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He felt the cool and salty ocean water spray against his tanned cheeks as the rushing wind tussled his damp curls. The mist of salty water cooled his skin while the blazing sun blasted against his skin. Each ripple of water dissipated beneath the clean slices of water from his favorite pair of skis. His hands were tightly clenched against the handle that connected him to his best friend's boat. He anticipated the boat's intentions with the simple knowledge of his friend's personality. Every now and then, a smile flickered across his handsome face when his friend swerved the boat, trying to throw him from his skis.

"YOU'RE TOO GOOD!" his friend screamed over the roar of the engine.

"No! You just can't maneuver the boat properly!" he yelled back with an impish smile. His friend flipped up his middle finger as a response to the good-natured teasing. "No thanks, Bud!"

His friend didn't answer while deciding to take another sharp turn with the boat. He yelped in surprise as he was jerked in the direction of the boat. He wobbled against his balance, trying to regain his equilibrium before his friend took another sharp turn. He felt the rope tighten once against and jerk him forward. Then, unexpectedly, he heard a sharp snap ringing in his ears, causing his heart to hammer with fear.

There was no time to think as another large force grabbed hold of him and flung him forward. The handle became loose and immediately dropped away from his body. He fell forward into the water and it felt as if his body had connected with hard cement. The dangerous waters engulfed his body with a sweeping fever and dragged him directly to the bottom of the ocean.

A sharp pain exploded in his lower back as he tossed and tumbled with the current along the rocky bottom. He struggled to get to the surface as his lungs begged for air, but the current was too strong to fight. His lungs burned for air and felt as if they might explode. More pain attacked his body with every rock that sliced into his skin. His eyes became blurry as he felt the urge to cease fighting. He tried to call out for help, but water poured into his mouth with huge gulps. Dark spots passed in front of his eyes until the darkness completely invaded his slowing mind. Bubbles licked at his face, racing to the surface. The pain seemed to slowly subside from his body as darkness arrived and finally, he was at peace.

*~*~*

"Howie? Howie, wake up!" a voice ordered into the darkness of Howie's peaceful slumber. He didn't want to walk away from the soothing dark chambers of his dreary mind, but the voice didn't diminish. Instead, the voice grew louder and more disturbed. It pleaded with him, making his heart ache with regret. The voice beckoned him away from the peaceful night, continuing to nag him. He subconsciously groaned for being disturbed, but the voice was winning. "Howie! Open your eyes!"

A sob then broke out amongst Howie's dark silence. It sounded almost like his mother's cry when one of his sisters passed away from a wrenching fight with Lupus. Something stroked his hand delicately as wet tears caressed the soft skin of his cheeks. Another whimper sounded like his girlfriend. His heart pounded faster with agony, making his darkness shatter. His eyelids fluttered as a bright light invaded his vision, making him wince. He opened his cracked lips slowly to allow a painful moan to escape.

"Oh, thank God!" another voice praised as Howie raised a tired hand to his eyes. He winced as the tug of an IV pricked his hand. Images slowly began to clear against the blurriness of his throbbing eyes. He blinked with confusion, struggling to orient himself. His body ached as if it had been crushed beneath a large boulder. He felt as if he were strapped tightly into a bed. Something was wrapped tightly around his neck to prevent his head from moving in any direction. Two tubes were stuffed into his nose, blowing oxygen into his body at a rapid rate. A blood pressure cuff was wrapped around his right arm, pumping up and releasing about every ten minutes. Several tubes were connected against his body in various places, but Howie didn't know why they were attached. He struggled to keep tears of anguish from falling against his burning cheeks. He felt a hand touch his cheek, causing him to flinch in pain.

"Good Morning, Mr. Dorough," an unfamiliar voice announced. Howie focused his weary eyes upon a man in a lab coat. Confusion washed over his face when he realized again that he couldn't turn his head to see the man. He just had to move his eyes to recognize who was speaking with him. He then moved his eyes around the room to find his mother, father, brother, and two sisters weeping by his side. His girlfriend, Darcy, stood by his best friend and band-mate, AJ McLean, looking somber. Everyone looked on pale and frightened, making Howie uneasy about the situation at hand.

"How do you feel?" the man, obviously a physician, questioned him, reaching over to check some of the machines hooked up to him. He squeezed the IV lightly, sending another rush of burning cold liquid into his arm. Howie groaned, causing the physician to smile gently.

Howie focused back upon the man, struggling to clear his thoughts. He felt as if he couldn’t make his brain prepare the words that he wanted to say. It was like a large collision of messages mixing up against his brain. He closed his eyes, wetting his cracked lips. "Sore," Howie admitted with a scratchy voice. His throat ached with dryness. "Where... Where am I?"

"You're in the Orlando Hospital. You were in an accident, Mr. Dorough," the doctor explained as he flipped open Howie's metal chart that was attached to the end of the bed. Howie closed his eyes again as his brain jolted with memories. He could hear AJ screaming for him to stop playing around. The water seeped further into his mouth as he struggled to reach the top. He could still hear himself screaming for help, but sinking deeper into pain. Howie blinked away the tears of his dreadful memories.

"God, Bro, I thought I killed you," AJ finally rasped in horror. He gazed mournfully upon his ailing friend, but Howie never glanced at his friend to tell him that it was okay. AJ sighed softly, bowing his head into his hands with shame when Pollyanna, Howie's sister, wrapped her arms around him.

"I told you to be careful," his girlfriend, Darcy, scolded with a terrified sniffle. Her dark eyes were filled with pools of fresh tears. Howie had been dating Darcy for little under a year. She seemed distraught with the whole events, but Howie thought that maybe she was upset that she appeared disheveled. Darcy hated looking frumpy in front of people, she always had to look her best, no matter what the situation.

"Man, D, I never meant--"

Howie's eyes grew dark as he interrupted AJ's speech, "The line broke when you swerved the boat... I went under the water... There were all those rocks..." Howie grew quiet as more memories of the accident came flooding back. His body throbbed as he recalled the snapping of the line and then his body being dragged along the sharp rocks of the bottom.

"I see that your memory is intact," his doctor announced, breaking into the conversation. He wanted to finish the examination and get back to his other patients. He could let the family rejoice on Howie's awakening later.

"That's good," Darcy sniffled.

"Yes," the doctor answered, reaching for a pair of gloves in the compartment on the wall. "I'm Dr. Carry and I'm your attending physician. To make a long story short, you're quite a battered man, Mr. Dorough. A current caught hold of you when you were thrown into the water, dragging you along the bottom of the ocean. You have a large laceration on your right bicep that needed over twenty stitches and is covered. You have contusions in various places along your body that will cause a lot of stiffness during the passing days. Then you received a sharp blow against your left temple, resulting in a severe concussion."

"Is that why my lower body is numb?" Howie blurted out of confusion. His upper body ached from all the injuries with a roaring fire of pain. However, he couldn't feel anything below his waist. He had tried to move his toes earlier, but nothing had occurred. He wondered if hitting his brain had caused a mix up of signals in his brain. It still didn't make sense in his clouded mind.

"Numb?!" Darcy gasped.

"Howie, are you..." Pollyanna couldn't even finish her sentence from the shock of the news.

"Could you say that again?" Dr. Carry asked.

"I can't feel my legs," Howie repeated slowly. He flicked his eyes to the doctor for some sort of confirmation. He still didn't comprehend the direness of the situation. Howie heard his family take deep breaths of nervousness simultaneously. AJ's mouth hung slight ajar as Howie rubbed his eyes again. Something wasn't right. "Is there something wrong?" Howie asked.

The doctor said nothing to Howie when he placed the chart back into the slot quickly. He then pulled up Howie's blankets away from his legs and maneuvered them in such a fashion that he blocked Howie's sight of his legs. There was a ruffling of the doctor's coat, but Howie was unaware of what was happening to his legs. He heard Darcy gasp and watched her wilt into a nearby chair, causing Howie's heart to beat with alarm.

"What are you doing? What's wrong?" Howie pleaded.

"Mr. Dorough, you broke both of your femurs when you hit the water. You see, you were going over sixty miles an hour and when you fall into water at that speed it tends to hit you like you were falling onto cement. We surgically corrected your femurs with plates and bolts, but there was nerve damage from the way the bones were broken in your legs. Then, you had some damage to your spine when you were dragged along the rocks. I'm afraid there was some direct damage to the spinal cord and some swelling."

"What does that mean?" Howie murmured.

"Can you feel this?" Dr. Carry asked instead. Howie heard something uncap, but felt nothing. There was only a tingling sensation from before. He meekly shook his head with fear. The doctor nodded, doing something else from beneath the sheets. "What about this, Mr. Dorough?"

"No," Howie answered.

"Or this?"

"N-No," Howie stammered. Fear of the unknown began to gnaw at his heart when he saw AJ bite his knuckle and turn away from the sight in disgust. His mother buried her face in his father's chest as his father made the sign of the cross. His girlfriend wept openly with his sisters. Howie felt as if a blanket of darkness had been thrown upon him again. He didn't understand what was going on and became frustrated with the situation.

"What are you doing?" Howie demanded loudly.

"You felt nothing?" Dr. Carry asked again.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"I was afraid of this--"

"Of what?" Howie screamed out in distress.

"Mr. Dorough, the trauma in your legs and back caused damage and swelling to your nerves and your spinal cord. A disk slipped in your back and pinched the spinal cord, which sends messages through your nerves for your body to do things that you want to do. Since the spinal cord and nerves were damage, your body is having trouble sending messages to the lower half of your body. I'm afraid that with damage like that...there was a possibility of becoming a paraplegic--"

"A-A-A what?" Howie choked as tears threatened to spill down his bruised cheeks. He was afraid of the conclusions being drawn about his conditions. He didn't want the answer to his question. He feared the answer and what it might mean for his destiny.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dorough, but it seems that you are paralyzed in the lower half of your body. I have to do some tests to be sure where the paralysis ends, but it most definitely includes both of your legs. The damage to the spinal cord and nerves are quite extensive and I don't think that you'll heal properly for a full recovery."

"What are you saying?" Howie whispered.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dorough, but I'm afraid that you'll never walk again."