Industrial Accident

Amanda was sitting at her lab balance when all of a sudden, the whole lab shook. She heard her supervisor Mary ask "What was that?" Amanda told Mary "Sounded like an explosion."

Mary asked "So what do we do?"

Amanda thought for a moment. "Well, if anyone is hurt, they might appreciate having wet towels to clean their faces. Let's prepare some wet white towels and put them in bags so they stay clean until used. We'll put them into a bucket." As she was talking, Amanda was starting to do what she was saying and Mary followed suit. They had about 10 towels prepared when Carl burst into the lab "Mandy, The Kid is hurt. He's asking for his mom but she's away so I thought maybe you could come comfort him."

Amanda looked at Carl "How hurt is he?"

"He's pinned down under a beam. He's saying he doesn't want to die alone. He's scared. He's so young, Mandy, he really needs someone and he looks up to you."

Amanda nodded and grabbed the bucket with the towels and headed towards the door, stopping to put on her hard hat. She grabbed some gloves and just before she was to leave the lab, she went back and grabbed pen and notebook and added them to the bucket.

She went with Carl and followed him into the plant. Once at the scene, Amanda was simply speechless. Torn steel and debris were everywhere. As if reading her mind, Carl said "everything is isolated, there is no risk of anything else blowing." He then pointed to a large beam that was now broken and partially on the ground. Under it was half of The Kid.

The Kid was a nickname given to one of the field operators. He'd been so young, only 18, when he'd joined the company and their crew so they'd nicknamed him The Kid. He'd been somewhat cocky in the beginning and in the two years he'd been with them, this crew had trained him and shaped him into a very competent and good operator.

When Amanda got close, she saw that The Kid was stuck under the beam up to his waist. He had tears streaming down his cheeks and leaving trails in the heavy dust that was coating his face. Amanda got down and sat next to him and took one of the towels and wiped his face gently. "Hey Kid."

"Mandy. I'm scared."

"I know. It's okay to be scared."

The Kid responded and spoke quickly, almost uncontrollably. "Everyone else is telling me not to be scared, that they'll get me out of here and I need to hang on but I don't think they're telling me the truth. I can't feel anything below my waist, I feel like shit and it's going to take them so long to get this beam off me and then when they do, I'm just going to die, Mandy... I've seen this on tv where they try to save a crush victim and they always die."

"Kid, slow down sweetie, slow down."

"Mandy, I don't want to be told lies, I know I'm going to die. I just don't want to die alone. Please say you'll stay with me?"

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay with you and I won't lie to you, I promise."

Amanda continued gently washing his face and his hands. When she was done, she grabbed his hand and awkwardly laid down next to him, best she could. She softly ran her hand through his hair.

"I'm scared Mandy. I'm never going to see my mom again."

"Where is your mom? I'm sure we can send someone to get her."

"She's gone back to Ontario to visit her sister. They're at a lake, in a cabin where there's no phone, no cell signal, no nothing. She calls every few days from the store in the village. Last time we talked, I told her she worried about me too much. I'm scared that this is all she'll be left with when I don't make it and please don't tell me that I'm going to make it 'cause I'm not stupid, I can feel it Mandy."

"Okay. I won't make promises I can't keep. How about we write a letter for your mom? I've got a pen and some paper here."

"Will you write it for me?"

Amanda reached for the notebook and the pen. "Sure. Go ahead."

The Kid told Amanda what he wanted her to write for his mom. Around them, their co-workers along with the local firefighters, were trying to figure out a way to remove the beam from The Kid's lower body.

When they were done, Amanda put the pen and notebook away and resumed soothingly playing in his hair.

"Mandy?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being here. For not going on and on about hanging in there and all that crap."

"I'm glad I can be here for you."

"Can I have some water? I'm thirsty."

The first responder who was close answered "You really shouldn't drink anything 'cause you're going to need surgery."

Amanda reached for one of her other bags containing a wet towel. Looking up at the first responder, she said "a little moisture won't hurt. His throat has to be parched." And she took the moist towel and put it on The Kid's lips and squeezed a bit. A small amount of water came out of the towel and went into his mouth.

"Thank you." The Kid said, closing his eyes.

Amanda put the towel away and put her hand back in his hair.

The first responder called out "Don't go to sleep there young man, you need to hang in there, we'll get you out. Come on buddy, stay with us here." And he gently shook The Kid's shoulder.

Amanda glared at the guy and said "He's just resting a bit. Give him a break."

Amanda then softened her voice and after kissing The Kid on the forehead told him "If you want to take a little nap sweetie, go ahead and close your eyes. Just hang on to my hand and relax."

The Kid closed his eyes a bit while Amanda continued to play in his hair with her free hand.

The Kid opened his eyes again and asked "Mandy, can I ask you one more thing?"

"Sure sweetie, anything."

"Don't let the paramedics do CPR on me. When I go, let me go."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Absolutely. I can feel it Mandy. I can feel the life draining out of me and I just don't want to fight it anymore. You know how much I love skiing, I just couldn't live without being able to ski. Promise?"

"Okay. I promise."

The Kid then said "I'm going to rest again for a bit."

Amanda let him rest and continued to gently stroke his hair. His hair was soft despite all the dust in it. Doing that also soothed her.

After a few minutes, one of the firefighters came to her and said "Miss, we have to ask you to move over there for a few minutes while we cut something above here. It's going to make some sparks so we'll cover him here but you should go over there."

Amanda said "I'm not going anywhere. Cover me with the same thing you cover him with."

"But miss, he won't even know you're gone. It's only for a few minutes."

"I said I'm not going anywhere. I promised I'd stay with him and I will no matter what."

The man walked away and gave orders for another blanket to be brought over.

The Kid opened his eyes and turned his head towards Amanda "Thank you." He said weakly.

"I promised you and I will keep my promise. You okay? You want me to ask them for more meds or something?"

"They didn't give me any meds Mandy."

"What?"

"It's okay. Like I said earlier, I can't feel anything below my waist so I really don't need meds. I'm just tired and sleepy."

Amanda kissed his forehead again and said "Okay. You rest as much as you want."

The firefighters then came back with thick blankets and asked "you sure you want to stay under there? We wouldn't want you to get scared under there and panic."

Amanda turned to him "If it's going to be scary for me, don't you think it's going to be scary for him? I'm not leaving him alone. He's scared enough as it is."

So they put the blankets over them and suddenly, it was almost dark. Amanda got closer to The Kid and said "I'm still here sweetie".

The Kid smiled at her and then closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm not feeling too good anymore. I'm really getting tired."

"It's okay."

"You're not going to think I'm a loser for giving up, are you?

"Never. I know you well enough to know that if you had hope, you'd fight."

"Good."

Amanda kissed his forehead again and said "Close your eyes and rest. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

Above them, the work was done so the blankets were removed.

The Kid opened his eyes and said "Mandy, I think it's my time to go."

Amanda had trouble holding back the tears. "What makes you say that?"

"I see my grandpa is behind you. He's been dead for ten years. He's telling me that he's here to help me transition."

"He's your angel. Was he your mom's dad?"

"Yes." The Kid's answer was barely audible.

"I think your mom will feel better knowing that her dad was there for you when she couldn't be."

"So you're not going to tell me to fight and tell me to stay with you?"

"Is that what you want?"

"No. I'm ready. I told you I didn't want any bull."

"No bull. If you're ready, then I'll just stay here with you and let you do what you need to do. I'm sure your mom would want you to know that she loved you. I'd come to really care for you too kiddo."

"Can you tell mom one more thing?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Tell her it didn't hurt." Amanda barely heard the last phrase and she once again kissed his forehead and stroked his hair. The Kid had closed his eyes and was barely breathing. Amanda felt his hand relax in hers and then, he simply stopped breathing. With tears running down her face, Amanda remained next to him for a few more moments making sure that he was really gone and then waited some more to ensure it would be too late for anyone to attempt resuscitation

One of the rescuers came to her and said "Miss, we're ready to lift the beam off him. As soon as we do, we need to pull him out and put him on a gurney and work on him so we need you to be out of the way."

Amanda turned to him and said "It's too late. He's gone. But we still need to pull him out."

"He's gone? As in dead?"

Amanda nodded as she sat up, never letting go of The Kid's hand.

"He's been gone for a while now. He knew he wasn't going to make it and didn't want CPR. That's why I didn't tell you sooner."

The rescuer swore and walked away. When word got around, there was silence. Then, Carl said "Okay, let's get him out." And that got people going again. Amanda moved away long enough for the team to pull up the beam, pull The Kid out and put him on a gurney. That's when they saw the blood. The Kid had slowly bled out under the beam. Several people cursed, saying that if they'd worked faster, they could have saved him. Amanda knew otherwise. She went back to his side and took his hand in hers again.

Amanda stayed with him and refused to go anywhere until the coroner was done and he was ready to be moved to the medical examiner's lab.

It was later revealed that The Kid had had massive internal injuries and would likely not have survived even if the rescue had been any faster.

The Kid's mom was located and told about the accident. When she came back, she asked for Amanda to take her to the scene where it had happened and asked Amanda to read her the letter there. With tears streaming, Amanda did that and then added "Your son then said to tell you that it didn't hurt." Both women cried and hugged for a long time. The Kid was cremated and his ashes taken back to Ontario where he'd been from and put next to his grandpa's ashes.

Amanda returned to work and, after a few months, decided to volunteer at the hospital to help families deal with the last moments of loved ones dying. She found great peace in helping people that way.

*****

Author's note: I know we all like stories that end well and I'm sorry that this one didn't but this was a nightmare I had and I needed to write it to be freed of it haunting me. The guy at work who I called The Kid in this story, he's doing just fine. But now when I see him, I want to gently play in his hair and kiss his forehead. Nothing more.