INSANE RAINS

CHAPTER 1 - Mishap

"BILLY, slow down!" Ben warned him.

A blinding light hit their eyes. Billy shrank his eyes in pain, furrowed his brows.

Billy nervously steered the steering wheel.

Tires wiggled. He suddenly pulled the steering wheel to his left hand causing the tires to squeal.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

Billy hastily stepped on the footbreak but it was malfunctioning.

The car he had driven swerved to the left lane with a momentum that was never reduced.

Screeched...

A Hatchback appeared ahead at the left lane, braked, squealed to a stop in a sudden.

He couldn't control the steering wheel either the accelerator, and angrily stepped on the footbreak repeatedly.

Unwantedly, a forced collision destroyed the silentness of the night of Cayapa residents.

A great slam from the hood of the SUV to the fuel tank of the Hatchback, they were pulled to the front. Debris and windshield smashed into pieces from the front, pelted them on the faces. Airbag popped up, suffocation. Tires burst, and from the crashed hood the SUV flipped over the Hatchback. Worst twists and turns, and...everything got dark.

The Hatchback rolled down the ravine. It doesn't resist the momentum and impulse even it's threads were in a great grip. Distortion in the body to the trunk of the car, a traced of the bumper. And worn out internal combustion engine and outer surface were the proof of impact caused by the SUV. The car exploded as it reached the bottom of a 30-meter ravine.

The SUV halted upside down at the center of the chicken's intestine-road. The gasoline trickled from the fuel tank...

The violent impacts had had traced on the wrecked bumper, the facade of the SUV was completely deformed. Trail of tires blackened the lane, abrasion on the road, fragments and smashed glasses scattered down. Not to mention the blood splashed behind.

The firefighters used their jaws of life tools to removed Billy from getting trapped in-between. Not knowingly, a steel was stuck in his leg. Almost 30-minute when they removed him from getting stuck.

After a several rescue breathing and pumps on his chest, Billy was conscious lying, and just heard the siren of the Ambulances, murmurings of the people surrounding them as they were bathing in blood. His father, brother. And he peeped the white-sleeved tall man performing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to his mother as his vision was darkened because of the blood that went into his eyes.

Everybody went busy reviving every single life, like chasing the current of death.

"What just did I do?!" Billy whined as he tried to stand but fell on his knee. The medical personnel supported and escorted him, and laid him on a stretcher.

Billy felt his body weighed as lead. Though he was half-awakened and aware of what was happening and have heard everything: shouting medical staffs anxiously performing CPR; the horns of vehicles that was trafficked, the wang-wang of the cop mobiles and firefighter's truck, and wails of the Ambulances, and even simple details. Then, 'twas like he felt tired and numbed by deep wounds he acquired. He wanted to move and rise up to help his parents and sibling rested-lined opposite the cop mobile, bathed in their own blood, but he couldn't... he couldn't.

The blood in his head shaped a perfect halo, and his face was a misfortune angel fell so rough. He looked like because. He caught a glimpse of his mother wore a white dazzling cotton cloth waving as the medical staffs denned him into the ambulance. He was administered with low flow oxygen through his nasal cannula.

In his torso, bones were misaligned. Limbs were crippled due to the dislocation of his kneecap and ripped muscles. Skull was cracked. His face was scratched, and small wounds caused by fragments. His body became frail. No strength like a fragile porcelain doll. The nerves that connect to his senses were not responding, not transmitting impulses. And even his brain just wanted him to doze up again. Everything got darker as his eyes were slowly shutting...

...laughter during the Valentine's Date in the Burnhum Park channeled in his brain. The sweetest grins and smiles of his family blurry shot by his memory... "Anak, I love you so much," softly sounded by his mom, pinching his cheeks. And chuckles exuded by his dad sitting on the blanket perfectly spread playing with his 9-year old brother...

...his heart beats went faster and faster that he could not control anymore and chase. The medical staffs dashed him to the Emergency Room where he could be given immediate care...

...they lined-up and smiled under the centuries-old pine trees... the camera is about to be clicked for their family picture when a blanket of dazzling light from the camera flashes blinded his sight...

...time checked. It was 11: 00 in the evening. The doctor in his sterile white garb trembled while performing the battle of life. He always knew it to be troublesome in saving lives. Certainly.

Nurses and fellow doctors were simultaneously drawing blood, monitoring vital signs, starting IVs and administering medication. Winding up the stitches. Cardiac arrest. The doctor was losing hope as he yelled a clear "CLEAR!" The nurses and other medical personnel and doctors moved away, hands off as the doctor quickly zapped the Defibrillator on patient's chest. A second or a couple. Then respite. Taking a second to reset may mean the difference between life and death. Other yell was heard and a jolt of 60 amperes were administered to the lifeless body...

...he descended in a dark tunnel so fast and fast and faster. Air friction. Flapped and turned. Wondering why he's alone amidst darkness. Scream of surprise, of fear to fall into nothingness, he ejected. And dazzled with bright light ahead.

...medical personnel and doctors looked each other in relief and smiled in the rear of their surgical mask. Those medical dramas and actions performed inside the room were successful. "He's now stable." (Thank God. He's fine now. But there are more ahead. There are more as time flees by.)

It was almost mid-night when Grace's phone rang. "What reason are you going to say again, Mr... Are you serious of all of these...wed?"

"Hello? Are you the wife?" A policewoman spoke with a calm voice.

"Who are you? Why do you have his phone?" Grace erected her back from lying, and malicious things entered her mind.

"Is this the wife?" The policewoman talked so calm, and added, "This is Baguio City Police Department, and this is an emergency."

Grace was shocked, and couldn't speak.

"Hello, Madam?"

"Ye...s." Grace responded so meanly and indistinctly. And she heard a voice from one of the polices, "Who's involved in the accident?" and answered by another police, "Domingo family and an unidentified body." A ball of tear dropped in his blanket.

"Your family was involved in a car accident and they were critical. They were sent in BGH at 10:00..."

The policewoman was not yet finished talking when Grace threw her phone down on her bed, and ran to her parents' room and knocked so hard, "Ma. Pa." She was disconcerted, and worried, and every emotions mixed together.

Mel opened the door. "Why Grace?" She was holding her head in dizziness by sudden waking up.

Grace just threw her arms around her and wept.

"Why?" Mel asked shockingly, confusedly.

"They were involved in an accident..." Grace sobbed on her mother's shoulder, "They were critical..." She couldn't speak straightly.

Mel embraced her, and escorted her on the sofa. Peter sat on the edge of the bed and held his head. "Oh, God.."

***

As requested by a woman near to his heart, he was transferred to Intensive Care Unit. A private one. Battery of test and Brain CT Scan had been done quite ...carefully but he was unconscious yet, maybe because of the medicines that was administered or just maybe there's something more else...

...from deep sleep, his eyes fluttered, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) as granule of tears slipped down his cheeks. Index finger twitched. These should be noticed but no one had because Grace was napping beside his bed.

The monitor beeped, "Billy, Billy! No! Doc..."