What changed my life?

My life changed completely the day of a tragic accident. My mom and Dad were on their way home from their 15^th anniversary dinner. At full speed, a truck crashed into them. My dad never made it out of the car and my mom woke up from a coma about a week later. During that week my life changed drastically. Since I turned 16, I was allowed to stay at home alone. That week I didn’t go to school and just tried to get through each day.

            I woke up and opened my eyes, but shut them right away. My curtains were open and the bright sunlight was pouring into my room. I sat up straight and saw my brother sitting in the couch across from my bed. It was the day after the accident. He got up, and without saying anything, he put his arms around me. Tears started rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t help it. It felt like the whole world was crashing down on me. I didn’t even know if my mom was going wake up from the coma.

            We talked about what happened and about how things might be different from know on. My brother told me he would take care of me until things settled down. He had his own family and couldn’t leave them for too long. We went to the hospital and the first thing we did was ask the nurse how Mom was doing. All we got as an answer was “She’s still in a coma but she’s stable.” I spent the whole day at the hospital. I held her hand; it was so cold it gave me chills up my spine. I didn’t know what to think. Would I be able to ever hug my mom again or hear her laugh at one of my stupid jokes? All I could hear was her loud heart beat go “beep…beep…beep” and the rain hit the window in the background. As it got dark, it was time for me to go home.

            At home, my brother was sitting at the kitchen table still arranging my dad’s funeral. We ordered Chinese take out and just sat on the couch all night long. We talked and remembered the good times we had with our dad during the summer holidays until we both fell asleep.

            The next couple of days we spent contacting friend and relatives for my dad’s funeral and checking up on my mom. Everyday we got the same answer from the nurse: “She’s still in a coma but she’s stable.” And every day I listened to her heart beat go “beep…beep…beep.” Each day went slowly, especially, the day of my dad’s funeral.

            The funeral started outside in the rain under black umbrellas as we waited for all the people to arrive. When everybody got there, we were standing around the coffin. As the priest was saying things about my dad, I felt weird because I realized how I barely knew him. I saw a man standing across from me. He looked devastated. He was my dad’s best friend, a lawyer in New York. Suddenly, I realized how a lawyer working so many thousands of miles away from my home town, knew my dad better, than I did. For me, he was the full time working Dad, who barely had time for his kids, unless it was summer. Tears started rolling down my cheeks, and as the priest was finishing I just couldn’t bare it anymore. I gave my white rose to my brother and just started to run. I ran until I reached a park and dropped myself near a tree and just started to cry. I regretted every fight I ever had with him and every stupid argument. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know who my dad really was, maybe the person I saw in front of me every evening wasn’t who he really was. I was soaking wet when my brother found me. He was worried about me and brought me home. I took a warm shower and decided to visit my mom.

            On my way, I bought her favorite flowers, Amaryllises. After all she did name me Amaryllis for a reason. I sat besides her for many hours just looking at her and listening to her heart beat go “beep…beep…beep.” I told her what had happened at dad’s funeral and I just kept asking her why dad had so little time for me and why I didn’t know him better. Suddenly her heart beat change. It started going faster and she silently opened her eyes. It was as if she heard me talking to her. It was like she wanted to answer my questions. She moved her hand a little and that was enough for me to know she would be alright.

            When she came back home I told her everything that had happened. She explained to me that my relationship with my dad wasn’t just my fault and she was sure he would forgive me for all the dumb arguments. I guess what I learned was that people do forgive and that you should never loose hope.

Author's Note

This isn't a true story just so you know