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Ed and Elaine had gotten a room at the hotel around the corner and even though you could literally make it here in three minutes, I refused to leave the room. They couldn’t make me leave if they tried. I think my being here made it easier for them to sleep at the hotel. There was only space for one cot in the room anyway.
Amanda’s parents arrived at the crack of dawn and soon after, Dr. Tripathi walked into the room and told them that Amanda’s vitals were looking a little better and that they were going to try and end the medically induced coma, later that morning.
My heart raced with a number of emotions: fear, anticipation, relief, anguish. What if she didn’t wake up on her own? What if the sight of me upsets her when she comes to?
A few hours later, we were asked to the leave the room, while the doctors worked to bring Amanda out of the coma. Dr. Tripathi said it would be a while before we would be able to see her.
When the doctor emerged, we stood up in synch in the waiting room.
“You can go in now, but one at a time, please,” he said.
Elaine gasped. “Is she awake?”
“She seems to be trying to wake up. Please go very easy on her. She is still not stable, but she should be able to hear what you are saying,” he said.
Elaine walked in first and Ed and I waited impatiently outside.
Twenty minutes later, Elaine emerged crying and said, “I was talking to her and she was blinking rapidly. I hope she could hear me. Oh, God…Ed…this is just too much. Why our little girl…why?”
Ed comforted his wife and then released her to enter Amanda’s room.
The waiting for my turn was killing me.
Amanda’s parents were being amazing about letting me stay here. If they only knew that I was responsible. But I couldn’t think about how they would feel if they knew. I needed to be here for her and I couldn’t risk them keeping me away. That’s why I played dumb when they asked me if I knew why Amanda might have been driving poorly the night of the accident. I think they believed that she fell asleep at the wheel. Toxicology reports already showed she wasn’t drunk. I knew in my heart that she was upset at me and lost control of her car, although they could never prove it.
Ed emerged from Amanda’s room, just as upset as Elaine had been. I don’t know if they were expecting her to start talking or something, but the doctor made it clear that wouldn’t happen right away.
“You can go in now, Cedric,” he said, wiping his eyes.
I swallowed hard and walked into the room. Amanda was lying there just as peacefully as I last saw her.
“Hey, baby…it’s me. You look so beautiful. I hope you can hear me,” I whispered.
“Amanda, baby? You know what I heard on the radio today in the cafeteria? It was our favorite dumb song by Hootie and the Blowfish. You know the one that goes, ‘I only wanna be with you?’ The one that was playing the night we met? That one. I smiled, baby, thinking of you. It’s the first time I smiled since
we ended up here.”
I bent down and kissed her cheek and could see her eyelids flicker. Grabbing her hand, I placed it in mine. It was cold and clammy and I wished I could warm it up, but I needed to be gentle with her.
“I love you, baby. You’re gonna be okay. Can you hear me?”
Amanda continued to lie still, her eyelids flickering again.
Suddenly, I felt pressure on my hand that was holding hers and realized she had squeezed it.
“Baby! You can hear me. You can hear me.” My heart jumped for joy that Amanda responded to my voice and a single tear fell down my cheek.
She stayed still, just breathing, for another twenty minutes and hadn’t squeezed my hand again but I kept talking to her gently.
“Amanda…I don’t know how much you can understand…but baby, I want you to know that when you get out of here…I want us to take a trip somewhere. Maybe Cancun…somewhere warm. You think your parents will let us go?” I smiled to myself. I knew her parents would probably let her do just about anything if she made it out of here okay.
“And baby—”
I was interrupted by an intense hand squeeze and lots of rapid eyelid movement.
Suddenly, her eyes opened.
Shocked and elated, I said, “Amanda, Amanda…it’s me…Cedric. I’m here, baby. I’m here. You’re okay…everything is fine.”
