Excerpt 3 A New Dream

Have you ever wondered what you'd do if you woke up in the hospital and found that something awful had happened to you? That's what happened to Matt McCallum the morning after his accident. Remember to leave a comment if you'd like to be entered to win my cupcake Prize. A New Dream is now available at http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=2676585

Matt awoke early the next morning because the dull, aching
pain in his legs made him sick to his stomach. Must have been one
rough practice, he thought. He didn’t much want to get up yet. He
still felt tired out and kind of …heavy. Yeah, that was it; he felt
heavy. Too heavy in fact to bother opening his eyes, but Stacey was
holding his hand, so he forced himself to wake up.

A short, round, little woman, not Stacey, held his wrist. The
way she looked at her watch he decided she must be taking his
pulse. Where was he? What had happened to him?

He had to clear his throat before he could speak. “Who are
you?” he croaked.

She beamed at him as if he had done something wonderful.
“Oh, you’re awake now. I’m Nurse Whitaker. How do you feel?”
“I’m tired, and my legs hurt. Where am I?”

“You had a car accident last night, Mr. McCallum.” She
pulled a sheet and a thin white blanket across his chest. “You’re in
the hospital.”

“Stacey…”

“Your girlfriend is fine. Don’t worry about her.”

Matt closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his throbbing
temples. “I don’t remember what happened.”

“That’s normal. You may never remember everything.”

Matt tried to sit up, but he couldn’t muster enough energy.
“What’s wrong with me? Why is it so hard to sit up?”

“Oh, that’s because of the medication we gave you to help
you rest.” She patted his arm and checked an IV that he hadn’t
noticed until she touched it. “We didn’t want you tossing and
turning all night.”

“What’s wrong with me?” he repeated.

“Shh, don’t worry about that now. The doctor can talk to
you later when you feel better.”

Matt didn’t like the blank expression on the nurse’s face at
all. I must be hurt pretty bad. “No, tell me now,” he insisted.
Nurse Whittaker stuck a thermometer in his mouth. “You
have some trauma to your legs, Mr. McCallum, but the doctor says
you’re going to be fine.”

Matt spit the thermometer out. “Trauma to my legs?”

“Yes, sir, and I’d rather you talk to Dr. Williams about it.”

It’s bad. It has to be. “Tell me,” he demanded.

“Mr. McCallum…”

Matt forced himself to sit up. His head spun and made his
stomach turn over, but he managed to pull the sheet off his right
leg. Wow, he must really be out of it. It looked like most of his leg
was gone. He shook his head to clear away the cobwebs and looked
again. His leg was gone!

He started to shake and grabbed the nurse by the arm.
“Where’s my leg?” he cried.

The nurse took a look at one of the monitors in the room and
called, “Jenny, would you bring me another dose of Mr.
McCallum’s medication?”

A nurse arrived with a syringe which she injected into
Matt’s IV. “There you are,” she soothed. “You’ll be comfortable in a
few minutes.”

Dizziness washed over Matt. “What did…you…give…me?”

“Something to make you rest,” Nurse Whitaker answered.
“You go to sleep and don’t worry about a thing. We’re taking very
good care of you.”
****