The sirens were getting closer and I could now see lights off in the distance. The gray-haired man saw me looking for help, "My daughter's gonna point 'em down here." I slowly nod my head, I still sat there trying to grip what was now my reality. Finally, emergency responders had gotten there. Dozens of ambulances and fire trucks covered the area. EMTs and firefighters had swarmed the scene assessing the damage. The boy with the baseball cap grabbed a couple of EMTs to help Johnny and me. The male held pressure on Johnny's face stopping some bleeding. The female began inspecting my face like something was wrong. I softly grabbed her arm, "Make sure the kid's okay." Then my legs began to feel weak and my eyelids were heavy.
I opened my eyes waiting for them to focus. Everything smelled sanitized, hospital, I was obviously in a hospital. Holy shit that actually happened, this crazy thing was not a dream. A nurse was there checking machines and doing whatever it is nurses do. "Hey, I came in with a kid. Do you know if he's ok?" I asked her. She smiled and dipped her head in Johnny's direction. I looked over to the other side of the room; there he sat in a bed, his eyes glued to the television. "He'll be fine. You both had fairly minor injuries considering what happened. He broke a couple of bones in his foot, some minor cuts, and bruises, nothing too bad. I'll let the doctor know you have woken up. Your brothers are also here if you are up to see them." She said it all so calmly and with a smile like we had not been in a horrific tragedy. I nodded and went back to looking at Johnny. He too seemed unaffected, like this was any other day, just hanging out watching cartoons, laughing.
I could hear them down the hall, they are naturally loud. Bryon and Brody busted through the door. "Did someone call Brandon?" I asked without skipping a beat.
"Yeah, we did. He's on his way. You alive?" Bryon asked.
"Well you know I died, but they didn't want me in heaven or hell so they just sent me back. Plane crashes aren't that bad apparently" the sarcasm was obvious in my voice.
"Who's the kid?" Brody asked pointing toward Johnny.
"Tell Brandon he doesn't have to come, I'm fine. A little sore, but fine."
Bryon started laughing hysterically, "Dude, have you seen your face?"
Now I was confused, "No, I just woke up."
"Seriously, who's the kid?" Brody repeated.
"Find a mirror?" I directed toward Bryon. He began looking around, mainly just spinning in circles to locate one, "He's already on his way Brock. They saw the crash on TV. He got emergency leave approved in less than five minutes. Here." He said jamming his hand in his pocket fishing out his cell phone. Deep breath, then I slid my finger to open up the camera. The first reaction, "Oh shit." The second reaction, laugh. I was surprised I could see out of my left eye. The entire left side of my face was swollen, broken cheekbone? Along with miscellaneous cuts and bruises, my face was not too bad.
"Who the hell is this kid?" Brody said impatiently.
Bryon's head slowly turned, "Brody, Language." he had a serious voice. Brody tried to look innocent, eyebrows raised, and hands in the air.
"What did I do?" he asked.
"Do you talk that way around your child?" he retorted with a stern face.
"He's not my child," he smirked. Now he had done it, Bryon huffed.
"You should not be cursing in front of any children! Who raised you?" he meant it in a yell, but it came out in hushed tones considering where we were. Brody still had an evil smirk on his face. As he opened his mouth to argue more the doctor walked in, thank God.
"Since you're awake, now I can tell you all the fun things you can't do." Oh great, here we go. "You broke the bone in your cheek." Knew it. "We have to wait for the swelling to go down before we can fix it. You also broke three ribs on your left side. You had some internal bleeding, but we already took care of that. Now, your son broke four bones in his foot. We had to operate and put pins to correct it. That will heal in about eight weeks. He also bruised four ribs. We stitched up the cut on his face. Those will have to be removed in about a week. You both should be fine in a couple months. Considering the gravity of this, um... accident, you both are extremely lucky to not have greater damage. Any questions?" the doctor stated with confidence thinking he covered everything.
"Johnny's not my son. I just met him on the plane," I said awkwardly.