Chapter
10
One Friday afternoon in late January, Alexa came straight home from
school to drop her books off before she headed over to Brian's house. Elisa
pulled her yellow car into the driveway right behind Alexa.
"Hey, Lex!" she called, running up to Alexa, "Guess
what!" Her eyes were bright with excitement.
"What?" Alexa asked her.
"Josh Ashmore asked me out tonight!" she squealed.
"Really?" Alexa asked.
"Yeah!" Elisa threw her arms around Alexa and jumped up and
down. Alexa could see why she was so excited. Josh Ashmore was the most popular
senior at Tates Creek High, where they went to school. It seemed like all the
girls had a crush on him.
"That's great, Lisa" Alexa said. "Where are you
going?"
"We're gonna go to dinner and then go to some party."
"Whose party?" Alexa asked.
"I don't know. Nobody at our school."
"Well, sounds good, Elisa. Excuse me, but I gotta get going."
"Where are you going?" Elisa asked.
"Uh, nowhere important," Alexa said. "Just to Katie's
house."
"Ok. See ya later then," Elisa said, as Alexa ran inside. She
came back out again in a few minutes, got in her car, and headed to Brian's
house.
Later that night, Alexa drove home after visiting Brian. She realized
that she was hungry, so she stopped at McDonald's on the way, even though it
was almost eleven o'clock. Her curfew wasn't until midnight though, so she
wasn't worried about being late.
Ten minutes later, she pulled into the driveway and saw that the house
was dark. That was strange, because Alexa's mother was always home on Friday
nights. Alexa's father had died when she was only two.
She walked inside and turned on some lights.
"Hello?" she called. "Is anybody home?" No one
answered her. She wandered into the kitchen and noticed a yellow note on the
fridge. She read it and gasped.
It read: Lex, Elisa has been in an accident. Come to St. Joseph's as
soon as you can.
"Oh my God," cried Alexa out loud. She ran out to her car and
sped off toward the hospital. When she got there, she ran into the ER entrance.
She spotted her mother in the waiting room right away.
"Alexa!" her mother cried as Alexa approached. Alexa saw that
her mother had been crying.
"Mom, what happened? Is she okay?"
Mrs. Morgan stood and hugged her daughter tightly.
"I don't know, honey," she said. "I just got here. I
heard the policeman say that the car skidded on some black ice and crashed into
a tree." She sat back down, pulling Alexa down into the chair beside her.
"We just have to wait."
***
They waited for another twenty minutes before a doctor came into the
waiting room. He approached them slowly.
"Are you here for Elisa Morgan?" he asked.
Mrs. Morgan nodded. "I'm her mother," she replied.
"I'm Dr. Mike Trenton," he said smiling kindly at her. He
turned to Alexa. "Are you Elisa's sister?" he asked. She nodded.
"How is she, Dr. Trenton?" Mrs. Morgan asked tearfully.
"I'm going to be straight with you," the doctor told her, a
grave expression on his face, "It doesn't look good."
Alexa felt a chill run down her spine. A lump lodged in her throat.
"Elisa suffered massive brain damage in the crash. She is in a
coma right now, and we have her on a respirator."
"Oh my God," whispered Mrs. Morgan, her eyes filling with
tears. "Will she ever wake up?"
"We're not sure right now," Dr. Trenton answered. "We
need to run some more tests on her and just give it some time."
"What about Jake?" Alexa asked.
"I'm afraid he didn't make it," Dr. Trenton said.
Alexa gasped.
"Can we see her now?" Mrs. Morgan asked, brushing the tears
from her eyes. Dr. Trenton nodded.
"She's in ICU. Follow me." They followed him to the ICU. Once
there, they walked down a long hallway and into a room, where Elisa was. She
lay, motionless, on a bed, surrounded by tubes, wires, and beeping machines.
"I'll leave you two alone with her for awhile," the doctor
said, leaving the room. He closed the door tightly behind him.
Mrs. Morgan rushed to Elisa's bed, but Alexa hung back, afraid to go
any further. She blinked back hot tears, not wanting to cry in front of her
mother. But Mrs. Morgan had already begun to cry herself.
"Oh, my poor baby girl," she moaned softly, stroking Elisa's
red hair gently. Alexa couldn't stand it any longer. She clamped a hand over
her mouth to stifle her cries. Then she fled from the room.
***
Brian woke up, drenched in sweat. He had been having a terrible
nightmare. In it, a beautiful red-headed girl had gotten into a horrible car
accident. It had been Alexa, he was sure of it. He tried to get the dream out
of his mind, but he couldn't shake the lingering uneasiness that he felt. Alexa
had quickly become one of his best friends and he felt like he had known her
forever, when really, it had not even been two months. He wouldn't be able to
stand it if something happened to her.
Brian reached over to his night table for a glass of water. He grabbed
it and took a long drink. Suddenly, he started coughing hard. The water
spilled. His whole body shook as he coughed. When the coughing spasm was over,
he lay back, gasping for air. He sucked in oxygen, but he still felt short of breath.
Suddenly, his chest tightened and a sharp pain ran from the left side of his
chest all the way down his arm and up again. He winced and tried to take a deep
breath, but the pain didn't subside. It just got worse. Now it felt like a
million knives stabbing his chest.
"Mom!" he cried, but his voice came out as only a hoarse
whisper. "Mom!" he shouted again, louder this time. Now the pain was
almost blinding. He couldn't breathe. He thought he heard the footsteps of his
mother coming up the stairs, but then, a wave of darkness washed over him.
***
