I got sleepy again.
More voices interrupted a really good dream about surfing. I tried to open my eyes but they were too heavy.
“Talk to him,” a voice said, “It will help.”
“O-okay.” It was Nat.
Her voice was so pretty.
I could listen to it all day.
“Hamlet.” Nat cleared her throat.
WHAT? Was she going to read me my homework? For real? Holy shit! I WAS IN HELL!
My body rebelled. I tried to move.
Nat just kept talking, in that weird Shakespearean language that made me seriously doubt the man’s sanity when he was writing.
Nat kept speaking. Oh hell she was using voices.
Huh, I wondered, in that moment, if this was my penance. If God really was the type of God that would punish a person in such a cruel way.
She read for hours.
She came back every day.
She read. The. Whole. Damn. Story.
When I woke up, not if, but when, I was going to burn all things Hamlet. I was going on Shakespeare strike. I would write a song about it. Swear.
I heard hushed voices again, and then Nat touched my arm. I tried to wiggle my fingers, but they wouldn’t listen to me.
“Your brother told everyone I was his fiancé.” Nat was tickling my arm something fierce. Must. Stop. The. Tickling. “It was the only way they would let me see you.” That was nice of him, to do that, so she could see me. Alec knew me too well. I wanted Nat here. Yeah I’d screwed things over with her. But honestly, I’d take her friendship any day. She was probably the only person who would put up with me at this point. You know you have a good friend when you treat them like crap and they still hold your hand, or in Nat’s case, tickle the crap out of you — which of course is just made worse when you can’t laugh!
“Trust me, I could have taken that tiny nurse. We all know how strong I am.” Nat boasted. “Alec also told me that you used to pee the bed when you were little and that you were scared of birds until you reached the age of twelve.”
Holy shit! And the worst nurse EVER award goes to Nat! Um, hello, deathbed? And every little kid is afraid of something. Alec swore he’d take that to his grave. Epic fail.
Nat laughed.
I liked hearing her laugh. I was tired of hearing her cry, seeing her tears, okay so maybe if it was at my expense that was okay.
“Naturally, I thought the best way to get you out of your drug-induced state was to threaten you. So, I rented the movie The Birds, and if you don’t come out of your coma I’m just going to keep playing it over and over again until you wake up.”
“Cruel,” Alec’s hushed voice said.
“And in order to prove my theory, I also recorded a few bird calls on my iPhone. Did you know there was an app for that?”
THE HELL she was! I roared, and willed my body to thrash, instead, I almost gave myself an aneurism and my pinky finger moved. Score! I tried again, this time it was easier, as if my body was remembering that yes it was supposed to move when I ordered it to.
“Play it again,” Alec ordered.
NO! Do NOT play it again!
I wiggled more fingers, and tried for toes. Hey I was on a roll!
She pressed play again. Holy. Shit. Was that the sound of a crow? They killed people. Wow. Heartless. Both of them.
With one final surge of energy, I wiggled my right hand and opened one eye, then two. Everything was blurry.
“His eyes are open! Get the nurse!” Nat yelled, as Alec ran out of the room.
I thought by opening my eyes the nightmare would be over. Nope, it had just begun. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest hurt so bad like it was on fire. My throat was closing, swear, and every inch of my body felt like someone had run me over with something and then thrown me off a cliff for fun. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t do anything and it freaked me out. Freaked me out because I was still having trouble moving.
I tried to look around the room. Machines. Everywhere. Tears pooled behind my eyes. Great, so I couldn’t move my damn legs but I could cry?
“No, no, it’s okay.” Nat grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You’re fine, okay? Don’t panic. I need you to not panic right now, okay?” Tears slid down her cheeks. I didn’t want her to cry!
“Ice?” Nat reached for a cup next to my bed. I nodded slightly, the movement so painful I nearly passed out.
The ice melted the minute it hit my lips but it felt so good I wanted to devour the cup. I smiled or I think I smiled I mean, I flinched and then Nat giggled so yeah, my smile though I thought it looked bad ass probably looked terrifying.
“Well, well, well, it seems my daughter’s treating our patient well.” Nat’s dad walked into the room. Hey I knew him! Oh wait… He was in a nice doctor coat… because he was a… get there faster Demetri. Doctor. My doctor? Did he operate on me? Holy shit he saw me naked!
He walked to the monitors and wrote some stuff down on his clipboard then began a slow examination of Demetri. “How are you feeling? Blink once if you are in pain, twice if you are okay for now.”
I blinked twice. Nat squeezed my hand in encouragement.
“You’ve been in an accident,” Dr. Murray stated. I rolled my eyes. No shit.
Everyone laughed nervously at me; Alec put his hand on Nat’s shoulder so that the three of us were linked. How we’d been from the beginning. Funny because this whole time I kept thinking it couldn’t be the three of us. But it could. Nat and Alec could be together and I could still be a part of it. I could still be their family.