Shake Me Awake

“Dad? Dad, is that you? Wait, where are you going?” Is he leaving? He’s just walking away? Is…is he smiling? “What’s going on? Dad, why are we in a field?” He’s not too far in front of me when he turns back to me with a smile; the smile he usually wears when he knows that everything’s okay, when everything’s going to work out. He turns back to walk forward when now I see both my mother and brother waiting for him ahead. “Mom? Nelson?” They too are smiling. As Dad walks towards them a tall male figure appears off to my right side. Who is this? I turn hoping that this man will give me some idea of what’s going on, when he extends his left hand towards me.

“Spencer, are you ready to go?” his voice deep, calming; a smile wide as can be on his face.

I study him for a moment. Am I supposed to know him? His face seems oddly familiar. I know I’ve seen that shaggy brown hair and those icy blue eyes before, I just know it.

I’m sure a confused look is plastered on my face. I turn back to see my family waving at me; all still smiling. “Dad… are you guys leaving?” Panic is starting to sink in as I watch my family turn and leave. Dad stays behind; his eyes darting between myself and the man beside me.

“No, sweetheart. You are.”

***

“Ma’am? Ma’am, can you hear me?”

Dad?

“Ma’am, if you can hear me move the fingers on your left hand.” I slowly do as commanded; my body feels heavy as I awaken from my slumber. “That’s good. That’s good, sweetheart

“Dad?” My voice is weak and my throat is soar. What is going on? I slowly start to open my dark blue eyes, meeting a strikingly blue pair staring back. Those look familiar. Where from?

“Ma’am, my name is Kent Hayes. I’m a firefighter. You’ve been in an accident.” His voice seems vaguely familiar; it’s deep with a raspy hint to it, and it’s calming. He’s kneeling in the passenger seat of my mustang. My head is resting back on the seat, turned slightly facing his direction. I go to move my head to look around when a sharp pain starts to roar from my left temple. I can feel liquid warmth running down the side of my face sticking to my beautiful long brown hair. I immediately try to raise my hands to survey the injury when I notice they’re not moving. My right hand is wrapped up in something and my left hand is being held by this guy in my car. He seems to be checking my pulse.

“What…what’s going on?” I can’t help but to slightly sound scared; my voice still not adjusted to my normal sound yet. My eyes dart back to meet his.

“Miss, you’ve been in a car accident. You’re okay though. From what we can see it’s only your right arm, a slight cut on your right leg, and you’ve got a nice bump there on your head.” With the last part he gives a reassuring smile. “You were out for a few minutes. Glad to see you’re awake.” This time I give a half smile back to him as I try and wrap my head around the situation. “Your father is on his way. For now, we are going to get you cleaned up a bit.”

I close my eyes again and try not to cry as I realize the state at which I’m in. I was in a car accident. Oh my gosh! “Did I hit somebody?” My voice was stronger this time, only now with a hint of fear attached to it.

Kent gives me a sweet smile and replies, “No, sweetheart. Somebody hit you. The driver was drunk. He pulled out in front of you and you t-boned him. It threw him from his truck,” he says as he points a finger over his left shoulder. “My guys are working on him now.”

“Did I kill him?” Now I’m beginning to panic. My voice is reaching the point where I will not be able to control the vibrations if I start to cry. Calm down; take deep breaths. You do not need to panic. You can handle this.

“No, sweetie, he’s just knocked out right now, we think because he had a lot to drink.” Our eyes meet again. There’s something about his eyes. Something that tells me everything’s going to be alright.

And I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him before.