Side Effects May Include

Side effects may include....
Crash.
Slam.
skid.
ka-boom.
When I opened my eyes, those noises weren’t there. instead, I heard silence.
And I couldn’t see much anyway. I blinked a few times, and my vision seemed to get
better. Blink. Blink. Where was I?
Sounds were slowly coming to my ears. i didn’t even notice they were ringing
until I started to hear voices under the constant tone. They seemed so far away... Then
i could hear a slow beeping.... it sounded close.... where was it coming from? I tried
to turn my head in the direction of the sound.... My neck wasn’t cooperating. My nose
wasn’t either. And I was numb... what happened?
My eyes focused on the room around me. Small, kinda cramped. The chair in
the corner was currently being used by... someone.
‘Who are you?” I blurted out. But it sounded ore like “ooor r r uuuu?”
“Marcy? marcy?” the voice was shrill and high. “Are you really awake this time?”
I tried to nod, but it hurt so much; an uncomfortable “uh hun” was all the
stranger got.
“Marcy...’ the stranger said, pulling her chair close to the bed. “Can you?... Do
you know who I am? The doctor said you might not. Do you know who I am?”
I squinted at the person, whom I could now tell was a girl, but no name came to
mind. I managed to move my head back and forth without it causing me too much
pain.
‘It’s me, Marcy, Eugenia... you’re sister?” Why was she asking me? Things
were starting to come back to me.... Eugenia.... yes, I knew her....we shared the same
room....
“Marcy.... do you know who YOU are?”
Did I know? not really. I’m... Marcy. That’s all. “Marcy?’ I croaked.
She sighed. “Marcy. You’re 15. Have a cat, Belle. I’m your sister. I’m 17. We
shared rooms until I convinced mom I needed privacy. You have another sister, she’s
24. You following?”
Everything was coming back to me now. Me riding my first bike. First day of
school. Eugenia and I “fighting” about who’s fault it was that the room was messed
up.
“Gini.... what happened?” I said.
At that moment, some one opened the door. Gini got up and moved to the
corner of the room, offering the chair to the new arrival, who didn’t even thank her.
“How are you feeling, Marcy?” she said. I noticed that she was dressed in a
blue smock. Was she a nurse or something?
“M’ok”
“Marcy, do you remember ANYTHING of what happened? Anything at all?”
Accident? what accident? I shook my head. “ This might shock you, but you have to
know... You were in the car with you family. A bus driver ran a red light, and you
crashed. The bus only had injuries and everyone survived, though some are in critical
condition. But... your family’s dead, Marcy.”
Shock. What had happened? I couldn’t remember any of that.”
“My parents....” I groaned.
“They’re gone, Marcy.”
“And.... me?”
“You’re recovering. We had to amputate. I’m sorry. But apart that, you should be
fine now. How are you feeling?”
“Thirsty. Stiff”
“I’ll get you some water, and a nurse will be around to administer painkillers.”
“Wait... Am I in a hospital?”
She nodded. She had obviously dealt with patients like me before, and wasn’t
surprised how slow I was to catch on.
“What will happen to me?”
“We’ll work that out. You’ll probably stay with your cousins.”
“What about my sister?”
“Don’t you worry, Marcy. you need to rest to recover. I’ll bring you something to
help you sleep.” She stepped out of the room, then she turned around abruptly. “I
know this is a lot to think of. Sleep helps.” she left.
I felt tears in the corners of my eyes. I started to cry, the drops of salty water
running down my cheeks. I raised a hand to wipe the tears away, and saw that I was
missing a finger. two fingers, my index and my middle finger of my right hand. I would
never write again. I sobbed harder.
Gini took her seat back. She sat there in silence, then she put her hand on my
left one.
“It’s going to be ok, lil sis. They won’t separate us. We always have each other.”
That didn’t help. I was still blubbering like a baby.
“We always joked about what life would be without the parents. How much
easier everything would be. How we could live without them. Don’t worry, Marcy.”
Another nurse came in and handed me some pills and a small cup of water. I
took them without hesitation, though grasping the cup with my right hand was a bit
hard. I soon fell asleep, a nice deep sleep....
***
When I woke up again, I had light in my room. The window was open, and I
could see the treetops outside, the birds on the branches.... the birds in their nest,
feeding their young....
“Close the curtains, Gini.”
“Gini is not here,”someone else said. I whipped my head around to find the
owner of the voice, but obviously i did so too quickly and my neck hurt me again.
“Who are you?” I managed to say.”
“Detective Keller, from the police department? I’m here to ask you a few
questions about the accident.”
“ I don’t remember much...” I whispered. I didn’t want to think about it.
“Even small things can help us find out what went wrong.”
“Wasn’t it the bus driver who ran a red light?”
“ I don’t think so. i was just talking with Redd...”
“ You were talking with him? He survived?”
“ Yes, but at a cost. He will never be able to use his legs again. He’s in the
same hospital, actually. room 305.”
“Oh.” good for him. He still had a family.
“Anyway, he seems to think his breaks were faulty. But before, he said that the
light had just changed to green for him, and it was red for your car. Did your dad drive
through a red light?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t remember.” Was it Dad’s fault? He always was one for speed.
did he run a red light?
“What can you remember, then?”
“ I was texting, but I was in the back of the car. Dad was driving... I think. I
remember looking up and seeing the bus coming at us, quickly. That’s about it.”
“Nothing else? I mean anything at all?”
“I’ll tell you if I do. But i don’t want to think about it.”
“I understand. I mean, losing your whole family like that?”
“ I still have my sister.”
“Thank God for that. I’ll leave you alone, get some rest. call me if you remember
anything, ok?”
I nodded. The detective left the room, and Gini came in. Still wearing the clothes
from the day before, making wonder how long I’d been out.
“How’re you holding up?” she asked.
”’M’ok, considering. You?”
“Outraged. Did you hear? That bus driver was blaming us, US for the accident!
what a lying, stinking, murdering....”
“Gini, it was an ACCIDENT. That’s it. What;’s done is done.”
“You don’t despise him? He killed our parents, Marcy. Don’t you want revenge?”
“No.”
“Marceee....”
“Shut up, Gini. I can’t think straight with your constant blabber. I want some
sleep.”
“Suit yourself.” she shrugged off my words as if they were nothing but dust on
her shoulders. She got up and left without another word.
I noticed the pills on my bedside table; a nurse had set them out for me. I
swallowed them, and fell into a dreamless sleep.
***
Detective Keller was around when i woke up. This time I was feeling less
groggy, and my vision was better then it was the last time i woke up.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“Sorry, i don’t know. This is.... 36 hours? Since my last visit. I came in and out of
consciousness... Are you really awake this time?”
“ I think so. I’m not sleepy. How’s the investigation going?”
“Not well. You remember Redd, the bus driver?”
I nodded.
“He passed away about a day ago.”
Now THAT got me awake. I sat up straight, surprising even myself at how
painless that action was.
“Died? How?”
“He just... stopped breathing. The hospital thinks he just choked in his sleep.”
Silence hung in the air as thick as a sheet. I stared at my hands, freaking
myself out as I saw again my mutilated hand. The other one, the left hand was scared,
but no digits were missing. I awkwardly thought of my feet: were they in one piece?
“How do i look?”though an awkward question at a time like this, It had to be
asked. The detective jumped.
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t lost an ear or something? I’m honestly to scared to see my
reflection...”
“Well..” she was hesitant. "You look normal. You’ve got a few cuts on your face,
but I expect they’ll go away in time. A terrible cut on your forehead, you needed
stitches... 4 or 5 to my knowledge. Your legs are amazingly unharmed, I think. but you
might need therapy to to walk normally again. You’ve seen your hands....”
“Am I...ugly?”
“No way!” she laughed. “ You’re absolutely beautiful, even with the cuts.”
I was so touched at the sweetness of the young detective I started to cry again.
She shuffled in a worried way, got up to put her hand on my shoulder.
“Shhhh....” she whispered.
“What will you do next, for the investigation, I mean?”
“Before Redd passed on, he told me a passenger tried talking with him... A
certain Mrs. Holmes... I’ll talk to her next.”
“Did she get hurt as well?”
“Un-hun. When the windshield crashed, since she was standing, she was
ejected out of the window onto the street. She was in surgery for almost a full day: but
she’ll survive.”
“Close call... I’m glad no-one else died.”
“Do want to get up? Walk around? Maybe you want to talk to Mrs. Holmes?”
“ I don’t know...”
“Do need to walk around, though. You’ve been sleeping for days on end...”
“ I don’t think I can walk. and I don’t want a nurse to push me around.”
“If you want, maybe I could push the chair.... if it makes you feel more
confortable...”
“Ok... What about my sister?”
“She’s sorry... she sat by your side for hours, but she needed her sleep.
Someone drove her home.”
She got me a wheelchair and helped me onto it. I glad to see that my legs only
had small cuts and bruises, but apart that, they were absolutely fine. But they hurt like
****.
The detective wheeled me out into the hallway, and we made our way to Mrs.
Holmes’s room. It wasn’t far from mine, pretty much just around the corner.
Mrs. Holmes was doing WAY worse than me. Her exposed skin was covered in
cuts of all sizes, bruises... Her neck was in a brace, one of her legs in a cast. I
gasped.
“Mrs. Homes?” Dt. Keller asked politely. Mrs. holmes wet her lips with her
tongue, slowly in a drawn out action, as if she had to think out EVERY action involved.
“Here.” her voice was raspy and dry.
“I’m investigating the accident. Do you remember what happened? The driver
said you were talking to him at the time... What exactly were you talking about?”
“Uhhhhh...” she breathed slowly, thinking back... “I think we were talking about
how bad the neighborhood was these days, or something along those lines. Some
kids in the back of bus had pants down almost to their knees, and he was sayin’ how
he was hoping it was just a phase... then we crashed.”
“Was he watching the road?’”
“Yes, he was very vigilant. The other car cut right in front of us, when it was
green for us.”
The detective looked down on me, but he expression stayed the same: One of
calm and deep thought.
“Thank you. Anything else that might help us?”
“Hey, that girl was in the car, wasn’t she? The one in the wheelchair, there, right
in front of you! I saw her, as i flew out...”
“Yes, she survived.”
“Girl, you tell your parents...” deep breath. “That they should keep their eyes on
the road.”
“I can’t... they died....”
“I’m sorry...” she honestly sounded like she was. “Now, can you please leave
me alone? I need to catch up on my beauty sleep.”
Keller gave her another “thank you” and turned us around, and we went back to
my room.
“Can you remember who was driving at the time of the accident?” She asked
as I settled back in my bed.
“No, but I think it was Dad. Yes, I am SURE it was Dad. He hates Eugenia
driving. And mom never drives. He like holding the pizza when we buy it.... oh, we just
bought pizza!”
Keller grinned. “Wow, you are remembering stuff!! Can you remember the
conversation?”
As much as I thought about it, I couldn’t remember. “Sorry.” I said.
“Don’t worry. These things will come back to you, eventually. Don’t rush.”
“ I think I’m going to sleep for a while, now. My legs are killing me!”
“Ok. I’ll be back tomorrow.” We exchanged smiles, and she left. I was bringing
the pills to my lips as the door opened, showing Gini.
“Mrs. holmes is full of...”
“Whow, Gini. I though you were at home.”
“ Nah, lounge. Back to the point. She’s saying it was our fault? Our fault for the
accident? If we were responsible, they would be dead, not us. That’s how it works with
accidents.”
“Gini, I don’t think it works like that...”
“Now you’re against me to?”
“No way, Sis. But you’re going over board, just a bit....”
‘Am I now? My parents are dead! how are you not sad or anything?”
“I don’t think it has set in yet....”
“Then let it sink in, Sis. Feel something, for once. You never take anything
seriously.”
“ I do. I’m just trying to be pragmatic about it.”
“Always the nerd.”
“Gini, I’m going to bed. I don’t want you like this when I wake up.”
I gulped down the pills, drifting back into a calm sleep...
***
Gini was there when I woke up, but she hadn’t changed her attitude yet. Her
face was almost set in stone, a sneer drawn across it which made me almost fear for
my life.
“...”
“Gini, If you’re going to be all insultful and such, i don’t want to hear it.”
“Fne. I was just going to tell you that that lady down the hall died.”
That caught me off guard. “What? When? How?”
“ I guess the pain was too great. They found her pinching her IV tube.”
“That’s terrible!”
“Is it really? She deserved to die during the accident.”
“Who are you to judge?”
“She distracted the driver! it’s her fault the accident ever happened!why don’t
you care?”
“I do care, Gini! But I know that the accident was nobody’s fault, and so nobody
deserves to die!”
“And the parents? They didn’t deserve to die either.”
“No, they didn’t.... how come you survived, Gini? Not a scratch on you. Mom and
Dad died, and I almost did as well.... but you, you’re fine.... What really happened?
What happened in the accident?”
“Nothing happened, Marcy. We were driving. A bus ran a red light. that’s it.”
“ I don’t think so.....” Suddenly, my brain flashed to the moment of the accident....
I was in the car, playing super Mario Bros..... some one was fighting....
“The pizzas are going to get cold.” A woman, I assume it was Mom, said.
“No they won’t. Eugenia, slow down, we’re coming to a red light.” Was that
Dad?
“Dad, they’re no one coming.” Gini? Gini was driving the car?
“Eugenia, you have to stop at a red light.”
“No i don’t Dad. Look, no one’s there! I’ll just...”
Crash.
Slam.
Skid.
Ka-boom.
My eyelids opened quickly.
“Gini..... YOU were driving the car?”
“Well well well, look who remembered...”
“Gini, I’m going to tell Detective Keller.”
“Oooooo, you’re going to TELL, I’m so scared...”
“Gini, YOU killed the parents! You made us orphans! And all those people in
the bus..... Gini, you’re psycho....”
“ I was just trying to prove my point, Marcy..... They didn’t have to be there..... The
light was BARELY red, I mean, it just turned.... Redd didn’t have to blab like that...”
“Whow, whow, whow..... what about Redd?”
“I had to shut him up.”
“YOU killed Redd?”
“Oh yeah, and that... what’s her name...”
“You killed Mrs. Holmes? Oh Gini... She had a family....”
“So did we... once....”
“Gini, you’re sick. I’m calling the detective.” I frantically started to push the call
nurse button.”
“Oh no you’re not!” Gini yelled. She grabbed my pills, pinned me down and
started to jam them into my mouth. “A little overdose? Never suspect murder.....”
I struggled, managed to throw her off. I pushed the call button more vigorously
now.
I started to feel woozy.... oh no, she got one in my mouth.... I felt feint, my grasp
on the button slacking... No, No, I must hold on... tell detective.....
***
I woke with a start. I scanned my room: Gini was nowhere in sight. instead, a
haunting vision: Detective Keller. In the chair in the corner of my room. Limp and
lifeless. I screamed my lungs out.
A nurse ran in. Seeing the body of the closest person I had to a friend, she
freaked out as well. I explained the face that I just woke up. She called the police.
“I didn’t do it... but i know who did....“ I repeated endlessly to various detectives,
doctors, nurses. they put me on a wheelchair and rolled me into the security room.
“i’m Detective Tan.” A young man told me. “ I am... I mean, was... Detective
Keller’s partner. You say you know who killed her?”
“Yes, I do”
“Well, we beat you to it. We know it was you, Marcy.”
“What? No! I...”
“We’ve got it on tape, Marcy.”
They turned on one of the many TVs. I saw myself coming into Redd’s room,
pinching the IV and stopping him from breathing. I saw myself next in Mrs. Holmes’s
room, moving her limp fingers around the little IV tube, her unable to let go... finally, in
my own room, drugging Detective Keller with my pills and then strangling her.....
“That’s not me.” I gulped. “I can’t walk.”
One of the detectives picked up my left foot. “There’s dirt on it.” He said.
“There's been a mistake.... I mean, I couldn’t have done these thinks. I was
sleeping!”
“We’ve got proof, Marcy.”
“My sister did it! She told me!”
“You’ve never been awake while your sister was around.”
“No, not Mckayla, I mean Gini! Gini, or Eugenia! She did it, and admittied it to
me!”
The detectives exchanged worried glances.
“She was driving that day, the day of the accident! You’ve got to believe me!”
“ I wish I could, Marcy. But I’m sorry to say.... Gini died the day of the accident.
We told you, your family’s dead.”
I sat in the room in stunned silence. But somewhere in the back of my head, I
had known it all along. I could see Eugenia, sitting behind the nurses, no-one noticing
her presence....
“She’s right there!” I screamed, pointing at her. One or two people turned to
look, but they couldn’t see anything out of the picture. “I can see her!”
They all looked at me strangely. They thought I was crazy! Gini was laughing
now, whipping her hair her behind her shoulders, her head high in triumph.... She
glared at me, and through her bleach white teeth I thought I could see her mouthe:
“Who’s the psycho one now, Marcy?”

-Sarah
Age 15