Memories of a Life Shared

Chapter 8 Tanner

“Noana?” Tanner whispered

“Yeah baby?”

“What happened? I don’t remember anything.”

“You were in a four wheeler accident.” She stated, he already knew that. He wanted details, he wanted to know everything that happened leading up to that and to current day.

“Tazer already told me that. I need details, why was I on the four wheeler? What happened Saturday morning that made me skip out of forced family fun day? Why arent mom and Zach here? I want to know everything.” He sat the bed up and the look of panic filled her eyes, he was sure the same look was in his.

“Oh, Tanner, you had a fight with Zach Saturday afternoon and rode your bike to my house. He had followed you and you had a very heated argument, he tried to get you to get into his car and you rode off on your bike as fast as you could. You took Tanya's turn to fast and met an SUV head on. You flew over the SUV and landed about 40 feet from the road. I ran as fast as I could get to you. Taze called 911, the guy that hit you started CPR immediately, you were already unconscious and there was no pulse. Thankfully he knew what he was doing, he got you back before the ambulance showed up.”

“Do you know what the fight was about?” he asked, she dropped her eyes and wouldn’t look at him. He knew she knew and by the looks of things he wasn’t going to like what the fight was about.

“Your mom and Zach were forcing you to move. You didn’t want to go. Zach was forcing you, he had told you if you lived under his roof you were going to listen to him. You told him it wasn’t his house and he, he uh,” she cleared her throat. “He hit you. You took off to my house, you called me on the way. I could tell something was wrong but you didn’t tell me until you made it to my house. You had a bruise on your cheek from Zach. He came to my house to get you, he tried to hit you again and you took off, not without telling me that.”

“That I loved you?” he interrupted. She smiled at him and nodded her head. He still had so many questions unanswered but he knew he needed to tell her again that he loved her. “Noana, I do. I love you so much. I hate that I cant remember the look on your face for the first time but I’m thinking it is the same look I got when I woke up yesterday.” Her smiled widened and she nodded her head again.

“Mom and Zach? They left didn’t they?” her face fell and he knew his answer.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. “They left the day after your accident. Said their plane tickets were non-refundable. Your mom was supposed to fly back the day after but ended up not coming back until two days ago. It had been a week and a half since the accident. She stayed for a couple hours then flew back. They moved your whole family clear to New York. I’m sure the doctors have called her since you woke up but she hasn’t tried to contact me about you this whole time. I’m sorry.”

“Makes since you know.” He whispered, his mom was never really the same person to him after his dad left her. She had been cheating on him for awhile, in a way Tanner felt like his dad had known way before he had left. He remembered his dad always being kind to his mother, bringing her home little gifts from his travels. If he traveled local he would bring her fresh cut flowers that he would pick from the side of the road. She would always find something to complain about, cut flowers reminded her of funerals, blue didn’t compliment her best features, pink was last years favorite color. His dad never got mad, he would always just nod his head and say sorry. He always tried to do better to try to keep his marriage afloat but once Zach came around there was no stopping the heartache.

“Do you know who or what kind of car hit me?” he asked, he didn’t care too much but wanted to know every little detail so he could piece his life back ttogether.

“Yeah. It was a Pathfinder. Tyson Reynolds was the one driving.” Noana reluctantly told him. Tyson was a friend of theirs, he lived on the same road and had just recently gotten his new vehicle. Tanner closed his eyes and thought about what he was just told, he knew Tyson had been taking paramedic classes in school so when he graduated he would have his degree already and be able to move up in that area. He knew for a fact that Tyson was the reason he was alive at all.

Like a flash, it all started to come back to him, he remembered the fight he had with his mom and Zach, he remembered telling Zach he could go to hell and that he would never replace his dad as long as he was concerned. He blamed Zach for his dad's accident a couple years ago that took his dad’s life from him.

He watched himself as he pulled his helmet down and yelled to Noana that he loved her. He remembered hearing her say it back as he revved his engine and sped away from Zach. He felt his whole world turn to slow motion as he saw a lime green SUV coming towards him. He felt the impact and remembered the bone crushing feeling of being tossed into.the air and hitting the ground harder than he ever had. He remembered landing on his head first then the pain was too much to bare, he let his pain take him away into a black hole of nothingness.

Tanner jolted awake, how long he had been sleeping he didn’t know but Noana had been replaced with Tazer who was sleeping in the chair beside of him. He looked at the clock across the room and sighed, 2am.