In the Pain There is Healing

The light was blinding. So much so that Bryce couldn’t physically keep her emerald green eyes open long enough to figure out where she was or who the people were that were hovering over her. It was as if there was a weight situated on her eyelids. But, Bryce fought to open her eyes, her lids fluttering like the wings of a butterfly. She squinted at her surroundings. She was in a hospital. The stark white walls, the numerous beeping noises from the machines, the cast on her left leg, and the bandaging on her right shoulder all provided her with this startling realization. The breathing in her chest got heavy as she remembered what had happened. Her and her mom had been out on the road in a bad rain storm. The last thing Bryce remembered seeing were the headlights of another car veering across the double yellow lines and into their lane, hitting them head on. Tears in her eyes, Bryce looked up to see her father and Drew standing on either side of her bed.

“Where’s my mom?” Bryce whispered, scared to know the answer. Her father sighed and both he and Drew gently took each of Bryce’s hands in their own. Both of them had a pained look on their faces and Bryce knew.

“No,” Bryce cried out. “No, no, no.” Bryce thrashed around in her bed, her small fists pounding the mattress. She didn’t even care about how much pain it caused her because it didn’t compare to the aching pain in her heart. Drew enveloped Bryce in a hug as she continued to repeat that two letter word over and over again, until eventually it became a whisper.