A Ray Of Light In The Dark

BOOM! CRASH! CRACK!

A light shines in his eyes as he hears a doctor's voice. "10 cc's stat! We are losing him!" His family rushes to the hospital as soon as they hear the news. His mother is crying and falls to the ground when she sees her baby boy.

His father quickly grabs his wife from the floor and walks her over to a chair. "I will be right back my love with some coffee." He walks over to the doctor and whispers, "Sir where is Annabelle?" This confused the doctor.

"Mr. Smith-", the boys father cut him off and told him to call him Nick. So the doctor looked at Nick with sorrowful eyes and said, "Nick, there was no body else brought in." This worried Nick as he knew that his son and Annabelle was on their way to the doctors when this happened.

So where was Annabelle? "Doctor, where is the coffee?" Nick had told his wife he was going to get coffee and did not want her to worry. "Over to the left of the counter." He smiled and walked away. Once he got the coffee he brought it to his wife but he could not stop thinking about what could have happened to his daughter-in-law.

~2 hours later~

Dr.Myers walked up to Mr.&Mrs. Smith and began to explain to them what was going to happen to their son. " I am sorry about everything that has happened to you tonight." The parents began to tear up. They knew nothing good could come from what the doctor was saying.

"He has severe internal bleeding, three fractured ribs, cracked skull, a shattered sternum, and 6 broken vertebra. It is unclear at the moment where all he is bleeding internally but I assure you we are doing everything we can to make sure your baby boy comes out alive."  Mrs. Smith gets weak and starts to shake. They know that things are not looking good but they believe in the doctors. What else can they do?

Out of nowhere they hear “CODE BLUE” screaming through the halls of the hospital. A nurse rushes to Dr.Myers. “Doctor doctor, we need you in room 402! The Patient is flat lining”. He rushes to room 402 and realizes that the patient that is flat lining is a young woman.

Nick hears the doctor refer to the patient as female and begins to get more frightened. Could this be Annabelle? He began to get confused. The doctor said that no one else was brought in from the crash. He hears Dr.Myers yell "CLEAR!" and a sigh of relief from the doctors and nurses as they see she now has a pulse.

Another code blue rings through the halls and doctors and nurses begin rushing to a different room. " He is bleeding out! Doctor come quick we need you in here!" Mrs. Smith sees that they are rushing to her son's room and begins to cry yet again. "We need to get him prepped for surgery ASAP".

"Surgery? Why would be need that" Mrs. Smith was scared and confused. No one had told them anything. Dr.Myers was rushing by to get the fluids for the young man as Nick stops him to try and get some answers. All the doctor could do is to try to explain that this was not the time.  "Sir I understand your concern however, this is not the time for this. The longer I am here with you the less time I have to try and save your son. He is bleeding out and we have to get him prepped for surgery ASAP. So please allow me to go and save your son."

Nick let go of his arm and let him by. "Please save my son!" He was so scared for his son's life but he was also worried that they may never find his daughter-in-law either. All of a sudden he hears a nurse talking to the girl in room 402. "Ma'am do you know your name? Do you know where you are? Do you know what happened?" The woman took a moment to answer. " My name is Annabelle. I am not sure where I am or what happened."

His face grew sorrowful. This young lady did not remember much. As he continued to listen to the nurse and Annabelle's conversation. "Annabelle, do you have a last name?" Annabelle hesitated. "Smith, my last name is Smith." Nick grew happier. They had found her. They found Annabelle.

He had to find a way to see what her condition was. "Nurse! Nurse!" He yelled out to her and after 30 minutes she finally came out to speak with him. "Yes? How can I help you?" She looked annoyed but he knew that he had to find out anything he could on her health. "Ma'am did she just say her name was Annabelle Smith?" He looked hopeful at the nurse, hoping he had heard her correctly.

"I am sorry sir however, I can not give out another patients information." He looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Annabelle is my daughter. She and my son where driving to the doctor's when this all happened. I have been looking for her all day." The nurse looked confused since the young lady had not mentioned any of this. "Sir I am sorry however things are not looking good for her."

Nick got sad and began to weep. "Ma'am can you please tell her that my wife and I are here. Let her know that her husband is fine and that we love her?" The nurse smiled and walked back into her room.

~4 hours later~

Mr.&Mrs. Smith were waiting on the edge of their seats as the surgery was being done. It had been hours since they took him back and still nothing, not a word. They had no idea is he was alive, dead, or struggling to hold on. Nick was frightened that he may lose his son however, he was more frightened to know that just in that room was his daughter and he could not say anything.

He did not want to worry his wife any more than she already was. Mrs. Smith was gripping a tiny locket in her fist. Inside this locket was a picture of you son as a baby and as a young adult. She began to cry a bit more. "Honey he will be fine, I promise." Nick tried to calm his wife but it was of no use. His wife had already begun thinking of the worse possible outcome.

"What about Annabelle? She will be without a husband." Nick could no longer hide Annabelle's where about a secret. "My love, Annabelle has some stuff of her own to deal with." His wife looked angry as if what he said meant that her son was nothing. "More important that her husbands health? What could be more important than him surviving this?"

He looked down at the ground and then back at her room. "Honey, Annabelle is here." His wife was confused by this. "How? Where? Then why have I not seen her? What does she not care about our son, her husband? If that is the case than she can forget about their future together. I will not let a woman like that be around my son."

Mrs. Smith gradually got louder as she said this. Nick was angry that his wife began judging her before letting him tell her the full story. "How dare you! She is not here with us because she is fighting for her life as well!" His wife was shocked by this news. She had no idea that the young lady that flat lined earlier was her daughter-in-law.

"Mr.&Mrs. Smith?" Dr.Myers interrupted their little disagreement. "Yes?" Nick quickly turns to the doctor. He notices that Dr.Myers scrubs are covered in fluid. "Nick may I have a word with you, alone?" Nick quickly agreed and walked to the other side of the waiting room. "What is it? Is my son okay?" Dr. Myers put his hand on Nicks shoulder.

"Sir, I mean Nick, Your son is pulling through. It was touch and go for a while but he is fine. We stopped the bleeding however, he is going to have to stay here under our care for a while to make sure that everything is fine."

This news confused Nick. The doctor still had a long gloomy look on his face as if he had terrible news. "Doc. if he is fine then what is wrong?" Dr. Myers began to get teary eyed and suggested that Nick take a seat. "Nick while your son is doing fine his wife is not." Nick quickly began to ask questions. However, the doctor could not answer everything.

"Sir, Annabelle is in dangerous territory and we are very limited as to what we can do to help her due to her current health status." He knew something big about her that Nick did not but he was unable to reveal the news to him just yet, not without permission from her or her husband.

"Now please get some rest we will let you know if anything changes." Nick was hesitant but agreed to take his wife home to rest but he let Dr. Myers know that he would be back in a few hours.

~1 hour later~

They expected peace but an unexpected call made them rush back as fast as they could. "Doctor, we came as fast as we could. Is everything alright?" The doctor could hardly look the couple in the eyes. "Mr.&Mrs. Smith how much did you know about your son and his wife's doctor visit they had?" They looked confused. "Not much just that she had been feeling sick. At one point they told us she had been hospitalized and given fluids."

The doctor was very surprised by this. Nick quickly added that they moved away shortly after they got married. The doctor told them to have a seat because what he had to tell them was not easy. "Mr.&Mrs. Smith, Annabelle did not make it. I am so sorry however, do to her medical state we were unable to preform the surgery in time to save her." Before he could finish speaking they began crying. They loved her and could not believe she was gone.

"How is our soon? Is he alright?" Dr.Myers looked at them and told them something thing that would change their lives forever. "Sir, ma'am, shortly after you left your son began bleeding again but despite our best efforts the source was unknown. We tried to stop it many times however, it just kept getting worse." Mrs.Smith fell to her knees preying that God would give her son back to her.

"I am so sorry for your loss. However, there is more that I must tell you." Mrs. Smith cuts him off with a cold dead stare. Dr. Myers walks away for a moment to give the Smith's their space. However, he would not return alone.

In his arms was a bundle of blue cloth. Nick and his wife looked up at the doctor trying to see why he was carrying a baby. "Mr.&Mrs. Smith, this is James. Annabelle was 8 and a half months pregnant. They were on their way for a check up. Her last wish was that he be named James after his father." Dr.Myers handed James over to the couple. Mrs.Smith was grateful that God had granted her a second chance with her beautiful son.

Even though this moment was dark and they lost two people that meant the world to them they still had baby James. This was the day that their life turned upside down. Remember that even in the darkest of times there is still a ray of light.