Monday Morsels: The Light at the Tunnel's End

THE LIGHT AT THE TUNNEL'S END

by Patricia Antone

Pushing himself, he does one more set of repetitions. The weights are set light for strengthening rather than muscle building. Upon finishing, he shifts to sit up on the bench. Tired from another sleepless night, he sighs.

The taunting memories wake him coated in a terror laced sweat. In the haze of his dreams, he hears the shouts of warning too late.

He stares frozen with nowhere to go when the swinging girder comes for him three stories off the ground. All he remembers is the pain when it collides with him. His clipboard and hat falling in time with his echoing cry of pain.

Men’s screams drift to him. The grip of the first man to reach him where he dangles precariously is painful in his desperation to keep Jan from falling to his death. 

~ ~ ~

“I got you. I got you,” Will tells him while shouting, “Hurry the hell up! I won’t let go.” It is a promise he hopes he can keep. “I got you,” Will repeats trying to keep Jan conscious by talking to him.

The second man joining them, a new hire Will barely knows, helps to drag him more on the girder, then tries to control the bleeding. Shifting to a more stable position, he removes his belt to use as a tourniquet.

“It’s gonna hurt,” he apologizes. “I gotta do it.”

Will tightens his grip. “Do it. He’s going to bleed to death.”

“Here, tie him down.” He removes his safety harness. “If he passes out, we could all fall.”

Will keeps one hand gripping Jan, as the other guy helps him to wrap the harness around and tie it off.

“Done. Hurry up.”

Jan remembers the feel of the leather biting into his thigh, the pain nearly making him pass out. His eyes roll back as the darkness closes in to escape it.

“No, Jan!” Will shouts. “Look at me. Don’t let go.”

“Hang on,” the other voice says seeming far away. “I can see flashing lights. Help is almost here. Hang on.”

It seems forever before a hook and ladder truck from fire rescue tears in to get him down, so they can race him to a hospital. 

~ ~ ~

Jan shakes away the memories. Bits and pieces of the whole accident still flash in and out in a haze of pain and panic. Many details are still not clear. No issue, he remembers more than enough, thanks.

Leaning to put his elbow on his right knee in habit, he nearly topples off the bench. A rude reminder that the accident cost him most of his right leg.

After nearly a month in the hospital, he is recovered enough to begin physical therapy. Once he rebuilds some lost strength and his stump heals, he will be fitted with a prosthetic leg. He refers to it as his newly acquired ‘peg leg’.

Maybe it was watching those Pirates of The Caribbean movies while recovering, but it helps him to deal with it. Not that he has a choice in the matter.

Looking around absently he sees his physical therapist (PT) guy, Kenneth, talking to a girl sitting on a bench. Recognizing her as one of Kenneth’s regulars, today he notices she hasn’t cried.

“That’s new,” he comments to himself.

An older woman usually bringing her, a loud fight usually starting up when the younger one tries to assert herself. The older one leaves mad as all hell after insulting the younger one. Instead of PT, she sits in an office Kenneth takes her to calm down. Once there she sits and cries for the entire slot she is scheduled.

Jan also knows, Kenneth drives her home sometimes. That happens on the days she shows up by cab. The cab driver who escorts her scolding her the whole way. Then he insists Kenneth call and ask dispatch for him if she needs a ride home.

He finds it odd Kenneth is real protective of her. He seems to be trying to be her friend. Then again, it looks as if she doesn’t have any. It is hard enough to ask for help. But to need it and have no choice in the matter? It is extremely shattering to one’s self-esteem.

“Time to make the donuts,” Jan mutters laying down and getting back to his exercises. Getting that new leg ASAP is his number one goal.

Unbeknown to him, Kenneth is giving the girl on the bench, who is one of his most concerning patients, the riot act.

“If you do not make it look like you are trying they will put you in a facility,” he snaps testily. “Don’t you care?”

“Blind people live on their own every day. I want to be left alone,” she answers.

Kenneth has a newsflash. “Your mother is convinced you are a danger to yourself. I get copies of your doctor’s reports. FYI, I read them, so I can help you.”

When she doesn’t answer that he takes another shot.

“I can’t help you if you don’t help yourself. You’re being labeled as an emotional grenade. That is an issue if you want to live independently.”

The feel of his hand closing around hers is a surprise, yet she doesn’t move.

“I want you safe, Lucy. Even if it is a facility of your family’s choosing. The question of whether you want it or not will not matter,” he warns.

“They can’t put me where I don’t want to be,” she argues, hoping she sounds convincing.

“Let’s hope,” Kenneth says to that. He keeps going even though he is batting a big fat zero. “Did you eat today? You’re still too thin,” he remarks. “Make sure you are eating. At least one meal a day?”

When she doesn’t answer, he sighs in frustration, giving up for now.

“If you need me call.” With the release of her hand, she listens to his footsteps fade.

She sighs. As she has no appetite, she barely she chokes down what food she does eat. The lecturing has it seem like he cares. Maybe it is not good for his references to include patients he failed?

###

Waking up was just the beginning ....... 

The moment of the cars colliding throws Lucy Cuse screaming into darkness. Now she just wants to be left alone. The accident took everything from her. 

It took her job and her sight., but most of all, it took her independence. A move to an ‘assisted living’ facility for ‘her safety’ is out of the question. Lucy is not going anywhere she doesn’t want to. No one is making her! 

Multiple times per week she goes to physical therapy sessions. She hates it but if she goes and does ‘just enough’, it keeps the well-meaning at bay. 

Jan, who is recovering from his own horrifying accident three stories up, has been watching Lucy for weeks. She tugs at him, and he can’t explain why. When he is asked to “lend a hand” to motivate her, he reluctantly agrees. The blind leading the cripple? There is joke in there he is sure. 

Lucy is struck dumb by Jan’s offering of friendship. He lets her cry and scream, while he doesn’t tell her she is wrong to feel the way she does. In a way, he has walked a mile in her shoes. Even if it is on crutches. 


Lucy takes his offer of friendship and slowly discovers she is still a woman. Jan in turn finds himself falling for the beautiful, yet stubborn woman who truly believes she will get her sight back. 

When hearts get involved the rules change. Each want what they want, but is the light at the tunnel’s end that train each of them has already encountered? Or will they find their way out of the tunnel and into the light that awaits them, together?

Amazon           Barnes & Noble          Kobo           Angus & Robertson

📚  Find Patricia Antone here:      Facebook          Authorsite