Impact

Eight

Waves were, and always will be unpredictable and it's just the nature of surfing, to never know what to expect. Part of the fun of heading out into the blue with a board tucked under your arms is to embrace the randomness of motion, and to just go with the flow.

He felt the shift beneath him and was ready to take on a big one but before he could, the giant wave swallowed him whole and knocked out the air from his lungs in an instant.

Braedon awoke with a start and found that he had fallen into a deep sleep on one of the comfy visitors' chairs and though he missed surfing, the dream was most certainly more of a nightmare.

Doctor Kimball was flipping through his medical charts with brows furrowed and a tensed expression Braedon couldn't quite read.

He seemed to have been there for a while and so Braedon walked over and peeped over his shoulders to read what had been scribbled onto his chart. What he saw took him by surprise and he stumbled backwards, trying hard to catch his breath.

Braedon followed Doctor Kimball when he walked outside to have a little chat with Valerie Makoa. Her face was white as chalk and eyes were marred with a red tinge, it was evident that she had been crying.

The doctor led her to a place that was quieter and he sat them both down before he broke the news to her.

"Braedon has a grade 3 concussion and he suffered a few major blows to his vital organs causing them to bruise and bleed internally. He's on life support but I have to be frank with you Mrs. Makoa, it's not looking too good" Doctor Kimball said, like he probably had for the past decade of his practice.

"Mrs. Makoa, I'm afraid your son will never be able to wake up ever again" he said, and she immediately lost it.

Waves were after all unpredictable and it's just the nature of surfing, to never know what to expect.