all, Ash. I like taking care of children and Aurora is such a sweetheart. I just wish that I were here under better circumstances. Misty told me about your friend. I pray that he makes it through okay."
"So do we. You have our cell phone number in case you need anything. The baby's formula is in the refrigerator and you can help yourself to a sandwich or something if you get hungry. We'll call and check up on Aurora a little bit later. We really have to get going." Ash explained and then he and Misty rushed out to their car and headed for Viridian City Hospital to be there for their friends.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, back at Viridian City Hospital, Carla was pacing the floor waiting for someone to tell her that Tracey was out of surgery and that she could be with him. She was just about to go out of her mind when she heard a friendly voice call out to her.
"Carla! Are you okay? We heard about what happened." Angelica asked as she rushed to give Carla a hug.
"I'm as well as I can be. I hope Tracey comes out of surgery soon so I can be with him. You know, I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up any minute and this will all have been a bad dream." Carla answered quietly as Brock went to talk to Professor Oak.
"How's she holding up?" Brock asked.
"She's in shock. I don't think it's really hit her yet what's happened. She was there when Tracey was hit." Professor Oak explained sadly.
"Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. No wonder she's in shock. Her fiancé is fighting for his life and she watched the whole thing happen. I can't even imagine being in her position."
"I know. I just hope that we find something out soon. She's about to go nuts not knowing if Tracey's hanging in there and not being able to be with him. I can understand how she feels. I wish I could give her the answers she needs but I'm no doctor."
"Right now I think it's good for Carla to have all these people around to support her. It important that she knows that she isn't alone in this." Delia said.
"I think so too. This has got to be absolutely terrifying for her. The more support she has, the better." Brock agreed.
"So have you heard anything about Tracey's condition yet?" Angelica asked.
"We haven't heard a thing and it's been an hour and a half. I mean, are things worse than the doctor told us? I'm really getting scared because this is a terrible situation and there isn't a thing that I can do about it." Carla cried.
"Honey, it's okay to be scared. I remember the time that Brock was in the hospital. I was terrified. The only thing I wanted was to be there for him and have someone tell me that everything was okay. I know how you must be feeling right now."
"Did anyone tell you that I was standing there when Tracey was hit? I saw the entire thing. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life. I'll probably have nightmares about it forever."
"Oh my gosh. I had no idea. I wish I had the ability to make this whole thing go away for you but I really can't. I'd give anything if I could." Angelica said softly.
"I know. I appreciate that though, Angelica. Thank you." Carla whispered as Angelica gave her a hug.
Fifteen minutes later the silence was broken as Ash and Misty came rushing into the room. They were concerned about Carla and eager to hear any news of Tracey's condition.
"Hey. Carla, how are you holding up? Any news on Tracey?" Ash asked.
"I'm doing as well as I can be. I'm a little frustrated because no one will tell me anything. My fiancé is in surgery fighting for his life and it's like I don't even exist."
"I understand how you feel. Remember that we were in a situation not too unlike this one not all that long ago. Granted it wasn't as tragic but it was very similar. I remember that I got rather upset when no one would tell me anything. Honey, what you have to realize is that they're doing what they need to do to save Tracey's life. They'll tell you something as soon as they possibly can." Misty said softly as she took Carla by the hand.
"Your friend is right. You should listen to her." Dr. Wilson said from the doorway. Everyone turned and looked at the man with expectation and fear on their faces.
As soon as the doctor had left the room, Delia went to comfort Carla, who sat in a chair in the corner of the waiting room crying softly. It was hard for her to see Carla so upset.
"I know this is hard for you, dear. This is a terrible situation. Just know that you aren't alone. We're going to stay here with you through this whole thing." Delia said softly as she put a comforting arm around Carla.
"Thanks, Delia. Oh my gosh. I just realized that I am going to need to call Tracey's family. They're going to need to know what's going on." Carla realized.
"Why don't you go and find a telephone. Delia and I will stay here and if anything happens I'll come and find you."
"I guess I'll do that. It's not something that I'm looking forward to."
* * * * *
Carla finally found a telephone and went about the difficult task of notifying Tracey's family that he had been in an accident. She knew this was going to be hard for them, especially coming only seven months after Tracey's mother died.
At the Sketchit home on Pinkin Island, things were seeming to shape into a pretty normal day. Little did they know that within a few moments, as the result of a phone call, that would all drastically change.
"Hello." Bobby said as he answered the phone. "Oh hi, Carla."
"Bobby, may I please talk to your father. It's really urgent that I talk to him right now." Carla said shakily.
"Sure." Bobby turned to head down the hallway. "Dad! Telephone!"
"Who is it?" Ray asked his youngest son.
"It's Carla. She seemed upset and said it was urgent."
"Carla. What is it? Is something the matter?" Ray asked when he saw the look on Carla's face.
"Ray, I'm not sure how to tell you this but Tracey has been in a serious accident."
"An accident! What happened?" Ray exclaimed.
"We were outside playing with the Pokemon this afternoon and when Tracey was trying to get Buddy out of the street a car came flying around the corner and hit him. He's in surgery right now. He was in a coma when they brought him in. We're at the hospital in Viridian City. How soon can you get here?" Carla explained as calmly as possible.
"I'll get the first flight out and we can be there in the morning. We can't lose Tracey too." Ray said in shock.
"I'm not going to let that happen." Carla said as she cut the connection, realizing that there may be nothing she could do.
When Ray hung up with Carla he had to find a way to tell his children what had happened to their older brother.
"Bobby! Evelyn! Can you two come in here right now please?"
"What's the matter, Dad? What did Carla say?" Bobby asked as soon as he reentered the room and saw the look in his father's eyes. Evelyn just stood there looking terrified.
"We're going to need to take the next flight to Viridian City. Tracey has been in a serious accident. He was hit by a car this afternoon."
"Oh my God!" Bobby exclaimed.
"No. We can't lose Tracey too. He has to hang on." Evelyn cried.
"Hurry and go pack some things while I call and try to get us a flight." Ray said as Evelyn and Bobby ran down the hall to their bedrooms. He hoped that they wouldn't lose their brother when they hadn't completely gotten over their mother's death.
* * * * *
Back in Viridian City, Carla arrived back in the waiting room after calling Tracey's family. Delia and Professor Oak were sitting there in silence waiting for her return. They both looked up when they heard her.
"Any news?" Carla asked.
"Not yet. Did you get hold of Tracey's family?" Professor Oak asked.
"Yes. They're on the next flight here and they'll be here in the morning. That was the hardest call that I'll ever have to make."
"I understand how they feel. I remember how helpless I felt the day I heard that Ash had been taken to the hospital. It was the worst feeling in the world. Which reminds me, I called and checked the messages at the lab and there was a message from Ash. Apparently he and Misty heard all the commotion from the accident. I was wondering if you wanted me to call them or do you want to?" Delia said.
"I guess I'd better do it. Tracey's my fiancé so it's my responsibility."
"Here, you can use my cell phone."
* * * * *
At the Ketchum house, Ash and Misty were still wondering what in the world they had heard earlier. Misty had just managed to get Aurora back to sleep when the phone rang. Ash immediately rushed to answer it to keep it from waking the baby again.
"Hello. Carla! Did you see what happened earlier? We heard the ambulances and police cars. It was so loud that it woke the baby up." Ash said and stopped when he saw the tears in Carla's eyes. "What is it?"
"It's Tracey. He was in a serious accident earlier this afternoon. A car hit him while he was trying to get Buddy out of the street. That was all the commotion you heard."
"Oh no. How bad is it?" Ash asked as Misty came up behind him.
"He's in surgery right now. He was in a coma when they brought him in and he has some internal injuries. We don't know anything else right now. Can you and Misty get here soon? He needs as much support as he can possibly get. I've already called Tracey's family and they'll be here tomorrow." Carla explained.
"Give us some time to find a babysitter for Aurora and we'll be right over there. Where are you?"
"We're in Viridian City. Can you call Brock and Angelica and let them know what's going on?"
"Sure. Hang in there, Carla. Support is on its way." Ash said as he cut the connection.
"What happened, Ash?" Misty asked startled.
"We need to see if we can get the babysitter to take care of Aurora for a while. Apparently that commotion we heard earlier was because Tracey was in an accident. He was hit by a car and he's in pretty bad shape. Carla said that he's in a coma and they've got him in surgery now. She also wants us to call Brock and Angelica and let them know what happened. We need to get there as soon as possible. She's going to need all the support she can get."
"Oh my God. I had no idea. You call Brock and Angelica and I'll use the cell phone to call the sitter for the baby." Misty said in shock as she hurried into the kitchen.
* * * * *
At the Pewter City Gym, Brock and Angelica were sitting down watching some television after Brock's last gym battle of the day when the telephone rang. Brock got up and crossed the room to answer the phone.
"Pewter Gym. Oh, hey Ash." Brock greeted. When he saw the look on Ash's face, Brock's smile faded. "What's the matter? There's nothing wrong with the baby is there?"
"No. Aurora's fine but we do have a problem. There was an accident at Professor Oak's place earlier this afternoon." Ash began.
"Yeah. We heard about that on the news a minute ago but there wasn't a lot of information. What happened?"
"Well, Tracey was hit by a car. He was trying to get one of his Pokemon out of the street and a car that was going way too fast came around the corner and hit him. He's at the hospital in Viridian. Carla just called and told us. She said that he's in surgery right now and that he's in a coma. That's all she knows right now. She needs all the support that she can get. Misty and I are going to go right over as soon as we can get a sitter for the baby."
"We'll head over there right now. We're a little closer than you are so we can see if there's anything we can do to help."
"Okay. Hurry over there and we'll be not far behind you. Bye." Ash said quickly as he broke the connection.
"Angelica! Honey, we have to go!' Brock called.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Angelica looked at her husband, startled.
"That was Ash. He said that there was an accident at Professor Oak's lab this afternoon. Tracey was hit by a speeding car. He's in Viridian at the hospital. Ash said that Carla told them that he's in a coma and they have him in surgery at the moment. We need to get over there now." Brock explained.
"Oh my God! Carla must be completely freaked out. Let's go. She'll need support from her friends. I can't imagine ever being in her position." Then Brock and Angelica closed the Gym and hurried out on their way to Viridian City.
* * * * *
Back in Pallet Town, Ash was in a complete state of shock. He couldn't believe what was happening. Just then Misty came running in from the kitchen.
"Hey. Did you get a sitter?" Ash asked.
"Yeah. Mrs. Jones is on her way. She said she'd stay with Aurora as long as we needed her to. She should be here soon." Misty confirmed.
"Good. I can't believe this is actually happening, Mist. I mean, Tracey's a young guy. Too young to be fighting for his life. Why do terrible things have to happen to such good people?" Ash said angrily, slamming his fist on the table.
"I don't understand it anymore than you do. I just wish that we were capable of turning back time and making this whole thing never happen." Misty said as the doorbell rang. "That's the sitter."
Misty opened the door for Mrs. Jones. She was a kindly older woman, a widow, who was always willing to help out her neighbors whenever she could. She was especially fond of Ash and Misty because they were very kind to her when her husband died.
"Thank you for coming over so fast, Mrs. Jones." Ash said as he came to the door behind Misty.
"It's really no problem at all, Ash. I like taking care of children and Aurora is such a sweetheart. I just wish that I were here under better circumstances. Misty told me about your friend. I pray that he makes it through okay."
"So do we. You have our cell phone number in case you need anything. The baby's formula is in the refrigerator and you can help yourself to a sandwich or something if you get hungry. We'll call and check up on Aurora a little bit later. We really have to get going." Ash explained and then he and Misty rushed out to their car and headed for Viridian City Hospital to be there for their friends.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, back at Viridian City Hospital, Carla was pacing the floor waiting for someone to tell her that Tracey was out of surgery and that she could be with him. She was just about to go out of her mind when she heard a friendly voice call out to her.
"Carla! Are you okay? We heard about what happened." Angelica asked as she rushed to give Carla a hug.
"I'm as well as I can be. I hope Tracey comes out of surgery soon so I can be with him. You know, I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up any minute and this will all have been a bad dream." Carla answered quietly as Brock went to talk to Professor Oak.
"How's she holding up?" Brock asked.
"She's in shock. I don't think it's really hit her yet what's happened. She was there when Tracey was hit." Professor Oak explained sadly.
"Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. No wonder she's in shock. Her fiancé is fighting for his life and she watched the whole thing happen. I can't even imagine being in her position."
"I know. I just hope that we find something out soon. She's about to go nuts not knowing if Tracey's hanging in there and not being able to be with him. I can understand how she feels. I wish I could give her the answers she needs but I'm no doctor."
"Right now I think it's good for Carla to have all these people around to support her. It important that she knows that she isn't alone in this." Delia said.
"I think so too. This has got to be absolutely terrifying for her. The more support she has, the better." Brock agreed.
"So have you heard anything about Tracey's condition yet?" Angelica asked.
"We haven't heard a thing and it's been an hour and a half. I mean, are things worse than the doctor told us? I'm really getting scared because this is a terrible situation and there isn't a thing that I can do about it." Carla cried.
"Honey, it's okay to be scared. I remember the time that Brock was in the hospital. I was terrified. The only thing I wanted was to be there for him and have someone tell me that everything was okay. I know how you must be feeling right now."
"Did anyone tell you that I was standing there when Tracey was hit? I saw the entire thing. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen in my life. I'll probably have nightmares about it forever."
"Oh my gosh. I had no idea. I wish I had the ability to make this whole thing go away for you but I really can't. I'd give anything if I could." Angelica said softly.
"I know. I appreciate that though, Angelica. Thank you." Carla whispered as Angelica gave her a hug.
Fifteen minutes later the silence was broken as Ash and Misty came rushing into the room. They were concerned about Carla and eager to hear any news of Tracey's condition.
"Hey. Carla, how are you holding up? Any news on Tracey?" Ash asked.
"I'm doing as well as I can be. I'm a little frustrated because no one will tell me anything. My fiancé is in surgery fighting for his life and it's like I don't even exist."
"I understand how you feel. Remember that we were in a situation not too unlike this one not all that long ago. Granted it wasn't as tragic but it was very similar. I remember that I got rather upset when no one would tell me anything. Honey, what you have to realize is that they're doing what they need to do to save Tracey's life. They'll tell you something as soon as they possibly can." Misty said softly as she took Carla by the hand.
"Your friend is right. You should listen to her." Dr. Wilson said from the doorway. Everyone turned and looked at the man with expectation and fear on their faces.