Bridgette - Chapter Twenty Four: One More Day

Warning, there may be some images that some might find disturbing. Maybe not, but I thought I’d put that warning out there. Also, you might want to grab a tissue. I needed several when I was typing this chapter.  You’ll understand why I went ahead and posted both the last chapter and the epilogue together since it would have just been too cruel to leave you with this chapter. : ) I've provided the song that inspired this chapter at a point where the lyrics are given. If you'd like, you can listen to it while you scroll through the pictures. I’ll have more to say at the end.  . .

*****

 

It was a cold fall day and I was standing in the kitchen, waiting for Carson to come home when my phone rang. My phone rang more times than I could count during the day. Sometimes it was Mom, sometimes it was one of the kids asking me to bring them something they forget. Other times it was someone inquiring about a painting or drawing class. Some days it was Kate wanting to chat or make a lunch date so we could get together. Sometimes it was Jeff wondering if I wanted to walk across the field to his house since he basically lived right next door. Annoyingly, sometimes it was a solicitor who I would just hang up on. As I looked at the number, I realized it wasn’t anyone I knew so I figured it was either a solicitor or someone inquiring about a class. I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do right now was talk to someone about a class since Carson was due home any minute now.

 I slid my finger across the screen to ignore the call and went back to trying to figure out what we could eat for dinner. Trev would need something substantial after football practice and with two other teenage boys in the house, we needed lots of whatever it was going to be. I opened up the fridge and started taking inventory of what we had when I felt my phone buzz again. I looked down at it again and noticed that it was the same number that had called a minute earlier. I was getting a little annoyed by that point but since they were calling again, I figured it at least wasn’t a telemarketer. I sighed again and answered the phone.

“Hello?” I tried not to sound as annoyed as I actually was.

“Mrs. Davila?” A man asked.

 “Yes? This is Mrs. Davila; how can I help you?”

“Is this Mrs. Davila, wife of Carson Alexander Davila?”

“Yes.” I said with a little annoyance. It seemed odd that a man would ask such a question.

“Mrs. Davila, I’m officer Whittinger. I’m calling to inform you that your husband has been involved in a car accident and has been rushed to the hospital. . .” Everything else the officer said went in one ear, and out the other. I could hear him talking but it was almost like he was speaking a different language.

“Mrs. Davila? Did you hear what I said.”

 “I’m. . .sorry. . .did you say Carson was in an accident?” In my shock I thought maybe I had heard him wrong.

“Yes ma’am and he’s been rushed to the hospital. A police car should be arriving at your house any minute to rush you there.” Right at that moment I heard a siren and a moment later there was a knock at the door. “Mrs. Davila, has the officer arrived at your house.”

“Yes. . .” 

“He will take you to the hospital. You need to hurry.” When he told me I needed to hurry I hung up the phone and ran out the front door. The police officer helped me get into the police car and sped out of the driveway. I somehow had the mindset to call Mom.

“Hey Bridge! What’s up?”

“Carson. . .accident. . .hospital.” It was all I could get out in between the gasps of air.

 “We’ll get the kids and meet you there.”

I sat in the police car watching familiar sights go by in a hazy blur thinking that maybe this was just some bad nightmare and I would wake up any second.  But I wasn’t waking up and the sinking feeling in my stomach just kept getting worse and worse.

The police car pulled up to the hospital and the police officer walked around to my side of the car and helped me out. We hurriedly walked through the doors and a doctor was there to meet us. As we walked he talked to me.

“Mrs. Davila? I’m Dr. Royce. Your husband was involved in an accident with another car that pulled out in front of him. He was seriously injured in the accident.”

“But he’s going to be okay, right?” I looked at the doctor pleading with him to tell me that my husband was going to be okay. We stopped in front of a set of doors and he looked very calmly at me.

“Mrs. Davila, I can’t make that promise. All I can tell you is that we will do everything we can to help him. He’s in this room and we’re getting ready to take him into surgery but he has been asking for you, and under the circumstances. . .I think you should see him. I will warn you, he has many cuts and bruises so prepare yourself. Try to keep him calm but please hurry; once they’ve gotten him ready for surgery, they’ll wheel him away.”

I nodded and took a deep breath as the doctor held the door open. I thought I had prepared myself for what Carson would look like, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. As I walked closer to the bed, I saw someone who was covered in cuts and bruises who unless he hadn’t had Carson’s hair, I never would have known it was him. I closed my eyes and tried to muster my courage.

“Mrs. Davila, you need to hurry.” I heard the doctor whisper urgently from behind me. I silently nodded and walked closer to the bed. When I got next to him I extended my shaking hand and grabbed hold of his. His eyes flickered several times before he was able to concentrate on me.

“Bridge.” I could barely hear him and he looked like it was painful for him to talk.

“Shh. It’s okay, you don’t have to talk.” I was using every ounce of will power to try not to cry. I stroked the top of his head with my other hand and smiled at him.

He licked his lips and swallowed several times. He closed his eyes like he was concentrating really hard and then quickly opened them back up and looked at me. “Tell the kids I love them.”

“NO! Don’t you do this. You can tell them yourself when you get out of surgery. Do you hear me Carson Alexander Davila! Do not leave us! Do not give up!”

He smiled weakly at me. “My fiery, beautiful, gorgeous wife.” He swallowed again and then coughed. “I love you.”

“Stop it Carson! You promised me that we would always be together!” 

He tried to smile at me. “We will beautiful. I’ll always be with you.” He shut his eyes, his grip on my hand became limp, and a bunch of machines started beeping. Before I knew what was happening I was being pushed to the side and it felt like someone picked me up. I looked around and there was a male nurse who was almost carrying me out of the room. I turned around and looked back at where Carson was laying and thought I heard the sound of someone screaming as the doors closed. The nurse was trying to get me to calm down and it was then that I realized that I was the one screaming and crying uncontrollably.

“Mrs. Davila, you need to stay here. When we know anything, someone will come out and tell you.” He looked over my shoulder and nodded. Right as I saw the nurse walk back into the room, I felt someone place their arm around my shoulders as I started crying They helped me to the chairs that were right outside the room and that’s when I looked over and saw that the arm belonged to Jeff. He had seen the police car at our house and followed it to the hospital.

He sat there with his arm around me and I started to hear him talking. At first I thought he was talking to someone else but there wasn’t anyone else there.  I was in too much of a shock to comprehend what he was saying. It was like I had earplugs in my ears and could only hear muffled sounds.  I remember looking up at some point and seeing Charlie and Kate standing there. They were also trying to talk to me but all I could do was continue staring at the door, waiting for someone to walk through with news about Carson. Eventually I noticed Mom and Dad come in and that’s when I saw the kids followed immediately by Carson’s parents.  At the sight of the kids I started losing it again. I walked up to them and hugged them. 

“What is it, Mom? What’s wrong with Dad?” Trev asked.

Jeff came over and told the kids about the accident and that we were waiting to hear news about Carson. 

“But he’s going to be okay, right Mom?” Charlotte begged. How could I look into my children’s eyes and tell them what I had seen in that room. I just did what I could, and continued to hug each of them.

It felt like we waited an eternity before the doctor came out and he seemed shocked by the number of people standing there waiting. He must not have seen me at first since he called out my name. “Mrs. Davila?” I let go of the kids and somehow found the will to walk over to him. He pulled me over to the side and opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. I noticed he looked over my shoulder, nodded, and then quickly looked back at me.

“Mrs. Davila, as you know your husband came in here with multiple serious injuries. While you were in the room he went into cardiac arrest and while we made every effort to revive him. . .we were unable to do so. . .” He kept talking but I didn’t hear anything after that. I remember by knees buckling and someone holding me while I cried out. 

I vaguely remembered walking out of the hospital but the next thing I clearly remembered was waking up in Carson’s and my bed and looking around. Everything was quiet. I jolted into a sitting position and listened for a noise. I looked down and saw that I was wearing the clothes I had worn earlier in the day but I wasn’t sure if everything had actually happened or if I had dreamt it. I heard the sound of a man talking on the other side of the bedroom door and I got hopeful as I stood up. I watched as the door knob slowly turned and held my breath as I watched to see who would walk through the door.  I took a deep breath in and immediately felt my heart sink as I saw Jeff walk through the door. 

“NO JEFF! NO! IT WAS A DREAM!! PLEASE TELL ME IT WAS A DREAM!!!!!” 

He rushed over to me and hugged me. “Bridge. Shh. I’m sorry you woke up alone. I heard a commotion downstairs and I was peaking downstairs to see what was going on.”

It was like someone poked me with a cattle prod; that jolted me out of what I was feeling and made me think of the kids. I started to think maybe something had happened to one of the them. “The kids?!” 

“They’re okay. They’re downstairs with everyone else.” 

“I need to go down there.” I started to walk past him and he grabbed my arm before I could leave the room.

“Bridge, wait. They’re really hurting right now. I don’t want to sound. . .cold, but they need you to be strong right now. I know you’re hurting but as much as we’ve tried to comfort them, they just want you.” I nodded and swallowed hard. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders before walking downstairs.

The next several days went by in a blur. Carson and I had never made funeral plans so I was faced with making all the arrangements.   No matter where I went, someone was always with me; whether it was Jeff, Kate, Charlie, Mom or Dad; and someone was always with the kids. The kids were taking time off from school and their teachers had even sent home their schoolwork so they could do it when they were able so they wouldn’t fall behind. Trev’s teammates and coaches had stopped by  the house along with other classmates the kids had. It was nice to know people cared but eventually we just wanted to be left alone to deal with our grief privately.

As bad as the kids and I felt, I watched as the rest of the family grieved over losing Carson too. Everyone had always loved him so it was difficult for them to deal with their grief while also trying to be there for the kids and me. Out of the rest of the family, Charlie took it the worst. When he was with me he would sometimes just reach over and grab my hand. He would get giant tears in his eyes and stare straight ahead. Sometimes Mom would walk into the living room and see us like that and she would leave the room quickly. She would try to hide her grief from me but I could sometimes hear her somewhere in the house crying.

The day of the funeral arrived and I prayed for the strength to make it through the day. It had been decided that Trev and I would say some words at the service and even though I had initially offered to speak, I was starting to second guess myself. The kids filed into the kitchen right when it was time to leave and I gave them all a weak smile. I gave each of them a reassuring hug before we all walked outside to the cars. We walked outside and saw Jeff and Dad who were driving us to the family cemetery.  One thing that Mom and Dad had done several years ago was to buy the land next to them. When we kids first found out about it we asked them what they had planned to do with it. We were all shocked when they told us it was for a family cemetery. At the time I thought it was silly, but I actually found that laying Carson’s body to rest there brought me a little peace at a time when I needed any shred of peace I could grab on to.  As the cars pulled up to the cemetery, I looked over at Jeff and he reached over and squeezed my hand.

 

As I stepped out of the car I looked up at the sky. It was a bright sunny day and for late fall, it was decently warm. The trees were beautiful shades of orange, red and yellow. I looked where everyone had gathered. The sight around the casket was completely different than what we had seen the night before. At the viewing, there was almost no room to move. A decent number of Carson’s previous physical therapy patients showed up to offer their condolences. There were his co-workers, coaches from high school and college that he worked with, his extended family, people we went to high school with, the kids classmates, teachers, coaches; I had never talked to so many people in one night. But this day, there were only our families present.  We had opted to have a graveside service so there were chairs sitting out. I saw Carson’s parents and his brothers  and I gave each of them a hug. I listened to all of them cry but I couldn’t even cry anymore; I felt like I could, but nothing would come out. As I was finishing talking with Carson’s family, I felt a hand on my arm and turned to see Charlie. “It’s time.” He told me but he couldn’t look me in the eyes. I made sure the kids found their seats and I sat down next to them waiting for the service to start.

I stared at the coffin as the minister spoke.  I was sure he was saying something nice but I couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying. I continued to sit there, staring at the coffin; it was all I could do.  I still had moments where I wondered if this wasn’t a nightmare and I would soon wake up in Carson’s and my bed with him laying next to me; holding me. The only thing that snapped me back to reality was seeing the movement of Trev getting up to speak. 

He walked up to the podium and looked down at the sheet of paper he had taken up with him. He stood there for a minute looking down at the paper before he started to speak.

 

****Trevor****

I knew when I had offered to speak at Dad’s service that it was going to be hard, but I never really knew how hard it would be until I got up there to speak. I looked down at my paper for a minute, trying to push back the tears that were on the brink of falling. I took a deep breath and looked up.

“A couple months ago, we took a trip to Paradise Island.” I actually felt myself smile thinking about it. “I was standing on the beach with Dad and we were having one of our “father/son talks.” We had those quite often and I’m sure any of my siblings would admit to having them with dad too.” I noticed that all three of them nodded. “I think this one will stick in my mind the most though since it was the last one we had. What was always the underlying theme in all the talks we had was to be true to yourself. Be who you are no matter what anyone else thinks about you, and no matter what life throws at you; if you do that,  you’ll be okay. I think his and Mom’s relationship and marriage was a testament to that. They never sacrificed who they were for each other but instead loved each other for who they were.  That’s the legacy he leaves behind. We’ll miss you Dad, but we’ll be true to ourselves and carry on your legacy.” I grabbed my paper and sat back down. Charlotte grabbed my hand and we both started crying.

****Charlotte****

I was crying hard after Trev finished but I was more mad than sad. I kept looking at the coffin and all I wanted to do was scream at Dad for leaving us. Then I would have this guilty feeling for being mad at him.  I kept going back and forth and I started to wonder just how we were all supposed to get through this. It was so unfair and I just wanted to scream at the whole world and let them know how mad I was. I hated to admit it, but I was glad the person in the other car had died.  They didn’t deserve to live after what they put us through. I looked back over at the coffin and started getting mad at Dad again. Was this pain and anger ever going to go away?

****William****

I sat there staring off into space during the service.  All I wanted to do the last several days was to sleep, read, and write. Reading and writing was the only thing that took my mind off the pain I was feeling. For a brief moment, when I was reading or writing, the pain would disappear. I could escape into a different world and forget what was going on around me. I sat there wishing I could just lock myself in my room and shut out the rest of the world.  The only thing that made me want to come back to reality was being there for Mom, Trev, Charlotte, and George. Without them, I would have been happy vanishing and wallowing in my own grief.

****George****

Having worked at the crisis center I knew what the stages of grief were but I was floored by how powerful they were. I had seen many people come into the center who were dealing with grief and I thought I understood what they were going through. What all this had taught me was that I had had no idea. I looked at Trev, Charlotte and Will and it seemed like we were all in different stages of grief;  denial, anger, bargaining,  and depression .   There was one stage that I knew would take each of us a long time to reach and that was acceptance.  I had already suggested that we all get counseling to Mom and she had agreed that after some time had passed that it was a good idea.  I noticed Mom get up and we all turned our attention to her.

****Bridge****

I walked up to the podium and, just like Trev, I also had a piece of paper that I had written some words on. I looked down at what I had written out and  I wasn’t sure I wanted to share it with anyone. It wasn’t like what Trev had spoken, instead it was more like a poem about a dream I had had a couple nights before. I looked at Kate who I had told what I had written, and like she always did, she read my mind and nodded for me to continue.

 

“Last night, I had a crazy dream.

A wish was granted just for me;

it could be for anything.

I didn’t ask for money, or a mansion in Malibu.

I simply wished for one more day with you.

One more day; one more time.

One more sunset maybe I’d be satisfied.

But then again, I know what it would do;

It’d leave me wishing still for one more day with you. One more day.

The first thing I’d do, is pray for time to crawl.

I’d unplug the telephone, keep the TV off.

I’d hold you every second, say a million “I love yous.”

That’s what I’d do with one more day with you.

One more day; one more time.

One more sunset maybe I’d be satisfied.

But then again, I know what it would do;

It’d leave me wishing still for one more day with you.

One more day; one more time.

One more sunset maybe I'd be satisfied.

But then again, I know what it would do;

It'd leave me wishing still for one more day. . .

Leave me wishing still for one more day. . .

Leave me wishing still for one more day. . .

. . .With you. ”

I let out a huge sigh and folded the piece of paper as I made my way back to my chair. Right as I sat down, the wind blew and I felt something on my left shoulder and for a brief moment, I could have sworn I smelled Carson’s cologne.  . .

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I feel like I need to explain why I did this. This has always been how Bridge's story would end; and while I didn't want to give it away, there were very subtle hints and foreshadowing that occurred throughout  Bridge's story. This provides the next generation with a direction that I felt they needed to go.  Bridge will still be in their stories and both her and Carson will be in Jeff's story from time to time. So they won't be gone forever. =D I did try to give a somewhat happy ending with the epilogue. I'm glad so many readers came to love Carson! I hope you don't want to hurt me too badly.  Thank you so much for reading!

Credits:
Poses:

Kiddo's Dreams - In the Hospital

Cloudwalker Sims - Family Photos Pose Pack

Mypalsims - Sick Bed, Group Hug, Couch Poses

Skylar - Not So Simple Pose Pack

Delight 33 - 12 Poses at Table

Studio K2 - Casual Male

Bangsain - Funeral Poses