Ah Friday. And somehow we have also more or less made it to the middle of June already. No clue how Well I know how, one day flows into the next. It is just that May seemed to move at a glacial speed while June seems to be racing towards some sort of finish line. Or maybe it is me racing towards a deadline. Who knows? Time is a mental construct anyway, right? Regardless, the morning has arrived and it is time for a prompt. Timers set if you please and off we go.
Okay I need to stretch this out more and add more bits to it,. but I like the concept. Not everyone is happy when someone wakes up from a coma because not evert accident victim is a nice person. I think that could be fun to play with in a story. I think I would start the story earlier though. Just before she finds out about the other woman. Maybe add some suspicion that she might be responsible for the accident. Something fun to look at. Well fun for me. Not so much for Carl.
Friday, June 14th: It is a good sign.
“It is a good sign,” the doctor said. Cheryl nodded, her eyes still staring at Carl. He looked smaller than usual in the hospital bed. His breathing was regular, but that was, for the most part because of the machines around him.
For six months they had been keeping him alive as his body healed from the physical wounds sustained in the car accident. While he was in a coma, the cuts and bruises healed and various nurses and orderlies came in to move his limbs about so everyone could be certain that the healing was happening a it should and the right internal connections could be made.
Cheryl studied him and realized she had never seen him so pale. His work kept him out in the sun for most of the year. At best there would be a few months in the winter where there was no work, but then he would take a trip either fishing or to the beach. The sun and time out doors would make up for it. Now he had spent six months in a hospital bed away from the sun.
‘Sallow,’ was the word she knew her mother would use if she were here. Cheryl snorted. If her mother were here there would no doubt be other words she would use with Carl first. Her mother had not been a fan. She had been beyond thrilled when Cheryl filed for divorce.
There had been the year long separation first and the divvying up of assets. There weren’t many assets. What savings they had, Carl spent on his fishing trips and trips to the beath. Even when most of the savings were hers to begin with. She had never been invited on those trips and always told they were boys trips. Until she learned that there was a woman. The other woman had kids. She didn’t know if the kids were Carl’s or not and honestly didn’t care. The fact of the other woman had been enough to get her to file for divorce.
After the separation and the final official filing of the paperwork, Cheryl thought she was free. She thought she could live her life on her own. Yet Carl was always there. He showed up when she went out with friends. He called her cell phone several times a day and she often saw his car parked outside her house. She reported him several times but nothing was ever done about it.
Then came the accident. Carl never took her name off his contact list and she was the one the hospital called. Even though she gave the other woman’s name to them since they were now living with him, she was still listed and when he started to twitch and show signs of waking, she was the one they called.
The last six months had been a blessed release for her. She transferred to another job out of state and moved house. She got a new cell phone number and did her best to change anything that Carl knew about her location. When she heard he was waking, she flew in and came to the hospital more to see if it was true than anything else. She knew that soon Brittney would be here. She would look daggers at Cheryl and Cheryl would leave. She was more than happy to leave Carl to her care. She just wanted to know if Carl was mobile again.
Ten til Midnight 