The Village

Author's note: It would've been cruel of me to make you wait.

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Zach’s Perspective

I don’t even remember the drive from my office to the intersection in the middle of Wilmington, it was like I was on autopilot. All I knew was I had to get to Seth. When I pulled up to the scene of the accident, the Ambulance was already speeding off. I saw a group of officers standing by a pile of gray rubble, my heart sunk when I realized the rubble was Seth’s car; the front end was basically crumpled into itself and the airbags had deployed. I got out of the GTI and moved quickly and absentmindedly towards the wreckage and the officers, I saw a lot of blood on the airbags and could see the baby seats… OH FUCK! WERE THE KIDS IN THE CAR?! I was already panicking but now it was off the charts. I approached the group of officers, “Hi, um this is my husband’s car. Where’s Seth? Were the kids in the car?” I was usually good in a crisis, but my thoughts were jumbled and I needed quick answers.

One of the officers held out his hand, “Mr. Hall? I’m officer Lehman. I’m the one who called you earlier” he said taking my hand in his large hand and gripping it tightly as we shook. “Your husband was alone in the vehicle, now he’s in the ambulance on his way to the hospital.”

“How is he? Is he okay?” I asked, my head still reeling.

“He lost a lot of blood and is in critical condition, but he’s in good hands” officer Lehman said.

“So, the kids were not in the car?” I asked for clarification and the officer shook his head… I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. Seth must’ve been on his way to get them. Officer Lehman then gave me a rundown of which hospital they were taking Seth to, where they were towing the car to, etc. I don’t think I really heard anything he said, my brain was flooded with other thoughts; I needed to get to Seth, I needed to pick up the kids, I needed… I needed… I don’t know what the fuck I needed; I was overwhelmed. Twenty minutes earlier I was in a meeting, now I don’t know if my husband is alive or dead.

I stepped away from the officers for a moment and called Eli, I was remarkably strong and calm (on the outside) at that moment. “Eli. Seth’s been in an accident and is in an ambulance on his way to the hospital. I need you to coordinate picking up Izzy and Freddy so I can meet him there.” I didn’t give Eli a chance to respond, I just needed to get the facts out before I lost it. “Call Gina. She knows where Izzy and Freddy are, you’ll need car seats. I will call the school and daycare and let them know.”

“I’ll figure it out” Eli said trying to keep me calm. “Is Seth okay?”

“I don’t know, all I know is that he lost a lot of blood and the car is a fucking scrap heap” I took a deep breath and exhaled. “Eli, the damn car is crushed and covered in blood, I’m scared shitless. I need to get to the hospital to be with Seth.”

Eli was calm, “Go. I got the kids. You get my brother. Keep us posted” Then he said, “We’re all in this with you guys, he’s gonna be alright. We’ll get through it brother.” Those words were amazingly comforting. The one thing I can say with certainty is that since I had been part of Seth’s life, I had never felt alone.

I went back to the group of officers and they told me what they knew. Apparently, the other car came speeding out of a parking lot on the wrong side of the street and head on into Seth. The other driver was a young woman and she was taken to the hospital as well, both were in critical condition. I tried to stay rational, strong, and functional and not let my emotions overpower me. The officers needed some insurance information from me, etc. They gave me Seth’s personal effects from the car, I quickly took some pictures of the car for the insurance company, then I found my way to the hospital. I called Principal Ferris and Mrs. Mavis on the way to let them know the situation and that someone else would be picking up the kids in a little bit, both were supportive as hell. After I hung up the phone, it was all a blur. When I got to the ER, I was bombarded with forms and questions about Seth’s medical history, insurance, blah fucking blah, blah. “No more fucking questions!” I finally blurted out in frustration to the poor ER nurse who was just doing her job. “I need to see my husband.” The nurse looked at me with empathy and went off to see what she could do.

Suddenly Terrence appeared out of nowhere, covered in blood ‘oh fuck is that Seth’s blood?’ I thought to myself. “He’s going to be okay, Zach.” Terrance said as he grabbed my arm and led me to a small room off the lobby and almost pushed me into a chair. “He’s going to be okay” He said again then added, “but he’s got a rough road ahead of him.” He sat in the chair next to me and calmly walked me through it all. “There was some vascular trauma and he lost a lot of blood. We have him stabilized and are prepping him for surgery. The good news is that no other vital organs seem to be damaged. He has a couple of broken ribs and lacerations to his face from the airbags, a minor concussion, and his knee is pretty banged up, we’ll deal with that once we’ve fixed the arterial issues.” Terrance spoke calmly and confidently, he had this. “our biggest fear was Hypovolemic shock from the blood loss, but we’re past that now, like I said we have him stabilized.”

I had no clue what Hypovolemic shock meant, but they sounded bad and we’re past that now sounded good. So, I decided to stay positive. “Is he conscious?” I asked.

“He was unconscious when the paramedics arrived on the scene, he came to for a little bit by the time the ambulance got here but he’s sedated for surgery now.”

“Can I see him?” I asked.

“When he’s out of surgery, probably another hour or so” Terrance answered.

“I need to see him before he goes in” I pleaded with our friend.

“That’s not possible, he’s already being prepped” Terrence responded as he put a hand on my shoulder. “I can set you up in a family waiting room so you have some privacy, then I can take you to see him as soon as he’s out” He said then left the room before I could thank him.

The nurse came back a few minutes later and led me to a family waiting room near the ICU where they would bring Seth after surgery. I apologized for my earlier outburst; she responded by hugging me. She actually hugged me, I didn’t think nurses could even do that anymore, but she did and it felt good. Damn good. I sat in the quiet room alone with my thoughts; my vile, vulgar thoughts. I conjured up a million horrible things. I thought about Seth being paralyzed, or having brain damage, or even dying. I thought about how incredibly perfect our time together had been, but how tragically short if this was it. The tears started to well up, but I refused to fucking cry. NO. No fucking tears. I needed to be strong for Seth and for Freddy and Izzy. Terrance was right, he’d be okay. Just as I was about to give into my emotions, I got a text from my mother telling me they loved us, were praying for Seth, and were there for anything we needed. ‘How the hell did she even know he was hurt? I didn’t tell anyone… well no one but Eli, Which means Riley knows, which mean the world knows’ I thought. It was kind of a relief because I felt the need to call everyone and the desire to call no one, once people knew, things would be too real. Well, I guess Riley just made it all real for me. I just texted my mom back a broken heart emoji, I couldn’t talk to her yet. Then I got a text from Eli, ‘where are you? I’m in the lobby and need your car keys.’ That was an odd text. I gave him the room number, a couple of minutes later he and Dylan knocked on the door of the quiet room. 

Eli embraced me and held me, “have you seen him yet?” he asked.

“No, he’s in surgery for about another hour or so” I responded into the strong shoulder of Seth’s brother and protector before I came along. I hadn’t even thought about how all this would hit him. He stepped back and said “Gimme your car keys. We bought new car seats for the kids and we’re going to install them in the GTI so you can take the kids to school in the morning.”

Fuck! The kids! I forgot about the kids. How could I have forgotten about the kids?! “Did you pick them up okay?” I asked feeling like the worst parent ever.

“Yeah, they’re fine. I picked up Freddy in Brody’s Gladiator, he has a seat for Theodore in there” he responded.

“And I met Gina at Mrs. Mavis’s in my truck, I have an extra seat in there.” Dylan said, then he gave me a bear hug.

“Where are they now?” I asked into his shoulder.

“Pizza night at BroMax” Eli said. “We’re keeping them preoccupied with a pizza party, Riley and I will stay at your place tonight. You stay here for as long as you need to.”

“I can install the car seats by myself” Dylan said. “Why don’t you guys stay here, okay?” Our village was circling the wagons around our family. I threw Dylan my keys and told him where I was parked, then he took off and left Eli and I alone.

“Hey, Riley called your parents and I called my brothers. I hope we didn’t overstep” Eli said, “but I thought they should know.” I nodded in agreement.

“Thank you. I couldn’t do it.” I said, “What did you tell Izzy and Freddy?” I asked.

“They just think you’re both working late” Eli responded. “I figured you could think about what to say while you were here, then tell them in the morning.” Shit. What the hell would I tell them? Again, my emotions were about to take over when Terrance opened the door.

“Hi, Eli” Terrance said quietly before looking at me “he’s out of surgery, it went well. They repaired the arterial damage and are working on setting his knee and treating the lacerations. They’ll move him to his room shortly, then you can see him” then he looked at Eli, “you too. But it aint pretty guys.” We nodded and I thanked him.

“Listen” Eli said. “I’ll help Dylan finish installing the car seats, then head back to BroMax with him so you can be alone with Seth.”

I shook my head rigorously, “No. Can you stay? I don’t want to go in there alone.” I was terrified of what I might see. I took a deep breath, pulled out my phone and showed Eli the pictures of the car.

“Holy Fuck” he said under his breath. “How the fuck is he even alive?’”

“Please go in with me” I pleaded, Eli Agreed. Terrance left us alone again and I told Eli what I knew about the accident. He texted our family (Seth’s family, my parents, our village of friends) to let them know Seth’s condition and that he was out of surgery.  

Dylan came up to join us and we updated him, “why don’t you guys stay here? I’ll leave Eli’s Bronco and take the GTI Back in case you don’t make it back tonight then Riley has the car with the baby seats.” Dylan said. I nodded and thanked him before he hugged me goodbye in his big arms.

It was about 8PM, I called my boss to tell him what happened, again… nothing but support. “Do what you need to do. I’ll debrief the paralegals and associates and get them working on discovery for the case, we got you covered here. Take care of your family.”

Then I called BA to let her know Seth would be out for a while, she had already talked to Max and Rodney, they were going to figure it all out in the morning, “Me and Daddy are prayin’ for him honey. You let me know if you need help with the babies.” Everyone was behind us.

I was just starting to calm down and feel like I was back in control when Terrence came to get us. “He’s resting in the ER; you can see him now” Terrance said then led us into the ICU. It was a circular area with glass rooms all around; the love of my life was in one of those depressing glass rooms with the beeping monitors and sterile smell. Terrance was in front of us leading the way, he stopped in front of a glass room with a closed curtain, turned and put his hand on my chest. “He’s in here sleeping, and he looks like hell. You ready?” He asked. I took a deep breath and nodded. He slid the glass door open and pushed the curtain aside to let us in.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I tried not to cry… but FUCK! His face was bruised and battered, his forehead was bandaged, there were compression wraps around his ribs, there was a sheet over his lower half and you could see the outline of the brace on his leg, he didn’t even have a hospital gown on. I could hardly recognize the only man I ever loved. Eli put a hand on my shoulder as we looked at the wreckage that was my husband. I turned into Eli and we threw our arms around each other, I was happy he was there and I didn’t have to do this alone. Terrance said something before he left, but the pounding in my ears drown it out, Eli was listening. Eli pulled up two chairs. I held Seth’s hand with Eli by my side… we sat in silence for the next several hours. Eli left to check on Riley, while he was gone, I snapped a couple of photos of Seth’s battered face and body. I don’t know why… god knows I didn’t want to remember this.  Eli reported back that Riley had gotten the kids to sleep and all was well at home.

When I got my bearings, I started to think about what to tell the kids. I even googled how to break bad news to kids. I decided to keep it simple and focus on the good stuff… I just needed to figure out what that was. I thought about calling Ms. Elkin, we were supposed to keep her updated if there were any changes in our homelife, but I decided to wait until I knew more. I was afraid she may want to move the kids to another foster home… that would kill us both. God, there was so much to think about, it wasn’t just the two of us anymore. Eli eventually fell asleep, but I was wide awake when Seth stirred. It started with a little cough, the nurse was there in a flash with water and to check all the machines my baby was hooked up to. Next his eyes opened, he looked around, I could see the panic and confusion, then he saw me. I stood and smiled… mustering that smile was difficult as hell. “Hey” I whispered as I stroked his hair.

He tried to speak, “Wh…” is all he could sputter before he coughed. He tried again, “What the fuck?” he eked out with a dry, gravely voice. I let out a quiet laugh doing my damnedest to hold back the tears.

“You were in a car accident. You’re gonna be okay” I said as the nurse messed around with all the technology that was hooked to him. His eyes were scanning the room, taking it all in as the nurse put a straw to his lips and he drank. After several sips he spoke again.

“Where are Freddy and Izzy?” He asked with panic in his eyes, I’m sure he was thinking they were in the car.

“Home safe with Riley” I answered as one hand stroked his hair and the other squeezed his hand. “They weren’t in the car.” He nodded and let out a sigh of relief (lots of those were happening that day) and I could see the relief in his eyes. “Terrance and his team are taking great care of you, you’re gonna be okay” I said before I kissed his cheek and kept my lips there for a while. Eli woke up a few minutes after Seth.

“Hey, shithead” he said with a big smile, he was holding back his tears of joy.

Seth smiled and let out a laugh and choked out, “I love you guys.” The I love yous and tears were flowing around the beeping equipment.

“Listen guys, not to be nurse Ratchet, but he needs his rest. I’m going to have to kick you out” the nurse said with a smile. “We’ll take good care of him; until you come back in the morning.”

I looked at my watch, it was 3AM and whispered, “Shit, it’s late.”

“Go” Seth said. “Kiss the kids for me” he started to sob a little. Eli gave his baby brother a hug, then he and the nurse left us alone.

“I love you so much. You scared the shit out of me today” I said leaning over the rail of the bed, hugging him, and still trying not to cry.

“I love you too” Seth said, still a little out of it. He couldn’t move much but did his best to hug me.

“Sleep. I’ll be back in the morning. Goddammit, you’re my world.” I said and held him as tight as I could.

Seth was already nodding off but whispered, “I love you so much.” I reluctantly left him there to go home, the world kept turning.

Eli drove us back to the house in my GTI where Riley was asleep on the couch and the kids were tucked in and passed out. The two of them said goodnight and went back to their place, I couldn’t thank them enough for all they had done that day. Eli refused to let me pay him back for the car seats, he called it rent for the three months they stayed with us. Once they were gone, I checked on the kids then stripped down to my boxers and laid down in bed on top of the covers. I fell asleep instantly and got a little over two hours sleep before the alarm woke me up. I instantly called the nurses station at the hospital to check on Seth. So far there was nothing to report other than he was sleeping soundly and his vitals were stable. I was up, showered, and making breakfast in no time… running on basically no sleep. Damn, getting two kids dressed and ready for school by myself was hard as hell, but I did it. By the time we sat down for breakfast the two little munchkins had asked were Seth was at least like four billion times, so I finally faced the music and told them. I kept it simple “Seth was hurt in a car accident” I said as the three of us sat at the counter.

“Does he have a broken arm?” Freddy asked as if everyone who had an accident broke their arm … I had to laugh at his specific question, I’m sure he saw a guy on TV who had an accident and broke his arm or something like that.

“No. but he has a hurt leg, and some bumps on his head” I responded as they listened intently.

“I kiss it” Izzy said. I remembered that when she got hurt in the car chase, she wanted Seth to kiss the bump on her head. They asked a lot of questions as I told them how Seth would be gone for a while, but the three of us would stay at home and they would keep going to school, etc.

“Can we call him?” Freddy asked.

“Not right now, he’s sleeping. But we can make a video and I can show him when I go see him later” The kids were all over that idea so I pulled out my phone. They said hi to “Zeff” and did goofy stuff, the video ended with Izzy kissing his bump through the camera. I left the breakfast dishes in the sink (Seth would NEVER do that) and we loaded into the GTI.

“Where’s the big car?” Freddy asked as I buckled him in.

“It got broken in Seth’s accident” I answered truthfully, then came another barrage of questions about Seth, the accident, the car, his bumps, and ouches, where he was, when they could see him. The questions went on and on until I put “That’s What I like About You” on the radio and the two little rug rats started singing their hearts out. I was at a redlight so I took out my phone and got some video of them singing for Seth. I dropped Freddy off first and updated Principal Ferris on everything. Next, I was off to Mrs. Mavis’s where Gina pulled up at the same time… looking extremely pregnant by the way. She was due in about a month with number two. She wanted to know everything, so we got Izzy and Maggie settled and then I walked her out to her SUV and told her what I knew. She asked if I took pictures of him, and I reluctantly showed her the pictures of the car and the pictures I took while Eli was out of the ICU. That was a huge mistake, I wasn’t thinking straight… shit, Gina was emotional enough to begin with, but then add pregnancy hormones on top of that and DAMN! She lost it and started bawling, we stood there hugging and consoling each other.

“I want to see him tonight” she said.

“Terrance said he’d be in the ICU for at least a couple more days, they only allow family” I said.

“I am fucking family” Gina barked back, “Hell, I met him the same day you did. In fact, I tried to hit on him until he told me he was gay, if he was straight maybe I’d have married him…” she said with a sad laugh. “Please can I see him?” I promised to talk to Terrance to see what he could do, but told her not to bank on it.

We parted ways and I headed to the hospital, I called the office enroute to update them, then tried to call my mom and update her. To my surprise it went right to voicemail (weird, I figured she’d be waiting for my call). I stopped at Starbucks for coffee, I picked up Seth’s favorite too hoping he could actually drink it. By the time I got to the hospital, I felt like I had tied up my loose ends for the morning and could focus on Seth. I got to the ICU, checked in at the nurses station then went into his room.  I was shocked by what I saw. Seth sitting up in the bed. Awake. Smiling. ALIVE!

“Hi.” He said with a smile. “The doctor says I need to walk around the ICU, will you take me?”

I had come this far without losing it, but I almost broke down right there… Seth was gonna be alright. We all were gonna be alright.

  

To be continued…