My Secret Desire

"Her vitals are fading, we need to get her into an operating room, stat!" Yelled one of the doctors in the team.

"Yes doctor," a nurse responded, hurrying off to the intercom to book a room for an emergency operation.

The emergency room was bright and rowdy, two doctors and three nurses stood around the lady on the gurney, from her driver's license they knew her name was Karen – Karen Preston.

"We have one!" The nurse who made the call for the operating room said as she rushed back to the team on Karen.

"Let's move," the doctor said as they all rushed Karen out of the emergency room and to the operating room.

A man stood to follow, but the nurse working on him held him back, "They are going in for surgery, I'll let you know where the room is. For now, hold on while I have a doctor look at this arm," she said in a gentle, firm voice.

The man sat back down with a nod and shortly after, a doctor came over to look at his injured left arm.

The man, much calmer now, looked around the noisy, bustling room. He remembered the moment of impact and shook his head, turning away.

Karen opened her eyes with a jolt. Her heart was racing and her breathing was short and rapid.

She tried to move her head but she could not, she tried her arms, but they did not budge. She closed her eyes and opened them, taking in what she could of her surroundings.

This looks like a hospital.

I'm...I'm in a hospital bed.

She steadied her breathing and listened, trying to get a handle on the sounds around her but there weren't any.

Slowly, she noticed the beeping of a heart-rate monitor and something she assumed to be an air-conditioning unit.

In her line of sight, there was a white lace curtain covering a wide window. She could see the bright blue sky and the clouds.

It suddenly hit her, it's daylight!

It was nighttime when I was driving.

I remember!

It was night and now it's...morning?

Afternoon...?

It's...daylight!

But it was night, dark, late, and I was heading...I was heading to the gallery for a showing...I was on the phone....

And then, her memories came flooding back in.

After she hung up using the button on her car's dashboard, she checked the clock on her phone clipped beside the steering wheel, navigation running, showing her the time to her destination.

She turned the corner, taking a sharp bend, and a car was suddenly barreling toward her from the opposite direction.

It was a large vehicle, coming at full speed, way too fast for a bend, with headlights on full blast.

She had slowed down, but the car suddenly came at her, swerving into her own lane.