When I woke up, all I felt was the cold. Where am I? I thought.

            “Retractors.”

            What was that? I was panicked. All I could feel was pain. The last thing I remembered before then was work.

            It was a warm morning, too warm for October. I got into my car and headed to work. I was late so I had to eat breakfast on the way, traffic didn’t help. I walked past reception and said “Hello”, sat in my cubicle, and started working. Selling pens isn’t as fun as it sounds. At around 3pm, my boss called me to his office, so I was naturally scared. The meeting was about my performance and, to my surprise, I got a raise! It wouldn’t help. 5 o’clock rolled around and it was time to head home. That’s it.

            All I felt was pain. I couldn’t move at all. That moment, I felt more suffocated than I ever will in my life, I knew it then and I still know it now. It lasted hours, the worst anyone could ever feel.

            I finally managed to gain enough control to open my eyes…

            …and my worst fear was realized. I was in surgery.

            I tried to struggle and tried to scream but I couldn’t move. Look at my eyes! Please! Then I remembered, my eyes. My son made us take a Morse code class. Thank you!  I began staring heavily at one of the doctors. .--. .-.. . .- ... . / .... . .-.. .--. / -- . -.-.—I kept repeating that over and over. The nurse is the one that saw

“Oh, my goodness! Stop! He’s awake!”

            “What?” replied a doctor. He looked at me and a look of pure horror fell upon him. “Get more anesthetic!”

            -. --- / .--. .-.. . .- ... .

            “I think he’s communicating. Do any of you speak Morse Code?” this was the nurse who noticed.

            “What do we do?!” said another nurse.

            “We need to finish or he’ll die!” said the doctor.

            “We can’t finish, he’s awake!” screamed the nurse.

            .--- ..- ... - / .-.. . - / -- . / -.. .. .

            Everything went dark after that.

            I woke up in my hospital bed. I was so happy not fell anything. I descended into the darkness, and I felt so happy. I heard someone say something, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to be free. I was sad, yes. My family will be distraught. No doubt about that. I wanted to thank them but I think they know.

            “He’s going into shock!”

            “Flip him over! Hurry! Stay with u-”