Rio and Mary Anne arrived at the hospital where Alden's friends Mark, Eric, and Jeff were waiting with Mark's mother, as well as a young man looking very distraught sitting in a corner of the waiting lounge of the OR. When Mark saw them approach, he immediately stood and met them half-way. His mother and his friends followed.
"Tita Rio," he called to get their attention.
Rio immediately went to him and said, "where's my son? Tell me what happened."
Mark immediately related what happened, with Eric and Jeff adding some information that Mark missed out. Mark pointed at the man sitting in the corner as the person responsible for hitting Alden. Rio only then noticed that there was a police officer standing beside the man. She looked at him and sensing that someone was watching him, the man looked back and he looked terrified.
Mark continued to explain that the man was driving too fast for suburban driving, plus the fact that he was texting and wasn't watching the road.
The force of the impact between Alden and the SUV was really strong that Alden not only hit the hood hard but his body was tossed a few feet, landing head first. Alden was in very bad shape when the ambulance arrived and he wasn't conscious. They immediately brought him to the OR. And now, they were waiting for any news from the surgeon who was operating on him.
At the mention that her son's condition, Rio's legs grew weak that she would have fallen if Mary Anne wasn't holding her tight. She held on to her friend, drawing strength from her.
"Has anyone showed up to give you any news on what's happening to Alden?" Rio asked softly, her voice was shaking. Mary Anne held her tighter.
"No one has come out to give us any news," Jeff answered. "But I'll go check right now if there is anything they could provide."
He quickly left the group and Mark's mother led the two friends to a seat. Mark and Eric then left to get some refreshments for the new comers. When they were seated, the young man who ran Alden over slowly approached the group.
"Are you Mrs. Faulkerson?" Asked the young man. He looked very distraught and pale. Mary Anne realized that it took so much for this guy to approach the mother of the person he'd hit.
"Yes?"
"I don't really know if it would mean anything to you," he started. "But I am really sorry for hitting your son. I know I'm completely at fault. I take full responsibility. If you press charges, I will completely understand and will not fight it. I won't even pretend to think I know how you're feeling. But please know that I am truly sorry."
Rio just looked at the young man and started to cry. Mary Anne placed her arms on her shoulders and just let her. With her friend in distress, Mary Anne took it upon herself to answer the young man who clearly looked remorseful at what he had done.
"Pray that her son will recover from this," she said in a low voice as she tried to hold her anger. "I will personally see to it that you will rot in jail if Alden doesn't recover. You don't know how many lives you've affected because of your recklessness."
The man just nodded, already resolved to the fate that awaited him. As he walked away accompanied by the police officer to the nearest precinct to give his report, the operating room door opened and a female nurse emerged in surgical scrubs.
"Is Ms. Faulkerson here?" She asked Mark's mother who she had recognized when Alden was brought in.
Mark's mother nodded and brought her to Rio. Rio upon seeing the nurse approach stood up, with Mary Anne in tow.
"Mrs. Faulkerson," she started. "The doctor is still in surgery. But he wanted me to inform you that he's doing the best he can for your son. What we can say at the moment that even if his injuries are severe, his heart is strong. So there is a huge chance that the operation would be successful. The doctor will be with you as soon as the operation is done. Please stay strong for your son's sake."
Rio just nodded and thanked the nurse. As the nurse took her leave to head back to the operating room, she sat back down and tried to calm herself. Alden's classmates arrived then, bearing coffee from the cafeteria. The group settled back down in their seats to wait for the doctor. They were silent, sipping their coffees and their minds wander, not thinking of what was happening behind the closed doors. Suddenly, Mary Anne heard someone call her.
"Mrs. Mendoza?"
They looked up and saw Maine's doctor approaching them.
"Dr. Vega," she replied. "You're still here?"
"I was about to head home but a patient of mine needed me," he explained. "Is everything alright?"
Mary Anne shook her head and replied, "Alden had an accident, Doc."
The doctor's usual calm and cheerful demeanor suddenly turned serious and he quickly turned towards the nursing station and inquired, "hey Pam. Who's the attending surgeon for Mr. Alden Faulkerson? The boy who's currently in surgery."
The nurse named Pam checked the charts and immediately answered, "doc, it's Doc Raphael."
"Jan?" Dr. Burnz asked which Pam nodded in an affirmative. "Thanks Pam!"
He quickly returned to the two mothers. Mary Anne introduced Rio to Maine's doctor and they shook hands. When the pleasantries were done, he said, "Dr. Cariño is the attending surgeon of your son. He's one of the best surgeons in the country so Alden is in good hands."
"Thank you, Dr. Vega," Rio replied.
He then looked at Mary Anne and asked, "does Maine know?"
Mary Anne shook her head and replied, "I honestly don't know how to tell her. When we left the house, she's already wondering why Alden is late. You know Alden is never late. She's been begging Jenny to let him in incase he stopped by. I honestly don't know how to tell my baby girl that her best friend was in a car accident. Especially right now when she's still recovering from her episode the other day."
"Oh," Rio exclaimed. "That sweet girl. How will she take this? We won't be able to hide this from her. If Alden doesn't answer his radio tonight, she'll start wondering."
Dr. Vega placed a hand on Mary Anne's shoulder and replied, "this will be tough for Maine. There's no going around it also. However which way, she would surely relapse with the news. I'll stop by tomorrow morning at your house so that if anything bad happens, I'll be there to respond."
Mary Anne could only nod as tears fell down her cheeks. Both mothers held on to each other for support.
Suddenly, the doors to the operating room opened and a male doctor emerged in blue scrubs. He was tall and when he took off his mask, he had fair skin. He looked as young as Dr. Vega with the face as pleasant, but the look on his face at the moment was grim. He pushed his glasses to the ridge of his nose and spotted his comrade with the patient's mother.
"Burnz," he greeted the other doctor with a quick wave.
Dr. Vega approached Dr. Cariño and the two doctors started talking in hush tones. It was clear that the news was not good as Dr. Vega's face fell. He then ushered Dr. Carño to where Rio and Mary Anne sat. He assisted Rio as she stood to meet Alden's surgeon.
"Mrs. Faulkerson," the other doctor said extending a hand which Rio reluctantly shook. "I'm Dr. Raphael Cariño, the attending surgeon of your son, Alden."
"How is he doc?" She asked, bracing herself for the news that was surely to be bad.
"We were able to patch him up as best we can," he replied with a calm and kind voice. "Because of his fall, he suffered internal bleeding and multiple fractures. His spine was broken into three parts. He has punctured lungs and liver. We've also detected cerebral hemorrhaging. His brain function is very week. We can now only hope for the best."
"What about his heart?" Rio tentatively asked.
"His heart?"
"Yes," she replied. "How is his heart?"
"There wasn't any damage to his heart," Dr. Cariño answered. "It was a shock that he didn't suffer any cardiac arrest during the operation. But the heart might be strong, but if the rest of his body would not be able to heal, it will put a strain on it as the heart is responsible for distributing blood to the entire body. At the moment, your son's in a coma. We can only wait if he would recover or not. And if he does wake up from this, he might be paralyzed from the neck down."
At hearing her son's chances of recovery, Rio sat down once more and started crying. She couldn't stand the news. She might lose her son and all she could do now is hope and pray that he would recover. And if he did recover, he'd be paralyzed. She couldn't think straight, so she just let her sorrow out. Mary Anne sat beside her, tears also flowed down her cheeks as she knew the pain that Rio was going through. She sat beside her, comforting her as best she could and providing her strength she desperately needed. She thanked the doctor as he took his leave, informing them that he will check up on Alden once he was settled in a room. Dr. Vega volunteered to prepare the room for Alden as he saw that both women were in no condition to. Mark and his mother accompanied the doctor. Alden's classmates stayed behind in case Rio or Mary Anne needed them.
It took some time before Rio calmed down. By then, Alden was already being led to the room that was prepared for him. Dr. Cariño did come back to check Alden as monitors were attached to the boy to check his heart and brain activity. Once everything was settled, everyone took their leave, leaving Mary Anne and Rio alone with Alden. Rio approached her son and took his had and held it tightly.
"Please be strong," she silently beseeched. "Don't give up, Sweetheart. Please."
Mary Anne watched silently as she gave mother and son time to themselves.
Suddenly, Rio turned to her and said, "I need to call my husband."
-oo-
Author's note:
Special thanks to thejraphaelwrites for the medical terms and as a thank you, I've given you a small part as Alden's surgeon. Hehe...