Shattered By Broken Dreams

Savannah was drifting in and out of consciousness as she was wheeled into surgery once the ambulance had arrived at the hospital. The doctors had taken one look at her once the paramedics had off-loaded her from the ambulance and had rushed her into emergency surgery. It was obvious to her band members that she had broken bones, but what was frightening them the most was when Savannah had mumbled that she couldn’t breathe and that she couldn’t feel her legs.

Erica was pacing the floor of the ICU waiting room, silent tears running down her face. She was reliving the accident in slow motion, and she couldn’t shake the fear that had enveloped her when she realized that the SUV was going to hit Savannah, and then the awful impact when Savannah and the bike and ended up underneath the SUV. She shuddered as a fresh wave of tears overwhelmed her. She heard running footsteps and looked up to see Savannah’s parents racing into the emergency room.

“What happened?”, David Kincaid exclaimed, running over toward Erica.

“We were just riding down the road, and this SUV went too far over the line, and he lost control and went straight into Savannah”, Erica cried.

“Dammit, I knew she shouldn’t have been out on a bike”, David sobbed.

“If it wasn’t Savannah it would have been someone else, sir”, Tommy said quietly. “He would have hit anyone on the other side coming around that bend.”

“Where is she?”, Tamara Kincaid asked, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief.

“They just took her into surgery”, Tommy replied.

They were interrupted by a Doctor who advised that Savannah had been taken for X-rays and was currently being operated on for a collapsed lung. Tamara collapsed into one of the chairs in the waiting room, sobbing hysterically.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Mr Kincaid, Savannah has been severely injured.”
“Just tell me”, David sighed.

“The x-rays have indicated that she has broken her left leg in 13 places, her right leg in 10 places, she has broken both of her collarbones, her left elbow, and her right wrist. She also has 3 broken ribs, one of which punctured her lung.” He sighed, before going to speak again. Erica felt her breath catch. Surely there couldn’t be any more?

“She’s broken 3 vertebrae, and has suffered significant swelling. She also hit her head very hard and she’s got a concussion. Luckily her helmet bore the brunt of the trauma so she should come out of it in a few days. At the moment she cannot feel her legs, and until the swelling goes down we won’t be able to ascertain if she has permanently lost the feeling in her legs.”

At the Doctor’s last words, Erica collapsed to the ground with a broken cry, and David Kincaid had to hold his wife who let out an agonized scream. At that moment, Zacky, Matt, Brian, Jimmy and Johnny raced into the waiting room.

“Where is she?”, Zacky cried. “Is she alright?” Tears were streaming down his face.

“She’s in surgery”, Tommy advised them. “She’s broken damn near everything”, he added with a face contorted with pain.

“What aren’t you telling me?”, Zacky asked, his eyes wide with fear.

“She can’t feel her legs”, Erica said, fresh tears welling anew in her eyes. Zacky sank down into one of the hospital chairs, his eyes watering and wide with shock.

****************

Savannah drifted in and out of consciousness for the next few days. She was vaguely aware of her parents coming and going out of her room, and at one point she groggily recalled her father and Zacky arguing furiously in whispers in the doorway of her room. Before she could summon the strength to speak, she felt the blackness creeping over her again.

******************

When she woke fully on her fifth day in the hospital, she felt as if her body was on fire. Both of her legs were in traction and plastered, her arms were crossed in front of her like a coffin pose, and her rib cage was heavily bandaged.

“Ugh, I feel like shit”, she muttered. Her mother and Erica were sitting on opposite sides of her bed and they both sat up hurriedly upon hearing Savannah speak.

“Oh my god, am I glad to see you awake”, Erica said, smoothing Savannah’s dark hair back of her forehead. “You scared us but good, hon.”

“Who else is here?”, Savannah croaked, and smiled in relief when her mother held a cup and drinking straw up to her lips and she took a few sips of the soothingly cool water.
“Your father went to get something to eat, and the boys from the band are outside”, Tamara replied.

“Where’s Zacky?”, Savannah asked. Erica looked at the ground for a moment before replying.

“The boys have left for Warped Tour yesterday”, she replied. “I guess, well, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.” Savannah was upset that Zacky wasn’t there when she woke up, but she knew how much the band meant to him. She frowned when she noticed Erica’s expression.
“What aren’t you telling me?”, he asked. Erica sighed before responding, running a hand through her red hair.

“He got into some kind of argument with your father the day you were brought in, and he never came back”, she mumbled.

“He what?”, Savannah asked in shock. “How long have I been here?”

“You’ve been here for 5 days honey”, Tamara replied.

“But…he left me here for 5 days before he went on tour?”, Savannah asked in a small voice. “Why would he do that?”

Unfortunately, neither Tamara or Erica could answer Savannah’s question. As the days passed to weeks, and then to months as Savannah languished in the hospital recuperating from her injuries, Zacky never once came to see her. Jimmy and Matt had often dropped in to see her, but the one face that she wanted to see had stayed conspicuously away.

“It’s because I couldn’t feel my legs, isn’t it?”, Savannah asked Matt during his latest visit.

“I don’t know, hon”, Matt had replied, his usually bright hazel eyes unusually solemn. “He hasn’t really said why. And what did you mean by couldn’t feel? Can you feel something?” Savannah nodded.

“I can wiggle my toes a little bit, and I get pins and needles from time to time. The Doctor says that I should be alright. As more of the feeling comes back, they’re going to put me into rehabilitation.”

As more months passed, with so still no sign of Zacky, Savannah felt a blackness over-taking her heart. She resolved that no-one, save her already close friends, would be allowed to get close enough to hurt her ever again. She threw herself into her rehabilitation, and whilst she knew that it would take a number of years before she would be her old self again, she was determined that one of these days she would show Zacky Baker just what had he had thrown away.