Ruined For Life

Chapter 2

Tom's parents had heard the news and were soon by the side of their son in his hospital room. Tom was strapped to a lot of tubes and barely looked at himself. Even in the state of unconsciousness, his feature was still etched with so much anger and hate. He had been out for almost four days now and his parents had only left his room for a change of clothes and were praying earnestly that he would make it through. As the doctor entered, hope flickered in Tom's parents' eyes, anticipating positive news.

"Good day, Mr. and Mrs. Hilling. I'm Doctor Nicholas Scratch," he said.

"Good day Doctor Scratch. How is my son doing?" Tommy, his father, asked.

"Well, he, unfortunately, took a huge hit to the head when he landed but he was lucky that he was not within the killing radius when the grenade was thrown, he was just seven meters away, and a little closer would have been a different story now. The nurse assigned to their platoon for the fight had a lot on her plate, so she didn't attend to him on time, and that's when he lost a lot more blood than necessary. So far, he is not responding to any of the tests we've taken and he would likely fall into a comma or worst-case scenario brain damage," the doctor concludes.

"So how certain are you that these are the likely scenarios?" Tommy asked grimly.

"Well, we may have to wait and see how he reacts to the treatments. We will also conduct various tests to determine the extent of damage to his body and brain. I must say, things do not look particularly promising for him," he replied.

Looking over to his son, Tommy plays all the plausible scenarios in his mind and he dreads the outcome of all those scenarios.

"What would be your suggestion if my son ends up with brain damage?" Lisa, Tommy's mother, asks

"Well, from experience, I've realized that it is much more excruciating for the family members to see their loved ones strapped to a machine on life support. I suggest that it would be the benefit of both the patients and the families not to even go through with such plans; it is easier to end the misery as soon as possible and not elongate it. It is rather unlikely that the patient recovers from the brain damage and it would take a miracle for all the brain cells to function normally and one might wait an awfully long time for a miracle that might not eventually happen.", he responds with a voice void of emotions. He could always hide his emotions from others. Tom had been a good friend of his and it was devastating to even think of seeing the young lad go.

“Alright thank you for the information and your time”, Tommy says shaking the doctors’ hands

"It's my job, Mr. Hilling. Take care," and with that, he left. Lisa crumbles to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably; Tommy goes over to comfort his wife, rocking her in his arms and whispering soothing words in her ears. He comforts her and longs for the same in return; they are in for a bumpy ride.

⁕⁕⁕

The evening had begun with fierce winds that threatened to be accompanied by a vicious storm. It was definitely not a safe night to be out late but Tom couldn’t get out of the office early to meet up with Alex. Taking the long drive home he suddenly wished he'd taken the shortcut and before he knew it droplets of rain began to descend on the window of his Range Rover. The rain picked up its pace and soon enough it was a full-on outburst, making the clearing ahead almost impossible to see. After almost an hour of battling with the downpour, he finally made it home and was only a little over two hours late, Alex was gonna be furious. He made his way into their house and called out her name. No response. He looked around the house and wondered if she had gone back on the plan. He made his way to the kitchen saw a note on the fridge and immediately went pale.

Slowing, slipping into consciousness, he felt a soft hand combing in and out of his hair and he wondered what the hell happened and who those hands belonged to. Blinking away the blurriness in his eyes, his gaze settled on a familiar pair of pale green eyes and golden locks he could recognize from anywhere.

"Alex?" he croaked.

He stared into the eyes of his beloved wife and wondered how even in death she could still look this beautiful. As though he finally realized what was going on, he jerked upright and surveyed his surroundings. It was a sight to behold; one might even say it had a beaut view. A variety of flowers, including lilies, daffodils, and hibiscus, were scattered across the expansive terrain. These created a combination of colors that gave it a more serene look. Birds of different kinds were roaming in the air like they didn't care about the world. They were free and weren't afraid to express their excitement by chirping loudly. Tall, large trees with fruits all over were arranged at various angles, and it almost looked like a plantation. The grasses were so soft and felt like fur under his fingers; it was like he was sitting on plush upholstery and not the ground. Searching around the area, he once again settled upon a set of pale green eyes that were etched with pure happiness.

“Wh-Ho-Where is this?" he asked, fumbling to find his bearing.

"I don't know, I just found myself here, and it's like a garden of some sort, but this place is amazing, Tom," she told him.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

“There’s just so much nature to behold, so many new creatures to learn about and don’t even get me started on the surrealness of it all," she says, beaming from ear to ear.

"But how am I here with you?" His face drains as realization finally hits him. "Oh no, the explosion".

"What explosion Tom?"

"In my last battle with Joe, Joe gets killed and I'm on the ground holding his body, and the next thing I know I'm being thrown miles away from his body and landing really really hard on the ground before everything went black”.

"Oh, no poor Helena and Junior".

"Really? That's your only take from my tragic story?"

"Sorry, but you didn't let me finish. If that were the case, then shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

"Yeah, I should. Considering how hard I hit my head, I probably lost a lot of blood and I'm either in a coma or I've suffered brain damage. The question now is why am I here? Am I already dead?"

"Well, if you are then that's great news because we can finally be together again".

"Well, yeah, but I feel I still have a choice on whether I die or not. Do I stay here or walk towards the light?"

"Will you stay with me, Tom?"

⁕⁕⁕

Tom's situation had only gotten worse and Nicholas was convinced that they would need to place him on life support, considering his parents decided to go through with the torment. His vitals were stable, and the tests had only confirmed his speculations. Taking his time with the young lad, he decides to say a few words before his unknowing fate.

“Hey lad, so uhm, I don't know how this works, but I'm just gonna go ahead. I just want you to know that you've helped me and my wife a lot and I only wish I could have appreciated you more while you were still alive. You're not gone yet and I'm probably overreacting, but no one knows what will happen tomorrow. I bet Alex would be so proud of you and what you have achieved, and I'm sure she won't blame you for her death. Just want you to know that wherever you find yourself, you shouldn't be ruled by so much anger and hate, the world took your love but there were so many other things you could have discovered and I hope you haven't closed all the doors to your heart yet. I'm pretty sure wherever you are now, you might have even had a chance to see Alex and you guys would be all over each other by now. I hope you both finally get the happily ever after we all dream of. So I'm guessing this is a last goodbye then. Have a pleasant life wherever you end up, lad. You mattered." With that, he wipes away some stray tears and makes his way out of the room.

Nick is stopped before he gets far. He looks back and realizes that Tom's fragile hands are holding his sleeves.

"Hey, doc. Where do you think you're going?", Tom says.

"Was going to prepare your funeral casket. Didn't you notice my solemn dress?" Nicholas says with amusement. Tom laughs at the remark and ends up releasing a horrible cough.

"Hey watch it kiddo, you shouldn't be doing that right now," Nick says with concern

"It's your fault, not mine"

"Okay alright I take full responsibility", Nick says while removing an injection from his pockets

"What's that?", Tom asks, sounding suspicious.

"It's the final product for the poison to take effect", Nick says with a serious face. Tom looks at him genuinely horrified and tries to swat his hands away.

"Relax, relax, I'm only joking. It's just a little something to make you sleep. You need all the rest you can get," Nick said, laughing.

"Oh okay, then I can't object to warranted sleep". Nick injects Tom's drip and soon after, everything becomes blurry before Tom finally surrenders to the darkness.