Carly woke up suddenly from a very deep sleep; she had been having a quite vivid dream. She was confused as to her surroundings, she was in a dark room that was not her bedroom; and then as the confusion of deep sleep began to fade she remembered where she was. She was next to Freddie in his hospital room. It had been eight days since he had been hit by the taco truck while saving her life. They had been the eight longest days of her life.
She looked at her watch to see what time it was; 11:30 p.m., she had been sleeping for only 90 minutes she estimated. She thought about her dream; it had been so real, she could have thought that was reality instead of her present situation. The dream itself was bittersweet and odd in places. Bitter in that she and Freddie had dated for a bit and then stopped, sweet in that Freddie was recovered from his injuries and alive and healthy. Very odd in other details; Sam as a pageant girl probably topped the list. Did they also meet Ginger Fox and Bigfoot? She shook her head; sometimes dreams could be so bizarre.
Still, she would give anything to be living in that dream. Freddie was recovered and seemingly happy; she thought she would still have a chance to rekindle their romance. Here in the real world there were no such assurances. She looked over at Freddie; his body was broken in so many places and there was no guarantee that he would ever wake up. And it was all because of her; her inattentiveness, her stupidity, her carelessness.
She started to cry as she thought over the list of Freddie's injuries. Both of his legs had been shattered. Three operations had already been performed on them in the previous week. The doctors felt confident his left leg would be ok, but there was still a chance he would lose his right one. He had broken his right wrist and right collarbone. He had suffered a severe concussion; one operation had been done to relieve pressure on his brain. Then there were his internal injuries; a collapsed lung, a bruised kidney and the loss of his spleen. To top it off, Freddie had been in a coma since the accident and there was no telling when he would wake up. The doctors had said they could detect no physical evidence of brain damage, but there was no clue as to when he might come out of the coma. It could be any minute or any year; there was a chance he would never wake up at all.
Carly stood up and stretched; she went into the washroom and got a cool, wet washcloth. She wiped Freddie's brow, being careful not to get the bandages around his head wet. Freddie had always preferred to be cool rather than hot and she thought this might make him more comfortable. She gently wiped his cheeks, chin and around his jaw line. She gave him soft, gentle kisses on his cheek and around his eyes. Both of his eyes were blackened as a result of his concussion. She put the washcloth back in the washroom and took her place in the chair next to Freddie's hospital bed on the left side.
She had refused to leave Freddie at all after the accident. Since he had moved into his regular hospital room Carly had become a permanent fixture there. She refused to go to school and pitched a major fit when told she had to leave when visiting hours ended. She screamed, yelled and threatened to attack anyone who forced her to leave. Eventually Mrs. Benson consented to allow Carly to stay with Freddie through the night. Spencer or Sam would bring Carly a change of clothes and she would take a quick shower in the bathroom of Freddie's room. Sam would also bring Carly her homework and she did her best to work on it during the day when Mrs. Benson was visiting as well.
Carly lowered the hand-rail on the side of Freddie's bed so she could get closer to him. She took his left hand in her own and began to speak to him. "Freddie, please wake up. Please…for me?" Tears began to fall down her cheeks, just the latest of many that had fallen in the past eight days. "Freddie, I need you, please wake up. I'm so sorry about everything. I'm sorry I walked out into the street in front of that truck. I'm sorry I ever let Sam pick on you. I'm sorry I didn't say yes the first time you asked me to be your girlfriend in the 6th grade."
"Freddie, I love you so much. I have been such a fool; I should have admitted that I love you when we danced together in the Groovy Smoothie. Having your arms around me, my head in the crook of your neck; it all felt so right, so perfect. Just like we were two jigsaw puzzle pieces that fit together."
"I had a dream where you got better from this and we dated, but we stopped because you thought maybe I didn't love you, but just loved what you had done. In my dream you were willing to sacrifice your own happiness just on the chance that I didn't return your feelings. Please believe me that is not true. Freddie, I have loved you for so long, I was just afraid to admit it. You are the perfect man, and I didn't think I deserved you. I pined after boys who could never be as good as you; I dated bad boys precisely because they were not like you. Maybe I thought I needed to be punished because of the times I had rejected you. Please believe me, Freddie, you are the only man I want to share my life with."
"Freddie, I need you to wake up so I can show you just how much I love you; so I can make up for all of our lost time. Freddie, if you don't make it through this I don't know if I can go on without you. You are so important to me; my life would be meaningless if you were no longer a part of it. Without you my soul is incomplete; it will not be able to survive without you."
Carly kissed Freddie's hand. "I'm begging you Freddie, if you can hear me, please wake up. Please." Carly held Freddie's hand close to her face. After a while she placed it next to him on the bed. Carly thought there was one thing she had yet to try and decided to give it a shot.
She kneeled down on the floor next to the bed, folded her hands together, bowed her head, and began to pray. "Hello, God, this is me Carly Shay. I've never tried to speak with you like this before, I'm sorry about that now, but I have something very important to ask. The man next to me is Freddie Benson; he is the most perfect person in the world. He is kind, considerate, understanding; he cares about other people even more than he cares about himself. He is sweet, charming, and funny; I love him so much. I love him more than any other person in the world, even myself."
"You see, right now Freddie is hurt pretty badly and it's my fault. I wasn't paying attention as I was crossing the street and a truck was about to run me down. Freddie pushed me out of the way so I wouldn't get hurt, but the truck hit him instead. He risked his own life for me and now he is lying in a coma with horrific injuries. Freddie doesn't deserve this; he is too special, too kind, to have to die like this. If anybody should be in that bed it's me, I deserve to be lying in a coma on the verge of death. This is my entire fault; if you have to punish anyone, please punish me."
"Please God, please; I'll do anything you want, anything you ask if you'll just let Freddie wake up. Please let me have the chance to nurse him, care for him, and love him. I promise I will never disappoint him or hurt him ever again. I need him, I can't live without him. He is the one person who gives my life meaning, I don't know what I'll do if he dies. Please, God, spare him; please I beg of you. Amen."
Carly got up and sat back down in her chair; turning it so that it was perpendicular to Freddie's bed. She leaned forward and rested her head on his chest and began to cry. Hearing Freddie's steady heartbeat comforted her, though she still sobbed enough to soak his hospital gown with her tears, and she finally fell back asleep.
Eventually, sometime during the night, she was awoken again by someone stroking her hair. Before she could open her eyes and turn her head, she heard a steady but weak voice call out to her, "C…Carly, is that you?" Carly smiled, her prayers had been answered.