Brave

Chapter 2: Noises

Beeping.

I start to come out of the heavy fog of sleep. I feel like I've been sleeping for days. I must have been exhausted.

Do I have the flu?

My brain feels fatigued from just trying to remember why I might possibly feel like this.

And that nightmare! I've never dreamed about something so vividly before.

As I fight my way back to consciousness, I hear another few beeps and a whoosh. Then it's quiet. A few minutes later, I hear more beeps. Then something is squeezing my arm. More beeps and then it's quiet again.

I have the uneasy feeling that I'm not in my own bed, but I have no idea what's going on. I think I'm still trapped in that freakish nightmare, but now it's shifted to some other drug-laden place where I'm being held against my will.

I try with all my might to open my eyes, to make reality come into focus. They pop open for a minute and then they fall closed again. I force them open, and it seems like some unseen thing slams them shut again. I do this countless times until I manage to keep them open for a few seconds. Or maybe a few minutes? I have no idea how much time passes, and I still have no idea where I am or how long I've been asleep.

Suddenly, my mom's face is right above mine. She's crying and her tears drip onto my cheeks and lips. "It's Mama, mija. Can you hear me?"

Mamá, I'm looking right at you, I think, but I can only manage a tiny nod of my head, which prompts more tears from my mother, which splash onto my nose and cheeks. I wonder if she even realizes that she's crying on me.

She strokes my hair. "Everything is okay, honey. You're in the hospital and the doctors are taking wonderful care of you. Everything is going to be fine."

If everything is fine, then why I am in the hospital?

I can't summon the energy to speak and I'm not yet convinced that this is all a product of my imagination so I just close my eyes and fall back to sleep.

And then...

More beeping. I keep hearing it. I try to turn off my stupid alarm clock. I try to reach over to hit, but it keeps moving just out of my reach.

I urge my eyes to open again, and this time I'm able to look around a bit. My mom hasn't left my bedside, but at least now she's not crying. She just smiles and says, "Hi, mija."

My mother's Spanish kicks in when she's feeling particularly affectionate. When I was little, she would always speak Spanish to me when I was sick, like the time I got strep throat and had to stay in bed for a week. I think I learned more Spanish in that week than during the rest of my life.

I look past my mom and see a bright sunny sky. As I look slowly around the room, I notice flowers and balloons, a whiteboard with the name Rosie written on it, and then I see where the beeping sound is coming from. On my right side, there are several machines, all with little displays beeping and moving.

Why am I in the hospital?

"Mom?" My voice comes out cracked and my throat hurts like crazy.

"Don't try to talk too much, mi pequeña. What do you need?"

"What happened?"

She begins slowly, hesitantly. "You...." She takes a deep breath and continues, "...had an accident...when you were sledding with your friends." Her bottom lip trembles. She closes her eyes, takes another deep breath and continues, "You were hit by a pickup truck." Her voice cracks like mine, and I can see tears forming in her eyes. At least this time they won't drip onto my face.