He Is Not Alone

Prologue

Willy, its momma, time to wake up!

Come on, baby, rise and shine.

As I open my eyes, the room slowly comes into focus, but, this isn't my bedroom! The walls are the wrong color, the room is cold, the bed feels uncomfortable and I feel restrained. Something is in my mouth. I'm in a hospital room! The monitor above my head is beeping and that brings in the nurse.

My name is Will Smythe; I am an African American Male, 30 years old. I am about 6 feet tall with an average build. Some people say I look like a young Morgan Freeman. My hair is kept in a short Afro. I could stand to lose a few pounds but that comes from being behind a desk most of the day. I have no brothers or sisters. My family was not a very close family. My parents passed away years ago. There are no family get-togethers or even exchanges of Christmas cards. I don’t remember the last time I received a birthday card. I am a Database Consultant working with Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, mainly with growing businesses in the Philadelphia area. I prefer to work with computers rather than to work with people. That is one of the reasons that I am a consultant rather than working in the corporate world. For most of my clients, I can log into their networks, see what the symptoms and indications are and fix them without ever stepping foot into the office. I like New Age music, reading and the outdoors. I think I would love to camp, but my wife is not the outdoor type.

My wife is Sandy and she is my dream girl. She is about 5 feet 9 inches, 120 lbs., light brown skin, long silky brown hair. Many nights she would sit on the floor at my feet while I brushed her hair and we would watch TV. Sandy has beautiful brown eyes. They sparkle when she smiles. Her smile is something else. She could melt any heart and light up any room when she smiles. She keeps her body trim by her weekly routine of running 5 miles a day, weight lifting and calisthenics. Sandy is a lawyer, practicing with Lou Pickerelli and Associates in center city Philadelphia. She handles the City of Philadelphia accounts for the firm. She is an up and coming lawyer and she is good at her job. She recently got a BMW as a bonus. I know now why they call them Beamers. She beams every time she sees it. Hers is a 4 Series Convertible, silver with tan interior.

If it weren’t for Sandy, I would be a loner. Her beauty and intelligence bring a lot of people into our lives. She is very outgoing where I am a loner. Sandy is the center of my life. Most of our friends are co-workers of Sandy’s. We have a couple of neighbors we talk to, but being new to the neighborhood, has limited the number of people we have met.

Jennifer has been working the ICU for several years. She is a techie and a nurse which is one of the reasons she loves working in the ICU. Everything is state of the art. Jennifer is Caucasian, about 5 feet 7 in, light brown hair and slim build. She is divorced with no children. She loves to fly and owns a 2005 Cessna 185T that she keeps at Wings Field in Blue Bell, PA. She can be found on her days off, flying up and down the coast or doing Flights for Life missions which is a volunteer outfit flying donor organs and patients where needed.

Jennifer is halfway through her 12-hour shift when the first alarm goes off for Will Smythe. She has been watching over him since he arrived in the ICU. She thought he was a good-looking man.

Chapter 1

The heart rate monitor is over 120 beats per minute and respiration is up sharply. This is the first time this has happened since the accident over 2 months ago. She gets up and walks into the room.

He's AWAKE! Jennifer calls out. I will be right back, I have to get the doctor. she tells Will.

She quickly leaves to find the doctor.

What has happened to me? Where is my wife? I try to call her back but I can't speak. This tube in my throat won't let me. I have never been claustrophobic, but being tied down and having all this stuff connected to me so I can't move is beginning to stress me out, a LOT.

Jennifer returns to the room and begins taking Will's vital signs.

Oh, good the nurse is back. What is she doing now? Take this thing out of my mouth so I can talk. She's not paying any attention to me, just looking at the monitors and writing stuff down. HELP ME!

Fear is building up inside of me as I continue to wonder what and why.

The doctor comes into the room and after checking the vitals says:

You need to remain still while I take out the tube in your throat, okay?

I nod my head.

The nurse and doctor begin to remove the tube and some of the monitors.

The doctor says, Take a small sip of water... Good!

Thank you! These are the first words I have spoken since the accident.

I'm Doctor Hamel and this is Jennifer.

Do you know where you are?

In a hospital? I reply.

Yes, do you remember your name?

Sure, it is Will Smythe, where is my wife?

I'm not sure, but we will find out. I have one more question for you; - do you know why you are here?

We were in a car accident. A truck came onto the Schuylkill Expressway and didn't yield.

Good. Now we have some tests to run and after I get the results, I will be back. At a minimum, you are going to need some physical therapy. Get some rest for now.

Jennifer finished recording the vital signs and annotating the chart. She looks at Will with a warm feeling in her heart. It is always good to see a patient wake up when they have been in ICU for so long. She wasn't sure he ever would. For now, he needs to rest.

Will, you need to rest. I will see about your wife and let her know you are awake. But for now, just get some rest. If you need anything, just push this button. She shows me the call button attached to the bed. As I drift off to sleep, Jennifer returns to the nurses’ station.

Questions would be answered later, which means she needed to contact his wife. A quick look at his records reveals that his wife's name is Sandy and there is some contact information.

Jennifer calls the phone number listed in the records and gets a recording that no one is available at this time, please leave a message. But the message queue is full. Her next step is to see if perhaps she was admitted to the hospital as well. When she pulls up the records, she soon finds out that Sandy Smythe was DOA with massive head and body trauma. She died immediately in the accident.

Jennifer says to herself, Someone has to know that Mr. William Smythe was is now awake. She continues to search the records for any contact information for either William or Sandy. Nothing was found. No parent information, no children, and no siblings were found. He is alone.

I fell asleep after the Doctor left. My sleep was restless and dreams did not come to me. All I could think about was the accident. Bits and pieces came to me in a jumbled mess. The crash, the sounds of tires locking up, horns blowing, the smells of burnt rubber and fuel spills, the flashing lights of the emergency crews and their loud, loud sirens. The ripping and roaring sounds as the Jaws of Life were used to cut me out of Sandy's new BMW, a gift from her boss for some work that she did on a big case involving the city of Philadelphia and SEPTA. Sandy saved the city millions of dollars with her research and findings. That was the last thing I could remember. Hopefully, Sandy will have some more information. How long have I been here? I can tell I don't need a shave so it couldn't have been very long. Once Sandy gets here everything will be alright.

As I wake up, I find the staff in the hospital is pretty busy and it takes a while before Jennifer comes in to check on me. My vital signs are good and she tells me they will be serving breakfast soon. Her shift is over in 30 minutes and another nurse will be looking in on me. Jennifer leaves and I am left with my own thoughts. I review in my mind what happened. More details return. I remember traveling into the city on the Schuylkill Expressway when the 18 wheeler came off the on-ramp at Conshohocken. It never slowed down or even looked as it merged into traffic. Sandy's new BMW slid under the bed of the 18 wheeler and that was it. The rear wheels rolled up over the car, crushing the top down on us, then the SEPTA bus that was following us crashed into what was left of our car pushing it into the stone wall. From there only bits and pieces come to me as if I was opening and closing a book at different sections. Sandy would be able to tell me what happened after that.

The last thing for Jennifer to do before she left for the day was to let Will know about his wife. She had promised him she would find out about his wife. This was going to be one of the hardest moments of her life. She had found out that his parents had passed away years ago and that he did not have any known family. Apparently, he and Sandy did not have any children. The only good news, if you could call it that, was that Sandy had not suffered. She died instantly.

Jennifer walked into the ICU room where Will was sleeping. At first, she thought that she would be able to skip out on telling him the bad news. As she was turning to leave, Will opens his eyes and says hello. Her heart sank as she realized she would have to tell him.

Hello, Will. How are you feeling?

Fine, I guess, still a little tired. Did you find Sandy? When will she be here?

Jennifer is trapped. She has to let him know, but she can't seem to spit it out. Finally, she takes a deep breath and says.

Will, I sorry, but Sandy died in the car accident. She died instantly and didn't suffer. I am really sorry. Her parents have taken care of everything. she says.

When is the funeral? I would like to attend.

At this point, Jennifer realizes that he has no clue how long he has been here.

Will, do you remember anything about the accident?

Bits and pieces, I remember the truck coming on the highway and it didn't yield. I also remember bits and pieces of the firefighters cutting me out of the car.

Will, that was over two months ago. You have been in a coma all this time. We weren't sure if you were going to recover or not. When you woke up, I was very surprised and happy that you did, so many of our long-term coma patients never wake up.

I don't know how to take this all in. My mind is refusing to comprehend that Sandy is gone, I have been in a coma for four months and now I am alone in the world. It is all too much for me and I break down and cry.

Jennifer, being the woman that she is, understands this pain he is going through and walks by his side bends over and hugs him. His face on her shoulder, she just holds him as the pain and tears work their way out of his system. It is after 9 pm before she leaves the hospital. Will was sleeping again. This is one day she will not forget for a long time. The joy of being a nurse and helping people and the pain of letting them know they are alone will be in her heart for a long, long time.

I finally cried myself to sleep but it is a restless sleep. I dream of the accident with more and more of the details coming through. As I start to wake up I remember seeing a light just before the crashes into the stone wall alongside of the highway. Not the white light that everyone talks about with near-death experiences but more of a bluish haze. I remember hearing voices and then wake up with a startling thought.

Chapter 2

The doctor was right; I will need some physical therapy. I can hardly sit up without help. After being released from ICU, I am transferred to the rehab facility. In the beginning, just sitting up requires assistance. Over the next few weeks, I go from just sitting up to taking baby steps to the bathroom and finally walking and running on a treadmill. In all this time, I haven’t talked to anyone. None of our friends have tried to call. Since my family is basically gone; no one has come to visit. Sandy’s parents have sent a few cards, telling me not to worry about anything; they are taking care of everything and would get together when I was better.

After a couple of months, I am walking around the hospital making a pest of myself. It is so boring. The only good thing about the rehab facility is they have dogs that are allowed to visit the patients. I find myself looking forward to these visits. One dog, in particular, is a German shepherd named Nein. The owner says as a puppy he was always getting into trouble and they were constantly telling him no in German which is nein. It kind of stuck. I could easily relate to the dog. At times it seemed as if we could communicate. The dog would come into the room, see me and immediately come over, sit and offer me his paw. When I was hurting or feeling down, he would place his head on my lap and it almost felt like he was taking the pain away.

One day, Nein, came in with his tail down, his ears laid back and the saddest eyes you have ever seen. I got the feeling that something was wrong. Sure enough, as Nein got closer, I could feel he was in pain. Something was wrong. I told Kim, his owner, that Nein was in pain, she looked at me like I was crazy, but did notice that he was not his normal self. She decided to take him to the Vet after the visits. I heard a few days later that Nein was being retired. Shortly after that, I was released from the rehab facility.

My first task was getting home. Sandy always took the train home, however, I seldom rode the trains. Thankfully, it is early morning and most of the passengers are heading to Philadelphia so the trains should be pretty empty. I headed to the train station. The train ride to 30th Street Station was short and gave me time to think about what I'm was going to do. I have to find out about Sandy and her funeral. I'm not sure if I still had the house, furniture or a car after being out of it for over six months. My first step was to get home. After arriving at 30th Street Station, I transfer to the Warminster line and start home. I began to think about my next steps. I would have to take care of any of Sandy's estate issues. Contact her family and express my condolences.

The trip home on the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) was kind of quiet. The train was mostly empty during the mid-morning trip. Most of the riders were heading into the city of Philadelphia and outbound was for those that worked overnight. SEPTA had recently started to update the trains and this was one of the newer models. The car was clean and the seats fairly comfortable. The electronic signs show what station they were approaching and how long before they would be there. Warminster was still 40 minutes away as I began to relax. I would have to walk from the station to my home if I still had one. My eyes started to close as the clack; clack of the rails slowly drew me into sleep. As I started to nod off I again saw the blue haze overtake my mind. The conductor woke me up to take my ticket. Good thing too as we were approaching the station I needed to get off at.

Sandy and I live in a nice ranch style 3 bedroom home, one and a half bath, eat-in kitchen, dining room, family room and a nice size fenced in backyard. We have only been in the house about 6 months before the accident, having moved out of the city to have some more room. Sandy wanted to have the room so we could have a couple of kids. Being work-a-holics I am not sure when we would have started. Now, it won't ever happen. We lived about a quarter mile from the train station which Sandy used to go to and from work. Upon arriving home, I found, in fact, still had the house and car. Sandy's family has been taking care of it while I was in the hospital. Once I let myself in, I found that her parents had been coming over to take in the mail and whatever else that had to be taken care of. I called them to let them know I was home and to thank them for looking after the place. Sandy's father, John, said that I had received some checks from her workplace and the insurance company. He would drop them off in a little while.

When John Jackson, Sandy's dad, arrives and he sat down with me and explained what had been happening while I was in the hospital.

Sandy was driving the car when the truck came onto the highway, said John. The rear of the truck rolled over her, killing her instantly.

You were trapped in the wreckage for over an hour while the fire department cut you out of the car. While you were in the hospital the folks at Pickerelli and Associates that Sandy worked for decided to take up the case as a wrongful death. It will be a while before it will be settled.

Sandy had a life insurance policy, one with work for $1 million dollars that had a double indemnity clause for accidents. That was one of the checks he gave me.

This other check was from the auto insurance policy on the car. It is for accidental death. He handed me a check for $250,000. Sandy also has a life insurance policy that she and I took out for 1 million dollars on each other. I'll have to contact the insurance company about that. John tells me that he and Jill, Sandy's mom, will help in any way they can.

Over the next few weeks, I get things under control. Talked to the insurance companies, mortgage company and credit companies seem they all had policies that covered the loans in the event of death, so I am debt free.

I love my evening walks around the neighborhood. Each night, I just walk around the block or to the park nearby. It’s strange, but I can almost hear the animals. The squirrels are constantly looking for food, on the lookout for trouble and signaling each other. At the park, the dogs are interacting with each other. Some are not very trusting and just shy away, while others are more dominant and want to show the others who's boss. I enjoy watching them.

Over the next few days, I get back to work. As an independent consultant, I had a lot of customers that had been looking for me. I got back with them and started to throw myself into the work. Most of them had already found someone else, so my workload was light, which is good, I really wasn’t in the mood to work and I just wanted something to take my mind off the accident and losing Sandy.

One day while I am walking to the train station I noticed that I had a couple of dogs following me. The bigger dog seemed to be a mutt, maybe a mixture of Terrier and Shit-Zu, mainly black with some silver on the face. He is very well mannered and weighs about 20 lbs. or so. The smaller dog looked to be a Terrier, brown and white, pretty much all over. He weighs about 12 to 15 lbs. When I stopped they came right up to me and sat. As with Nein, I am able to feel that they were hungry and wanted something. As this was happening, the dogs began to wag their tails and the expression on their faces changed to what could only be seen as happiness. Having some time, I walked back to the house with the dogs following me. I entered the backyard with the dogs. They lay down at my feet immediately. I put down some water, but I have nothing else for them, so I need to take a trip to the pet store. There is a Pet Start a couple of blocks away, so I tell the dogs to stay and I will be back soon. To my surprise, they seem to nod their heads in understanding.

I take my Jeep to the store and purchased some dog food, snacks, bowls and a few toys. When I returned home, the two dogs were still lying there waiting for me. I poured some food in the bowls and sit down, watching them while they eat. As I was sitting there one of the dogs seemed to be looking at me with sad eyes. I wasn't sure what was wrong, so I asked, What’s wrong? The dog came over and I got the impression that there was a problem with his back legs. Knowing that I should take the dog to the vet’s, I called my client and rescheduled the meeting for tomorrow.

After the dogs are finished eating, I tell them we are going to have them looked at. Although not fully understanding, they seemed to know I was looking out for them. They quickly went to the Jeep. When I opened the door, the bigger dog jumps right in while the smaller one seems to be having problems. I picked him up and put him in the back, get in and drive off to the vets.

After a quick examination of both dogs, the vet tells me they appeared to be in good shape. No microchip was found. I asked about the hind legs of the smaller dog and the vet said he didn't notice anything. I explained that the dog had problems jumping into the car and seemed to be in pain. The vet agreed to do some more tests and after the x-rays determined that the dog has arthritis. He gives me some medication that will ease the pain and stiffness.

On the way home, I could not help but feel joy coming from the dogs. Their expression and body language showed total relaxation and contentment. By the time we reached the house, both dogs were wagging their tails and ready to go. I take them back to the yard and sit with them while they rest.

While sitting there, I think about the dogs. They seemed to know what I was thinking and responded to MY thoughts as if I spoke them. I wanted them to stay while I went to get a drink. They both sat down and stayed put. I was kind of amazed that they seemed to understand me. So, I decided to test this out. I told them, in thought, to lie down. They immediately laid down with their tails wagging away. I took a toy and threw it out in the yard. I told the bigger dog to go fetch it. The dog ran into the yard, grabbed the toy and came back. Drop it, I said and the dog dropped it at my feet.

I really couldn't hear them thinking but I could understand what they needed or wanted, I could also feel what they were feeling. Now with the commands understood by thought, I was really beginning to enjoy this. My last thought was to ask the dogs if they wanted to stay with me. Both dogs jumped up and started licking my face with tails wagging away. I had two new pets.

I spent the rest of the afternoon setting up bedding for the dogs, placing food and water for them and building a doggie door so they could come in and out as they pleased. That night I fell asleep with my two new best friends.

The next day I had to spend some time working with a client in Philadelphia. I told the dogs to be good and left for the day. They had plenty of food and water and could access the house if needed. On the way home from the client's office, I stopped at a Pet Start. I had been thinking about the interaction with the dogs and wanted to see if it happened with other animals. Pet Start has birds, cats, puppies and some reptiles. I found one of the salespeople and asked if they had a trainer in-house. After a few minutes, Frank came by and introduced himself.

Frank is a younger man, about 5 feet 10 inches and a little overweight. You can tell he likes his beers. He is clean-shaven and has a bald head. A few tattoos on his arms, nothing gross.

We introduce ourselves and Frank asked, What can I do for you, Will?

Well this might sound strange, but I was wondering if I could talk to some of the animals you have here?

Are you looking for a new pet?

No, not at all, in fact, I just adopted two dogs.

Then, what do you mean 'talk'?

Yesterday, the two dogs followed me home. I seemed to be able to understand what they wanted by their body language and facial expressions. Then while I was thinking of getting something to drink, I thought I didn't want them to come into the house. They had been following me around everywhere I went. All of the sudden, they both sat down and waited while I entered the house. That in itself wasn't too bad, but the smaller dog kept looking at me and I got the impression that something was wrong. So, I asked him, What is the matter? I immediately got the impression that his hind legs were bothering him. I took him to the vet and found out that he has arthritis. The vet gave me some medication for him and he seems better. So, I wanted to see if it is just me, just those dogs or if something else is happening

I have never heard of such a thing. Guess I can call you Dr. Doolittle, hehe. But we have some cats and birds you can talk to if you want. Just don't be too disappointed if they don't talk back. Frank laughs as he shows me to the cats.

I was given a kitten to hold and I try to communicate with the kitten with my mind. The kitten shied away from me. I sensed fear in the kitten, but I seem unable to communicate. I can feel that there is something there, but I don't yet understand. I try a couple of older cats and get the same reaction. They shy away and won't come near me.

Frank is watching this the whole time and is kind of amazed at how the animals are behaving. The kitten is normally very loving, as it was for a few seconds. Then it backed away and didn't want anything to do with me.

Next were the birds. The store only had two types of birds, hand fed Cockatiels and a Parrot. I hold a cockatiel and try to 'talk' to it, nothing seems to happen. No feelings, no reaction at all, until I go to put the bird back in the cage. As I begin to put the bird back into the cage, it starts to squawk and flap its wings. Clearly, the bird is upset about something. Frank takes the bird and puts it back into the cage. Again, something is strange about the behavior; Frank explains that these birds are used to being handled and normally are very tame.

Finally, I am shown the Parrot and all hell breaks loose. As soon as I start to 'talk' to the parrot, it begins to flap its wings and squawking up a storm. I give Frank the bird back and the bird begins to speak. It says my name. Frank is taken aback. No one has said my name or for that matter, anything to the parrot. Yet there is no mistaking that the parrot said, Will.

The parrot continues to talk to me. Will, don't leave, "Will, take me