CHAPTER 3

Almost as soon as Miguel woke up, Rosa had called Carmen, so Johnny knew that it would definitely be better if he left and then came back later. When Carmen arrived, Miguel had risen at that point and was being hounded by an Army of doctors, having to undertake every medical test under the sun over the course of the morning, afternoon and now evening.

"Can you feel this?" A doctor asked, prodding Miguel on the thigh. Miguel shook his head.

"No." He murmured quietly. It had been an extremely long day, with the doctors doing many extremely rigorous tests on him. Useless tests, as they all showed exactly the same result… Miguel was paralysed from the waist down.

"How about this?" The doctor followed up, gently knocking on Miguel's knee. Miguel sighed after several moments.

"Nope." Miguel replied. Carmen put a kind hand on Miguel's shoulder, and she smiled reassuringly at him.

"How about this?" The doctor repeated, hitting Miguel lightly on the ankle. Miguel looked at his ankle for several moments, desperately trying to will any sort of movement or feeling into his legs, but with no success.

"No." Miguel eventually whispered, his eyes staring down at his lap in disappointment. The doctor could sense the fear and stress in Miguel and Carmen, so he tried his best to put on a brave face.

"Okay, that's okay, don't you worry, son. We'll have you back on your feet in no time!" The doctor exclaimed, but his face told Miguel and Carmen a different story. Miguel could tell that this paralysis he seemed to be inflicted with was EXTREMELY severe. The worst part though was the fact that Miguel was being blatantly lied to by the doctor, patronised like he was a 5 year old who was not strong enough to hear the real truth. Miguel scowled at the doctor.

"Look, could you just cut the bullshit, or otherwise shut the fuck up!" Miguel snapped.

"MIGGY! Language!" Carmen exclaimed, glaring disapprovingly at him. Miguel sighed.

"Look, doctor, I'm not stupid. I wasn't born yesterday. I can tell you're hiding something. It's bad, isn't it? My injury? Just tell me… am I ever going to walk again?"

The doctor was taken back by Miguel's attitude. It wasn't about how rude it was - the doctor had seen PLENTY of rude patients before. It was the look on Miguel's face… he looked defeated. Like he had already resigned himself to never walking away. Devoid of hope. Devoid of spirit.

The doctor sighed.

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you, it doesn't look good. You damaged your spinal cord in a way that caused a paralysis that's technically temporary, but takes a lot to be able to recover from it. It's going to be a very tough road over the next few months if you want to be up and walking again…"

Walking again. So Karate wasn't even near to being in the picture, Miguel thought to himself. As he looked from the sympathetic doctor to his distraught mother, Miguel closed his eyes. What had he done in life to deserve to be in this situation? Had he seriously been that fundamentally bad? Miguel looked at the doctor once more and noticed something in the doctor's expression.

"You're still holding something back, aren't you?" Miguel stated. The doctor's serious expression told him the answer to that. "What? What is it?"

The doctor shuffled nervously on the spot, not making eye contact with Miguel or his mom.

"Um… Er… Um… Uh…"

"Doctor?" Carmen asked in a small voice. Her heart was pounding. She felt like she was going to be sick. The past couple of hours had a whirlwind for her. The moment she had gotten the call that Miguel was awake was one of, if not the happiest moment of her life. Then, she made it to the hospital only to find Miguel unable to move his lower body. And now the doctor was telling them that there was a good chance Miguel would never walk again. Carmen didn't know what to think right now. She glanced at Miguel and saw the pained expression on his face. It wasn't even that he was in physical pain; he seemed to be in an emotional pain that was tearing him apart. He may be trying to keep a stoic expression, but he was failing miserably. Anyone could see through it and see the melancholy in his eyes.

The doctor took a deep breath before looking straight in Miguel and Carmen's eyes.

"Well, I don't want to lie to you guys. Miguel, your spinal trauma was extremely severe. With cases like yours, the chance of a full recovery is about 10% in the first three months, but after that, it drops close to 0. I'm really sorry…"

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"Yes, thank you so much. Well, call me if you hear anything else. Good night."

Daniel hung up the phone and walked into his living room, where Sam and Amanda were playing a game of Scrabble. Sam, as always, was extremely distracted, and was only more so when she saw her dad walk in the room, a massive grin on his face.

Amanda smiled at him. She hadn't seen her husband smile since the school fight. Everything that had happened to not only Sam, Robby and Miyagi-Do, but also Miguel's coma, had weighed down on him heavily. He felt extremely guilty for everything that had happened. HE chose to bring Miyagi-Do karate back to the Valley, and although he did so to teach innocent bullied teens how to defend themselves from Cobra Kai, it had all spiralled out of control so, so quickly and ended up coming crashing down and affecting both his professional and personal life. The dealership was a ghost-town, closing Miyagi-Do had put a strain on his relationship with both Sam and Amanda as Amanda wanted him to keep it closed and Sam wanted him to open it.

"What's going on, Daniel? Why so happy?" Amanda asked.

"Well, I just got a call from the hospital. Apparently, Miguel just woke up. He's okay!"

Amanda and Sam both let out gasps of shock and relief. Sam's jaw practically hit the ground. She had dreamed of hearing those words every day for the past two weeks, and she was starting to lose a bit of hope that she would ever hear them. Hearing that Miguel was alive and well caused a massive chain that was buried in the pit of her stomach to be loosened a little.

"That's amazing news, Daniel!" Amanda exclaimed. Daniel nodded, but his smile then faded a little.

"Yeah, it is. There's just one thing though…" Daniel murmured, his voice trailing off a little. Sam noticed and she shot up to her feet to face him. She could feel her heart rate beginning to rise at a rapid rate.

"What… what is it, dad? Is Miguel okay?" Sam stammered. Daniel's smile had completely vanished at this point, replaced by a look of pure guilt. Daniel took a deep breath.

"Sam, sit down for a second, will you?" Daniel murmured, directing his daughter to the couch and sitting next to her. Sam was getting more and more nervous with every passing second, as she watched Daniel fidget nervously in his seat. Amanda was also starting to feel fear rise up in her throat as she saw her husband's discomfort. Clearly, there was some bad news.

"What is it, dad? Please tell me." Sam pleaded. Daniel sighed and nodded.

"Look, honey, you know Miguel's spine damage was pretty bad, right? And there was always the risk that he wouldn't be able to be what he used to be physically or cognitively. Now, Miguel might be awake, but it appears that he does have lasting damage from the injury."

"What is it?" Sam asked, desperately, for about the thousandth time, begging to know what exactly had happened to Miguel. "Can he not move his fingers or toes or something?"

Sam had done a lot of research about coma and spine injury side effects, and most of the websites she had read had talked about temporary loss in motion of fingers and toes due to not using them for so long.

Daniel shook his head though and took a deep breath.

"No, Sam, um… Miguel… um… Miguel is paralysed all the way from the waist down. He can't move his legs, feet, toes, nothing."

Sam's blood ran cold. Tears sprang to her eyes and her legs gave out. If she hadn't been sitting down, she would have for sure collapsed and passed out. Her mouth suddenly evaporated of all fluid, so it took her several moments for her to find her voice again.

"Oh, my God." She whispered…

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"Are you okay, Miggy? Are you comfortable?" Carmen asked, concerned, fluffing Miguel's pillow for about the thousandth time later that night. She was about to go home as visiting hours were over, but she needed to make sure everything was perfect before she left. "Do you need something to eat? Drink?"

"Mom, I'm fine." Miguel murmured, quietly. His soft-spoken tone was merely a method of disguise to cover up all of the frustration he was feeling. He had gone from being the most independent he had ever been in his life, to not being able to do anything for himself. It was utterly humiliating. He felt like an absolute baby. He needed help going to the bathroom, bathing, eating, changing clothes, and literally everything that even a child could do for themselves.

Are you hot? Cold? Do you need more blankets? Less blankets?"

"Mom, I'm fine." Miguel stated, a little louder, frustration starting to seep slightly into his voice.

"Do you need the bathroom? Do you need anything? I can stay with you if..."

"Mom, stop!" Miguel snapped harshly, cutting off Carmen. He sighed. "Look, mom, I'm sorry. Today… it's just been a lot."

"I know, mijo. It's okay. That's why I want to stay with you tonight."

"Mom, don't worry. I'll be okay." Miguel reassured her. "I'm in a hospital. There's literally nowhere safer I could be in case something happens. Please, go home for the night. Get some rest."

Carmen looked torn, but she eventually nodded.

"Okay. Yeah, you're right." She replied. She gently leaned down and kissed her son on the forehead. "Goodnight Miggy. I'll be here tomorrow."

"Goodnight, mom." Miguel responded, and he watched her turn out the light and leave the room moments later.

When Miguel was finally alone, he finally had a chance for emotions to catch up to his mind. He thought deeply as to everything that had happened to him, and everything that was going to happen to him now. His life was over, worse than it had ever been before. At least back before he had any self-esteem, he had the knowledge that when he got out of high school, he would have a successful life. He would get a good job, a wife, kids, the whole 9. It was that thought that he had clung to that had gotten him through 16 years of being bullied. But then came something worse than any of the weakness he had felt in his entire life: false hope. The year of karate had given him false hope that he no longer was going to be that weird, outsider kid. And that hope had just been ripped away from him so cruelly, but along with any hope he had of a normal life after high school. How was he supposed to go to college? How was he supposed to be able to find a family? He couldn't even walk for Christ's sake! He couldn't move a single inch below his waist! He was doomed to be living with his mom for the rest of his life. He would be that kid that everyone would feel sorry for. The make-a-wish kid that people would just talk to and pretend to be friends with because of his injury. Miguel had no passions anymore, now that he couldn't move. He couldn't play football (or soccer, as the Americans called it), but worst of all, he couldn't do Karate. Cobra Kai were inevitably going to turn their backs on him now that he was immobile. After all, it would take nothing but an act of God to enable him to walk again, let alone do karate, and the Cobra Kai instructors couldn't just sit around and wait for that miracle to happen. He was finished with everything that used to make him happy.

Before he knew it, tears were streaming thick and fast down Miguel's cheeks. He couldn't hold back all of the frustration, all of the anger, the misery he was feeling. His mom's delighted face when she walked into the room, but quickly turning to devastation when she realised his predicament… that image burnt a hole in his mind. He would never forget the helplessness and the uselessness he felt at that very moment. And when the nurses had to bathe him, help him into a hospital robe, help him use the bathroom… he thought he was going to cry. All sense of privacy or independence had completely vanished, and to think that it was only going to get worse for the rest of his life… Miguel did not want to live in that world. He didn't want to die, but a small part of him wished he just hadn't woken up from the coma. It would have been easier that way. He was broken, messed up and scarred to an extent where no one could really help him anymore, drowning so deep that not even the bravest scuba diver could rescue him.

Miguel cried until his eyesight was completely blurred with tears, until his head was pounding from dehydration. He had finally closed his eyes when he suddenly heard the extremely familiar, gruff voice of his former sensei coming from the doorway and jolting him out of his doze.

"Hey, kid." Johnny murmured…