“Benji?” Joel shouted into the phone back at his place, Madison sitting quietly and morosely on the plush blue couch, picking at the fabric, her feet digging into the black, white, and red swirly rug, Joel plopping down next to her and taking her quivering hand, “Benji? What’s wrong? Madison told me she got cut off from you.”
“Um…Joel…” Benji sobbed, sitting in a familiar seat and room at the hospital with its cracked walls and hissing radiator, “Get Madison down to the hospital now.”
“Why, Benj?” Joel asked concerned, “What happened?”
A tear plummeted to Benji’s knee, Benji trying to sniff back the grief, “Just do it.” Benji hung up and slumped down in his seat, his mind tearing his soul apart from the inside. It was like pulling teeth trying to find out anything from anyone, Benji rising from his seat and approaching the front desk, an elder lady with cotton white hair sitting behind it, fatigue pulling on her brown eyes. “Maim? Can you tell me anything on Phoenix Flores?”
“I told you before, Sir,” the lady replied kindly, filling through papers, “I can only tell you what the Doctors have told me. She’s in the emergency room right now. That is all I know.”
Benji gave her a weary smile, which felt like poison to his heart. “Thank you.” He scurried to his seat and plunge back into hopelessness, he being the only person occupying the waiting room. He had no one to talk to, no one to console him. He felt that this was punishment from God, to make him wait alone as he determines Phoenix’s fate. Benji couldn’t feel anything but pain. Physical pain derived from emotional pain. The only thing Benji could do was sleep, and that’s just what he did, slipped into a troubled, turbulent doze…
~*~
“Wake up, Benji!” he heard Madison demand, feeling the stinging sensation from Madison’s slap, his eyes focusing on Madison and Joel hovering over him.
“Hey!” he yelled, rubbing the reddening area and slowly sitting up, “That hurt.”
“What happened to Phoenix, Benji,” Joel asked, linking his arms over Madison’s shoulders, Madison’s muscles tense with the oncoming news.
“She…” Benji began, rising from his seat, and knotting his fingers together nervously, “She drove into a tree…and…”
“Is in stable but painful condition,” the group heard Dr. Learner interject, the three of them rotating languidly as Dr. Learner approached them gravely. “It’s nice to see you people again, but I’m sorry it had to be under such unfortunate circumstances.”
“What’s the prognosis, Doc?” Madison asked passionately, taking Joel’s hand for support and squeezing it in fear. “Will she be OK?”
“She swerved to avoid oncoming traffic and crashed into a tree. I believe she will be,” Dr. Learner responded, glancing down at her chart, “But we must see what the next 48 hours have in store for us. She fractured her spinal cord, cutting the lumbar and sacral nerve systems…”
“I’m sorry, Doc,” Benji interrupted, his heart ready to explode with anxiety, “But can you skip the medical terms and tell us what’s wrong?”
“She’s now a paraplegic, Benjamin,” Dr. Learner put it to him straight, Benji pushing his fists into his forehead as he crouched down in upset and devastation. Benji felt like the most evil man alive, sending his girlfriend into a wheelchair. Madison dropped to the ground and wrapped her arms around Benji’s trembling body, knowing, trying to tell him without words that it wasn’t his fault. “She will never walk again.”
“Oh my God!” Benji wailed, crying like a baby into Madison’s chest as Joel knelt on the ground, tears trying to crawl into Joel’s eyes.
Dr. Learner glared down at them, waving to get Benji’s attention. “But, there is good news.”
“What could possibly be good from this, Doctor?” Madison asked politely, shaking her head as Benji’s cries began to subdue, his eye make-up smudged across his face.
“I think Phoenix wants to tell you, Benji,” Dr. Learner smiled, offering his hand as Benji stumbled to his feet.
Benji’s eyes aggrandized with hope. “She’s conscious?”
“And talking up a storm,” Dr. Learner informed Benji with a tight smile, Benji beginning to jog in place, his smile expanding from the east coast to the west. “She wants to see you. She’s in room 329.”
Benji pulled himself from the Doctor’s grasp and darted down the hall, Madison and Joel sharing in a thankful hug.
~*~
Benji knocked politely, hearing Phoenix faintly call, “Come in.” Benji stuck his head in, Phoenix’s pale face expressing un-comfort. Her face was bruised in the cheeks and she had several gashed on her arms and chest. Phoenix couldn’t believe Benji’s actions, like she was supposed to be mad at him, like he did this to her. It was so silly, she couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t bite, do I?” Phoenix asked skeptically, waving for him to enter. Benji’s eyes became re-saturated with tears as he slowly trotted in, Phoenix shaking her head, a white gauze soaked in blood plastered on her forehead. “Aww, Benj,” Phoenix smiled genially, a tear trickling down her face as Benji knelt down next to her and placed his head on her stomach, facing the opposite way of her face, hesitantly grazing his hands up and down her injured leg. “Don’t cry. It’s not your fault, Benji. I am so sorry…”
“It is my fault, Phi,” Benji differed, staring into the white wall ahead of him as Phoenix’s weak fingers stroke his leopard-print hair, “I shouldn’t have…”
“How could you have known, Bubby,” Phoenix interjected, shakily taking her hands and turning his face towards her, his brown puppy-dog eyes pink with upset as they gazed up at her. “That any of this was going to happen? I overreacted. I read too much into it. I was just upset that I was finally nightmare-free, finally thinking of other things than Ethan, finally visiting the YMCA once a week instead of once an hour, and then all these ‘signs’ showed up and they fucked up my emotions so bad…I am too superstitious, aren’t I?”
“Well,” Benji began, kissing her stomach, Phoenix cheering inside for the sweet sensation of his touch, “You believe in fate, that things happen for a reason, not in superstitions. Ethan’s death happened for a reason, I suppose. It just wasn’t meant to be for you two and fate had to change that. Because of Ethan’s unfortunate death, I met you, you met me, and we started this great, amazing, incredible relationship that I hope someday, with fate’s good will, will blossom into something more…”
“Like marriage?” Phoenix asked, a dull happiness twinkling in her eyes, her finger traveling the slope of his nose.
“Someday,” Benji replied, going cross-eyed from staring at Phoenix’s finger. Phoenix laughed, resting her hand on top to Benji’s.
“And kids?” Phoenix continued, a sly smile diffusing over her tired, beaten face.
“Yeah,” Benji responded softly, kissing her hand, “Lots of them.”
“Well…1/2 of your hopes have come true,” Phoenix told him, Benji narrowing his eyes at her, cocking his head to the side.
“What…” Benji began, leafing through Phoenix’s blue eyes for the answer, Phoenix nodding in validation. Benji sprung up. “Oh my God!” He shouted happily, diving onto Phoenix’s chest, Phoenix laughing giggily as Benji showered her in kisses. Phoenix grunted in pain, but her smile soon returned.
“Now, will ya get out of here?!” Phoenix yelled jokingly, trying with her meager strength to push Benji away. “All three of us need rest.” Benji grinned one of those grins from an old man whose greatest pleasure in life is as simple as getting to walk in the park with his wife, that that is all that matters in life, love. He cupped his hands gently over her purple cheeks and gazed lovingly into her eyes, like they’ve been together for all times in pass lives, and kissed her.