Her Accident
Mat hit my right shoulder with a huge clump of sand. Only a bunch of thirty year old white guys could have started a game of beach volleyball and ended up with a sandball fight, complete with sand forts and holding robin prisoner. I grabbed one of our grainy cannonballs and threw it back at him. As soon as it his nose, it exploded in a shower of sand. “Baby you’re a fiiiiirework!” jack yelled, sending us all into a fit of laughs. Maybe you don’t think it’s funny, but to me, something about a buff Irish guy singing Katy Perry is amusing. About 40 minutes and a few Bud Lights later, I was laying on the beach looking out into the waves, contemplating. Of course I may also have been observing Cali lying stomach down on her surfboard. And that black bikini was doing her a world of favors. She had her head rested on her crossed arms facing Alex. They looked so peaceful, the waves gently bobbing them up and down. That and the beers got me in so much of a daze that at first, I wasn’t aware that it was actually happening. Cali and Alex were lying on their boards soaking up the rays when a great white shark burst up out of the water on Cali’s left side, sunk its jagged teeth into Cali’s right side, drug itself across her back and disappeared back into the ocean. The moment in between that and anything else was an instant and a lifetime. Suddenly, Alex screamed, snapping us all into motion.
Jack reached her a fraction of a second before me. A chorus of are you ok’s and can you hear me mixed with other general panic sounds. I lowered myself to Cali’s face, which was quickly losing its glow. “I need to get to the beach.” She was barely able to speak. “Guys, we have to get her to the beach!” I yelled. Mat and jack lifted the end of the board as Robin and I held the front. Cali’s quickly paling face was inches from mine. I looked into her eyes. The youthful joy and brightness that she always carried was fading. I felt my heart crumble a little around the edges at the thought of those blue eyes never shining again. Once we got to the beach, Mat immediately called 911. “My friend just got attacked by a shark! We’re at Key Biscayne Beach. Ok, please hurry!” Jack’s light blue surf shirt was being frantically wrapped around her shaking body, trying to stop the bleeding. She was bleeding so hard. There was blood everywhere. As we carried her to the beach, blood was falling off her board and splashing into the clear waters below. By now, Jack’s shirt was almost black with blood, dark red liquid squirming out form between his meaty fingers. I imagined him washing the shirt out, Cali’s blood disappearing into his drain. The next time we surfed, it would be clean. Cali was a great surfer. I remembered seeing her riding a wave, smiling widely as she looked over to the shore at me. Her eyes were shining then, as blue as the water beneath her.
It seemed to take forever for the ambulance to come. We heard the siren and jerked to attention. It was a bit of a daze after that. I remember seeing the nurses rushing to Cali, gently but urgently lifting her onto the gurney. I remember driving back to the hospital behind the ambulance, its siren seeming to scream at me to keep up. I remember getting to the hospital and Cali being swarmed by nurses and doctors, all sticking various needles and patched on her. I remember her being hooked up to an IV when suddenly… “Clear!” Cali’s petite body jerked upward s the electricity pulsed through her. “Clear!” One. Two. Three. Four times. Would they never stop? Would she never come back? Would those blue eyes never shine again? The posse turned left down a hallway where a nurse delivered the cliché “you have to stay here” crap. Daniel turned away, her face in her hands. I took her in my arms. She buried her head in my chest, quivering. “I can’t lose her,” she forced out. That pushed the tears that had been threatening to escape down my cheek. I said nothing, only pulled her closer, but inside, I knew I couldn’t lose Cali either.
A while later, when we had all assumed the position and selected a waiting room chair, I heard the bing of the elevator. A middle aged blonde woman rushed in, her blue eyes glossed with tears. Daniel jumped up and rushed over to her. The woman fell into Dan’s arms. She was near sobs; obviously someone close to Cali and Dan. “Daniel, tell me she’s gunna be ok please tell me she’s gunna be ok!” that was one sentence. “We don’t know anything yet, mom.” I should have seen it before; this woman had the exact same eyes as Cali and Daniel. Cali’s mother broke into a new round of tears. I walked up to her. “ma’am, I’m so sorry. My name is Will Favreau, I’m a friend of Cali’s,” she sniffed heavily and wiped her eyes before looking up at me. “Oh yes, will Favreau, I’ve heard about you.” She pushed out a kind smile. She looked like Cali when she smiled. “Cali has spoken very highly of you, my name is Helen Shermin. You can call me Helen.” “It’s very nice to meet you.” And it was true; Helen seemed like a lovely and kind woman, just like Cali. I took her hand, and she clutched it back. I put an arm around Daniel, and we all three just stayed like that, a small circle of emotion and comfort. I felt fresh tears fall down my face. There was so much emotion here, and none of it should have been happening.
What seemed like years later, a doctor came out of the back. “California Alonso’s family? The words stung. Helen stepped forward. “I’m Helen Joy Alonso Shermin, her mother.” “Your daughter is going to be fine.” The breath that everyone had been holding was releases like the winds of a hurricane. “She has eight scars ranging from 8 to 13 inches. We put stiches in, and she’ll have to keep twisting to a minimum. We’ll take the stitches out in a week, and keep her here a few days after that. But bottom line, she’s going to be fine.” “Can we see her?” the doctor smiled. “Room 183.”
She was camouflaged against the white sheets, the normally light blue hospital gown looking neon against her pale skin. The steady beep of the monitor faded into background noise as we gazed upon her perpetual beauty that even a deadly shark and losing 3.6 pints of blood could steal. Well maybe that was just me… I was in the perfect position to gently pick up her hand and have one of those collapses with a wet sigh but her mom and sister were in the room. YOLO, I took her hand anyway. Heehee. Maybe I was being too cheerful, given that the woman I kinda liked (shut up) had landed inches away from death and was going to have over a week of rough recovery, but hey, she was alive. She was alive. She was alive, and those blue eyes would shine again.