He had woken to his mother crying. He wandered out into the living room in his Scooby Doo pajamas, his untidy brown hair smashed to his head and sticking out in every direction. Rubbing his eyes, he saw his mother sitting by the phone with a look of shock on her face.
After a long moment, Leeanne looked up from the phone to see her quiet little boy standing staring at her.
“Oh, Jacob, honey!” She scooped him up in her arms and the boy stiffened in her grip.
“There’s been an accident, sweetie, and Grammy is hurt really bad. We have to get dressed and get down to the hospital as soon as we can.”
The morning was a blur. His mother got him dressed, his teeth brushed, and his unruly hair combed in such a rush that it almost seemed rote. It almost seemed like he was watching it all happen from the sidelines. A strange sense of …familiarity tugged at him. He couldn’t shake the strange feeling that he had been here before.
Jacob was always “different” from other children. His development followed its own path, never quite “in sync” with his peers.
But little did anyone know what was locked in Jacob's mind! Although being diagnosed at age 5 with autism explained some of his "uniqueness," nothing ever explained the "Dreams."
When they got to the hospital, Grammy lay in a bed with tubes and wires hooked everywhere. They saw her for a brief moment before the doctor took them into a small room with a table, some chairs, and a small box of toys in the corner.
“Here, Jake, look! There is a dinosaur. Why don’t you play over here while Mommy talks with the Doctor, okay?”
Jacob picked up the green T-rex and tried to occupy himself. He couldn’t help but hear the conversation occurring at the other side of the room.
“It’s not good news, I am afraid, Mrs. Baxter. Your mother was hit head on and we are not seeing any signs of waking. She is not responding to anything at all, so far,” the doctor said in a hushed whisper.
“But, I don’t understand. Why was she on the old County Road at 5 in the morning to begin with?”
“I cannot answer that question, Ma’am. The only one who can may never be able to. That is what I am trying to tell you, Mrs. Baxter. It is not hopeful and I do not think your mother will be coming back to us.”
By this time, Jacob had wandered back down to the room where his grandmother lay on a hospital bed, looking nothing but broken and frail. For the first time he could remember, she looked old and fragile.
A nagging memory tugged at him. Something felt odd, familiar, and frightening all at the same time.
In his mind, he saw his grandmother driving down the road, racing to reach … something, he was not sure what. But she seemed driven, like she had a sense of purpose, something that she had to do before it was too late. But in a flash, an animal darted into the road and she swerved. Another car was barreling too fast down the road then with the squealing of brakes and the smell of burnt rubber, that car was not able to stop in time.
Loud noises boomed around Jacob bringing him back to the present. A lot of beeping noises from the machines that surrounded him, in rushed the doctor that had been in the room with he and his mother just moments before, followed by his mother.
Jacob had always been smaller than most boys his age, so it wasn't a surprise that he had snuck out of the family room unnoticed.
“Jacob, what happened? What are you doing in here?”
“Doctor, there is no pulse,” said a nurse who was obviously trying to remain calm for the family standing by.
They started CPR but, soon, they gave up. Leeanne Baxter fell to her knees, cradling her small boy in her arms, and sobbing loudly.
“I am very sorry, Ma’am,” the doctor placed his hand on her shoulder. “But there is nothing more we can do. She’s gone.”
Leanne wiped the tears from her eyes. She had to be strong for her son. She didn’t want to scare him and knew he couldn’t understand what was happening.