Standing By || scömìche

Chapter 6

November 26, 2015

I stuggled to open my eyes. It was like they were almost glued shut from the tears that dried when I was crying earlier that day. Once I finally got them at least slightly open, I could only see blur. Nothing would focus and for a moment, I panicked. I wanted to talk, but just like my eyes, my mouth was just as dry. It took all the strength I had to take my tongue and wet my lips so I could open my mouth.

I moaned a little bit, and a few seconds later, I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I wanted it to be Scott. 

Everything was still a little blurry, but the more I blinked, the more clear it became.

"Mitch?" a woman's voice said. I recognized it immediately. It was my mom. Hearing her voice gave me the strength to open my eyes completely. It took a few seconds, but I finally regained full vision and saw my mom standing over me. The pain in her eyes was unreal. 

"Mitch, you're okay..." She said sobbing. She sat down in the chair next to my bed and laid her head down on my right arm, clenching onto it as tight as she could without hurting me. 

"What happened?" I asked her groggily. I already knew that Scott and I were in an accident, but anything after that was unrecognizable. 

"Well, uh, you and Scott were in an accident. Apparently, you ran a red light and a semi-truck ran into you," my mom re-jogged my memory. After saying that, a doctor with blue scrubs came in through the sliding doors. 

"Hi, Mr. Grassi, glad to see you're awake, I'm Dr. Alderman," the doctor said comfortingly, "you gave us a good scare for a minute."

I had no clue what she was talking about. The confused look on my face must have made her realize that she needed to be more specific.

"When the ambulance got to the scene, you and the other boy..."

"Scott," I say, correcting her.

"you and Scott, were unconscious. You had a deep laceration in your upper right leg from a piece of glass that broke from your windshield. Luckily, it didn't damage any nerves and with a bit of physical therapy, you should be up and walking in 2-4 weeks time," the doctor continued. I looked at my mom for extra comfort and she gave me that smile of "it's okay". 

"So, then, while we were in surgery for your leg, your blood pressure started dropping very quickly so, that made us a little weary. About an hour later, you started crashing. Your heart rate was decreasing and before we knew it, you flatlined. The cardio surgeon on hand thought it was an aortic hematoma, which is basically clotted blood. So, we had to open up your chest to unblock your aorta. We then had to defibrillate your heart, but you came back fairly quickly," She explained. Everything she just said came as a shock to me. 

"So, I died?" I muttered, making it sound like a question. Dr. Alderman chuckled.

"Basically, but you're going to be fine," she patted my foot and started writing down some information on my chart. I sat there in silence for a while. My mom was still holding on to my hand as tight as possible. 

"How's Scott?" I had to conjure up enough courage to ask the doctor. She stopped writing on my chart. It was like she froze. That's never a good sign. 

"Are you close with Scott?" she asked me, closing the binder she was holding. I raised my eyebrow at her, getting a little annoyed.

"He's my boyfriend. Yes, I'm very close with Scott... how is he?" I asked once more. Dr. Alderman hesitated to open her mouth, knowing that what she was about to say would break my heart.