[3 years later]
My stomach was grumbling. I was starving. Licking my lips I realized how dry they were. I needed water. My eyes fluttered open. It was hard to keep them open. The light was so bright. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and fall back asleep. I felt like I had been asleep for a long time. I looked around and saw that I was in a hospital bed. What was I doing here? I wished that beeping noise would stop, it was really irritating me. Especially since it kept waking me up at night.
I looked to my left and saw my father asleep beside my bed. He looked horrible. He was so skinny and pale. He looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks. Seriously, how long was I asleep for? I went to reach for his hand but the IV in my arm would not let me reach too far. There were so many wires and cords around me. What had happened? Why was I here?
"Da-" I tried to speak to get my fathers attention but I could barely make the words out.
My throat was so dry. I needed water. I looked around my room but didn't see any cups or water anywhere. I tried to sit up so hopefully I could get someone's attention. As I tried there was a sharp pain in my stomach that made me screech in agony. The machine that was beeping started to beep faster. I heard my dad snore and then he jumped out of his seat.
"What's happening? Whats' goi-" he stopped mid-question when he saw that I was sitting up. "NURSE! DOCTOR!" he started to shout
"Kendall your awake. You don't know how happy I am that you've finally woken up." He said as tears threatened to run down his face. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I started to cry from the emotion that was on his face. He looked happy and sad all at the same time. Something bad happened to me and I wish I knew what it was.
"Da-" I tried to speak but was cut off by the nurses and doctors running in the room
"Oh good Kendall, we see that you finally woke up." The tall man in the white lab coat said, "Please do not try to speak. I know you have some questions and I will answer them for you. However, right now, we need to do some exams to make sure everything is okay."
All I did was nod as the nurse started to take my blood pressure and draw blood. Next think I knew, I was being wheeled out of the room.
"Don't worry, we're just taking you down to CT. We need to get a CAT scan or your brain since you've been asleep for so long, we want to make sure that everything is working like they should." I looked up and saw a blonde nurse behind me. She was smiling, she was gorgeous and I couldn't help but be a little jealous.
It was a long and silent elevator ride down to CT; the nurse was humming along with the elevator music. It was nice to finally hear something other than beeping. I felt like I've had the beeping of the monitors in my head for months. There was a young doctor standing in the elevator with us, he looked scared as if this was his first day or he just got fired. He had a very defined jaw line and he looked like he goes to the gym a lot. I could not help but wonder if he was married or if he had a girlfriend. He was very handsome.
As I was starring at him, he turned and looked at me. I could see his vibrant green eyes and just how handsome he actually was. He smiled this perfect smile at me and if I had not of been laying in the hospital bed I probably would have fainted. I tried to smile back but I felt like I just looked like a little girl drooling all over him, which lets be honest, I was. The elevator door opened and I was being wheeled away from the gorgeous young doctor who I wished I could get to know.
"His name is Jason, he jut graduated medical school and is starting his internship with us," the pretty blonde nurse said as she wheeled me into a room. "He was on his way to the meeting with our chief of surgery, he is going to welcome all of our new interns, just like he does every year."
I nodded my head and tried to smile, maybe one day I'll get to go to medical school and become an intern. I think being a doctor would be a wonderful experience and hopefully I can fulfill all my dreams. A loud buzzing noise interrupted my daydreaming. I looked around the room and saw this huge machine that kind of looked like a space ship. My eyes got wide as I realized I would have to go inside that thing.
"Don't worry hun, it is perfectly safe. The only thing scary about it is the loud noise and the small space." the pretty blonde nurse was trying to calm me down, "We're going to give you some headphones so you can listen to music and drown out the loud noise."
As if music would be ale to calm me down, I was going to be trapped inside a huge machine with a small opening for god knew how long.
"Alright sweetie, I need you to stand up and lay down on this part of the machine," the pretty blonde nurse held my hand as I attempted to walk over to the machine. "Now, I'm going to need you to lie back. I'll put the headphones on you before we send you through."
I lay back on the cold metal bed of the machine, as instructed. The nurse put the head securely around my head. She then smiled at me and proceeded to walk away from the machine. I started to panic at this point.
"Please lay still, I'm going to put some music on for you." The nurses' voice came from above me. "Now the machine is going to start moving and the scan will only take about 30 seconds. I will be right here the entire time."
A song that I never heard before started playing my ears right as I felt the machine moving. Part of me started to panic but for some off reason the music playing in my ears was very soothing. I could feel the machine vibrating but thankfully I could not hear the awful noise. I laid there fighting back tears, I'm not usually someone who is claustrophobic but for some reason this machine was giving me extreme anxiety. I closed my eyes and tried to lose myself in the song playing and before I knew it the machine started moving backwards and the song cut off.
"Now that wasn't too bad, was it?" the smiling blonde nurse asked
I shook my head no as she proceeded to help me out of the machine. The ride back to my room was silent and my head started to fill with questions. How did I get here? What happened to me? Was I going to be okay? I wanted to ask these questions but I still could not find my voice.
I was wheeled back into my room where my dad, brother, and best friend were waiting for me. I wanted to cry because the look on their faces showed me that they were scared. I had no idea why they were scared but they were starting to freak me out. Not by saying but by the looks they were giving me. It was like they were all seeing a ghost. As I was adjusted back to where I had woken up, the handsome doctor came into the room with an enormous grin on his face.
"Good news everyone, the scans and blood work came back normal and everything seems to be perfect." He said looking directly at me, "the only issue is that you are lacking vitamins but that is typical with someone in your position. You may also not be able to find your voice for a few days, this is also normal."
My father looked at the doctor with a concerned look on his face, "so there is no reason to worry or anything?" he asked.
"None at all, as long as she takes her vitamins everyday and drinks plenty of water she is 100% healthy." He smiled and nodded at my father before turning back to me, "Now, I know you have some questions and I will answer all of them right now."
He walked over and sat at the end of my bed, "First off, my name is Dr. Martin. I have been your primary surgeon for the past three years."
My eyes grew wide as he said three years. How do I not remember an entire three years?
"Before you freak out, you have been in a coma for the past three years. After the incident with your mother, you were rushed to the hospital. You had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen." He paused as if he were waiting for me to react, "there were complications during surgery to repair the damages inflicted by the gunshots. You lost a lot of blood and in order to compensate for the extreme stress and blood loss your body decided it needed to rest. So you have been in a coma for three years now."
Tears started to run down my face...I was in a coma, for three years. I did not know what to think, I could not begin to imagine everything that I have missed out on. All of my friends have graduated from high school and are probably almost done with college or whatever they are doing now.
"We want to keep you monitored over night, just to make sure everything is working and you are healthy. It will take time to regain some of the muscle function that you lost while laying here for three years but with physical therapy it will not take long." He smiled and squeezed my hand, "I'm going to start working on your discharge papers, and I'll leave you alone with your family."
Melissa, my dad, and brother all ran to me and wrapped their arms around me as soon as Dr. Martin left the room. I wanted to cry, I was beyond overwhelmed. I was in a coma for three years. What happened in that amount of time? What all changed?
I looked over my dads face as they all backed away from me. He looked stressed and as if he had aged thirty years. I cannot imagine how much stress he had gone through. My brother, Mitchell, looked more ripped than he did before. As if he had been going to the gym everyday that I was lying in the hospital. His hair was shaved and he was clean-shaven. Melissa looked like she lost a lot of weight as well as gained some worry lines. Her hair was shorter and she looked more mature in a way. As I thought about how they all looked different, I could not imagine how different I looked.
"We're so glad that you're awake. We did not know how much longer you were going to hold." My dad said fighting back tears, "I was so worried you were never going to wake up.
"Don't you ever go into a coma and leave me alone for that long again!" Melissa said as she laughed back tears, "I was so worried about you, I came to visit as often as I could."
"I'm so glad to see you awake little sis, we've all missed you." Mitchell said.
I hated that I could not speak to them yet; all I could do was nod and smile. I was fighting back tears because I did not want them to be upset anymore. They all looed so tired and worn out, I wanted to hug them and tell them I would never leave them again.
"Okay, lets try to give you some actual food!" the pretty blond nurse chirped as she bounced into my room with what looked like a tray with pudding and water.
She held the cup of water with a straw up to my mouth. As I took a sip of the water, it felt amazing. I never wanted to stop drinking. I started to chug the water, "Whoa slow down, we don't need you throwing up." The nurse said with a smile on her face.
She took the water away from me and all I wanted was to keep drinking. I would have killed to of bathed in that water.
"Let's see if you can talk now that you've had some water." She smiled as she encouraged me to speak
"H-hello." Everyone around me looked surprised and smiles spread across their face, "oh my god, it feels so good to finally be able to speak." My voice was hoarse but I can only assume that is what it would sound like after not speaking for three years.
My family and best friend wrapped their arms around me one more time and I started crying. I was so happy to be awake and back with my family. I could not wait to get out of this hospital bed and begin my life again.
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Authors note:
so unfortunately this is how the story ends I know probably not the ending everyone wanted but I thought it was a good place to put this story to a close because of how horrible I've been about posting on here. Thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed it, who knows maybe I'll have some more time to finish my other story i started or maybe I'll post a new story I started. Thank you again to everyone who read, loved, and showed their support even though I was a horrible author