CHAPTER THREE.

My dad's friend Liam Hernandez was one of the best surgeons in the country if not the very best. A complete genius, his parents had noticed his extraordinary IQ at just 2 years old. My grandparents and Dr. Liam's parents attended the same college back then and they had gotten close. Dr. Liam became a certified surgeon at age 20, graduated from the prestigious Harvard University.

The area where our accident took place was barricaded and word had gone out to all hospitals around, the closest of them all was Dr. Liam's. He called our house and told Mom that both her boys had gotten into an accident and were in very bad shape. Mom almost fainted after hearing the news. She informed Dad and raced to the hospital immediately.

Mom was told that Keith died before we got to the hospital and my chances of survival were pretty slim, she passed out but was immediately revived, my mom's younger Sister Aunt Ivory stayed back home with Sophie, While her best friend from the women's club accompanied her to the hospital, Dad arrived at the hospital the next day, he had been on the move the moment he got mom's call on the day of the accident.

"I'm so sorry for your loss Mr. and Mrs. Brown." Dr. Liam said.

"Please tell me I won't be losing my second child as well." Mom cried out as dad resumed consoling her, both were restless their eyes showed total lack of sleep, they had stayed two days in the hospital, only now were they summoned to Dr. Liam's office.

"No you won't Mrs. Brown. Aidan is fighting for his life, but there are things I should let you guys know.

"If Aidan does survive this, which am positive he would, He's going to be different."

"What do you mean by different?" Dad asked.

Dr. Liam took a long pause, he inhaled, exhaled and then began.

"Aidan took fatal blows to some parts of his brain, those parts were damaged permanently, a severe case of aphasia, he would never be able to speak, read or write for the rest of his life."

Mom and dad broke down in tears, dad managed to console mom who was now sobbing loudly, while his own tears slowly rolled down his cheek.

Dr. Liam took off his glasses and wiped them while shutting his eyes, as if trying to stop his own tears from falling.

"Part of Aidan's face was severely burnt, but that's easy for me to handle, I would perform a surgery on him in 4 hours, success rate is 80%, Aidan's face would be fixed he'll be able to read and write, his intelligence would be as it was before the accident but he would still not be able to speak for the rest of his life."

"Thanks Liam." Dad said.

"Please try to get some rest, Aidan won't die, you have my word." They all shook hands and said goodbye.

Two months later I woke up. My eyes opened slowly at first, I began seeing people with strange heads stupidly staring at me, my eyes closed and opened again, I recognized Mom, Dad, Sophie Aunt Ivory and Uncle Ben.

A nurse came in and asked Aunt Ivory and Uncle Ben to kindly leave. Only my family should be with me for now she said. I wondered why she did that I but let it go, I was more focused on the look on mom, dad and Sophie's eyes. It was one of extreme pity and extreme happiness.

Aunt Ivory and Uncle Ben nodded with a smile and left.

"Where's Keith?" I asked and immediately realized that I didn't hear my own voice. Tears began flowing from mom's eyes, she knew I was trying to speak just by the looking in my eyes.

"Son, you can't speak for now but very soon you'll be able to." Dad said.

I knew dad was lying, I've known him long enough to tell when he was and when he wasn't.

Dad continued speaking. "There's a device right beside you, you just have to press the button there and what you say would be-

Dad didn't need to finish speaking, the words were boldly written in uppercase on the flat big screen monitor above my hospital bed.

"WHERE'S KEITH?" I asked. Everyone was silent, their eyes moved away from my gaze. Tears ran down my cheeks, my tears felt hot and wouldn't stop flowing, I reached for the device again. "DID YOU BURY HIM ALREADY?"

"Yes we did." Dad said while mom cried on his shoulders, I had now began crying profusely and some stupid device connected to my body began noisily beeping, a nurse came rushing in. Now sitting up, I pointed to the monitor immediately I saw her.

"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME A FUCKING SEDATIVE, AM GOOD."

"I'm not giving you a sedative sir, I just want to make sure you're ok." The nurse replied while she checked some wires around my body.

I had never said the F word before not even my head. It felt like I was someone else, mom and dad said nothing but am pretty sure they were shocked.

The nurse smiled at me and left.

"TAKE ME TO SEE KEITH'S GRAVE AND TAKE ME HOME, I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE."

"The doctor said you'd be discharged tomorrow morning." Dad said.

"OK THANKS. YOU SHOULD ALL LEAVE PLEASE I NEED TO REST NOW."

Dad nodded, took mom and Sophie by the hand and left.

I told one of the nurses to remove the wires all over my body, I could use the bathroom by myself now and I badly needed to pee. The nurse did as she was told and I walked to the bathroom. Everything about me was still the same except for the fact that I couldn't speak anymore.

I washed my hands and face after using the bathroom. That was when I noticed another thing that changed. My face was different it was probably 10 times more handsome than my original face, my nose were straight and pointed, my hair had become golden blond from the brownish blond it used to be, my eyes were brown and my eye lashes were curly. I went back to my hospital bed and cried a lot because I couldn't stop thinking about Keith, I slept off.

"Are you sure that's our son?" Mom asked Dr. Liam. "Aidan looks different, he never cursed at anyone before." Dad added.

Dr. Liam smiled. "Yes that's your son, I'm sure he looks more handsome now. I fixed his face. Aidan is currently going through the rejection, anger and possibly suicidal phase, He's refusing to accept the fact that he would never speak again, and also the fact that his beloved brother is dead, he'll be mean to everyone who loves and cares for him. He'll be so depressed he'll turn to his anger as a defense, you guys would have to understand and support him through this phase."

"How long is this phase going to last?" Dad asked.

"He'll be back to his old happy self in six months to one year with good therapy, he may even be back to his old self in 2 or 3months time, it really varies on the individual. In rare cases some wouldn't go back to their old self they'll become difficult persons for the rest of their lives."

I began getting ready to leave the hospital. Mom, Dad and Sophie arrived shortly to pick me up, I didn't feel like staying there another second. Mom and Sophie helped me put some stuff together in a bag.

Dr. Liam came in and handed me something in a box. "This is from one of the best scientist in the country, it's my gift to you for being a survivor, do not give up Aidan. You have your whole life ahead of you." I reached for the device. "THANKS DOCTOR, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING."

"You're welcome, I was only doing my job." Dr. Liam said with a broad smile.

"Why don't you see what's in there before you head on home."

I opened the box, found a black wristwatch and what looked like a tiny round disk.

"Put the wristwatch on and place the tiny round object behind your left or right ear, don't worry it'll stick it won't fall off." Dr. Liam said.

I did as was told.

"Now try saying something."

"Something" I said. My family's eyes became bright and they all smiled.

Although it sounded a little like a robot but it was a device I was happy to have. I looked at the watch, there were tons of buttons on it. I pressed one with intent to lower the volume of the mechanical voice a little bit and I did.

"Impressive, you just reduced the volume without being told how to, you're a smart kid Aidan, I believe you'd do just fine."

"Thanks again doctor." I said, sounding better than I did the first time.

My family said thanks to Dr. Liam, they hugged and shook hands. I found out later that he paid half of the total hospital bill and the gift he got me was around seventy five thousand dollars market price.

The weather was a gloomy one, withered leaves of trees began falling off almost simultaneously, it was as if nature mourned with us. I stood in front of Keith's grave, my thoughts raced to the moment of the accident.

"Something happened that night mom, I can't explain it, but something out of the ordinary happened." I began sobbing, my tears wouldn't stop.

Mom had probably cried her eyes to drought. You could tell she was deeply wounded inside but there were no more tears.

"They said Keith was driving extremely fast, one car owner claimed he heard you guys arguing before the car drifted off the road."

"That's ridiculous! To hell with all of them, how could they know what happened? It was just Keith and I in the car, they weren't there with us." I got so mad, felt like killing the car owner who claimed he heard us arguing.

"I know son." Mom said.

"I don't believe that either." The tears began falling as she spoke. "You boys never argued about anything, you both loved each other so much."

I hugged mom and stopped her from crying. I placed a flower and the wristwatch I gave Keith on his last birthday beside his grave. The wind brushed against my body and my mind kept on whispering to me to be strong. Mom and I headed home as it began drizzling.