Chapter Four

I was rushed into casualty and immediately set upon by doctors and nurses. They were all yelling and shoving, trying to be the first one to put their hands on me and declare that they knew exactly what I needed to be saved, then there would be an almighty cheer and all people of the world would know of their brilliance!

"Doctor I don't like the look of this head wound, (ha like any head wound could look good) I think we need to do an emergency scan."

"I agree Doctor, let's take her down now!"

Doctor, doctor, doctor doesn't anyone use first names anymore?

Anyway I was wheeled down the corridor and a picture was taken of my brain to make sure it wasn't damaged. Thankfully it wasn't, otherwise this story would be really hard to tell.

I still had to go to surgery though so they could patch me all up, and make sure I was still intact inside.

I was then hooked up to monitors and tubes and a Hell of a lot of other wires and taken to a private room to "recover".

I think it was then I started to come around. I couldn't tell you how long I'd lain there hours, days a week I dunno, no one ever told me and to be honest I really didn't care.

Everything felt very stiff and alien. The world around me was black and very small. It was then I heard a shrill panicked voice from somewhere out in the distance.

"Oh my god what happened to my daughter?"

It was mum; she stormed into the room where I was laying all hooked up and lent over me to peer at my face. She was crying, I could feel the tears on my face and then her hands reached over to stroke my hair.

I desperately wanted to reach out to her and let her now that I was okay, but I couldn't move. Every atom of my being hurt and I felt like I was stuck in glue. I fell into what the Doctors called Time-Out. It wasn't a coma, just my body's response to the accident. I shut down to heal and that was it they could do no more me until I woke up.

God poor mum. I mean I don't know but I gather from what people told me that she was beside her self. She sat beside me and held my hand. Crying and talking tome non stop.

I think the first thing I remember was her chanting my name over and over and I think it was that, that finally pulled me out of the black hole I was in.

"M…Mum?" I croaked

She raised her head off the bed and stroked my face. Warmth came flooding back from that sweet touch and I clung to that, never wanting to disappear back into that lonely dark filled space again.

"Yes, yes I'm here Darling"

"Mum?" I asked again this time frightfully. I didn't want to think I'd imagined her speaking but I had to make sure.

"Yes, yes it's me Sweetheart"

She grabbed my hand and held it tightly. I gave an involuntary sob and squeezed it back.

Mum started to cry again and as she stroked my hand I smiled a little. She laughed at the sight and lent down to kiss me.

"Oh I've been so worried! When we got the call that you'd had an accident, I didn't know what to think. We just jumped in the car and raced down here. I think your father almost broke the cars' speedometer."

I smiled at that. "Where is Dad?" My throat hurt and I sounded really raspy, but I wanted to keep talking.

"He went to get the Doctor the second you spoke Darling. He's been here all the time too. We both have."

She rubs my hand vigorously in hers and makes soothing noises. Hmmmmm I don't like that, but I don't get time to question her when I hear Dad and another set of footsteps enter the room.

"She's just started to come round Doctor." I hear Dad say

"Dad!" I croaked out happily

"I'm here Lissy Sweetheart" He takes my hand from Mum and clutches it tight.

"Hullo Lissy, I'm Doctor Reynolds. I'm just going to have a quick look at you all right?"

"Okay" I say meekly. Like I've any choice in the matter?

"We'll wait outside Doctor. " Dad suggests. Mum protest but I hear her getting shooed out. Then I hear the door close.

I relax on the bed now as I feel the Doctor check my arms and my legs and then feel around my head.

"Does anything hurt?" he asks calmly.

I wriggle experimentally and I hitch in a breath from a pain in my side.

"My side." I say. He places a cool hand around my side and gently kneads my flesh.

"Ouch!" I yell as he hits the spot. His eyebrows rise but not alarmingly

"Does it hurt to breathe?"

"A little yes."

"Mmmmmm, you've probably fractured a rib, from where the taxi hit you. We'll get an x-ray done just to make sure." I nod okay.

I think I like Doctor Reynolds. He's very kind and asks me lots of questions; about where I'm studying, his face practically lights up when I tell him I'm studying medicine, well in a different sense than he did but still its nice to have the distraction as he examines and explores.

He asks me what I've learnt so far and why I want to be a Vet and he seems generally interesting in what I have to say.

There's more checking and I can hear him making the monitors beep.

"Well your heart rate is good, your BP is fairly normal and there's no swelling in your brain. So I'm confidant you'll be fine Lissy. In all you're very lucky."

"Now I'm going to give you some pain killers and later we'll take out some of these tubes now that you've woken up. You'll be more comfortable that way."

I sigh relieved. "Could you take the bandage off my eyes too please it's really irritating." My face had been itching the moment I'd woken up and all I could see was the dark side of the bandage over my eyes. It was really disorientating and irksome.

I heard the Doctors' voice falter. He speaks slowly and carefully "Lissy... there is no bandage over your eyes." He sounds concerned and I hear him immediately flip open a file and shuffle through some papers.

"W…W... What?" I stammer pushing my self up. "But I can't see anything! I can't see! I can't see" I'm getting a hysterical and my parent's rush back into the room.

"Darling, darling, what's the matter, what happened?" Mum is sitting on the bed clutching at me.

"I can't see! I can't see! I can't see, Mum." I'm crying into her shoulder and I hear the Doctor say.

"I'll get her checked out by an Ophthalmologist straight away. It may just be a temporary thing from the head trauma."

I hear him scurry away on light footsteps. Mum is rocking me backwards and forwards as I cry frantically, saying

"It's all right Darling, ssshush. It's all right. We're right here."

Dad comes to sit on my other side and strokes my hair down my back. We sit there for ages…. Waiting, wondering, scared, uncertain and alone.

If this were a movie set, you would see the camera slowly moving away from us, making us get smaller and smaller. Leaving us huddled tighter waiting for the unknown. Melancholy music would play letting the audience know that there's no hope. But it's not a movie so I don't have that luxury of suddenly knowing my fate.