Stuck Between Two Choices

It was a perfect day to be outside, with the sun out and a blue sky. It couldn’t be any better than this. Marcus, Rose, and DIllen were on their way up a beautiful trail. I was pretty nice and calm. Rose held Marcus hand when they could while Dillen walked behind them. They decided to go on a hike after nineteen years, for Dillen, and eighteen years, for Marcus, of being married. They both were enjoying themselves while Dillen’s husband couldn’t make it after he had to go to work. Dillen went with Rose and Marcus. They walked up a beautiful trail, enjoying the clear sky and birds chirping.

“Isn’t it beautiful out here?” Marcus asked, kissing Rose on the cheek when she stopped to fix her shoe laces. She smiled while she stood straight up.

“Yes, it is beautiful out here.” She turned to see what Dillen was doing. To her surprise he was standing pretty close to the edge of the drop off. “Dillen, please back up a little bit. You’re standing pretty close to the edge.”

He turned around, seeing the worriedness in her eyes made him feel bad so he decided to go back to her. Before he could the rocks gave out under him and he ended up tumbling down the drop off. Marcus and Rose ran to the ledge and saw Dillen laying at the bottom with some boulders on top of his chest and legs. It was about a fifty foot drop from the ledge to the bottom where he laid.

“Dillen?! Can you hear me?!” She screamed, looking at him laying there with blood surrounding him. His eyes weren’t open and he didn’t even move an inch. “Dillen?! Please answer me!”

“Rose! Be careful!” Marcus pulled her back so she wouldn’t fall herself. He turned her around so she could face him. Her eyes were filled with tears and it was clear to him she was trying not to cry. “Sweetheart, I promise we’ll help him. Okay?”

“He…he’s not moving. What if he’s…dead? I don’t know what I’ll do without him.” She kept looking to the ledge then looking back to Marcus with tears trickling down her cheeks. She couldn’t keep her tears back any longer. “ I can’t lose him again, Marcus. I can’t.”

“Babe, please. Calm down. It’ll be alright.” He brought her into a hug as she cried on his shoulder. He couldn’t bear seeing his wife upset, he just wants her to be happy.

“Promise me…you’ll help him…I can’t lose him.” She had stopped crying to say that before looking back to the ledge. She pulled on the neck part of his shirt with both her hands, pulling him down to her more. She couldn’t keep herself calm at this point and you could tell by her voice when she shouted. “Promise me!”

“I can’t make that promise and you know that.” He replied, feeling bad for her and Dillen. He wasn't paying attention to what Rose was doing since he got caught up in whether Dillen was even alright. When he came back to reality he was shocked to see Rose was on her knees right at the edge of the ledge. He ran over to her and pulled her back by the back of her shirt. With her shirt in his grip more the ledge gave out and tumbled down. Luckily she didn’t go down with the rocks, he had pulled her back far enough that she didn’t.

“Are you stupid?!” He shouted, holding her so tight that she could barely move. “Are you stupid?! You could have gone down with him! Do you want to end up at the bottom with him?!Do you?!”

“N-no…” She replied, shocked by Marcus’s yelling at her and by the way he held her. She had a few more tears running down her cheeks as Marcus picked her up from the ground. She grabbed him, she held him again. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll check on Dillen but I need you to call 911 for help and tell them everything. Got it.” He took off his sweatshirt along with his bag and left it on the ground. Rose nodded as she went to get some help. Alone, Marcus went to the ledge very carefully.He looked down and Dillen has still not moved an inch. The pool of blood was mostly around his head which meant he might have some head trauma. He watched very closely and saw some movement down there.

“Dillen? Can you hear me?” Marcus shouted down, he saw Dillen slowly move his head from side to side. “Dillen!”

Dillen couldn’t call back and when he spoke he was muffled. Marcus couldn’t hear a word he said and looked down. Marcus couldn’t find a way to get down there to get to him without falling down himself. He looked around before going down the trail to see if anyone was here. He ran down the trail and left Dillen where he laid at the bottom. Dillen was just laying where he had fallen with his head resting on a huge boulder, arm pinned between two rocks that were about the size of Dillen’s chest, and his leg pinned under a boulder that had fallen down with him. He looked around him and saw nobody but rocks.

“Rose…Marcus?” He said, muffled as he had a hard time catching his breath. The boulder that was on his chest was too heavy so it was pretty much crashing him. He tried to find the strength to push it off with his free arm but he was too tired. He could feel the sticky blood in his hair and on his leg. He didn’t remember falling down; it was clear to him he had. Looking around again, with nobody with him. He was getting worried about dying there with no way to call for help. He just closed his eyes again with a tear running down his cheek as he thought about dying there alone.

He  just laid there for an hour or so, getting full of fear and sorrow. The boulder on his chest started to feel light on his chest, making him feel as if the pressure has always been there. Still having trouble breathing, he attempted to use his free arm to push the boulder off of him. He pushed it as hard as he could with no luck at first but he managed to move it an inch or so. Raising his chest to let gravity do some work was a way he thought of to get it off quicker. Moving his back caused him to be in agonizing pain but he didn’t yell. He gritted his teeth together with his eyes shut tightly together. He groaned as the boulder slowly rolled down his chest as he pushed it off. With the pressure off his chest, he was able to breathe much better. He started breathing heavily while looking at his arm which was still stuck between two rocks.

He couldn’t feel his hand at all, his hand must be paresthesia. Which is when a part of your body falls asleep due to sustained pressure causing one or more of the nerves in a body part to become compressed. He tried to move his arm to get some blood flow down to his hand but he couldn’t. His arm was stuck pretty good but he needed both of his hands to get the boulders off his legs so he could get out. He needed to find a way to free his hand without harming himself in the process. He grabbed his numb hand with his good one to pull his arm free. He pulled and pulled, grunting in the process. He pulled one more time and finally freed his arm from the crack that his arm had gotten stuck in. Being able to move the top half of his body, he could focus on freeing his legs and getting help. Little did he know that Marcus and Rose had already gone to get him help.

His hand was slowly regaining feeling as he tried to find the strength to sit up. He sat up but his back was killing him and felt like someone was stabbing him with needles throughout his spine. He could bear the needles stabbing into his spine so he laid back down. The needles weren’t going away at all. He could still feel them in his back. Closing his eyes for a little bit before opening them up again. He heard someone yelling his name followed by a buzzing sound. He looked up and saw a helicopter hovering above him. He instantly felt relieved when he saw the copter which to him meant he was going to live. He saw some people with ropes working their ways down from the ledge. He didn’t quite know who they were but he didn’t care.

“Dillen?” Someone called, as the people stopped at the bottom, just a few feet away from him.

“Yes…” Dillen muttered, turning his head to face the two people that came down to see him by ropes.

“Hey, I’m here. We’re going to get you out of here.” One of the people put a Cervical collar around Dillen’s neck to prevent his head from moving around.

“Where…are they?” Dillen asked, before they put an oxygen mask on his face. Closing his eyes and opening them again. “Who are you?”

“Don’t worry, they’re alright. They are waiting for you at the beginning of the trail..” The man replied, slipping a spine board under Dillen. “Can you tell me if you have any pain anywhere? So we know.”

“Austin?...Is that you?…My chest hurts…” Dillen started coughing up a little bit of blood before continuing what he was saying. “I think my leg is broken…bad.”

“Yes, it is me buddy. I’m glad you're alive Dillen.” He smiled at him as Dillen winced for a second. “Okay, is that all that hurts? Just your chest, legs, and back? Does your head hurt at all? There’s a lot of blood around your head and in your hair.” Austin checked his leg once the board was in place. He noticed that it was definitely a fracture due to the bone he could see just peaking through his skin. He didn’t tell Dillen since he didn’t want to alarm him but they still had to get the boulder off him. Austin and his partner worked together and pushed it off to free his leg.

“It’s broken.” Dillen mumbled, before coughing some more blood up under his mask. But this time he coughed up a little more than the first time. Austin saw the blood coming out of his mouth so he used some gauze to wipe it up.

“I think I should tell you when you’re well. You keep going in and out of consciousness, Dillen.” Austin used his walkie talkie to tell the helicopter to airlift him to the nearest hospital. Austin went with Dillen when he was airlifted to make sure nothing happened to him during the flight. He paid close attention to his VPs and watched him closely to make sure he was still breathing. Dillen kept looking at Austin as he frantically but calmly rushed around inside the helicopter trying to keep his VPs stable.

“Austin…please…calm down…” Dillen muttered, closing his eyes as he just laid there.

“Dillen, I'm nervous to see you in this state. I’m trying to stay calm but I’m worried for you.” Sanding next to Dillen, while he took his hand and looked to Austin.

“I’ll…be fine…in your…your hands…”Dillen cracked a smile as Austin smiled back.

“I love you, Dillen.” Austin smiled again with light pink going across his cheeks as he looked into Dillen’s blue eyes.

“Love..you too…” Dillen spoke softly, releasing Austin's hand. Once he did, Dillen stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. Austin got very worried and yelled to the pilot to find out how far they were from the hospital. He started CPR to try to get him back to him.

“We are just arriving. Just about to land and then he'll be taken by the doctors.” The pilot said, over the speaker as they lained. The second the helicopter laid, the doctors opened the door and moved Dillen onto a stretcher.

“We have a 40 year old male, he fell about fifty feet from a ledge. He just coded just before we landed. In other words he has been responsive. He complained of back pain along with chest pain. He may have a complex fracture to his right leg and possibly broken ribs. He also may have done something to his left hand.” Austin explained, as he walked with the doctors into the hospital holding Dillen’s hand.

“Thank you, but we got it from here.” The doctor took Dillen into the x-ray room so Austin had to let his hand go from his partner. Watching him go made him feel bad for him. He sat in the waiting room alone for a couple of minutes before Rose and Marcus came in.

“Where is he?” Rose asked, giving Austin a hug for comfort.

“He went to get X-rays and that’s all I know so far. I just hope he’s alright. He coded just before we landed.” Letting Rose go, he sat back down in his seat with his elbows resting on his knees and hands under his chin.

“Okay, we’ll stay with you.” Rose sat next to Austin with Marcus at her side as the three of them sat together and waited for news. They waited for an hour or so before the doctor came over to them.

“Ma’am. Sir. He’s extremely lucky to have survived that fall.” The doctor started, standing in front of them.

“What’s his injuries?” Austin and Rose asked, in unison with panic in their voices. The doctor sighed before telling the group what was going on.

“Well, for starters, he had broken the tibia and fibula in his right leg along with four of his ribs. He had a collapsed lung which was why he was having trouble breathing. So there was free fluid in his andaman pushing his lungs and other organs around. We did drain the fluid and took care of his bleeding internally. As for his hand, he didn’t do any damage to the nerves and veins but it will be sore for a couple days.”

“But he’ll be alright, right?” Marcus asked, talking Rose’s hand as he could tell she was about to cry.

“We’re not sure if he’ll be alright a hundred percent. He has a small problem with his spine which was why he complained of back pain. Part of his spine was pushed forward and pinched the spinal cord near his waist so if he was able to move he could move his legs.” The doctor explained, trying not to  make them worry more but the news was heartbreaking.

“So…he can’t walk anymore?” Austin asked,with a tear running down his cheek.

“We will try to help him so he can walk but I’m not sure how it’ll go knowing what state he’s in.” The doctor said,standing there for a little bit before going off to do his work. Marcus looked to Austin to see him cryin’ and he felt bad for him.

“Austin, he’ll be alright. He’s a tough boy and he’ll pull through for you.” Taking his friend’s hand he pulled him close to him and gave him a hug to let him know he was there for him. “He loves you so much and he would think about leaving you alone.”

“Thank you, Marcus. Thank you.” Releasing him, Austin wiped his eyes and tried to pull himself together. A nurse came over to them a couple of hours later, and took them to the ICU. Austin went inside to eminently walk out, he couldn’t bear the thought of Dillen in this state. Rose went after him while Marcus sat on a chair that was next to his bed and just looked at him. He sat there before taking DIllen’s hand. Dillen was laying there peacefully with a cast on his right leg, bandages around his chest, along with an IV line in his right arm. He could also see there was still some blood in his hair and one his face. His left hand had a wrapping on it as well.

“Dillen, I hope you can hear me. I’m here for you. Austin needs you and so does Rose and me. Please if you can hear me, we need you to pull through. We all need you and can’t bear the thought of losing you.” Still sitting there felt Dillen hold his hand a little tighter than he was doing before. Marcus was surprised and looked at Dillen’s eyes. He could see a little of the white part of your eyes. “Hey, Dillen.”

“Hey…” Dillen muttered, closing his eyes before opening them wider. “I thought…I was a goner.”

“You? Never.” Marcus smiled and in return he got a quick smile from Dillen before Austin walked in with Rose. Austin went right up next to his bed, fixed Dillen’s hair before giving a kiss on the cheek.

“Worried,” Dillen said, very quietly but loud enough to be heard by Austin and Marcus. Rose just stood by the door and watched the two of them.

“No,” Austin shook his head a little before taking Dillen’s hand. At the same time, Marcus stood up and stepped out of the room with Rose on his tail. WIth Dillen and Austin alone together Austin explained to him how much he was worried about him.

“I was worried when I saw that you coded on the ride over here and I didn’t want to lose you. I love you too much to lose you. You’re my world Dillen and I can’t lose you ever.” Dillen smiled before using his good hand to pull Austin’s shirt. He pulled on the collar part of his shirt to bring him closer to him. He waited for him to be close enough before giving him a kiss on the lips. Austin and Dillen both blushed as they kissed. Letting go of his shirt Dillen smiled again before speaking.

“I love you too and I will always come back to you no matter what happens to me or you.”

“That’s good to know, Dillen.” The two of them chuckled before the nurse came back in to check on him. Austin stepped back and allowed the nurse to do his job. Dillen spent a lot of the month going back and forth to the hospital to make sure he was still doing well. He stayed in bed rest most of the time with Austin staying home with him to keep him in check. Keeping him in his bed, making sure he was alright, bringing him things that he needed, and so on. Even Rose and Marcus came over to see how the two of them were doing. Dillen was just lucky to be alright after that fall and they all agree he was very lucky.