I woke up, and all I saw was blackness, and for a minute, for one terrifying minute I thought I was dead.
Then I started hearing noises, they were low and muffled, but I was sure I heard them, a spark of hope arose in me. I strained to hear, I tried to open my eyes, and found it was hard to do, then one of my eyes were open, and a blinding white light was shining in my eyes, I tried to pull away, but couldn't, then the light was gone, and I was in darkness again. All of a sudden, my other eye was open and the same blinding light was there, then it was gone...again.
"Jamie?" A voice I didn't recognize asked, "Jamie honey, if you can hear me I want you to wiggle your toes." I did what he asked, but found I couldn't do it, panic rose in me as I tried to wiggle my toes. They wouldn't wiggle.
I heard a voice I did recognize then, "Why isn't she wiggling her toes?!" Manny almost yelled.
"Young man, please calm down, she needs to regain the use of her body, she's been under heavy medication, and her body's been through a lot."
Manny let out a frustrated sigh.
"Jamie, try to wiggle your toes for me."
I tried again, I thought I felt them move this time, I tried to wiggle them harder, they moved more.
"That's great Jamie, now can you open your eyes? Your mom and dad are here, in the hospital, they went down to the cafeteria, how happy do you think
they'll be if you have your eyes open when they come back up?"
I smiled on the inside, my parents were here.
I tried to open them, but they were so heavy, and I was so weak. I mentally slapped myself, I needed to stop being so negative, I wasn't weak, I was strong.
Then, I felt cold hands clenching my hand; I knew who it was because I got tingles up my back, Manny.
"Please," Manny begged, "Please, just open your eyes, for your family, for Joe, for...me."
On the inside, I began to cry like a baby, what if I couldn't open my eyes? What if I just wasn't strong enough? I would stay like a vegetable in this hospital forever.
I thought of my family, I tried to open my eyes, fail.
I thought of Joe, I tried to open my eyes, fail.
I thought of Manny, I tried to open my eyes, success.
The first thing I saw was a white wall looking straight at me from the end of the bed, everything was blurry and unfocused, I blinked slowly a couple times, trying to get my focus straight. An older guy, with white thinning hair and a friendly smile looked at me, "Hi Jamie, I'm Dr. Conner's; you're at Sacred Heart Medical Center."
I nodded, letting him know that I understood, "Your parents should be back up in a couple of minutes, they'll be ecstatic to see you finally up."
I looked at him quizzically, and tried to speak, my throat hurt, and my voice was low and raspy, "H-how long have I b-been asleep?"
The doctors face grew serious, "You've been out for a while Jamie, this is your 4th day in the hospital, and the 3rd time you've woken up, the first 2 you woke up briefly then went back down, you probably won't remember."
My blood turned icy cold, what had happened to me? I wasn't hurt that badly, was I?
I felt the cold hands leave mine, I looked at Manny, he stood up, he met my eyes once, they were filled with pain, he slowly backed up to the door, and with one last little smile, he left.
