Chapter Twelve: An accident.
Simon left and arrived home within an hour. His mother sat at the couch and stared at him with blood raged eyes. She had her arms crossed and looked very furious. Simon tried his best to think of an excuse but couldn’t come up with any. He apologized and said he fell asleep at his friend’s house while studying and his mother didn’t believe any of it and let him listen to the music of her coarse voice.
After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally able to get himself to the shower and bathe to prepare to meet Nikki once again. While he showered, he wondered whether she was alright, despite the fact that her parents were separating. Simon knew the kind of pain, regret and loneliness that one would encounter when they had only one parent. When he got out of the shower, he saw a miss call from Nikki. He pondered about what had happen but he just called her back and waited for a response.
Someone picked up the call but, it wasn’t Nikki. It was someone else, someone whom voice he had never heard before. Was it Nikki’s father, or maybe her brother? Had her family found out that she had a relationship and forbid her to meet him again? These were some of many thoughts that where running through Simon’s mind. The person’s voice was anxious, as if he had seen a ghost or done something terribly wrong.
“Hello, are you Nikki’s friend? She’s gotten into an accident and I hope you can come down now because I can’t get through to her parents, please come down now. Thank you...” said the stranger. Simon stood, with his eyes wide open, jaws dropped, his body stood still as though he was frozen. He couldn’t move but he knew he had to so he struggled to regain his senses and rushed out of the house, ignoring what his mum had to nag about and ran out, took a taxi and rushed there.
Upon arrival, he saw a huge crowd of people surrounding the scene. His thoughts came down to the worst, was Nikki actually dead? He paid the taxi driver and asked him to keep the change and immediately push aside the crowd to see who was in the middle. His hands were trembling and his voice was quivering as he called out to her, but she wouldn’t open her eyes. Simon grabbed her as she lay lifelessly. “Wake up please! I can’t lose you now... I love you!” The sound of an ambulance echoed in Simon’s ears. He knew it wouldn’t do any good if he picked her up as it might cause her to have more injuries instead so he rushed to the ambulance and quickly rushed them to her.
Moments later, they brought Nikki to the hospital after giving her a minor check up. Simon sat within the ambulance. Fear struck into his heart, making him shake. He was uneasy, every time the siren sounded, he felt terrified as he was afraid that she would die. “No, I cannot give up on her that easily, I have to give her confidence, give her hope, and have some faith in her, Simon! She will survive somehow, some way.” He thought hard.
They arrived at the hospital in a matter of minutes and they rushed Nikki immediately to the emergency room. Simon had to wait outside and his whole body was quaking. He was fear-stricken and knew he had to do something. He immediately took out her hand phone that the passer-by had given to him earlier. He searched her contacts and called up her parents.
He tried to call them many times but he couldn’t get through. He tried using his phone but it failed too. After searching for a few minutes, he found someone he could call, her aunt. She picked up and he told her what happened to Nikki. She said she would get here as soon as possible and Simon felt a pinch of relief. But the worst isn’t over, because he wasn’t sure whether Nikki was going to make it or not. After an hour, her aunt arrived. They exchanged greetings and waited for awhile. “Nikki must have been thinking too much about whether her parents because they were splitting up. I’ve just told her that they had made up their decision to divorce and would not change. Why did I tell her that? I shouldn’t have...” said her aunt.
Time passed as if a minute were an hour, but finally, the doctor came out with the nurses following him. He asked whether we were related to Nikki and told us the situation. “She’s in a coma, and I’m sorry I can’t do anything more than this, she can wake up tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or maybe she won’t even wake up at all, it all depends on her will to survive. I’m sorry this had to happen, but I have to go now, another patient is waiting for me.” The doctor said in a professional voice.
Tears flowed out uncontrollably in Simon’s eyes and her aunt’s too. She dropped to the floor but he helped her up to the seat. “It’s entirely my fault, I shouldn’t have told her!” she exclaimed. Simon comforted her and tried to make her calm down, but it didn’t seem to work only after awhile when her husband came. Simon walked off and told them that he had to take a walk.
“Why must this happen to someone that finally loves me? Why can’t it be me or someone else? I love her whole-heartedly and I’m not going to give up on her no matter what. I could have given her my blood if she needed any, I could have given her my organs if she needed it, but why must she be in a coma? If only I had picked up the call earlier, maybe then she wouldn’t end up in this state.” whispered Simon to himself.
He walked into the toilet and punched the wall hard, ending up with bruises and his eyes were red from all the crying. There were several missed calls from his home but he didn’t bother about it at all. He was too miserable to even care. All this relentless and unforgiving regrets will probably haunt him till Nikki finally wakes up, but he wonders, if she would ever even open up her sparkling eyes to look at him once again.
