I sense the bright light that has been placed over my head. It's light penetrates through my eyelids. I try to open my eyes, but I can't seem to muster the energy to. My body gets hit with a wave of pain. My head screams in pain, almost like a vice has been placed over my temples. My body feels numb and weak. I wiggle my fingers to try and regain control of myself. Then, I hear a door open and a set of footsteps approaching. I try to lean my head up to look, but all I can do is slightly open my eyes.
"Oh good, it seems like you're awake." The person's voice was quite deep, so I assumed that they were a man. "You were out for quite a while, did you sleep well?" He stifles a chuckle.
I attempt to respond, but my mouth just opens and closes without any noise exiting.
"It seems you haven't regained much control yet, which makes sense as you've just woken up. That was one hell of an accident, you're lucky that you only sustained minor injuries. 'Minor injuries?' I thought, 'I can't fucking move, how is this minor?!' Then, my mind started to wander to other things. 'Wait, how long have I been out? A few days? A week? A month? He said a while, he couldn't have meant over a year right?' Almost as if my mind was read, the doctor said,
"You've been out for 2 whole days, I hope you were at least having a nice dream."
'Two whole days? It's not as bad as I was thinking, but it's still a while.' I gathered my strength and tried to speak again.
"I feel like," my throat hurt like hell as I attempted to speak coherently, "I got hit by a truck."
The doctor looked surprised by my ability to speak.
"Well, that was a damn good guess. You guys swerved into the oncoming lane and hit another car dead-on."
"Jesus, that's why my body hurts like hell."
"Well, at least you had your seatbelt on."
I remembered the moments leading up towards the accident.
"What happened to my parents?" I quickly asked.
"Your mother woke up a few hours ago, actually your dad didn't even fall unconscious. He's the one who called us in the first place. However, I regret to inform you that your sister wasn't so lucky."
'Wasn't so lucky?' I shot him an inquisitive look.
"Your sister suffered significant damage to her cerebral cortex and her cerebrum. When your cars collided, she flew out the front windshield and slammed her head against the oncoming car. When we arrived at the scene, she already had a ton of blood lost and glass shards impaled into her body. We hooked her up to some IV's and drove her to the emergency room. But, she still hasn't woken up."
"She's still alive though right?"
"Her heart is beating, but that's about it."
I sighed, although I don't know whether out of relief or something else.
"I have to go tell your parents that you're awake, then we will run a few tests. Excuse me for a moment." He explained, then stood up and left the room, closing the door behind him on his way out. Even though the door was closed, I could still make out what was being said from behind it.
"Sir, she's only registering a 3 on the Glasgow Scale. What are we going to tell her parents?"
"We just need to assure them that she's not dead yet. The time will come when they will find out."
I recognized the second voice, that was the doctor that had explained the situation to me. The first voice I didn't though. It sounded much more feminine and soft, probably belonging to a nurse. 'What's the Glasgow Scale' I wondered. But my inner thoughts had been interrupted by the door swinging wide open and slamming into the wall.
"My baby!" I heard mom yell. I looked up to see her start running at me, then slow down as she saw my condition. I had bandages wrapped around my torso, head, and knees, and my left leg was suspended in the air. She looked like she would start crying right then and there if it weren't for the fact that she was in the middle of a busy hospital with doctors and patients just outside the room. Tears filled her eyes, whether they're from joy or sadness I didn't know. Then, I saw my dad enter the room. He just looked at me and smiled. I guess mom had called dibs on talking to me first. She started sobbing quietly and kept repeating "I'm so sorry sweetie" under her breath. Dad took that as his queue and stepped forwards to comfort her. He looked at me and said, "Good to see you again kiddo, was afraid we lost you for a second."
I gave the biggest smile I could and joked, "You don't really believe that I would die this early do you?"
He painted a smile across his face and chucked back, "No, you still have great things you need to achieve, don't you?"