Date: 8/11/14
Writer’s Name: Dominique Wilkins
Title: What Won’t Kill You…
I remember watching the Aladdin cartoon with Robin Williams’s voice as the genie, when he said, “I may not die, but it is amazing what you can live through!” Hearing that stuck with me for years to come! There are people going through some serious crap in this world that we are living in today. It would be so very depressing if everyone shared with you half the things that they go through at home!
In the past, it was obvious to point out someone who seems to be going through personal issues. Often, they would be brought on by life changes. Such as moving away from their normal environment, a divorce, a death or a serious illness in the family would be the normal triggers. Immediately afterward, you would see the person become withdrawn from their normal activities, or depressed and disinterested in group involvement. They could either be affected by a massive weight loss or weight gain to name a couple visual changes…
Now, there are tons of things to choose from and now, a person may be dealing with multiple life altering events at once! For example Theresa is married with 4 children, all under the age of 12. Each child is approximately 3 years older than the next one. One day, as she gets up to go to work to the job she’s held for over 6 years, she is involved in a terrible car accident. Fortunately, she lives, but the car doesn’t, nor does the pedestrian that her car slid into when it spun out of control. She did not have any identification on her at the time because she was moving so fast, that she only remembered to take her briefcase with her work and laptop in it.
At the hospital, she arrived in a coma. No one knows who she is or who to contact. Her boss was so angry with her for not showing up at such an important meeting with a valuable client, she was emailed her pink slip to her laptop. Her oldest child, a special needs child, who had been dying to show some responsibility for once, realized that mom was late picking them up and would show her how helpful he was by picking up his siblings and walking them the mile home. He could see how proud she would be when she found that the four of them had successfully crossed two of the largest intersections in Chicago. Unfortunately, the 9 year old knew this was not right, so she and the youngest one stayed at the school and decided to wait outside for her mother to show up, instead of leaving with the other two who were going against their mother’s rules.
The two children that stayed at school did not know their address. They only knew their mother’s cellular number and did not know her real name. They only knew to call her Mommy. The two at the school, still standing outside an hour after the bell, saw a lady, whom they knew their mom had conversations with, suggested that they go home with her and call from the warm house and wait there until she came. They did because they had seen their mom talk to this lady plenty of times, while they waited in line for the morning bell. They must be friends! The lady’s house was warm, but had a lot of really mean looking guys there smoking. Strange looking people would knock on windows and pass small bags and money through them every few minutes. As they left the 5th message for their mom on her voicemail, a thump on the door rang out and in the air! In came the police! It was a raid!! Everyone was taken out of the house and into custody, including them…
The special needs child and his sibling were out on their mission to go home, when they met a nice man who asked if they were lost and offered to drive them home. He thought that would be perfect because he had gotten tired of walking and this way they would get home faster. They jumped in the car, gave him the address and sat back to soak in the heat and get off their feet. The nice man told them that he needed to stop for gas first, but would take them home right afterward, which was fine. Mom does that to them all of the time. He was doing just like his mother did, driving out of his way, just to save gas. Tired from the walk and the excitement, they decided to close their eyes for a moment. At least until they got to the gas station…
While Theresa was in a coma at the hospital and her children were split up, going in their separate directions, her husband was on the other side of town, making up his mind finally with the decision that he had been fighting with himself to make. He would have put it off as long as he could, but with a lot of prodding from a close family friend, he was finally convinced. Today was the day that he would mail the note. He by no means had the guts to do it any other way. He sent and signed by certified mail his intent to vacate the premises and his divorce decree for his wife to sign. He was tired of living the double life with Theresa and the other with her girlfriend. Sharon was right; he needed to stop the circus. Stop the lies. He had hurt Theresa long enough. He left her the house and everything she needed to live comfortably. After he and Sharon had settled in completely, he would reach out to her in a month to tie up loose ends.
Theresa amazingly enough had awaken out of her coma, after two weeks. Immediately, her memories of the accident’s events came flooding back to attack her consciousness. She screamed out in pain from the images flashing across her mind, as she visualized the pedestrian being struck and killed. Moments later, as the images subsided, she was able to take in her surroundings and piece together her whereabouts. As the machines she was attached to began to alert the caretakers of her consciousness, she now needed more answers!! Where is her family? Will she be alright? When can she get out of there and how long had she been there in the first place?!
The nurse was nice enough to calm her and assure her that after taking her vitals and doing a status update, that she would first get some much needed information from her and then provide her with a phone to contact her family and alert them of her location and situation. The nurse brought a doctor back who smiled so widely, Theresa thought that he had to been in the wrong room! There was nothing to smile at here! Yet, he felt otherwise! He shared with her the miracle of her recovery. How she had minimal physical injuries and was sharp as a tack mentally! Based off of her evaluation, he would allow her to discharge at the end of the week. So, with that, she was given a phone to make her calls…
She first called her husband so that she could speak to the kids to tell them she loved them and missed them, but it kept going straight to voicemail. So, she called her mother, who was so surprised to hear from her, but would not stop crying to let her really talk. After a minute or two of this, she snapped for her to stop crying and tell her where was her husband and children. She wanted him to bring them to the hospital right away so that she could see them. Her mother, knowing how Theresa hates to be put off, came out with it. She told her that she had come over to her house to look for her when she had not answered her phone or returned several of her messages and noticed that when she too called her husband’s phone it was unavailable.
She used her key to find that the mail had stacked up and it looked like a ghost town and while she was there, the certified letter had come for her to sign, which she did. When she noticed that it was oddly enough from her husband, she decided to open it and found that he had left Theresa for her best friend. With this news, she began to look for the kids and found that none of them had showed up for school again. They were missing too. Her mother cried and said that since then, the police have contacted her to identify the bodies of the two children and the others are in protective custody, for life, since they were found in a drug house and no one came and got them…
Theresa hung up the phone on her mother just then and pumped the pain medicine more than warned. She had no reason not to. Stick a fork in her. She was done…
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