Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The repetitive sound brought Lilly back to consciousness. She felt herself laying in a cushioned, but sturdy, bed with loud sounds and wires all around her. Lilly did not know what to think as she tried to open her eyes. She could not open her left eye but could her right. She opened it and could see bright lights; it made her cringe and shut it again.

“Lilly,” she heard a voice calling to her. “Are you awake? Lilly?” It was a robust, young voice that she recognized. She felt a little foggy yet, so it was not easily placed. She groaned in response though, just to hear more of his words. “Oh, thank God! I was so worried about you.”

“Honey, baby!” Another voice also spoke, which was higher and more feminine. The fog was clearing up a little bit, and she could at least tell this voice was her mother’s. “Can you open your eye for me, honey?”

Lilly tried again, taking it slower at first to avoid the harsh lights. Once her eye was opened, she saw two bodies in front of her: her mother and her boyfriend, Miles. Her mother put her dainty hand on the undamaged side of Lilly’s face, weeping with joy that her baby was alright.

“We were worried about you, Liles,” Miles stated as his baby blue eyes teared up. “They got you in for surgery and everything before we got here, so we did not know your condition.”

“How did everything go?” Lilly asked since she knew none of the answers; she noticed her voice sounded groggy and underused. The fog which had clouded her mind was almost gone. She could feel it was from the painkillers and the sedatives she was on.

“Let’s just wait until the doctors are here, baby,” Lilly’s mom straightened up after she dried her eyes. She sniffled a few times as she tried to get her composure. Lilly tried to smile at her a little, but it seemed to hurt the left side of her face.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door and a blonde-haired head popped in. “Hi, guys,” she said once she noticed Lilly’s mother and boyfriend were still here. “I just wanted to check and see how everything is going.”

“She’s awake,” Lilly’s mother cheered. The nurse—Lilly assumed due to her Tweety Bird scrubs—finally looked at Lilly and smiled. She started to walk closer.

“Well, hello there, my name is Christina. I am the head nurse on this case,” Christina introduced herself as she started to examine Lilly. She checked over the neck brace around Lilly’s neck, and the IV tubes as well. Christina was careful around her left eye and made sure to be soft when removing the towel from left side of her face. She gave it a once over and then went to get a fresh, damp towel to put over her again.

“So, everything is looking good so far. I know it does not seem like it due to the excessive swelling,” Christina announced as soon as she was done examining. “I will let the doctor know she is awake so he can come and see how you are progressing as well.” She finished cleaning up some things in the room before taking her leave.

“How you feeling, Liles,” Miles asked as he sat down in one of the fold-out chairs next to the bed; Lilly’s mother took the other.

“Sore, like a 100-pound weight has hit my body recently,” Lilly tried to describe how she felt as she tried to look at them. The neck brace restricted her movements, and since her eye would not open, she could not see them from where they were sitting. Her vision still felt like she was seeing doubles.

There was another knock on the door and they turned to see a curly top pop in. “Hello everyone, I heard Lilly was awake, so I thought I would come and see how everything is going,” the man said as he stepped into the room more. His white coat only came to about his knees.

“Yes, doctor, she just woke up about ten minutes ago,” Lilly’s mother reviewed as he started to examine her.

“Mary, remember, you can call me Stevens,” the doctor announced to Lilly’s mother. Mary smiled back at him before Stevens concentrated on examining Lilly. He removed the towel which the nurse put on, and examined everything.

“Alright, Lilly,” Stevens looked at her once he finished the examination. “I know we need to play catch-up, but I need to know how you are feeling.”

“Sore, especially in the face,” she admitted.

“And that is probably going to be for a little while. When that log hit you, it fractured the cheekbone on the left side of your face and split open the skin on your eyelid. It also grazed your scalp, so there is stitching on your eyelid and scalp to hold the skin in place for it to heal. There is a large amount of swelling right now, due to everything. We removed glass as well from your face. Getting everything so far?”

“Yes, but how about the neck brace? How long do I need to wear it,” Lilly questioned, she was in shock on how much damage had been done.

“Well, when the EMS guys brought you in, they had a neck brace on you already to stabilize you. When we did an MRI on you, we noticed there was a break as well in the neck, so we need to keep it on you until it heals, or else you could become paralyzed. There is nothing but time which can heal that wound.” Lilly heard her mother gasp from shock as well at how close her baby could be to death from all the injuries. Lilly felt her hand squeezed, knowing Miles was there for her.

“OK then, what now?”

“Now, we are going to need you to rest,” Stevens declared. “We can only do so much until the swelling goes down and we need for you to take it easy. You will be staying here for the next couple days until we know exactly what is going on. Your recovery will not be easy, but the more you rest, the better it will be.” Stevens nodded as he started to take his exit.

“Thank you, Stevens,” Mary stated as she got up to make sure her daughter was OK.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Lilly admitted.

“Let’s page the nurse, then,” Mary said as she pressed the help button. A few minutes later, Christina was back in the room. “Christina, can you help us get Lilly to the bathroom?”

“Alright, we need to see if you can stand first. Your responses were positive, so if you feel like you can, we should try so we can work those muscles. I’m going to help you out of the bed.” Lilly nodded as Christina came to her side and put down the guard rails. She wrapped a belt around Lilly’s waist to help hold Lilly up. “Alright, on three, if Miles, you could gently grab her other arm and side, we can try and help you to a sitting position. Keep yourself as straight as you can. One…Two…Three….” They lifted Lilly and she found herself in more pain while moving, but knew it was going to happen until she was done.

“Come on, Lilly,” Miles cheered her on as Christina helped swing Lilly around so she could almost touch the floor. Mary took over for a minute so Miles could swing around the bed. “You can make this.”

“Alright, Lilly, how are you doing?” Christina asked as she let them take a break. Lilly did feel like this was going to take a lot out of her, but she needed to try, or else she would not be able to do what was needed.

“In pain, but alright,” Lilly recited as she took a breather.

“We will get you some more pain medication when we get back from the bathroom. Wanna go on three again?” Lilly nodded that she was ready. “One…Two…Three….” Christina and Miles helped Lilly to stand up. It was a slow process as they needed to make sure to keep her back straight and not restrain her too much. They held the belt to assist her, but Lilly knew she needed to do this on her own as much as possible—to evaluate her condition.

“Good, Lilly, good,” Christina announced once Lilly was standing up as straight as she could. Lilly heard her mother cheer for her, letting her know how proud Mary was of her daughter. “Now, let’s take some small steps.”

She started taking them slowly, her muscles protesting a little as she went. Once she started to walk a little, Lilly knew she could recover from the accident, with the help of her loved ones.