Tremors

Elena Lee Rush was a typical twenty-five year old: outgoing, not sure of where life will take her, and a college graduate. She had a life altering car accident recently and slipped into a fatal coma last Saturday. She would not respond to the doctors but would frequently have slight tremors. Nobody could explain these tremors but they were thought to be dreams. Nobody ever truly understood Elena or the “dreams” she was having. Most of these “dreams” were of movies that she loved to listen to while she was trying to read books made of brail. Yet, one day she didn’t have the regular tremors that she had been having for the last week and a half. As a matter of fact, she didn’t move but the doctors new that she wasn’t dead because her chest still rose and fell with her even, slow breathing. They thought that maybe she was unconscious. She couldn’t have “dreams” while she was unconscious. Yet, her parents still had courage that she would get through this coma. The truth was that these were “dreams” that she was having. Now, though, she was having flashbacks of her life. These flashbacks were of the most memorable times in her life; the sad thing was that there were only three flashbacks, only three memories that she felt were worth going back to remember.

Her first flashback was from when she was five years old. She had gotten a new bicycle for her birthday, Friday the 13th. This was her first time riding her new bike yet, she was as reckless as could be. She felt invincible to the world. The sad lesson that she would soon realize was that nobody was invincible, nobody. What this little girl did not know when she got on her bike is that she would be hurt badly on this bike ride down Elm Street .

There had been a lot of talk of the unlucky things that happen on Elm Street but Elena didn’t listen to the warnings and her parents had no choice but to follow behind her. Do you see anything wrong with this picture; a five year old riding her bike innocently down Elm Street on Friday the Thirteenth. Though both of her parents were right behind her she still got hurt bad.

“Elena, watch out there is a car coming!” Both of her parents yelled to her.

“WHAT?”

“STO-“ and there she was being flung over the top of a swerving Silverado. What did the driver do? The driver took off like nothing happened.

All that Elena could remember from that day was crashing then… darkness. She couldn’t remember being put into an ambulance and being taken to the local hospital by the pleasant firemen. That night when she woke up her eyes were bandaged up; her blood had flown to the back of her head, pushing on her brain making it hard for the little girl to see. In the morning she was diagnosed as being legally blind. She would never again see the sunlight in the morning and she would never again see the bright stars illuminate the dark purple-blue night sky. Elena would have to learn to read brail and could possibly have to learn a language that contained a series of gestures called sign language. Slowed by her blindness, she went through school, speaking softly, reading with other disabled children, and often, was teased by other children. She made friends by the fourth grade and kept them for as long as she lived.

She went back to her doctor numerous times to ask him to give her back her sight but time and time again he told her that it simply would take a miracle for that to be done. Elena Lee Rush went through her childhood depressed and alone (for the most part).

She would sit on the beach and listen to the waves rush against the shore and go back again on most nights. She could still see the ocean from when she a small child. Before the accident. Yet, the image was much to fast in fading away from her memory. Elena new that there was something that the ocean was trying to tell her but now that she was blind, well, now she thought that she would never see what it was. The young girl could remember the ocean in vivid detail, yet some of even the biggest details had faded away.

A walk on the beach was the thing that she could remember. Elena, walking with her mother holding one hand, her father holding the other. She could remember the crunch of sand between her toes and under her bare feet. Then, the sight of the ocean waves, gently lapping at her feet and going back, just to do it again. She helped her mother set up the small picnic dinner just out of the reach of the ever lapping crystal blue waves. She would chase the waves back and run from them when they came back to get her wet. This was all before the little girl lost her sight. Every once in a while she would go back to listen to the ocean, sit on the sand and listen to the rush of the waves that she remembered so much about. This was all that Elena wanted to be able to see again: the oceans, the sand, and most of all her life.

The nurses put a needle into her veins that was attached to a long feeding tube. She didn’t flinch, she didn’t move a muscle as the thick fluid ran through her body . Her mother was still bawling at her side. The nurse tried to console her and told her that visiting hours were over and that she would have to leave. Hearing that she had to leave made Mrs. Rush bawl even harder that before. Then Elena had another tremor and slipped into another flashback: her 13th birthday. Though she could not see her friends, her cake, or anything that was at the party, she could still remember everything she heard, said, felt, and the taste that she would never forget.

“Happy birthday!” came her friends, her parent, and her crushes’ voice. All she could do was smile at the faceless voices. This was supposed to be a big milestone of her life and she felt that she wasn’t there to fully enjoy it.

She was talking about the upcoming sleepover with her friends that would take place after the party when the low, husky voice of Jayden was in her ear, “Excuse me, can I talk to you for a minute Elena?” She nodded and held out her hand so that he could lead her into the living room.

Holding one hand, touching her hair with the other, and speaking in a low voice so that nobody in the next room could hear him, the pleasant young boy leaned close to her ear and said, “I just wanted to tell you how much I like you. But I have to leave in about an hour. I wanted to-“

With one swift movement he pulled her close to meet her lips for that oh-so-perfect-kiss. It may have only lasted for a few seconds but she would never forget the taste of sugar on his lips, or the scent of his cologne, or the softness of his hair and the smoothness of his perfect feeling skin. Just as soon as the magic was there it left when they had to abruptly separate at the sound of feet on the stairs that joined to the living room.

“What is going on?”, her aunts high pitched voice going into her ears.

“Nothing, he just wanted to get away from the music so that he could tell me how much he liked the party”, Elena lied.

“Well, okay. Come to the kitchen the both of you so we can serve the cake your late grandmother created.” She said gesturing for them to follow along, which they obediently did.

That day had been perfect: the kiss, the party, her friends, the cake, and the best part of the day, just plain hanging out with everybody. Her other birthday parties that Elena had been great but this one is the one that she would never, ever forget. Elena could never, would never, forget this day.

After she had those flashbacks Elena Lee rush would never have another one. She would never hear anymore voices. The doctors had tried to keep her alive for as long as possible. Elena Lee Rush died the morning of May 15, 1997 . She died when death came for her in the form if her fondest memories: the fall on Friday the 13th, the ocean picnic, and her 13th birthday.