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Dec. 21, 2004 They say some days you meet yourself coming and going. Sheri did that the other night after leaving a Christmas party going to work. She remembered going to the party. It was fun and Jim, the boy she really had her eyes on and whom she was hoping to date, was there. She also remembers the music was hot and lots and lot of adult beverages. She remembered hurrying home. She knew she had to be at work at the local hospital and she'd be late if she didn't hurry. She worked in the emergency room as a nurse. She took a quick shower, toweled off quickly,dressed, and got back in her car. Here is where Sheri's memory of the trip to work became a little fuzzy. She recalled coming to a stop at the cross roads just before the turn into the hospital. She remembered lights coming at her, but didn't see where they came form, or where they went to. She didn't remember parking, but because of the rush she was in that didn't somehow mean a whole lot at the time. Sheri got her handbag out of the car and headed into the hospital entrance to the emergency room. There was one of the many ambulances sitting out front. One of a long line in the usual long line during the holidays. There were a lot of people needing emergency care during the holidays. Just before she got inside she met her brother Jeff coming out. This was strange because it was late and Jeff didn't work at the hospital. As a matter of fact Jeff was a student at a college in one of the larger cities in the area. He was an Art student and had always been the talent in the family. He was also engaged to a nice girl he'd met in one of his classes. She hadn't heard Jeff to have been in town. At least her mother hadn't told her anything and her dad and she never spoke. He didn't care too much for her drinking, but she just thought of him as an old fogie and left it at that. He often warned her she would regret her drinking some night. Yeah, right. She called Jeff's name. What was going on? She thought he was at college. Jeff looked a little pale, but he normally did. He spent too much time inside. Sheri always told him that. He was home early as a surprise to the family. He knew nobody would expect him and he was trying to get home and sneak in so as to see mom's expression in the morning. Sheri asked Jeff about his fiance' Jeannie. Oh, last he had seen her she'd been fine. She was getting ready for one last final and would be flying home to be with her parents for a little while for Christmas and then back to celebrate the New Year with him. Sheri and Jeff talked a little together catching up on him and his classes and what he'd been doing while he was away. He ticked off the results of his semester which were generally good. Suddenly Sheri asked him what he was doing at the hospital. One of the ambulances had just pulled out. Did he know someone inside? Jeff went blank. He thought maybe he did. Somehow he didn't remember what he was doing there, or how he'd gotten there. The last he recalled was driving home. He'd almost gotten to the turn to the house at the four way stop and then here he was. With that Jeff walked off looking, Sheri thought, very confused and maybe looking for his car. She shrugged her shoulders and went inside. Nobody greeted her as she entered the emergency room and mumbled her apologies for being late. Again, she wasn't surprise when nobody made comment about her late arrival. There seemed to be some excitement.Evidently there'd been a car wreck. Sheri walked toward one of the examination rooms and froze. There on the end was a handbag like her own, only this one had blood splattered on it. It was laying on the end of a gurney on which was one of the accident victoms. Sheri looked at her own handbag and stopped. Where was her handbag? She must have dropped it when she'd met Jeff outside, or left it in the car after all. She moved into the examination room; passing another gurney which was blood soaked on the way. She didn't even notice the person laying on it. Inside the room she pulled aside the curtain and went inside. There on the gurney was herself. The doctors and nurses were working furiously trying to tend to her injuries. Her injuries? How could she be there and here? She turned around and walked back out. It was then she saw the figure on the other gurney...Jeff. How could Jeff be here? She had just seen him outside. She looked closer. Yes, it was Jeff. She noted the birth mark on his neck and then she notice the Jeff on the gurney was dead and his neck was broken. Sheri felt herself go limp and everything went black. The next thing she knew she could hear the beep of monitors nearby and sounds in the hall someplace. She gradually was aware of being in pain and a needle with attached IV drip in her arm. The sounds of weeping was close by. She openned her eyes. There was her mother. She was crying. Sheri started to reach out to her, but the bar of a hospital bed stopped the action. It caught the attention of her mother, though. Oh Sheri dear, you're awake. Thank God! I couldn't bear to loose two of my babies at once. Loose two? Sheri didn't understand. She was confused. She couldn't think what she was doing here in a hospital bed. Then her mother dropped the other shoe. Sheri, dear, your brother Jeff is dead. He'd hit your car while on his way home, evidently. Right there at the cross roads on the way to the hospital. Jeff was getting ready to turn toward home when Sheri had pulled out. Clearly Jeff hadn't seen her because of the brush at that corner. Of course the police would be wanting to speak with her. They'd found she'd had some alcohol in her blood, but just under the legal limit. They had put blame on Jeff who'd clearly been driving too fast and distracted by something, or hadn't seen her in time to stop due to the bushes on the corner. Sheri asked her mother what time everything had happened. Why, Sheri dear, it was about the time you were due to be at work. ------------ About the author: Lee Zelhart is a proud graduate of McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois and the father of two teens (one of which will be getting married in the next couple of years, maybe sometime in 2006) and the author of The Ghost of the Cavalier due out in 2005. Email: graphicsdoctor1@sbcglobal.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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