Hello Beautiful

I felt like I was falling slowly through completely silent blackness. I couldn’t see or hear anything. I felt like I was underwater; I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t feel like I needed to. Something, some force, was holding me just below the surface; keeping me from slipping below into never-ending darkness. I couldn’t tell what it was; I just knew it was there.

Suddenly a sharp twinge of pain helped bring me partially back to reality. I realized that I could feel the ground underneath me, and someone holding my hand, squeezing it tightly. There was something else, but I couldn’t quite place it. I could hear too. Someone was talking; giving orders. I think it was someone I knew. Yes, that voice definitely sounded familiar. There were other voices too, but the first voice was the clearest. I still couldn’t breathe.

My head hurt like crazy and I could feel a weight pressing down on my chest. It hurt so badly that I thought I might scream, but I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried. It was the weirdest feeling ever.

“Joe, call 911 now, she’s still not breathing,” the voice said. “Laura, wake up. Please.” I knew that voice! Where was it from? “Laura, please. Come on, wake up. We need you. I need you. Please,” the voice whispered.

Oh! It was Nick!

I still wasn’t breathing; it was like I couldn’t find my lungs, but I was ok, somehow. I struggled against the darkness, wanting to ease the horrible pain I could hear in Nick’s voice. I could hear Joe on the phone talking to the paramedics; I could identify every voice in the background now, but I was feeling my way through the darkness for Nick.

The pain in my chest sharpened suddenly. That was all the help I needed to resurface. My eyelids fluttered open and suddenly everything was bright, but that’s not what I noticed first. The matter that came to my attention first was the fact that Nick’s lips were glued to mine, giving me CPR. After I stopped totally freaking out, I thought I would have a little fun with him. I resisted the urge to kiss him back and, instead, lay perfectly still and closed my eyes.
His mouth came away from mine and he looked up to yell at Joe some more. When he looked down again, my eyes were open and I was frowning.

“What took you so long?” I pouted to him. He jumped about a foot and then grabbed me in a hug. “OWWW!!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

“Are you ok?”

“What do you think?” I took a deep breath.

“I’m gonna go with ‘no’.” He frowned.

“That would be correct. What happened?”

“Joe tripped you from behind and you hit your head on the asphalt. Your head hurts doesn’t it?”

“That would be a yes. My chest hurts like crazy too.”

“That’s my fault for shoving that basketball at you. Sorry.”

“Joe hit me in the chest with his shoulder, so really it’s only partially your fault.” I laughed and the pain in my chest doubled. I almost screamed, but contented myself with another ‘Ow.’

“What’s wrong with me?” I gasped through clenched teeth, trying not to scream.

“I don’t know, but you hit your head really hard, so I’m pretty sure you might have a concussion. Don’t move.”

I had tried to sit up and then almost collapsed. Nick caught me before my head hit the ground again. “Your body is weak from lack of oxygen,” he explained to me with a small smile.

“Thanks,” I said, “For everything, you know, like, saving my life.” I smiled up at him and he laughed.

“No problem, just returning the favor.” He kissed me on the cheek. “I really am sorry about throwing that ball at you so hard. Do you have a bruise?”

“I don’t know.” I looked down at my shirt. It was a red, silk, button-down blouse. I reached up and undid the first 2 or 3 buttons on my shirt, right above my bra, not caring who saw. There wasn’t really anyone around anyway, just Nick, Kevin, Joe and the band; and since we all kind of lived together, they had all seen me without a shirt on, accidentally, at one point or another.

There was no bruise, but that wasn’t where it hurt so I unbuttoned a few more buttons, down to my belly button. Bingo. Right below my bra strap was a huge black and purple bruise the size of my fist. I cringed when I saw it, as if realizing it was there had intensified the pain.

“Ouch,” Nick said looking at it. He pulled back the edges of my shirt so that he could see it better. “God, that looks like it hurts.”

“Ya think?”

Joe walked over and kneeled down. He looked into my eyes. “Laura, I am so sorry,” he said, looking like he was about to start crying. I reached for him and have him a hug as best I could while lying on my back; Nick still wouldn’t let me move.

He rubbed his thumb along the back of my hand, sitting with me while we waited. Nick stroked my hair and every once in a while would look down at the bruise on my chest and wince. Joe finally realized that Nick wasn’t just staring at my boobs.

“Oh my God, did I do that? Laura, I’m so sorry!” His eyes widened in shock and self-disgust as he saw the cause of my pain.

“It’s ok Joey, you didn’t mean to.”

I closed my eyes.

“Laura! Are you ok?” I could hear the alarm in Nick’s voice.

Joe was at a loss for words for once in his life. He gripped my hand tightly. I could feel the blackness closing in again and this time I almost welcomed it; it was virtually pain free. The only problem was that I could hear Nick screaming my name, but it sounded as if it was coming from very far away.

Was it raining?

“Laura,” I heard Joe whisper. He was leaning over me. Crying.

“Come on guys, I’m not allowed to close my eyes?” I opened them again with a groan and squeezed Joe’s hand. The water droplets came faster and I realized that now they were both crying.

Nick rubbed my shoulder. “Of course you can, we just wanted to make sure that you hadn’t gone unconscious again.”

“Don’t worry, I’m– OW!!!” I shrieked as Nick’s fingertips accidentally brushed against my chest.

I couldn’t help it anymore. I started sobbing. I had never cried over an injury before this; usually it was only emotional stuff that set me off, but this was more painful than anything I had ever felt, plus I couldn’t stand seeing Nick and Joe so worked up. “What’s wrong with me?” I asked again; my voice broke.

“Just relax, the paramedics will be here soon,” Nick soothed the worry that laced through my shaking calm.