'I have managed to save up the $4000 required for buying the second-hand car I saw at last' thought a young man who was wearing a mechanic overall which was dirtied with grease and oil. 'Now I can drop my sister in the college instead of making her take the bus' thought the young man while happily counting the money while grinning.
"Carlos! Watch out!" shouted another young man unexpectedly startling the young man counting the money.
"What happened?" asked the young man while turning around when suddenly the car which was hoisted in the stands with cables suddenly dropped and came hurtling towards Carlos.
With no time to react Carlos dived to the sides instinctively and managed to escape the runaway car but hit his head hard on the bar by the side and soon became unconscious all the while thinking 'Is that red stuff blood?'
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"Urghh!"
Hearing the sudden groan a young women sitting beside the patient's bed looked over and smiled when she saw Carlos slowly trying to open his eyes.
"Mom! Carlos woke up! Come quick!" shouting the young woman ran outside.
Soon the young woman rushed back inside with an older woman who looked to be in her late 40's, a doctor and some nurses who were carrying some medical instruments.
Seeing as Carlos' mother was trying to rush to his side, the doctor held her back and said "Ma'am please calm down. We don't know the patient's status. Since this is a head trauma we don't want to take any risks. So please cooperate with us."
After saying his piece the doctor moved next to Carlos and started to use various instruments to take multiple readings such as his blood pressure, heart rate, etc while the nurses noted it down. Then he shone a light into his eyes to check his pupil dilation. But due to the sudden bright light, Carlos groaned and tries to push the light away.
The doctor held Carlo's hand tried to push it down so he can check again but he was instead surprised by the strength this young and weak looking man had. Realising that he can't continue with the tests further, the doctor tried to talk with Carlos.
"Hello. Can you hear me?"
'Yeah, of course, I can. Do you think I am deaf?' thought Carlos but replied with "Yes."
"Then can you tell me your name? Do you remember it?"
'Does he think I am retarded' thought Carlos but again replied with "Yeah, I am Carlos. Where am I?"
"You are at the Dallas County Hospital. Do you know that place?"
"Yeah, I work near there." answered Carlos and asked, "But Why am I here?"
"You were involved in an accident in the workshop and you are admitted here. Do you remember what happened?"
"It's kinda blurry but I remember a runaway car coming towards me and jumped(?) sideways but then I lost consciousness" answered Carlos but one can notice that he was not sure of the details.
"Yes. You jumped aside and hit your head on a bar. You lost consciousness because of blood loss and a head trauma. Now tell me if you feel any pain when I press your head." said the doctor and started to press lightly at different points in his head.
"Ouch!" screamed Carlos suddenly and suddenly he was staring at a blank space in front of him while clutching his head.
"Doctor! What happened to my son?" questioned Carlos' anxious mom.
"It's nothing to worry about ma'am. It appears he has a concussion and he is taking some time to adjust. It is normal in head trauma cases." answered the doctor while observing for any change in Carlos' expression.
But what nobody in the room realised was Carlos was not staring at blank space but instead he was staring at a blue illusory screen that suddenly popped up in front of him which said
[Welcome to Automotive System!]
After five minutes even the doctor was starting to get worried since he has never seen a case when a patient acted like this for this long. So he decided to call out to him.
"Carlos! Carlos, can you hear me?"
The sudden call bought Carlos out of his daze he replied with a "Huh! What happened?"
"I pressed on the point where you hit your head and I think there was probably some blood rush. Now how do you feel?"
"A bit dizzy but do you guys see that?" said Carlos while pointing at the screen in front of him.
Thinking that the head trauma has caused some damage the Doctor questioned: "What do you see there Carlos?"
Looking around and seeing the worried faces of his mother and his younger sister Carlos realised that no one can see it and he decided to lie. So instead he said, "There was a black mass but I don't see it anymore."
"That must be because of the sudden blood flow. You have nothing to worry about Mr Carlos. You should be back to perfect shape with some rest and plenty of food." said the doctor and left with a smile.
"Mom, Sandra sorry for making you guys worry!" said Carlos with a sad smile.
"What are you saying? You have been working day and night for us. How can this be a bother? You know what! When you come back home you should take a leave and rest at home. You have been overexerting yourself. You need rest." said Carlos' mother with a stern voice.
"Mom how can I do that? We need all the money we can get. It's not like you don't know about our financial situation." after saying this he turned towards his sister Sandra and said, "Sandra talk some sense into mom."
"Carlos mom is right! You need to rest. We don't know if your condition is stable or not. If you go to work and get hurt because of this injury then your work is not going to pay for you again!" said Sandra.
"Wait! Why did they pay the bills?" asked Carlos confused.
"Well you got injured because of the runaway car and that is the workshop's fault," answered Sandra matter of factly.
"What did John say about the leave then?" asked Carlos knowing that Sandra must have talked to his boss about this if she is telling him to take some time off.
"Well," hesitated Sandra but decided to tell the truth, "John said that you need not come to work anymore."
"What?! Why would he fire me?" half doubting and half confused John asked.
"Mom wanted you to take rest and John said that if you don't come to work tomorrow, you need not come to work at all. And mom kind of lost it and said that you will not come tomorrow no matter what so he fired you. Look at the bright side. You at least get your severance pay." said Sandra meekly.
"Mom! Why would you do that?" questioned Carlos.
"I don't want my son working for a monster who will not give a leave for a person who is hospitalised." shrugged his mom and snorted.
Sighing at his mother's answer Carlos sighed and diverted his attention to the translucent screen hovering in front of him.
[Welcome to the Automotive System]
[Think 'Start' to initialise.]
"Mom, Sandra I feel tired. Let me sleep for some time." after saying this Carlos thought 'Start'. Even though he didn't know what will happen, he felt that this will only help him.
"Take a good rest," said his mom and left with his sister.
[Initialising...]
[Installing.... 5%]
[Installing.... 45%]
[Installing.... 95%]
[Installing.... 100%]
[System Installed Successfully.]
Then Carlos lost his consciousness again.