Stone Cold (21 page)

“Come on Kylie
, we’re late. Put your seat belt on, we have to go now.”

Annoyed
and tired, Conall yawned as he started the car.

“
Geez what’s the rush?” Kylie gave him attitude as she pulled the seatbelt across her body and fastened it.

She
’d found a song she liked on the radio and turned it up loudly.

Conall didn’t mind because he needed anything to help keep him awake. His eyes felt heavy and his head bobbed a few times so he opened a window hoping the crisp mountain air would wake him up.

In the distance, he could see an eighteen wheeler in front of him, hauling a load of logs. It was slowing down in order to navigate the S-shaped curves in front of it.

It was a two lane road
and if Conall didn’t pass him before he got to the curves he would have to follow him the rest of the way to school and they’d be late for sure.

He hit the accelerator and began closing in on the eighteen wheeler. There were no cars coming in the opposite direction but he was still not close enough to make a safe pass.

When he was within ten feet of the truck’s bumper he swung out into the oncoming lane and with the coast clear he hit the gas and sped around the truck before they started into the S-curve.

“Conall! That was too close! Please slow down. I don’t care if we’re late.”

Conall looked over at Kylie who was on the edge of her seat, white knuckling the dash board.

That was
about the last thing he’d remembered clearly.

When he looke
d away from Kylie back to the road, he was in the S-curve. Directly ahead was another eighteen wheeler that had broken a strap and had begun to lose its load of logs.

The logs
were tumbling in all directions and Conall had nowhere to go.

To avoid the logs, h
e swerved to the left directly into the path of an oncoming car that he hadn’t seen making its way through the S-curve from the opposite direction.

Kylie
screamed, “Connaalll!”

Instinctively, he threw his right arm
across the car in front of Kylie to protect her.

Seconds later, th
e two cars hit head on and Kylie remembered seeing Conall smash through the windshield head first.

In
his sleep deprived state he’d neglected to fasten his seat belt that morning while he was scolding Kylie to do so.

His body landed 50 feet away from the crash site in a
crumpled heap.

Kylie
was knocked unconscious but had remained in the car because she was wearing her seat belt.

When the ambulances reached the scene th
ey immediately transported Kylie to the nearest hospital.

Conall required a certain amount of triage on the spot before they could airlift him out. He was
in and out of consciousness but according to witnesses, was somehow able to speak.

“Am I dead? Where’s Kylie
? Is she okay?

Where’s my sister?”

He was crying and hard to understand as he tried to get up to look for her.

It took several firemen to hold Conall down.

“She’s okay, she’s okay,” assured an EMT.

“We’ve already taken her to the hospital. You can’t get up right now. You have some serious injuries and we need to get you to a hospital right away.”

That was all he needed to hear.

He complied with the EMT’s request and lay quietly while they worked to save his life.

These were the last vague memories he’d had of the accident.

He
lost consciousness before they loaded him into the rescue helicopter and remembered nothing after that.

*****

Two months would pass before Conall awoke from his coma.

Eden
was there when he came to.

He was cle
arly agitated and started to rip the tubes and wires from his body while trying to get out of bed.

“Wher
e’s Kylie? Is she alright? Is she alive? I killed her didn’t I, didn’t I?” Conall’s words were slow and hard to make out.

Eden
jumped up from her chair and ran to his side while yelling for the nurse.

“Somebody come quick. He’s awake.”

“Get these things off of me!”

“Conall, you have to stop! You’re in the hospita
l. You had an accident and Kylie was with you but she’s fine. She didn’t have any serious injuries but you do.”

He was sitting on the edge of the bed and
Eden had managed to calm him down by putting her arms around his torso in a bear hug.

Several nurses had come into the room and they were checking the wires and tubes
.

On
e of the nurses said, “We’re certainly glad to finally see your beautiful green eyes but let’s take it slow, one thing at a time.”

Eden
helped her get him back in the bed and the nurses continued to make sure he was stable.

The doctor on call came in a few minutes later and began checking him over.

“You’re a very lucky young man. Not many people that have suffered the kind of accident you did have been quite so fortunate.”

“I just want to go home.”

Peering over his chart the doctor chuckled and said, “I’m sure you do but you’ve been here for quite some time son, and even though you’re used to being strong, it’s going to take some time to regain the strength you’ve lost.”

The doctor turned to
Eden and said, “I’ll leave you two alone right now. You can be the first to tell him about his injuries and I’ll be back later to answer any questions he has about them.”

Conall looked at
Eden with questioning eyes. He had no idea the extent of the injuries he’d suffered.

“What day is it
Eden?”

She’d hoped that wasn’t going to be one of his questions for awhile.

“That’s not really important right now. Why don’t you just relax and let me tell you what happened – what injuries you have.”

“What    day     is      it    
Eden?” his voice was stone cold.

She sighed the biggest sigh, took his hands, and
looked him directly in the eyes. For a moment she thought about lying to him but he always knew when she was.

“It’s
April 15.”

His eyes closed. She could see his jaw clench and his hands tightened around hers like a vise as she felt his pain.

Not sure of what else to do, Eden began to tell him about the accident and to list his injuries.

“You went through the windshield and broke your neck in two places. The doctors said the only thing t
hat may have saved you from being paralyzed is because your weightlifting strengthened your neck muscles giving you more support.”

Conall was barely listening. He’d shifted his gaze away from
Eden and was looking out the window. Somewhere out in the world, a beautiful girl was expecting him to meet her tomorrow near the ferry landing in NYC. They’d waited nine months and their plans had been spoiled again.

Eden
continued, “You have to wear the halo on your head and neck for the next three months while the fractures heal.”

She could tell that he wasn’t really listening but she had to distract herself to keep from crying. She hated seeing her brother in so much pain.

“You also had a broken wrist, a broken arm, a few broken ribs and a good amount of skin abrasions but they’re all nearly healed.”

Still holding her hands, Conall looked back at
her again.

“Thanks,
Eden for being here. I’ll probably have to ask you to tell me everything you just told me again because I wasn’t listening all that closely.”

“Whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

She had two more things to tell him that he needed to know but she decided she’d rather have the doctor tell him instead.

She’d
already caused him to have enough heartache for one day.

“Mom and dad should be here soon. I call
ed them when the doctor left and they said they’re bringing Kylie too.”

His eyes lit up when he heard his little sister’s name.

“How bad did I hurt Kylie?” he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know the answer to his question.

“She was knocked out and had a concussion but you saved her life by making her put her seat belt on that morning.”

Conall was lying back on the bed again. He felt so weak and could barely keep his eyes open.

“I seriously thought I’d killed her
Eden. Seriously.”

His eyes closed and his grip loosened on
Eden’s hands.

She gave hi
m a quick kiss on the cheek and sat down in a chair next to him to wait for their parent’s arrival and for the doctor to return.

Eden
wanted to ask the doctor to tell Conall the two things she couldn’t bring herself to say - that his memory may have been affected by the accident and that he probably would never be able to play football or wrestle again.

Chapter
17

On her way home from NYC,
Hannah had no words to express how disappointed she was that once again she and Conall had failed to meet.

At this point, she really had no idea what she was going to do about her relationship with Josh. He was a great guy and she was extremely fond of hi
m but she knew she wasn’t in love with him no matter how hard she tried to be. It just wouldn’t happen.

The strangest thing was that the harder she tried and failed to meet with Conall, the more she fell for him.

“Did you find anything good when you were shopping?” Sara asked as she began the drive home.

“I saw a pair of really cool jeans but they were t
oo expensive for me to buy. Other than that, no.”

“
Oh I wish you’d told me. I would’ve given you the rest of the money you needed. I know how much you like a great pair of jeans.”

Hannah loved how her mom was always so willing to do whatever it took to make her happy, not that she
expected her to. It was just nice to know someone cared about her that much.

“Thanks for the offer but you should spend your money on you
rself more often mom.”

“I do spend money on myself but I enjoy spending it on you and your sister
more. You both look way better in the latest fashions than I do. Besides, it’s fun to buy things for other people instead of myself.”

“Well as long as you’re in a spending mood, I do have one request.”

“Okay, lay it on me.”

“I’ve been asked to join a travelling volleyball team starting in January and I’d really love to do it but the membership fee is pretty steep.
It will also keep me from continuing with U.S.S. swimming.”

“What exactly is ‘steep’ to you Hannah?”

She paused and then looked at her mother with an apologetic shoulder shrug.

"Fifteen hundred dollars?”

Before Sara could respond Hannah continued, “But that includes the coach’s fees, travelling fees, and match entry fees for a year. There are matches twice a month for twelve months and practice every Wednesday night and Saturday except on match weekends. If I keep developing my skills, my coach said I’ll probably get some scholarship offers. I’ll miss swimming but there’s no chance of me getting any scholarships in it so…”

Sara
paused for a moment to think.

“Let me run it by your father because of the time commitment more than anything else
, but of course I can give you the money, especially if it can very likely lead to college scholarships. If you’d rather do this than swim, it’s your decision.”

Hannah was glad that was over. She’d been trying to find a way to ask for the money for a month or more and it couldn’t have been better timing.

Being on this team would be one more thing to distract her from the year long wait she was going to have to go through before her third attempt to meet Conall.

As they were pulling into their driveway, Hannah’s cell phone signaled she’d gotten a text.

“Does that phone ever get a rest?” Sara kidded.

“You get more texts in a day than I do in a month.”

Her mom was always griping about how technology was creating a generation of people who were incapable of face to face communication. Hannah wasn’t sure if she was kidding or if she really thought that ‘thumbs were replacing tongues’ as she’d put it.