"Frente a un espejo que usted ve solamente su propio semblante; frente a su niño que usted finalmente entiende cómo todos le vieron."
"Facing a mirror you see merely your own countenance; facing your child you finally understand how everyone saw you."
Sounds of steady beep, a woman's cry, a man's muffled words. Constant beeping. Pain soon began to pulse throughout his body. His face, torso, arms. Seething pain. He tried opening his eyes but the light was awfully bright. He tried one more time seeing this new blurry world. He moaned out of pain and confusion. What the hell was going on?
"Psymon," he heard the woman say as he felt her warm gentle hands on his right arm. "Baby, open your eyes," she begged. Psymon obliged as his vision finally came into check and realized he was in a hospital room and that woman was his mom.
He tried to speak then realized his mouth wouldn't open. He looked at his little bed set up. He was covered from the waste down by a thick cotton blanket and he felt strangely naked. The bed was sitting him at a thirty degree angle and the bed was so plush, he felt like he was sinking into it. His torso was wrap in crepe bandages as well as his fore arms.
He looked Denise in the eyes and begged for answers with her eyes. "You just woke up from a coma hunny, its been twelve days," she told him He tried to suppress the pain but he couldn't take it and began to tear up. Denise quickly pressed the call button for a nurse to come in.
They quickly came in and put a shot of morphine into his IV. He calmed down feeling the liquid release into his veins and numb the agonizing pain. A doctor soon came in followed by Tom. "Hello Psymon, I'm Dr. Becker," he greeted, "And you don't need to worry, you'll be taken good care of." Psymon moaned something still unable to open his mouth.
The doctor took a seat next to the bed and pulled out his clipboard. "Ok, well Psymon, do you remember what happened after you hit the ground," he shook his head no, "Well, you got a pretty bad shock, about a 100,000 volts from a high wire. You have severe burns on your back, chest and abdomen, and your arms. You did go through surgery because of some internal damage. You have a fractured right shoulder blade, one fractured rib in your chest and a broken rib that seems to have been broken before from the x-ray. And finally, your left leg is fractured and you broke your jaw. Unfortunately we had to perform minor cosmetic surgery on your jaw then had wired it shut."
The doctor got up and it made Psymon blink for a minute, he didn't quite hear it all because the morphine was 'kicking his ass' at the moment. The Doctor then explained Rowen had fixed Psymon's chain by sticking a very small metal stick in it. When the little rod in the chain and the pedal rotated until they met it then snapped the link in the chain. Legal matters were being handled as they spoke.
Dr. Becker pulled Tom and Denise outside the room to discuss certain matters with them. "Umm, Mr. And Mrs. Combs," he started seeing the tears in the woman's eyes, "Ok, here the deal. There is a little more depth to the aftermath of the accident. He may suffer from mental distress, psychological problems. Be on the look out for it."
"So he's gone crazy?" Tom asked.
"No not exactly, we're not totally sure yet. In the ambulance it was reported he did in fact wake up and began wrestling and screaming at the paramedics. It may be serious now, it may not for thirty years, it just depends on the person."
"So just look for signs?" Denise asked this time still clutching Tom's waist.
"Yes and this may stunt his growth. And unfortunately, we think this accident may have caused him to go sterile."
Denise gasped and placed a hand over her mouth, "No," she whispered. The doctor gave his apologies and walked away. Tom and Denise walked back into the room where Psymon lay back looking extremely doped out.
"Psymon," Denise said nudging his arm slightly, "Psymon," she said more sternly. Nothing. Tom put a hand on her shoulder, "Just let him be for now, don't upset him while he's like this."
Tom sat in the chair next to the bed and looked Psymon over. Other then not being able to have kids one day, he still doesn't know the worst news yet.
Over the next couple of weeks Psymon was in and out of being drugged up. The pain had subsided more and more. When his sisters came to visit him he found out Alyssa stayed home because she threw a house party. Alyssa said the next time their parents went away for the weekend she was going to have another one, he was invited.
A couple of his friends had come to visit him and drop off and pick up school work, unfortunately they told him how almost everyone knows of his accident. Teachers reminded students of the games and that a student from auto shop competing in it. Psymon felt embarrassed even when no eyes were looking at him.
His mom had told him the other side effects. He hadn't had any mental freak outs or anything. He didn't feel crazy other then the weird dreams he's been having. They were probably caused by all the drugs anyway. They were repeating themselves ever since Forest told him about everyone watching him crash into power lines. That vision played over and over in his head except under the power lines were the people from his school. Elise stood where he landed.
Even though hearing how he may never be any taller, the thought of never having kids hurt him. Another thing to add to his emotional stress list. The doctors had finally confirmed it test after test after test.
On this particular day Dane and Forest had walked up the main corridor to ICU. They turned a corner and spotted Denise standing out in the hall looking into Psymon's window. They stood beside her and saw Tom sitting on Psymon's bed. They were talking.
"How are you feeling today?" Tom asked.
Psymon hadn't sit up in weeks. His internals felt like they were trying to escape. "Fine."
"Listen, dude…I have something to tell you. And I'm sorry… but it's nothing good," He told Psymon.
"What else could go wrong in my life?"
Tom listened to his muffled raspy words and debating whether or not o tell him. That wasn't an option, he had to know. "Look, Steel MX contacted us a week or so ago…and…they're dropping you."
Psymon immediately sat up no matter how bad his abdomen was burning right now, his heart rate increased and he held the bars on his bed to hold himself up struggling. "What?!"
Tom pushed him back down on the pillows, "Psymon come down, Steel MX was just a stepping stone. There will be others, just calm down please."
Even though it only took so little words to say it, the effect was so much greater. Psymon's head began to pang and the sounds around him faded, like someone was holding his ears. Opening his eyes slightly he saw blurs of colors and shapes. And for the first time he heard it.
"Fuck up!" the anger voice of his father. His mother's screaming and crying. 'Fuck up!' repeated over and over in his head. His mother screaming louder. "Look at what you've done to yourself, you screwed everything up!" this voice Psymon hasn't heard in almost ten years.
Though through the darkness he saw flashes of white and blue. Like a pulse slowing down. Slower and slower until it almost stopped. He heard his little brother's voice. "I'm ok Psymon, you can let go now if you want." His last words echoed infinitely. Psymon tried to speak but his loud bold words were only soft whispers. "Don't leave," Psymon whispered into nothing. Everything black again then he was pulled back into reality seeing the faces of a doctor and nurses.
In the real world Psymon was holding his burned hands to his head and yelling 'shut the fuck up'. He began to convulse, twisting and turning in the sheets. Tom got up and told one of the three outside to go get help. Dr. Becker and nurses came running down the hall.
Upon entering they pushed Tom out of the way as Denise came in and he held her tight.
Psymon had then gone into a seizure as he shook and nurses held him down pushing his head to the side while the doctor was performing on him. Psymon finally stopped and his heart rate plummeted. Dr. Becker yelled for adrenaline then pumped one shot straight to the heart.
Psymon's breathing picked back up as he huffed and puffed. Two nurses still held down his arms as his eyes were still rolled in the back of his head. After some odd seconds his breathing returned to normal and he closed his eyes.
Tom held Denise outside of the room while she cried into his chest. Dane stood at the window looking in at Psymon. That kid is his best friend. As gay as it sounds, if needed anybody more then a girlfriend, it was him, because they were always there for each other, always. A single tear slipped from his eye.
Forest put a hand on his shoulder, "Dude, you cryin'?"
"What? No,,, no I'm not crying," he lied wiping the tear away quickly.
"Dane, it's ok to cry."
"I'm not crying douchebag…"