One More Light; Part 2
Lightning was 20 laps in and all his confidence from this morning was starting to disappear. He was two cars behind Jackson and it was getting hard to keep up. He had to shake his head a couple of times to get back in the game. He could feel his turns getting slower and his wrists were hurting from his grip on the wheel.
Suddenly, he felt it. His back tire blew out. He closed his eyes as his car spun out of control and he hit the wall. He was spinning harder than he ever had before. Everything was a blur as his car hit the ground and then the grass at a speed he didn’t think possible. He could hear the parts of his car falling off. All he could think was that he hadn’t seen Dante this morning. He hadn’t talked to Francesco since the fight. He hadn’t held his daughters long enough. This crash felt harder than the last. It hurt more. He was scared. He hadn’t said goodbye to his family.
Was this really happening? Dante thought to himself as he viewed the race from the sidelines. Everything was going great but he could tell something was up with dad. Still, it didn’t concern him. Lightning had always managed to catch up, but today was different than most. Dante turned to Cruz to ask her a question, she was on her headset speaking to Lightning when the loud bang radiated across the field. Everything was moving so fast. One moment Dante was watching and cheering his father on and the next he was watching his father’s car flip and crash.
“Dad..” Dante covered his mouth in shock before he reacted. He ran out of pit row and was climbing the fence to the track when he got pulled down. “That’s my Dad! Let me go!”
Dante watched in horror as the paramedics took his father away on a stretcher and away from his sight. “THAT’S MY DAD! LET ME THROUGH!” He yelled as he pushed through the crowd of people that had slowly formed. The shocking realization that his Dad might truly not make it had finally taken a toll on the youngster.
Lightning couldn’t breathe.
He could hear the ambulance and he made to take off his seat belt. The cage that was meant to protect him was trapping him. He didn’t know which way was up or down but he finally found the window. He managed to pull himself out and unto the ground.
He was grasping at his helmet but he couldn’t take it off.
Elise and Dante were running towards him with tiny checkered flags in their hands.
He couldn’t breathe.
Nina was sitting in his lap as he drove the Hudson Hornet to Ramone’s for new paint.
Soon he couldn’t see.
Maddie was holding his face in her tiny hands while making fish faces.
He couldn’t breathe.
Carolina was hiding from him but he could hear her giggles and the tips of her shoes poking out of the curtain.
He couldn’t speak.
Bonnie was crawling under his blanket. Monty lifted the blanket so she could yell Boo and laugh when he acted like she’d scared him.
He couldn’t believe this had happened to him.
Sally cooed as she opened her eyes for him. They were blue just like her Papa’s.
He closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.
Time stood still as the paramedics drove away they had taken all the sound with them. Like some mystical evil little creature had gone ahead and turn off the noise. Dante just stared at his Uncle Mater in disbelief as he felt him take his hand and guide him to his car. He had forgotten his phone at the pit, but he sure wished he had it with him right now. The drive to the hospital was a fast one, but not fast enough. When they had arrived Lightning was nowhere to be found. They had wheeled him straight into surgery.
As Dante stood outside the doors that separated him from his dad he caught himself with tears rolling down his cheeks. He sure wished he had someone to hug right now. He wanted his Papa.
He could hear Doc in the darkness as if he was a million miles away.
“Jesus H. Christ, kiddo. You’re a menace!”
Lightning could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks before feeling nothing at all.
“Doc?”
“Hey, kiddo.” Doc smiled. “You’re in a right mess, aren’t ya?”
Lightning laughed as tears streamed down his face. He didn’t care how but Doc was here and it was all he could do but hug the old man.
“Doc, I’ve missed you so much.” He cried. He could feel Doc’s arms around him. “Come on now, Hot Shot. Do you really wanna spend our time here cryin ?” Doc smiled at him and patted him on the face like he used to whenever Lightning made him particularly proud.
“Our time?” Lightning looked at him confused. “Where are we? Wait, am I dead?”
“No…well, yes.” Doc shrugged. “Who knows. So ask me what ya need to ask me.”
“I’m just happy to see you, old man.” Lightning wiped his eyes. “I guess, though, I don’t know where I’m going…”
“Don’t know?…hmm,” Doc sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Kiddo, you’re a hellauva racer, a great father, and an inspiration to people you don’t even know. I’m proud of ya.”
“Really?” Lightning looked at him like it was the last time he’d see him.
“Yeah. You’re the best thing to ever come from my life.” Doc smiled and pulled Lightning in for a hug. “I know you’ve got more in you than this. You’re not done yet. Go back and show them what I know. That you’re every bit a Legend that I was…even better.”
“It’s so hard without you, Doc.” Lightning could feel a pull.
“Duh.” Doc laughed. “But you got those kids of yours that need you more than you know and I’m with ya. There’s nowhere you can go that I won’t be.”
“Thanks, Doc…I love ya.”
Lightning felt a harder pull and everything was white. He managed to see Doc’s smile and hear his voice, “I love ya too, kiddo.”
Dante was in the chair next to his father. The man was in a bed attached to a million wires but what unnerved him the most was the beeping machine that reminded him that his father could die at any moment. It felt like it was a countdown.
He’d been in this room for 3 days now. His Radiator Springs family came and went trying to feed him or get him to leave. They told him his Papa and sisters were delayed that they should be here at any moment but Dante could only see his Dad laying there. He could only think that the Doctor had said that there was no way to tell when his father would wake up from the coma he was in.
He looked up as the door opened for the umpteenth time that day. He suddenly felt like the five-your-old who was afraid of the dark when he saw his Papa’s face. He immediately got up and hugged the older man tightly. He felt the other’s arms wrap around him as he placed a kiss to his forehead.
“I am so sorry that you were alone, il mio bambino.” Dante let out all of his fear and frustration that he had been holding in as he sobbed in his Papa’s arms.