~~***~~
“Goodnight baby. I love you,” Morgan’s warm voice whispered in my ears.
I groggily opened my eyes. Everything was blurry, but I could make out a figure in the corner of my eye. The ceiling was punctuated with bright white lights that stung my eyes, and I was surrounded by periodically beeping machines. I yawned, each of my limbs aching like they’d been severed and reattached. My lids were still gummy from what felt like an eternity of sleep.
“Moorrr…gan?” I attempted to vocalize. My throat felt like it was made of gravel. The figure suddenly turned and rushed towards me, before speaking into the wall.
“Doctor Gabriel, paging Doctor Gabriel,” she said. It wasn’t Morgan. My stomach dropped. Where was he? I assumed she was a nurse talking into the intercom. “Room 117. The patient’s awake.” I cringed. Patient? “Repeat, she’s up. Paging Doctor Gabriel.”
Not five minutes later, a man I took to be Dr. Gabriel entered the room. The door slid open automatically to admit him.
“Ms. Samantha,” he started in a deep baritone voice. “Welcome back.” My eyesight was still blurry. He was a dark shadow contrasting against a bright background to me. I strained to lift my head. It was no use. My muscles screamed in protest.
“Wel…come,” I sputtered. My throat was beginning to clear up. “Welcome…back?” He nodded, drawing closer to my face to inspect the leads attached to my forehead. The circular fluorescent light behind him framed his head like a halo.
“You’ve been…how do I put this? You’ve been in a coma,” he said softly. “You may need some time to reacquaint with everything.”
Reacquaint? I started panicking. “Morgan?” I asked. Not managing more than a few syllables at any one time.
“Calm down,” he said, placing a hand on my forehead. I immediately felt relieved. It was uncanny. It felt like all my worries had just flushed out of my system. “You were in an accident,” he said. “You were lucky,” he nodded, as if to convey that he understood what I was going through. “A passing car stopped at the broken guard rail and found you. You may not have survived otherwise.”
“Accident?” I asked. It still happened? I should’ve guessed she’d find a way to screw me on this too.
“Yes, an accident. You had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1%. I’m afraid that likely impaired your ability to drive.” The doctor’s explanation did little to change how I felt. It should have worked. Unless…unless it was me all along? Was there really no avoiding that crash?
“How…find us?” I was slowly regaining my voice.
“How did they find you?” he started. “I’m sorry, I don’t know the full details,” he said while shaking his head. “The motorist said a girl flagged him down. I’m surprised he stopped.”
“Where’s Morgan?” I asked again, wincing through the pain of my gravelly throat as I tried to look around the room.
“This is not going to be easy to hear,” he sighed. “But your husband passed away two weeks ago,”
“No…no.” My heart sank as tears started running down my face. “It can’t be true,” I said, choked up. Dr. Gabriel pulled me closer into an embrace. “I…just heard his voice.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s true.” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”
“How…did he die?” I looked at the doctor, tears blurring my already clouded eyesight.
“Natural causes,” he said slowly again, knowing I’d need some time to process it. “But rest assured he lived a full life. He was here every day tending to you until…until he went.”
“N…natural causes?” I asked, feeling my tear ducts burn as more tears carved paths down my face. “But…how?”
“Ms. Samantha, you had severe head injuries, and you were lucky you got here when you did,” he started, pausing to think how to word the next sentence. “You’ve been in a coma for a long time.” I tried to get up in disbelief but my muscles wouldn’t let me. They had become withered and fragile with disuse. I looked at my arms. Wrinkly twigs with loose flaps of skin greeted me. Liver spots dotted my skin like potholes in a smooth road.
“What day is it today?” I asked.
“It’s October 1st, 2046,” he replied solemnly. “It’s been thirty years since the accident. Ms. Samantha, I know it doesn’t seem like much consolation,” he continued to talk. I forgot when I stopped listening. I guess she knew what she was saying when she wished me every happiness that was coming my way.
Thirty years. Morgan, you were by my side for thirty years. Tending and caring for me, when I refused to do the same when you were in that wheelchair. How could I have been so foolish? How could I have not seen that what we had was already perfect the way it was?
If only I had one more wish to make. I’d wish you were here.
~~***~~
###
Thank you for taking the time to read through this little creation of mine. If you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, please consider recommending this short story or any other works of mine to your friends! Of course, I’d also greatly appreciate it if you could leave me a review at your retailer of choice. Thanks again and hope to see you again another time in another tale.
Regards,
Reed W. Huston
Discover other Titles by Reed W. Huston
A Murder of Crows
No Time Like the Present
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