Blinded by the Light

Mark woke up with a start, covered in sweat. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Light from the full moon flooded into the room through the large window. Beside him his wife, Charlene, lay still, breathing softly in her sleep.

‘Christ,’ he muttered to himself, taking a drink of water from the glass on the bedside locker next to him. He had just had that dream again. A dream about a car accident. He’d been having it for the last couple of years now. Not every night, though; it would come in spells – he might have the dream every night for a fortnight, but then not have it again for another couple of months. It crept up on him when he wasn’t expecting it.

Each time it felt so real, as if he was actually in that car. Driving down a road during the night with Charlene in the passenger seat beside him…

‘Christ,’ he said again. He rubbed his face with his open hands and lay back down on the bed, wrapping an arm around Charlene.

* * *

Mark took a drink from his beer, keeping his eyes on the book he was reading. He was sitting outside in the sun with Charlene. It was warm out, so they decided that they’d call in sick and just take it easy for the day. The charcoal on the barbecue gave off a nice smoky smell that Mark liked. He put his head back on the lounger and closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on his face. He could hear the kids from the neighbourhood playing on the quiet street. They had moved here from the city a few months ago. City life was too stressful and too demanding. So both of them decided to hand in their notices and leave their jobs, and move to this quiet area. Anyway, they had wanted to start a family, and neither of them wanted to bring up kids in a city environment.

As Mark relaxed his mind started to wander – he thought about his recent marriage to Charlene, their new house, their family. The warmth encouraged his eyes to stay closed, and gradually, he began to fall asleep.

He was in the car again. The radio was on and he was laughing with his wife Charlene. They had just come from a party in a friend’s house. Even though Mark was driving, he still had a couple of glasses of wine, thinking it would do no harm.

The radio continued to play out some country and western song. He looked over at his wife – she had a beautiful smile, he loved her so much.
Horns.

Mark looked back out the window and he was blinded by truck lights moving towards them, the driver beeping the horn. Mark swerved and came off the road, heading straight for the trunk of a large tree.

But he was still blinded by light from somewhere. There was no crash this time.

In the background he could hear some mumbling. It took him a minute, but he managed to make it out.

‘Mark. Can you hear me, Mark?’

It was Charlene’s voice. He tried to answer but the words wouldn’t come out. He was able to make out shapes in the bright white light. They were people; three of them. The shapes came into focus, and one of them was Charlene, leaning over his head.

‘Mark! You’re awake!’ she said with excitement. ‘Speak to me, please!’

‘He’s been in a coma for two years,’ another voice said. ‘He may not understand what’s happening.’

Everything started to blur again.

‘Mark, please don’t go!’ cried his wife.
He had to force out the words, he had to. ‘Love… you…’ is all he managed.

‘I love you, too,’ echoed someone’s words in his head.

He opened his eyes again and looked around, his wife was beside him holding a cheeseburger and another cold beer. The kids were still playing on the street.

‘I said I love you, too,’ smiled Charlene. ‘Here,
take this, you must be starving.’

‘Christ,’ muttered Mark, as the reality of everything came crashing in.