Going Down In Flames

A throbbing sensation in the back of my head woke up my stiff body. I could hear my heart beating a strong tune. My eyes slightly edged open, the light piercing straight into them; i quickly shut them. I breathed in a long awaited breath. It seemed like it was the first time i had tasted fresh air in days, where am i? I was trying to move my body, but it didn’t react as fast as my thoughts. I could feel my fingers starting to move, which was more of a tremble, the feeling of my tongue moving over my dry, chaffed lips. I heard talking in the distance, from what I could determine it wasn’t in the same room. Giving it another try i pushed my eye lids open, the light trying to penetrate them again but i held my ground. The pain subsided, then diminished completely, why was it so difficult to open my eyes? I held my eye lids open looking straight up at the ceiling and a flickering light.

“Nurse, nurse!” a louder, closer man’s voice called, followed by a buzzing sound.

“Yes sir, you called and buzzed?” another strange women’s voice appeared.

“I think she’s awake” the man’s sweet voice spoke again.

Footsteps scuffing became louder and closer; then stopped.

“Welcome back Ally do you know where you are?” the same women’s voice spoke.

I shifted my eyes from the ceiling to the young women with dark hair tied in a neat pony tail. She smiled at me seeing my movement, waiting for an answer. I opened my mouth so i could talk, but no words came out; i simply shook my head.

“Your in the intensive care unit of Presbyterian Hospital, you have been in a coma for almost 5 days now; you had a bad crash in your car and obviously knocked yourself pretty bad. Don’t worry if your senses and body aren’t working and reacting as fast as they used to just think of it as this way. Your body has been in a deep, heavy sleep for the past 5 days so i needs sometime to wake up for itself” she explained.

You nodded, that cleared it up a little. I started to remember some details of what happened.

“Alright Ally your going great, just have to get around that 34 and you’re in number one position. Watch your tail, dirty 56 is right there” i heard Denae through the microphone system in my ear.

I pushed my foot down on the throttle and smashed down the clutch, slicing through the gears. I pulled around the second corner onto the straight and put the pedal to the floor. The red car coming closer and closer to the front of yours.

Coming into the third corner everything was fine until a tag on the back right corner of my car sent me spinning, the concrete wall coming up faster and faster. Than a sudden and painful halt.

That was all i could remember, thinking back on the speed and angle of the impact the car wasn’t going to be pretty. My body felt more awake and stronger, i moved my arms underneath me, pushing myself into a sitting position. I felt slightly dizzy with a strong headache but decent.

“Thanks” my first word escaped my mouth, i felt relieved.

“Its okay, your my roommate anyway. I’m just glad you are awake now i have someone to talk to. The last few days I’ve been in here were boring” He smiled, he was familiar, overly familiar.

“I’m Ally by the way” i smiled.

“Travis” he grinned.

My eyes widened and my heart stopped. TRAVIS! Travis, as in Travis Pastrana, my old best friend. Thats why he was so familiar, that smile, that hair, his kind nature, how could i not realise who it was. So many thoughts were racing through my mind, he obviously didn’t remember me. I didn’t know if i was happy or upset about that, i did miss Travis and the way he was the first person i ever loved. Even though i hid that from him, i still loved him and still loved his friendship. I had just decided that our friendship was more important than taking a risk with a relationship that was probably a one sided feeling anyway.

“So what are you in here for?” I asked Travis.

“I had surgery on both my knee’s 2 days ago I’m aloud to leave tomorrow”

“Oh right”

“Ally, are you up for visitors?” the same nurse from before poked her head in the door.

“Yeah, I’m feeling better” i smiled.

“Okay”

Within a few moments Denae walked in, she looked over tired.

“Hey you! It’s nice to see you awake” she smiled and hugged me, watching my cords “how are you feeling?”

“Yeah I’m okay, looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. You?”

“Tired” she yawned “I’ve been coming here along with your brother most nights it’s good to see you awake so we can finally sleep”

“Sorry about that. How is he anyway?”

“Yeah better now that he knows your awake”

“I feel like i haven’t seen him in ages”

“Well, his been here” she laughed.

“So how’s the car?” i sighed, i dreaded the answer but i needed to know.

“Do you really want to know?”

“Is it that bad?”

She nodded, this wasn’t going to be good. She pulled out her iphone and played with it for a second before finding the picture she was looking for. When she showed me, my heart sunk. The car was ruined, the pedals were actually up near the steering wheel right where my head would have been. I just hoped my car would be fixed by the next race.

“How long do you think until it will be fixed?”

“It should be by the next race meeting but I’ve already pulled you out of the next two”

“WHAT?!” i almost yelled “why in the world did you do that?”

“You need your rest Ally! You’ve been in a coma for almost 5 days and you want to go straight back into racing without having some sort of rest you will be back in here! I’m doing this as a manager and as your best friend now shut up and suck it up!”

“Ugh you suck” i frowned, but she did have a point. I just hated not being able to race.

“You love me” she winked.

“Sometimes...”

The nurse came back in and removed the tubes going into my hands which were giving me nutrients while i was in my coma, she also informed me that if my condition stayed like i was at the moment i would also be able to go home tomorrow; just like Travis. Denae had to go take our puppy Kirby to the vet to get her needles as she’s only 8 weeks old and very adorable. When Denae left, i decided to get some rest, i thought being in a coma for 5 days i wouldn’t be tired but i was wrong.

~

My well needed rest ended with Travis’s coughing. With a groan i roller over and opened one at glaring at him.

“I woke you didn’t i” he sighed.

“Yep”

“Sorry about that, i never thought that a person that had been in a coma for 5 days would still be able to sleep for 4 hours practically still except for you saying random stuff in your sleep”

“Oh god, seriously i was talking? Shit, sorry if i said anything stupid or embarrassing”

“No, it was cute don’t be sorry” he smiled.

I got lost in that smile, even when he was a kid that smile of his always made your heart pound. His curls were shaped from his obvious constant wear of caps. He wasn’t perfect, but he just seemed right for me. I breathed in deeply thinking of him, i never realised how much i actually missed him.

“What did you do to your knees anyway?” i tried to change my thoughts and the subject.

“The question should probably be what haven’t i done to my knees” he laughed.

Travis pushed off his hospital blankets and hobbled over to my hospital bed across the room. Shuffling my legs out of the way Travis took a seat next to me on my bed and continued.

“Due to me being heavily involved in dirt bikes I’m always injuring my knee’s I’ve damaged them in every way i think possible. Along with the rest of my body I’ve had a dislocated spine, in my left knee i have torn my ACL, PCL, LCL MCL, bucket handle meniscus and I’ve broken my tibia and fibula”

“Whoa” my jaw hung open, surprised about the lengths his body has taken.

“Thats not it” he laughed “I’ve had surgery on my left wrist twice, left thumb once, two surgeries on my back, one on my right elbow, nine on my left knee, six on the right knee and one shoulder surgery. I’ve had that many concussions i don’t even think i could begin to count”

“You’re insane! How the hell does your body withstand all of that?”

“I’ve got no idea but they call me wonder boy for a reason i guess” he laughed.

“What about you, what have you broken or have had surgeries on?” he asked.

“I’ve broken my right wrist, both ankles twice, my collarbone, 5 fingers and 3 ribs. I’ve also had my own fair share of concussions and now I’ve been in a coma” i smiled back at him.

Travis nodded, it was almost like a nod of approval that i wasn’t some girl who didn’t do anything if it meant hurting myself.

“Do i past your test?” i shuffled my eye brows.

“Your going pretty strong for a girl” he nudged me gently.

“Now, now i would still kick most guys ass’s” i punched his arm playfully reassuring him that it was okay to touch me and i wasn’t in pain considering i had only just woken up from a coma.

“So you’ve got some tattoos hey?”

“Defiantly, love them”

I pointed out some of my more visible tattoos on my fingers, wrists. Travis seemed interested in my cute almost comic like tattoo’s but i really adored them. They were a part of me and something i could never regret getting.

Travis and i continued chatting away. I learnt so much about him, and i couldn’t fathom how much i had missed his company. In a few hours of his presence Travis gave me a small tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach; just the way i felt when we were younger. To my own disappointment, i felt guilty. I hid who i was to Travis, i knew he would love being reunited together again but somehow i was angry at Travis for leaving when we were younger. I wish i had the chance to grow up with him more, watch him change, maybe even fall in love with him.

Travis turned on the TV in our room and flicked through the channels, glancing at the clock you seen it at 2:17am; that explained the lack of anything decent. We climbed underneath my bed sheets as the hospital was pretty chilly at night compared to the heat of it in the day. I laid my head on his muscled chest, closing my eyes i listened deeply. His heart thumped and increased in speed as my head rested on his chest. Listening to the tune of his heartbeat, i gently drifted into a place that seemed so familiar; my dreams.