coma crash
I’d had a long day at work and I’d just left the office, finally, at 11 pm. On a Friday night. So of course I was getting to deal with stupid drunks on the road. The exit for I-4 was closed at both entrances for some reason so I was forced to take back roads. I’d gotten a few close calls with people weaving in and out of traffic on the dark roads (which still didn’t have street lights), almost getting run off the roads. Thankfully, I reached the final light for my turn off. I was about to go through it, the light just turning green, when some idiot in a very large hummer ran the red light. At 60 miles an hour. He hit my passenger side, and my little green focus flipped about 3 times and landed in the construction area for a Publix that was long over due. I remember seeing that no one else was on the road and the hummer just flew past me. He never even stopped for a moment to see if I would ever land. I felt incredibly detached for someone who was more than likely about to die.
Finally my car came to a stop. Somewhere along the way my seatbelt had come undone. On the ground, my door had fallen open and I tried to crawl out of the car. I looked down at my hands as I did, slowly feeling something flowing out of me. I realized it felt like energy, or life. I saw blood on my hands, and some of my vision was red due to was I hoped was some shallow head wound. But from the dizziness I felt I at the very least had a concussion. My legs felt like they were broken, or badly cut up. I got about 2 feet from my car before I fell on the ground. I felt like one of the chalk outlines that you see at crime scenes. I imagined my obituary as I tried to call out for help, never getting anything more than “Please” out of my mouth in a whisper. “She was 20 years old, had no life, got hit by some asshole, and died alone, on the side of a rarely traveled road.” Finally I let myself close my eyes, I couldn’t bear to keep them open any longer. I prayed for death to come quick, my mind in a jumble from the pain and confusion of how quickly it all happened.
**
I opened my eyes to pain. More pain than I had experienced in the crash. I felt like I was being burned at the stake. I had no clue where I was. Was this hell? Had all those jokes really caught up with me? I tried to open my eyes more, see past the blurred image of darkness, but all I could see was fuzzy outlines of nothing.
“Derrick, her eyes are open! Do you think she’ll start screaming soon?” A man’s voice came from the right of me. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t screaming, the pain was so intense. The man who had spoken came into view and slowly my vision adjusted. I could see I was in a darkened room, the only light coming from a lamp across the room. The man standing over me was definitely tall. He was pale with dark gray eyes. It reminded me of the sky before a heavy snowstorm. His lips were curved in a frown, and his forehead was scrunched up, as though he were studying something very complex.
Slowly, I started to feel the pain creeping away. It started from my head, leaving me like a sink emptying. I could feel that I was on something soft, with a barrier to my left. A couch. I moved my fingers, my feet, my neck. I could feel everything, yet I was no longer in pain. How was this possible?
“Can you hear me?” The man standing over me spoke again. I nodded my head. I noticed his voice had a soothing quality. My brain was waking up enough to start wondering where the hell I was. As I focused more on his face, I realized he looked familiar, but I couldn’t think of a name. “Are you in any pain?” I thought about that, checking over in my head all the parts of my body. I shook my head. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. “It’s ok, don’t try to speak yet. You are ok, I promise.”
But I’m not ok, I screamed in my head. I tried to sit up, but two hands on my shoulders pinned me back. “You need to restrain her damnit. She’s disoriented, if she gets out, who knows what will happen! We’ve been over this twenty times Sam.”
It was at that moment that a fire started in the back of my throat. I wanted - needed something, but I couldn’t place what it was. It didn’t exactly hurt, but instinctively I knew I was hungry. And it wasn’t for a cheeseburger. “Where the fuck am I?! Who are you people!?” I screamed and started thrashing under the hands. The other man -Sam- went to hold my feet down. “Let me go!”
“We will let you go as soon as you calm yourself, Ella.” The man at my shoulders -Derrick- knew my name. “We swear to not hurt you or hold you down as long as you promise to stay calm enough for us to explain what’s going on.”
The fire in my throat grew, and it started to hurt. I nodded my head in agreement. Somehow I knew that I wouldn’t get hurt. I looked to Sam as he let go of my feet and he sighed when I didn’t try to get off the couch. He nodded to Derrick, who let go of my shoulders. I pulled myself into a sitting position, my legs crossing into an indian position. I crossed my arms over my chest. I managed to choke out “Explain” over the fire. Anything more would have been unbearable.
Derrick was the first to speak. He had seated himself in a chair across from the couch. I saw he had lighter hair than Sam. I saw (even with the darkness which surprised me) that he also had the gray colored eyes like Sam, but with his blond hair, the effect was scary. His clothes consisted of a black button down shirt and black pants. “Sam found you on the side of the road just after your accident. You were on the brink of death he could tell. You had internal bleeding, bruises, your legs were broken, and you had a very bad head wound. Not to mention the countless bruises and cuts that were covering about 90% of your body. He asked you if you wanted to live, which I doubt you were in the right mindset to answer, but you agreed. You may or may not remember this.” He took a deep breath before continuing, throwing a dirty glance at Sam, who was standing behind the couch. He went to sit at the other end of it, as far from me as possible. “He bit you then, brought you back here, and it is now 3 days past the date of your accident. You may feel the burning in your throat. We will solve that as soon as is possible.”
Confusion swept through my mind. Bit me? I looked to Sam, his face was the picture of a guilty conscience. He was looking at a particular spot on the carpet, which I noticed was a very pretty gray color, lighter than their eyes. My mind wandered, thinking that it would be soft if I were to put my feet down. “What do you mean bit me? Why the hell would he bite me? And if I was so hurt, why am I not in a hospital? Why don’t I feel any pain?”
“I guess you don’t remember then. Sam and I are vampires.” He said the word as though he were simply mentioning their religion. “You’ve spent the last three days on that couch, dying, turning into one of us. You don’t feel pain because your body mended itself going through the change. Although, I do wonder how you kept from screaming for those days.”
I stared at Derrick, my mind going in a hundred places at once. I’d always been obsessed with vampires (and on a very secret note, hoped they existed), but I never expected to actually be one. Let alone find one. This had to be some sort of weird dream. I pinched myself, hoping to feel nothing. I felt cold, and a strength that I’d never felt in my arms. But there was definitely pressure. I was awake. “How do you know my name?”
Sam spoke then, startling me, and I turned to look at him. “I’ve noticed you before, but when I got you from the scene, I brought your purse to the house. It’s on the table if you want it, by the way. I checked your ID when we got back, so no creepy reasons like mind reading. I promise.” He gave me the tiniest smile, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was trying to make me feel better by joking -albeit badly- with me.
All I could do was nod. I had about a hundred things going on in my head, but neither of these men seemed to be bothered by my silence. Derrick, still seated across from me, just looked at me, waiting for me to say something; Sam was back to having a staring contest with the floor. “Is there anything we can do about this burning in my throat? Preferably sooner than later if possible.”
Derrick nodded and stood. “Now that is something I can help with. I’ll be right back.”
I looked to Sam as Derrick left. “So, do you like the Twilight series?”
Sam looked at me, his face in shock for a moment, just before his entire face broke out in the most knee weakening smile I’d ever seen.
