Hey guys, thanks for the awesome reviews! here's another part of the story!
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Silence filled the hospital waiting room, the lights faintly lit like they had been before, as five people were sitting in different chairs. A blonde and a raven haired girl assembled down across from each other in blue seats, a darker color boy in the far corner of the area, while two parents sat down next to each other wide awake.
It was extremely early in the morning, around four to be exact, as everyone continued to wait to hear news on the boy who was in the car accident that was all over the news, proving so by the TV that was hanging on the wall. Even if it was mute, they were able to see what was going on for the broadcast of the situation that everyone was talking about, or at least they could anyway. For the mother every time she glanced up there she would usually catch a glimpse of the car wreck, a sob escaping her lips afterwards as she saw what catastrophe her son was actually in.
Over by the two sleeping teenage girls, Chloe's hands slowly let the magazine that were locked in her palms slip away and fall down on her lap, her head leaning back against the backside of the chair she sat it, her mind in deep slumber when suddenly the publication fell down to the floor and snapped both her and the other girl awake from siesta. Lana looked around for a minute confused at what was going on when she remembered why she was here. She stared in front of her blankly and saw Chloe was just as confused as she was. Lana walked over and sat next to her, causing Chloe looked up.
"Hey," Chloe said, sleep still evident in her voice. "Are you okay?" Lana simply nodded at her words.
"Yeah." The girl nearly mumbled while Chloe could sense the fake cheeriness in her voice, making her sigh and tilt her head to the side. "Come on Lana, I know when you're lying. It's okay, I'm your friend – you can talk to me."
Lana laughed a little, "I guess I'm a horrible liar, huh?"
"Yes, you are. Now talk." Lana sucked in a breath and then sighed heavily. "I've just been thinking, what if we had asked Clark to come over earlier? Do you think this still would've happened?"
Chloe shrugged, "Lana, we can't go on with our lives based on 'what ifs'. What happened, happened and there isn't anything we could've done to stop it." Chloe sadly informed her, the words she spoke choking her throat as she was still convincing herself that they couldn't have done anything to stop what happened to their friend.
Lana nodded even though she still didn't feel any better. "I guess you're right, if we did that we wouldn't be able to live life very well, huh?" Chloe smiled her first real smile since she came to the hospital.
"Yeah. What we need to do now is to be here for Clark and pray he makes it through this." Lana was about to respond when a doctor came into the room and started walking over towards them.
The Kent's were the first ones to jump up, their legs seeming less numb than everyone else's with the worry that was jumbling up in their stomachs. Lana and Chloe exchanged quick glances before both got up and ambled over to the sleeping Pete quickly where they woke him up. It didn't take less then a nudge to snap him out of slumber however, his mind foggy at first until Lana whispered something about the physician and he shot up from his seat immediately.
The moment the reporter turned around though she instantly saw that the doctor coming towards them was familiar. She had seen him before when she snuck around to get information on her friend. He had dark blonde hair, tall, about six feet, and tan yet at the same time pale skin. He was the one that wanted to pull her friend's plugs. It was that moment that Chloe felt her lungs cut off air and her body go frozen. Was Clark…?
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent?" He asked the couple, walking up to the father and giving him a handshake when they nodded their heads.
"I'm Dr. Bennett, the one supervising over your son's condition." The doctor told him, shaking the father's hand as the husband tried to control the fear that was rushing through his veins by gulping loudly and nodding his head once more.
"How's my son Doctor?" Jonathan inquired, not getting the best respond out of the man when he sucked in his lips and let a loud sigh out through his clutched teeth, stuffing one of his hands in his pocket while his other arm held a brown clipboard in his palm.
"I think it might be best if you sit down for this." Dr. Bennett told them both, looking behind him when he felt the presence of other people and seeing three teenagers looking at him worriedly about a few feet away, the girls clinging onto each other's arms and the boy having his arms placed to his chest. It was obvious that his patient had family and friends. That's what made what he was going to do all the harder.
Sitting down in a chair next to the father who was next to his wife, he cleared his throat and looked down at his clipboard, closing his eyes for a second before bringing his head up and staring into the older man's eyes. "Mr. Kent, I'm afraid your son is suffering from austere injuries that…um, t-that should have made him DOA." Dr. Bennett told him, rubbing his forehead and sighing once again as Jonathan darted his eyebrows down, looked back at his wife, and then look back at the physician.
"DOA?" He questioned, seeing the blonde haired man bring his head and look at him forlornly.
"Dead on arrival." Hearing Martha gasp, Dr. Bennett balled his hands into tight fist until he felt his knuckles go white, trying not to bit his lower lip which had become an habit since he knew that if they couldn't take the fact that he should have been DOA they couldn't take what was going to come.
"He has severe head trauma from the head-on collision with the truck and that's given him TBI…traumatic brain injury. It was expected that he would have it with the head trauma from the crash. Car accidents are a leading cause of brain injuries, and brain injuries usually occur when the head strikes the dashboard, windshield or the steering wheel during the impact." Dr. Bennett enlightened the parents, looking down at the ground or at his clipboard to avoid the looks on the couple's faces. He hated this part of his job.
Martha slowly covered her mouth with her hand in shock, her arms trembling and tears flowing down her face as she gripped Jonathan's arm tightly and took deep inhales at what she was hearing. Jonathan just stared blankly at the doctor confused, puzzled, and traumatized at what he was telling them. It was almost as if he was hearing this about someone else, not Clark.
"We're doing our best to help him with that, but with his other injuries…" Trailing off when he heard a loud sob from the mother, Dr. Bennett sighed and looked over at the three teens, all of them shocked too at what they were hearing as he promptly shifted in the chair he sat in and brought the clipboard up to his eyes.
"His other injuries in fact are whiplash, which he received from the force of the truck crashing into his car. This is common in car accidents when the car stops short or gets hit from an unexpected direction. We're keeping his neck in a tight brace and still because so in case any movement might make it worst." He told them, gulping saliva down his dry throat as he licked his lips and sighed. He wanted to get the basics down but he also had to explain everything to the parents so they understood what was going on with their son. He just wanted to get the worst over with.
"His vertebrae is also fractured, most likely from the sudden force and deceleration the blow was since the impacts of collisions like his compresses or damages the back. I'm…uh, we might…we might have to perform surgery when he's stable. Severe injuries of the spinal cord can lead to complete paralysis or paraplegia and surgical treatment may prevent that happening to him in the near future." Jonathan couldn't believe what he was hearing at the moment. This was his son the man was talking about. He never, never thought that from the moment he walked into the hospital it was going to be this awful. The father knew it was bad, but not what he was hearing. No, the words the doctor spoke made his whole body go numb to the world around him. He couldn't feel his wife sobbing in his chest or see through the corner of his eyes the teens stand in shock. He just felt numb to everything as Dr. Bennett continued to speak.
"His other injuries are typical and unsurprisingi-in his situation. He had a lot of eternal bleeding in his stomach, torso, and sideobviously from the smash of the car that crashed into the left area of the truck. He's lost a lot of blood and has cuts, bruises and gashes all over his body. His left leg is broken in three places and his right wrist was snapped in half. There's a lot of harm done to his ribs too. They're pretty much crushed to put it simply, which caused his left lung to collapse." He said, gulping again and closing his eyes gently when he was finished. Stuffing her head in her husband's chest, Martha cried lightly as she heard the news that the doctor had spoke, and as she did, the father held her close to him and looked up at the man despondently.
"Is that it?" Jonathan asked him wretchedly, swallowing back the large lump that had formed while he watched the doctor lower his head and shake it back and forth.
"He can't breathe on his own so we have to keep him on a respirator. Until we can get him stable we're going to keep a close eye on him up in the ICU." Dr. Bennett informed them, standing up from his chair and placing the clipboard under his arm as he sighed sadly and heaved his shoulders up and then down.
"Right now we're focusing on keeping him alive though. The next few days will be critical for him to survive. If he makes it through those days, we'll just have to watch and wait to see what we can do. I'll come and get you when you can see him." He finished telling them, nodding his head as a goodbye as he walked back down the hallways, passing the three teens and giving them a quick glance before going out of their sights. And as Martha sobbed heavily in Jonathan's chest, Pete fell back down in his chair in pure, utter shock. Chloe stood in stunned disbelief, and Lana tried to keep herself calm, taking deep breaths from breaking down. For some reason she felt as if she was floating on air, and like she wasn't even in the horrible waiting room anymore. She felt different. She felt scared.
After the doctor left, Chloe and Lana broke down. Pete was stunned for a few moments before walking over and trying to comfort the girls. "Come on, let's go sit down."
They walked over to the corner and sat down as Lana tried to wipe her tears, but her efforts were futile.
"I just can't believe this is happening to Clark. Why does this happen to people who try to do nothing but help?" Chloe shook her head at her friend's sob.
"I don't know, but it's not fair, that's for sure. This just can't be happening." Pete stared down at the floor while she said that.
"This shouldn't be happening. Everyone who saw the accident said Clark swerved into the truck. What do you think happened?" Chloe thought for a moment at Pete's words. 'Why would Clark swerve into traffic? That's not like him.'
"It's weird, Clark's usually a really safe driver He would never do that intentionally." Pete told them, knowing his friend so much to the point where he knew that he wouldn't drive into traffic. For no reason anyway.
"Something must've happened to him," Chloe got up. "And I'm going to find out what."
Lana went after her when she said that. "Chloe, wait where are you going?"
"To the accident scene, there has to be something there."
Pete got up also, "Chloe you can't go alone. I'm coming with you." Chloe nodded as she walked out the door Pete started after her when he stopped and looked over at Lana, "You gonna be okay?"
She nodded, "Yeah, I'll go and keep the Kent's company. If you want, I can call you if anything changes."
He nodded, "Thanks Lana, we'll keep you posted too."
Lana couldn't believe what was happening. It was too surreal, too frightening. Watching Chloe and Pete walk out of the waiting room, she placed her arms up to her chest as if she was cold, actually feeling shivers crawl down her spine causing her to close her eyes and bow her head. She could feel tears drying on her cheeks and fresh ones coming. The words that the doctor had spoken were still replaying in her head. If she hadn't looked over at the Kent's, then she would have told herself that it wasn't Clark. It was in fact just some stranger in the hospital who could die any second at any given time. When she did look over at the parents she saw something that made sadness drop into her stomach though.
Martha was sobbing loudly in Jonathan's chest as the man tried to calm her down but was failing miserably with what he was feeling too – the guilt and sorrow of what had happened to their son sinking in while from the far corner of the room the raven-haired girl watched them. Gulping saliva down her desiccated throat, Lana saw through the corner of her eye the blonde haired doctor who they had just saw less then five minutes ago come walking back into the waiting room, stopping in the hallway that lead to another place and sticking his head out slightly.
"Mr. and Mrs. Kent, if you follow me you can come and see him." Dr. Bennett said as Lana watched Jonathan and Martha stand up from their seats and walk towards him, the husband holding his wife close to him as the girl took heavy breathes when they passed by her. Wiping away her tears, she strolled over to an empty seat and fell down in it, bringing her knees to her chest while she stared down at the floor and wondered desperately what was going to happen next.
Dr. Bennett led the couple into Clark's room, but Martha wasn't prepared for the sight before her. She broke down as she saw Clark, Jonathan trying to comfort her but to no avail. Clark was a mess, a small plastic tube sticking out of his mouth, connecting to a machine keeping him alive.
There were bandages on his head, torso, and stomach. His arm was bandaged up so much it looked twice as big as normal. His leg was elevated and bound up in a plaster cast. There were various cuts and bruises on his face Jonathan led Martha over to a chair next to her son's bed. She tried to touch him, but she was afraid if she did he might break. So there she sat staring at her once invincible son, fighting for his life. 'how did this happen?' she thought 'this just can't be possible. How can a boy who can survive getting shot multiple times be this fragile?'
These questions played over and over in Martha's head. Jonathan was about to settle in next to his wife when the doctor came up to him, "Mr. Kent, can I see you outside?"
He nodded and turned to his wife. "I'll be back honey." She nodded and Jonathan followed the doctor out the door.
Closing the door gently behind him, the father gulped loudly and closed his eyes for a second trying to get the image that he had saw out of his mind, turning around and looking at the doctor for help when he saw the bleak expression on his face that got him worried and concerned. "What is it?" Jonathan asked, biting his lower lip uncontrollably as Dr. Bennett sighed and looked down at the ground while stuffing his hands in his long, white trench coat pockets.
"Mr. Kent, your son has a serious case of TBI that could kill him at any second. It's most likely that when he wakes up he'll have problems such as memory lost and physical disablements from the impact of both the truck and car that hit him." Dr. Bennett informed him, looking down at the ground when he finished as Jonathan felt his lungs take in small inhales of air while he heard this and gulped loudly whilst running his hands down his tired and weary face.
"W-What kind of disabilities?" He inquired, not looking at the doctor eye-to-eye but hearing him answer his question with a reply he didn't want to hear.
"Honestly, any kind. Traumatic brain injury can damage the parts of the brain that tell a person how to move certain limbs or eat, speak and even stay conscious." The doctor told him, wincing to himself as he saw tears well up in the father's eyes and his head turn over to the large window that showed his wife sitting down next to his son who looked like he rather will be dead with all the machines and equipment around him keeping him alive.
The doctor hesitated at telling Jonathan the rest of the news but pressed on, "Mr. Kent, there is a chance Clark won't wake up again due to the massive trauma to his head."
Jonathan looked down at the floor then back up at Dr. Bennett, "How big is that chance?"
"There's a seventy percent chance he won't come to. I'm sorry Mr. Kent, but there's really nothing we can do until his condition stabilizes more."
Jonathan nodded, "I understand, if he does wake up, is he likely to remember much of what happened?"
The Dr. Bennett shook his head, "It isn't likely. In fact, you need to prepare the fact that Clark might not remember you or any of his friends."
'This can't be happening,' Jonathan thought 'It just can't.'
Jonathan looked back into the room where his wife was sitting by his son as right there, most of the hope that he had of his son making it soon left.
The doctor excused himself as he went back in the room, his wife looked up at him, "What did the doctor say Jonathan?" He hesitated not quite sure he wanted to devastate her with the information he had just heard,
"He said…he said everything was fine, if no complications arise, he said Clark should make a good recovery." Jonathan felt a little guilty that he lied to his wife after seeing the relief on her face, he knew that if Clark didn't make it, she'd know he had lied to her. And he couldn't change that.
TO BE CONTINUED...