Not An Accident

by Tampa Tyson

  "What's the difference?" Stephen kept his arms crossed.

  "Obsessions control you. Passions are under your control."

  "I don't get it."

  "You do realize I went to the skiing lodge ski construction site sick, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "If I'd been passionate about skiing, would I have done that?"

  "I see your point," Stephen walked towards the generator, “but there's not that much I can do..."

  "Stephen, you’ve done enough,” I said, "you intervened just when I was about to lose my sanity, and honestly, I really appreciate you for that...."

  "You do?"

  "Well, I don't appreciate how you went about it, Stephen," I said, "trying to kill me and keep me away from my friends... It honestly would have been much better for you to simply talk to me."

  "You're not mad at me?"

  "No, Stephen. I forgive you.”

  Stephen, half stunned, turned off the generator. "I suppose I should turn myself in, Gabby," he said, "I'm really not that useful to people around me anyway."

  “It’s up to you, Stephen.”

  Stephen blushed. "I'll go get Nicholas."

  “Take me with you.”

  "No. You should stay here. And rest."

  *************

  As soon as Stephen left the basement, I found myself struggling to breathe. It was almost like I'd been running on fumes, and I hadn't even known it. To make matters worse, though Stephen had turned off the generator, it had already done its damage. And unless Stephen had told the police- who am I kidding, who'd come into a poisoned house? I was doomed. There was no point in fighting the darkness that came. I simply let it take me, resting in its calming grasp.

  Then I heard the beeping sounds of an EKG and opened my eyes, breathing in somewhat stale air, welcoming the fluorescent light. I had no idea how long I'd been asleep for, but I didn't care. All that mattered was that I was alive.

  “GABBY!”

  It was Kayla. She ran up to me, wrapped her arms around me.... and I tried to return the favor. But I couldn't. Not completely anyway. This time when I looked down to discover why I discovered my left arm had been put into a blue sling while my right arm.

  "Oh, that?" Kayla said, "dislocated shoulder. It'll heal." I then held up my right arm.... which had a black splint instead of a white cast, "it's complicated."

  I put down my splinted arm, deciding not to pester Kayla.

  The door opened, and Dr. Angie came into the room, trotting to my bedside. After giving me a brief physical examination, where he checked my breathing, heart rate, and reflexes, he whistled. Then my Mom entered the room and Dr. Angie turned around.

  "Everything looks good, Catherine," Dr. Angie said, "it's been a tough week for both of us, but if there are no further complications, Gabby should be able to go home tomorrow."

  He then left the room and Mom sat by my side. For a few minutes, we sat there quietly without speaking a word. Then I yawned. “You must be tired.”

  I shook my head. "I should have expected no less from you, Gabby. You're the one who likes to go go.... doesn't like to rest too much. The last couple of weeks must have been pretty difficult for you."

  “How long have I been asleep for?”

  "Less than a week, considering you came in midnight on Monday."

  “So, it’s Saturday?”

  “No. It’s Sunday,” Mom said, “though I’d expect that if wasn’t so late, Dr. Angie would have been sending you home today.”

  "What happened to me, Mom?" I felt fatigued and tired like I'd been through a battle, but I'd been asleep all week. "I really want to know."

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “But Mom...”

  "No, Gabby." I could see Mom shaking. Clearly, she wasn't that comfortable talking about this. This whole ordeal. And if I tried pressuring her about it, she'd probably get angry with me.... and that's the last thing I wanted.

  “Could at I least talk to Stephen?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’s with Nicholas. He doesn’t want to talk to you right now...”

  “But...” Nicholas had always talked with me. Why wasn’t he willing this time?

  "I'm sorry, Gabby," Mom stood up and started walking toward the door, “I wish they'd been willing to talk with you, but I can't make them... "

  I wish she'd have made them, though. I was desperate to talk to either Stephen or Nicholas. I wanted Nicholas to know what Stephen's discipline should be.... especially since there was no guarantee that he'd heard me. "I felt sorry for him, Mom. Stephen."

  For a moment, Mom froze in place. Then she turned around and smiled at me. She quietly walked back to my side and sat down next to me. “Do you know why I kept rejecting Dad’s ring?”

  I shook my head.

  "Well, after I swept your father off his feet, I talked to his parents. At the time, your father was busy finishing up studying for his law degree.... so, he was away when I talked to them. They told me that I'd done them a great favor by rescuing their son from his gloom.... and I told them I wanted to marry him. However, they were concerned. Concerned that I was just like his last two girlfriends, concerned I'd run away."

  “What did you do?”

  "They told me they wanted me to start by developing a friendship. They'd figured it'd be the one saving grace if things got difficult. They weren't wrong." Mom's eyes turned away and I followed her glance, finding Dad standing in the doorway.

  He came up to her, smiled, and hugged her. She hugged him back. "Of course, your father had trouble with this, kept trying to propose to me prematurely. However, I didn't want him to be disappointed if we didn't mesh well enough, so I kept delaying it. Of course, then I found out I was pregnant with you.”

  “You married him then?”

  “We developed a good friendship.” Mom wrapped her arms around Dad. He nodded, and Mom asked me what I wanted to tell Nicholas. I wasn't sure how exactly to word what I wanted to say. Even though I felt sorry for Stephen, I realized that he'd have to figure out how to get out of the victim role on his own. There was something else.... something else a little more important on my mind.

  “Stephen has AIDS.”

  "AIDS? Do you think— "

  I quickly told Mom to shut up. Dad was still there, and I was concerned he'd still think vaccines were terrible. I didn't want them to get into another fight. However, I knew what Mom meant. There was a possibility that after running off, Stephen could have come back after I was unconscious and tried to infect me with his HIV-ridden blood.

  “It really couldn’t hurt... to get vaccinated against it.”

  Dad looked at Mom and then at me. She then explained to him that the century old thing he’d seen online vaccines causes autism was a myth unproven by science. He shook his head, telling me he really didn't want vaccination. I quickly started explaining how serious AIDS really was, that it was more serious than autism, and he told me he'd talk to Dr. Angie about it.

  Then Mom asked me if I wanted to talk to Kayla before I went to sleep, and I told her I’d love to. She and Dad then left the room, allowing Kayla to come inside.

  “AIDS?” Kayla nearly screamed at me until Dr. Angie told her to be quiet.... patients were busy sleeping.

  “So, you heard,” I said.

  “Yeah, I heard,” Kayla said, “no wonder why that kid couldn’t donate blood.”

  “Shame.”

  "No wonder he called the health department and tried to tell them there was a sick child at the ski lodge..."

  “Excuse me?

  "Oh, I forgot," Kayla sat down next to me, “Officer Nicholas visited you while you were still unconscious."

  “He did?”

  "He wanted to talk to you. Before things got too busy," Kayla sighed, "now he's overwhelmed with legal documents- he’s fostering Robert... trying to remove the restraining order between you two. He's a police officer, he can't just ignore an order like tha
t."

  “He’s a really good police officer.”

  “Nicholas has always been really kind,” Kayla said, “that’s why he told me- he gave me the stuff that he wanted you to know.”

  “What did he want me to know?” I asked.

  "He's sending Stephen to foster care," Kayla said, "they'll work on finding somebody who can tolerate children like him...... but as he doesn't know where Stephen will end up, he’s also going to put a restraining order between you two."

  “Smart.”

  “That reminds me- what did you do?”

  “What.... what do you mean?”

  "Well, your mother and father have been a little bit upset with you lately," Kayla said, “it's honestly nothing for you to worry about- they just would have preferred that you stayed with me rather than go back to the house."

  “Yeah.” I’d expected nothing less from them.

  “Why did you do it?”

  “Because....” though I wasn’t sure I could say it while I was still in the hospital, the fact remained that I went to my house for the same reason Kayla came to mine. To talk to me, no matter the risk, no matter the danger, “I didn’t want to take the chance he’d hurt you.”

  I thought Kayla would be confused, ask me more- but instead of doing anything, she looked out the window. “Oh, look at the time,” she said, “it’s getting dark.”

  I didn’t say anything- I didn’t want Kayla to leave. But after giving me a goodbye hug, she left with Mom and Dr. Angie coming in. Dr. Angie gave me the shot Mom had suggested, and then Mom, after telling me to get some sleep- promised that she’d be there when I woke up in the morning.

  **********

  I found it difficult to sleep, though. For one, I’d been unconscious all week, for two, the lights stayed bright all night, and three. Dr. Angie kept coming into my room to check that I was healing well. The 100th time he came in, I asked him why they always kept the lights on at night, and he said, “Probably so the night shift doctors can stay awake.”

  Deciding it made sense, I asked him no further questions. Instead, I simply focused on trying to catch some shut eye. But just as I managed to fall asleep, Mom woke me back up.

  Dr. Angie came in and checked my vitals “Everything looks good,” and removed the splint. As soon as he did that, I noticed a line of sutures running almost across my whole forearm. “Oh, that.... that was from Stephen hitting you with the snowball.”

  I didn’t believe him. “Do I still have to wear a cast?”

  "For two more weeks, yes," Dr. Angie removed the stitches, "but it'll be over soon."

  He replaced the splint with a not-waterproof fiberglass cast and after waiting a few hours for it to dry, he discharged me and let Mom wheel me outside, where Dad was waiting.

  He sped me home, just like the first day he’d driven me. Only this time, Mom didn’t yell at him. Instead, after he parked, she helped me out of the car, holding me close. “Let’s get some lunch.” The house was dark.

  We entered through the garage- just like normal. What wasn't normal...was the sudden jolt of light as switches spun on- I jumped back- and the screams of people shouting surprise... I nearly fainted.

  “Goodness gracious!” Mom caught me, “what’s the meaning of this?”

  I quickly steadied myself. Kayla and Robert were standing. "Sorry, Mrs. Myers,” Kayla said, "we just thought Gabby would like a little surprise."

  "I appreciate the thought. However,"

  “We understand,” Kayla said, “we’ll leave you be.”

  “No, no. Stay, you two. Gabby loves your company.”

  I looked up at Mom. And smiled.