My Boy

03/14/2023

***Disclaimer: This story was inspired by a prompt provided by Reedsy.com. Prompt is provided below. Visit their site https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/ to learn more.***

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Prompt: End your story with a kiss at midnight.

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As a mother, Lexie wondered why it couldn’t be her instead. Ever since the car accident, Jonah had been unconscious in the hospital. For a month straight, Lexie never left his bedside. She’d give anything to take his place, to take away his pain. The last month had been pure torment as she hoped and prayed he would open his eyes again, helpless in the chair beside his hospital bed. All she could do was be there when he woke. Lexie knew if she could provide anything as her son lay sleeping next to her that she could provide this much. She would do anything in the world for her little boy. 

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Jonah was dozing in the backseat, worn out from the holiday shopping spree his mother took him on that day. As Lexie drove along with the radio down low, humming to herself quietly, she came around a sharp curve. The deer came out of nowhere; it stood in the middle of the lane, stunned by the car’s bright headlights. In the heat of panic, Lexie gripped the steering wheel hard, her first instinct to swerve around the frightened creature. The car skidded off the road, rolling into the deep ditch below. When Lexie turned to look at her son in the back seat as the engine stalled, her heart stopped beating in her chest.

“Jonah…?” Lexie whispered, shock paralyzing her body as she looked at her son in the back seat. He looked peaceful, as if he slept through the whole thing. Knowing he couldn’t have possibly dozed through the accident, a new wave of panic washed over Lexie, and she grew frantic. 

“Jonah? Jonah!” Lexie tried to move, to pull free from her seat belt, but she was pinned in the driver’s seat. The car was a crushed heap in the front; there was no way to pry her leg from the wreckage. She managed to reach her arm back just far enough to touch Jonah’s leg. Lexie yelled her son’s name, sobbing as she tried to shake him awake. Her ears were ringing as everything became a blur of despair and fear. She heard the distant sound of approaching sirens before everything went fuzzy and grew dark.

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Lexie woke up in a hospital bed, a cast on her broken leg. As the memories came rushing back, Lexie’s heartbeat quickened. Jonah. 

“Where is he?” Lexie cried, attempting to sit up, tearing herself from all the beeping machines in her sudden hysteria. “Where’s my boy?”

The nurse rushed in and assured her that Jonah was alive, but to his mother’s dismay and horror he hadn’t woken up since the accident. 

She couldn’t help but think that this was all her fault, but Lexie knew deep down that no one could have known that deer would be standing in the middle of the road. As a mother, she felt a maternal obligation to keep Jonah out of harm’s way, to protect him from the world. Thinking about her son alone in a hospital room and unable to wake up made her heart sink in her chest. But Lexie soon willed herself to put these feelings of guilt and sadness aside, and to rejoice in the fact that her son was alive. With the help of her nurse and a wheelchair, Lexie made her way down the hall to see her boy, unsure of what she would find. 

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As Lexie looked at her son now, so still and strangely peaceful in his comatose state, she couldn’t help but blame herself again. She was the reason Jonah’s life was in limbo. As she helplessly sat by his bedside each day and each night, she anxiously awaited the moment that Jonah would wake up. Lexie wouldn’t let her fear or doubt get the best of her; she knew her son would wake up, and the doctor even told her that talking to Jonah could help. So that’s what she did, every day and every night. She talked to him about all his favorite things, everything he missed, anything to fill the void, the silence in that god forsaken hospital room. At night she would stroke his hair while she held his hand, crying over her sleeping son, telling him how sorry she was and begging him to come back to her. 

The holiday season was his favorite time of year. Lexie and Jonah were on their way home from Black Friday shopping, and just like that, he missed Christmas and the new year was upon them. Lexie resolved to make the most of what was left of the year, even if they had to count down in a hospital room. Even if Jonah didn’t wake up.  

Scanning the hospital channels, Lexie found Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Turning the volume down low, she sat next to Jonah on the bed and held his hand as she often did, telling him what was happening on the screen. They always watched the ball drop together, sharing their resolutions with one another before counting down to the new year. 

“What are your resolutions this year, sport?” Lexie patted Jonah’s hand in hers, giving it a light squeeze. “New year, new you. What’s it going to be?” She smiled down at her son. He was going to change the world; he was the brightest and the strongest kid she knew, and Jonah would keep fighting against the odds. For his mother’s sake, he had to. 

“I haven’t really thought much about my resolutions this year,” Lexie said to no one in particular, tears filling her eyes. “All I can think about is how much I miss you, and how I can possibly make it up to you. I’m so, so, sorry Jonah. I love you so much and I just don’t want to go on without you anymore. If you can hear me, just know that mommy’s here, and I will always love you most. You’re my world, kiddo.” Lexie squeezed Jonah’s hand tightly this time as tears ran down her face. She wiped her tears and glanced up at the television mounted on the wall. The countdown was about to begin. 

“This is it, Jonah. The countdown is starting. Let’s ring in this new year together, hmm? What do you say?”

Lexie started counting aloud like her and Jonah always did before they blew their noisemakers and had a confetti popper war, seeing who could shout Happy New Year the loudest. 

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…”

Lexie felt a slight twitch in her hand, a movement so small it could have been just a muscle spasm. 

“Mom?” 

As Jonah’s eyelids slowly fluttered open, Lexie’s heart skipped a beat. 

“Oh Jonah, my sweet boy,” Lexie sobbed as she pulled her son’s head to her chest, clinging to him for dear life.  

As the countdown came to an end and the clock struck midnight, Lexie kissed her son on the forehead, smoothing his hair back as she did so. It was one of those motherly gestures she had grown so accustomed to, something that she feared - in her fleeting moment of doubt - she might never get to do again. Jonah looked up at her and smiled. 

“Happy New Year, Mom,” Jonah said as he laid his head on his mother’s shoulder. 

“Happy New Year, sport,” Lexie’s voice cracked as she hugged Jonah tight. 

THE END