Eric
Damn that was a weird dream!
Why hasn’t my alarm gone off? I
haven’t slept in since college but I must admit it’s kinda nice. Wait, something feels wrong! My arms, it’s like they are really heavy and
fuzzy?? No, that’s not it.
“Eric, can you hear me honey. Open your eyes”.
“Mom, just a few more minutes. Go away. I don’t feel well”
“I know you don’t feel well, that’s why I need you to wake
up. You were in a bad accident.”
I slowly start to come around out of the fog. I open my eyes and my mom is standing over me
with her red rimmed eyes.
It starts coming back to me.
I spent the day at the zoo with my longtime girlfriend. We had dinner reservations and I was going to
propose that night. What happened? I don’t remember anything after the getting
to the zoo.
“Mom! What happened?
Where is Jessie? I remember
getting to the zoo, then nothing”
It was clear my mom was trying to hold it together. She took a deep breath and then told me what
she knew. We were on the park trolley
and it collided with a bus. Apparently
one of the driver’s was texting. She got
choked up again and then continued “You were thrown from the car and your arms
got run over by a tram car.”
I cut her off before she can continue “Fine fine my arms
will be fucked up for a few weeks, what about Jessie? Is she ok? When can I see her?”
“Honey, Jessie was seriously hurt but they think she will be
ok” another deep breath “She lost her
right leg above the knee and her left leg is very damaged. They thought for a while she had some spinal
cord damage but luckily that wasn’t the case.”
I started to cry, how could the best day of my life end like
this? How would she cope with having one leg. She loves to run and hike. Will
she get depressed?
My mom breaks my thoughts.
“Honey, there is one more thing.
Both of your arms we amputated between your elbow and shoulders “
I froze, stunned. No, that couldn’t be true. I still felt them, even though they felt
funny. No! it must be some mistake. How
will I live and work? I can’t possible
lose my arms.
I steal my nerves and I slowly turn my head to right and
then to the left. I’m horrified to find
matching bandages ending half way between my elbow and shoulder. I want to
scream or cry but I can’t do anything but lie there processing it all. What the hell am I going to do?
My mom bends down to kiss my forehead and she stops trying
to hide the tears running down her face.
Just then the doctor walks in “Oh good you are awake! How
are you feeling? Any pain? I know this
is a lot to take in right now but we left you with two good stumps. They are the perfect length for prosthetic
arms.”
He is way to chipper. All I wanted to do was punch him in
the face with hands that I didn’t have. “I’m not feeling much pain, can I see
Jessie?”
