Page 78 of Alpha & Omega

“Yeah…”

“Can you see me?”

She wore a white lab coat over pale blue scrubs and a surgical cap.

“Yeah…”

“You’ve been in a serious car accident. You’re incredibly lucky to be alive. Do you remember anything?”

I tried to move, but I was still so heavy.

Then, crunching metal, shattered glass, and someone trying to pull me out of the wreckage all hit me.

“Wha… I think so.”

“Hey, Kingston,” said a voice I recognized.

“N-Nach…?”

“Tony was supposed to be in here when you woke up, but he’s inconsolable, and he’s still got that concussion. We thought you might like to see Harley, but he insisted someone from the family should be here, so here I am.”

I turned my head to find the dark poof of curls spilling over his forehead. Nacho’s eyes were swollen and red from crying. Though he still looked a little blurry, I could make out the moles on his face over his tawny skin, which always were cute. God, why was I even thinking about moles?

“We’re all worried about you, Alpha. We… ah, thought we lost you. Everyone’s here this morning except for Pippin… we’ve had a bit of a setback.”

My eyes rolled again, trying to stay awake and not pass out. “S-s’okay.”

“Kingston,” said a woman’s voice, pulling my eyes in her direction. The doctor. “I’m the one who performed surgery on you. We had to keep you in a medically induced coma for a few days because you suffered from a concussion. We just wanted to protect your brain a bit.”

“S-surger-y?”

“You lost your spleen, and you had internal bleeding. And I tried to save your left leg. I really did, but you sustained too much nerve damage and crushedbone. Your leg was trapped for too long until the emergency crew finally got you out of your car…”

The bed was already elevated, so I lifted my head and looked at my legs, but they were covered in a blanket. “No… Not right… I feel it.”

Nacho grabbed my hand and stifled a sob.

“It’s perfectly normal to feel your leg still. You’ll have sensations there for a long while, from pain to itching, especially after trauma. The pain can take several months to go away, but you’ll have phantom sensations for a long time.”

My cloudy mind refused to believe it. I could wiggle my fucking toes, dammit. I had to be dreaming still, right? Or was I having a nightmare?

“No… I’m moving it.”

“I know this is a lot of information while coming out of a medically induced coma, but you need to be aware right away of what’s going on with you so we can start therapy and treatment, which will get you quickly back on your feet again.”

I shook my head as Nacho squeezed my hand, sobbing again. What she was saying rang true, but I was in denial. I felt my fucking foot. It was there!

“We had to do a below-the-knee amputation. You’ll be in a cast for a couple of weeks, and then we’ll put you in a brace and train you with a walker, wheelchair, and crutches. You’ll need to start strength training right away, which will get you healing faster. You’ll also go through rehabilitation, learning to take care of your leg and doing ordinary tasks again. Once you’re healed, we’ll work on getting the swelling down, which is perfectly normal. After that, we’ll fit you with a prosthetic. Most importantly, you need to quit smoking. It’ll hinder your healing process.”

Smoking? What was she talking about? Too many words.

She kept going on and on as nurses started to take my vitals, but I tuned her out as I pulled back the blanket and sheet to find my left leg covered in a cast.

“Kingston…” Dr. Torens pulled my attention back to her, but my eyes stayed on my leg. It was definitely shorter, but I couldn’t really tell. “Kingston, can you tell me that you understand what I’ve told you?”

As my brain cleared even more, the reality started setting in. Logically, I understood what the doctor was telling me, but I was still in denial. This feltmore like a fucking fever dream. Or I was in someone else’s life. I didn’t lose my leg. I couldn’t have lost my leg. My toes moved. My ankle wiggled. I feltpain.

“No, no… I need my leg… I have to train again.”

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