present
I wake up in pain, my skin feels like smoldering ash. I glance around quickly, far too quickly. I lay my head back down in what I'm beginning to realize is a hospital bed. As I notice three people in the room around me; my step-dad Phil, my mom Renee, and my little sister Bella.
6hrs earlier
I love hiking, not because of the views but the physical exertion. The exertion gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish. Thanks to this sense of accomplishment I found myself at the top of Camelback Mountain breathing heavily as I noticed a storm roll in above me. I thought "this sucks" while hoping it doesn't hail. I turned around and began heading back down the trail towards the parking lot. As I slowly made my way back down, the top layer of the red dirt began to whip through the air with the increasing wind. I heard a crack of thunder and lightning and began to hurry, knowing that I'm the tallest thing on the mountain despite standing only 5 foot 7'. About a quarter off the peak thunder clapped again, then it was like a flash bang and an intense paralyzing pain before it all went black.
present
"Ah, he's awake" says Phil drawing the attention of my mother and sister both of which were seemingly staring into oblivion. My Mom rushed over to my bedside berating me with questions about how I was feeling. While Bella stayed where she was seated in a chair near the window with a concerned look. My mother paused for a second looking confused. Having not said anything I finally spoke up, "I fine, what's wrong". My mother looked at me more intently before saying, "well it's your eyes" before she dug in her purse producing a small make up mirror. As I reached for the mirror I felt a painful itch through my skin and a tingling sensation through my body. Bella piped up , "wait Brax, you still have burns". I paused and laid my hand back at my side now noticing the majority of my body was bandaged. Phil said, " Hey sport, it's not that bad, the doctors were very surprised at you getting hit by lightning and only having light burning over your body". My mom then held the mirror up for me to see my reflection. I froze for a second after noticing my eyes. The irises had turned white and my pupils were no longer black but very light gray. My eyes looked like I was wearing very weird colored contacts. I thought, "well at least they look cool". Soon my mother devolved into more wellness berating.
The next few days passed in a similar manner with my mother, Bella, and Phil coming to the hospital to make sure I was alright. While doctors continued intermittent check ups to ensure I was healing. The doctors were surprised at how fast I was healing, but soon released me from the hospital 4 days after my admittance. I guess I was lucky I told Bella where I was going before I went to Camelback Mountain, and she noticed I wasn't back before dinner. Fortunately we were on winter break from school so I had plenty of time to recover before Bella and I head over to stay with our father in Forks, Washington. I've spent every summer with my father and had wanted to move to Forks for a while because I loved the town, my father, and my friends there. Bella wanted to go because she couldn't stand being mom and Phil's third wheel. She however told me in private that she wanted to give the newlyweds space and allow mom to travel with Phil during his minor league baseball career.