Abstracted Confessional

"Gabe, it's ok. I understand. She really needs you right now. Don't worry about it" Jasmine said as she slides into the corner booth, surrounded by the history of Wendy's.

"Are you sure Jaz?" I say this, but I was just being polite.

"It's totally understandable. It's just a stupid play; you have more important things to do."

"Thanks Jaz, I promise I'll make it up to you." I said as I darted out the front door.

Jasmine was one of my best friends, and since I had just gotten home, I was supposed to see her play tonight, but I had to go.

Mallory had been in an accident on the way home from college. Both of us went to The University of North Texas, so she got rides home from me all of our freshmen year. The only reason this time was any different is because I had left a little early for my brother's wedding. I had worked it out with my roommate Kaleb to give her a ride home, since Austin was on the way to San Marcos. I had known the guy since I started going to North Texas, but we really clicked at the inter-mural basketball games. We decided to room together after the first semester. He didn't like rooming alone, and I hated my roommate. Thank god he had an Excursion, it probably saved their lives.

I'll never forget that phone call as long as I live.

"Hey Gabriel?" It was Kaleb.

"Hey man. How's the trip comin along? Speaking of, I really appreciate you doing this."

Silence.

"Hey K. You ok?"

"I'm sorry Gabe. It wasn't my fault. Some drunk guy sideswiped us. Knocked us off the road and drove off."

"Oh my god. Are y'all ok?" My heart felt like it was about to explode.

"I'll be fine…." He trailed off.

"Kaleb, Is Mally ok?"

"I don't know. She was asleep when it happened, so she got slung around pretty bad." His voice was breaking, but I failed to notice. All I noticed was my heart being torn to shreds. "Hey man, the paramedics are here. I gotta go. They're takin Mally to Bellmead Rehabilitation Center. It's in Waco, somewhere on Wisconsin Street. I'm so sorry Gabe. I'm sorry."

Click. The worst minutes of my life.

I couldn't remember much at all about my trip from Austin to Waco. I had made this trip what seemed like a thousand times, and yet I felt like I had no idea where I was going. My mind wouldn't concentrate on anything except for Mallory. Once I had gotten on the highway, the only thing I would have noticed was the words "Bellmead" or "Waco". I had made it just past Killeen when I was startled back into reality by the pinging of my gas light. "Damn it. It would have been nice to know this before I left civilization." I drove on down I-35 for a few more miles when I came across a little family owned gas station. $1.89 a gallon. Oh joy. That's only about 20 cents more than the places in Killeen. Lets see how else my day can get better. I pulled into their rundown gas station and pulled up next to the lone gas pump. See manager for gas. "Just peachy" I muttered under my breath as I left my car and went inside the rickety old building.

From the back corner I heard a raspy, shaky voice. "Mornin' young'n. What can I do for ya today?"

The man looked like he hadn't bathed in months. His long, grey hair was matted and frayed in all directions. His teeth, or those that were left, were a dark yellow spotted with black. His breath reeked of a poorly made, week old decaf. He had a cane under his right arm, using it as a crutch, which was nearly as stained as his faded green uniform. The definition of "hick".

"The sign on the pump said to come inside." I said as I got over his ghastly appearance.

"Now how much you be needin?"

"Uh" I stood silent for a while. "I guess a whole tank will do just fine." This made the old man cackle like a witch. "What's so funny?"

"You ain't got no idea how old this here place is, do ya? That there pump was made way before all this new-fangled automatic gizmos. There ain't nutin to make the gas stop 'cept for you to leggo the handle." He cackled again.

"So how exactly do you want me to pay for this then?" I was starting to get irritated. I didn't have time for this. Mally was in some hospital fighting for her life for all I knew, and I'm stuck here chewin' the fat with some hillbilly. "Look, I don't mean to be cross, but I really need to be going. My girlfriend was in an accident and is in a hospital in Waco, and I really need to get there."

No reaction from the man. "Please, can I just fill up my car and go?"

"Well, as a matta-a-fact, ya can't."

"What? Why the hell not?" I had to use every ounce of strength not to throttle this man.

"Calm yourself young'un." He pointed outside to a man wearing a much newer green suit with the gas pump in his hand, filling up my car. "We may not be very technical, but we still believe in us doin' all the work for the customer." He gave a crooked, disgusting smile. "That'll be $19.47. On second thought, you go on ahead. It's on me. After all, it sounds like you've had yourself a hell of a day. Now you git outta here and go see your li'l gal. Use the money and buy 'er somethin' nice." He flashed me his crooked smile again, and walked back towards the bathroom. I just stood there for a minute, absolutely flabbergasted about what had just transpired. Then a picture of Mallory flashed across my mind, and I took off for the door. As I got back into my car and started her up, the needle on the gas gauge went all the way up to the "F". The young man who had filled up my car tipped his hat to me, and walked back inside.

If I hurry, I should be able to get to Waco in about an hour.

I was only about five minutes from the outskirts of Waco, so I decided to give Kaleb a call, to see if there was anything I needed to know.

Ring. Ring. Ring. The memory of the last time I talked to K lingered over my head.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kaleb. How ya feeling?"

"I'm managing. Sprained my wrist, and tore something up in my shoulder. I'll be fine though."

"Really glad to hear it K. Any word on Mallory?" The seconds before he answered seemed to go on forever.

"Sorry man. I haven't heard a thing. They won't let me out of this room, and they won't tell me anything about her either." I could feel the frustration in his voice.

I paused for a moment, fearing the worst. "Well hey, I just got to Waco, so I should be there in a few minutes. Think you could handle a visitor?"

"Ha! Yeah Gabe, I'll try to tough it out." This was the first time I'd heard him laugh since the accident.

"Yeah man. Just sit there and grin and bear it. I'll be there in a few."

"K. Can't wait."

"Well, I don't think you got much of a choice." Another laugh. "C'ya man."

I found the exit to get to Wisconsin Street, got off and stopped at the Wendy's on the corner. Better eat something now, who knows how long I'll be in there. I pulled into the drive-through, straight up to the ordering box. "Hi welcome to Wendy's. Would you like to try our Mandarin Chicken Salad today?"

"No thanks."

"What would you like to order?"

"I need a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger with no mayo, a medium fries, and a medium Root Beer." Usually I could eat a lot more than this, but I had too much on my mind to be hungry.

"Anything else for you today?"

"That's it."

"Ok. That'll be $3.22. Please pull up to the next window." I love the dollar menu, it's good food, and it's cheap.

I pulled up to the window, and paid the middle-aged women with exact change, and drove on up to the next window. By the time I got there, they had my food already in the bag and ready to go. I took the bag, and my drink, and headed off to the hospital. I hadn't made it more than a mile when I got stuck at an intersection. I took advantage of the time and rooted through my sack of food. "Damn it. They didn't give me a straw." I unwrapped my burger, and took off the top bun in order to throw the tomato away. Mayonnaise. "Figures." I muttered as I took a bite from the edge, and the light above me turned green. I sped off towards the hospital, burger still hanging from my mouth.

I eventually found Wisconsin Street, and started down the road. I looked at the directions I'd gotten from Map Quest, and turned right. "It should be right up here on my right." There was a sign telling me to park in the next parking garage in order to visit the hospital. "Whatever works." To my surprise, this was a free parking garage; I didn't know they even had those. I ended up parking at the very top level. Before I headed off, I sat in the car and finished off my food. I got out of the car, locked it, and walked all the way down the 6 levels to get to the ground floor. I walked into the hospital foyer, and looked around, taking in the surroundings. I went up to the front office window. The assistant looked to be in about her early 30's, with maple colored curly hair, which still managed to rest on her shoulders. The uniform she was wearing was nearly the same color as the gas station attendant's, but was obviously in much better shape. She was sitting behind the desk.

"Good afternoon sir, how may I help you today?

Wow. It's already 3. That's incredible.

"Hi. I'm looking for two people. Mallory Evans and Kaleb Blake."

"How do you spell those?"

"M-a-l-l-o-r-y and K-a-l-e-b."

"Thank you." She typed the names into her computer. "And your name is?"

"Gabriel Ryan."

"Ok Mr. Ryan. The nurses are just finishing up with Mallory, so she should be able to have visitors by about 7 tonight. She's in room 413. You can go ahead and visit Kaleb whenever you're ready. He's over in room 212." She pointed to the signs on the wall. "Just follow those signs."

"Thank you very much. When are visiting hours over?" I had to know how much time I had to see Mally tonight.

"Well, we don't actually have much against visitation time, as long as you let the nurses do what they need to do. After 10, you need to keep the noise down, but you can stay as long as you'd like."

"Ok." I thanked her as I went on my way down the hall. The sign told me how to get to room 212. I went to the left and up the staircase to the 2nd level. Of course, Kaleb's room was towards the end of the hall. I rapped on the door, as to make sure not to disturb any nurses who may have been inside.

"Come on in." It was Kaleb's voice.

I opened the door and burst into the room. "Hey buddy. How ya feeling?"

"To tell ya the truth Gabe, I'm really not at the moment. They got me on a lot of meds. It's really cool." His speech was slurred, an obvious side-effect of the pain medication he was on.

"That's gotta be fun." I pulled a chair up beside his bed. "So how's it goin Kaleb?" I already knew the answer, but I felt I should ask anyway.

"Well, I love being waited on hand and foot, but I hate being stuck in a bed for hours on end." Kaleb was a basketball player, and a starter for the North Texas team. His '6"6 frame was definitely a major plus. Kaleb has been one of those "jocks" in his high school in San Marcos. He starred in football, tennis, soccer, swimming, and cross-country. Basketball was his true love though. All of Mally's friend wouldn't shut up about how gorgeous my roommate was. I guess it was the large, muscular build, or the shoulder length blond hair. At some point during basketball season his freshman year, one of the cheerleaders had dubbed him Fabio, and it stuck with him.

"Why aren't they letting you up? All you have is a few arm injuries." I inquired.

"Well, I think it's just a precautionary thing, but it really sucks. All they let me up for is to go to the bathroom or a few minutes every other hour just to let me stretch my legs."

"Ouch. That sucks. Any idea when you're gonna be able to get out of here?"

"They said I should be out of here in a day or two. I'll be able to get out of bed by tomorrow morning."

"Awesome man."

"Hey, so how's Mallory?"

"I dunno man. They said I could go see her at 7, so I got a few hours to kill til then, but I'm sure you'll keep me company."

"Like you said, I don't think I have much of a choice, unless I just go hide in the bathroom forever."

"Well, whatever tickles your fancy K."

"Shut up Gabe." He couldn't stop laughing. It was good to see him happy enough to laugh. "Well hey, whenever you go see Mally, be sure to stop back by here and lemme know how's she doing. Did they tell you anything?" I could see the worry in his eyes.

"Not a thing. I know the room number, and that the nurses are finishing up with her. Oh, and I can go see her around 7." There was a long silence, neither of us knowing what to say. "Kaleb, I almost hate to ask you this, but what happened?"

Kaleb let out a long and heavy sigh. "Well, it was just a normal trip. We spent about the first hour or so just talking about random stuff; you, band, basketball; just ordinary stuff. Then it kinda got a bit silent, so I slipped a CD in and we listened to that for a while. We were about half an hour from Waco, and I asked her if she needed to stop once we hit Waco, and she was completely out of it. So I just let her sleep there, she looked comfortable. So I reached in the backseat, got my jacket, and draped it over her since it was a bit cold in the car."

"Heh. You noble stud you. Always lookin out for other people." I just couldn't get the image of Mally sleeping out of my head.

"Yeah, you know me. Always the ladies man. Anyway, we made it through Waco without incident. The whole thing started once we hit that little patch of road where the lanes merge from four to three lanes. I saw this guy in my rearview mirror just flying past people. I didn't pay much attention to it, and right then the CD ended, so I reach back to get another one from the back, and the guy flew up alongside us. That dumbass had no idea that his lane ended a few feet ahead of him. As his lane ended, he just merged straight into our lane, and right into us. It knocked our car into the other lane, which made us bump another car, and it spun. The car right behind us never had a chance to stop. They slammed right into the drivers side, and since I was bent, reaching into the backseat, my shoulder went straight into the steering wheel. My hand got caught in my CD case, and it slammed against the dashboard. Luckily, the collision knocked our car off the road, onto the side median."

"Damn K. You're lucky to be alive."

"I know. I think the fact that I was reaching into the backseat saved my life. It made my shoulder ram the steering wheel instead of my head."

"Hooray for bad driving techniques." What the hell? Either there was a drunk guy out on the road in the middle of the afternoon, or some jackass just couldn't drive. Well thank god they're ok.

"Yeah. I'd rather just avoid those things from now on. I kinda lost track of things for a while I guess. I'm not sure how long it took for me to snap back, but I that's when I saw Mally. Her head had a gash on it, I'm guessing from hitting the dashboard, and she wasn't moving, but she was breathing. She was all contorted, but that could have just been from the way she was sleeping. I got her out of the car, and laid her on the ground across my jacket. Then I called 911, and then I called you."

I couldn't react. The thoughts of Mallory and the car crash would not relinquish my attention. Finally, I snapped out of my trance. "So what about the guy who hit you?"

"Well, the guy who slammed into us stopped and helped me get Mally out, and called for help. He was really nice, and waited with us til the paramedics got there. The jerk who cut us off and started the whole damn thing just kept right on driving, from what the guy who stopped said."

"Jesus, y'all are lucky to be alive. Did you happen to get any info on the guy who stopped? I'd like to thank him once I get the chance."

"Yeah, I got his insurance info and all that. I don't know where the nurses put all my stuff. I'll have them hunt it down next time they come in here."

"Awesome man." I checked my watch, to see if I would be able to visit Mallory yet. 6:15. Almost time.

"Dang dude, you realize that we've been talking for more than three hours?" It's like we had the same thought at the same time.

"Yeah man, even if you're crippled, we still never miss a beat. Hey! Maybe now that you're broken, I'll finally be able to beat you in basketball."

"Yeah right, I could beat you without any arms."

"Yeah sure, we should try that sometime. It'll about even the playing field." I laughed, but he didn't even crack a smile. "What's wrong K?"

"I just realized something. This whole thing could totally screw up my athletic career." He had a look of sheer terror on his face.

"Dude, you got off pretty well. You could easily make a full recovery by the time basketball season starts up. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, good point. I got off pretty lucky. But what about Mallory? We don't have any idea what happened to her. This could really hurt her dance career." The fear in Kaleb's eyes was even more intense.

Woah. I hadn't even thought of that part. What if something did happen to her? She's been dancing since she was three, and her whole career pretty much revolves around dance. Please let her be able to keep dancing. It's her whole life.

"Well K, the last thing you need to do is worry about it. God forbid, but if something did happen, then it happened. Worrying about it won't change anything. I'm gonna go see if I can see Mally, you just relax for a bit, and I'll come back tonight if I can."

"Good point. Well good luck, and send Mally my love."

"Will do. C'ya in a little bit." And with that I left Kaleb's room, and started off to go find room 413. I was talking to myself as I wandered the silent hospital. "Figures, it's probably two floors above me, but it's gonna take forever to get there. I gotta walk all the way down this hallway, up two flights of stairs, and then walk all the way down another hallway. Oh joy." My mind was so preoccupied with everything that it felt no more than a few seconds, and I had already gotten to the fourth floor. I got out of the staircase, and hung a left. Within a matter of moments, I was standing in front of Mally's room. I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.