Before the Silent Night Part II

6 weeks before the incident.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I mustered up the strength to open my eyes just enough to get a fuzzy view of the world around me. It was familiar, like i’d been here before, but I couldn’t recognize it. I turned my head slowly in all directions trying to make sense of things. Then she walked in.

“Oh My! Doctor, Doctor, come look your patient is awakening.”

Patient? What doe she mean patient? And why do I feel so weak?

“How are you feeling? My name is Erica, I’m one of the nurses who’s been assigned to your care. I know you’re probably feeling very weak and confused, but try not to panic. You were in an accident.”

An accident!? Nurse!? What the hell is going on right now? I can’t remember anything. How did I end up here.

“Well Good Morning to you! My name is Dr. Fitzpatrick. Do me a favor and play a long while you regain your strength. Blink twice for yes, blink once for no. Understood?”

I blinked twice.

“Good, you’re cognizant enough to register questions and answers. We’ll keep things simple for now. Do you know where you are?”

One Blink.

“You are at the Thornton Mercy Hospital. You fell off the roof of a building and right onto a an ice cream cart. This next part is critical for you to understand. The ice cream cart may have saved your life, but you’ve been in a coma for the past 3 weeks, well technically 19 days. The umbrella pole impaled you and went through your side crushing three ribs, slicing open your left lung and doing a ton of other internal damage as well. Honestly, I didn’t think you were going to make it. For whatever reason Erica and Amy took a liking to you, well more the curiosity surrounding you, and insisted we keep trying. Operations all went smoothly and now here we are.”

I blinked as much as I could as fast I could. I couldn’t believe what this man was telling me. I was on the verge of death and still lived. Again. Whatever guardian angel I’ve been blessed with is holding it down. Seriously, all the shit I’ve done in my life, my angel deserves a raise. No vacation though, I need him. 

“Are you ok!?”

Oh crap all the blinking must have sent the wrong idea. Blink Twice. 

“I see, so we’ll be here monitoring your recovery. If you need anything all you have to do it hit this… Sorry force of habit. Haha, this isn’t really a laughing situation but that was dumb of me. Oh whats that!”

His statement filled with a confusing excitement. It was as if he had just received great news. Turns out he and I both did.

“He smiled doctor! That was a light smile. He was trying to laugh.”

Not sure why this Erica girl as so excited but it was exciting for me. I didn’t know the full extent of my body’s damage. Doc seems to have withheld tons of details in fear of sending me into a panic about my actual condition. Judging by Erica’s reaction, I’m guessing critical isn’t to far off. 

“Yes he dd Nurse, yes he did. Make sure you add the notes to his charts. I’m going to go check on a few other patients. Great chat.”

“Yes Doctor.”

As he made his way out he tapped my leg. I pulled it back just slightly, although in my head I though I had jerked it all the way reacting to the pain. Doc stopped and did a hard turn. The look on his face was of pure amazement. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a tool. Erica starred at me intensely as he ran the cold device across the bottom of my exposed foot. Inside I was bursting in laughter and attempting every thing i could to move my leg from the tool.

“He smiled again Doctor!”

“Yes and his foot moved. It’s unbelievable but he seems to be making a full recovery.”

“You mean… he won’t be paralyzed as we had expected?”

“Erica!”

Paralyzed!? That’s a game changer. I knew the Doc was holding back some information around the severity of my situation but paralysis. That’s extreme. I glanced up at Erica to see the timidity glowing on her face.

“I’m sorry”

“Unacceptable.” The Doc said with a stern look on his face and iron in his voice. “Well I guess the cat’s out the bag now. The umbrella pole also crushed a part of your spinal cord. We were able to get in and do some work arounds but we don’t, or rather didn’t expect you to ever walk again. Looks like we might be wrong. Which is nothing short of a miracle. Truthfully, it’s a medical cause for celebration and study. I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes, with a few more doctors. Hope you’re not too ticklish.”

I cringed at the thought as he made his way out the door. Erica gave me one more glance before she stepped out behind him. It was a warm comforting glance. The type of glance that makes you feel safe even in the most dangerous of places. It has a similar feel to the glance my mother used to give me, before she died. 

Pops was always in and out of the picture, so it was just me and mom for most of the way. Only child, mom couldn’t bear the thought of having two children with two different fathers so she did everything she could to make things work. By the time it did end up working, she had no intention on trying to raise another child. Luckily her and pops were on pretty good terms before her death.

It’s amazing really. As I lay here scared shitless I can’t help but wonder; where is he now? I’ve been in this hospital bed for a few weeks and no one has come to visit. What do I live for? Why do I exist? Why did God let me live? 

“Mr. Valiente?”

Erica was calling for my attention. Who knows how long she’d been calling my name, I didn’t even notice her come back in the room. I snapped back to the real world and out of my head.

“Yes.”

“I just wanted to apologize for my unprofessionalism.”

“Don’t apologize, someone had to give me the bad news. Or is it good news.”

I laughed lightly hoping to give her some level of comfort. 

“Well I think, compared to where you were a week ago, this is great news!”

“If it’s great news, then there I’m glad you delivered it. You’re much prettier than the doctor.”

Erica laughed hard. What a relief, I was worried I was blowing it. Then again, what could I possibly be “blowing” I can’t even walk. She’s hopeful though. And gorgeous. Maybe it’s the euphoria of coming back to life, but I can’t stop admiring her. 

“Well, I’m glad I could be here to cheer you up Mr. Valiente.”

“Hey, call me Eddie. Mr. Valiente sounds like someone important.”

“We are all important Eddie don’t ever let your mind tell you otherwise.”

I cracked a small smile without even realizing it. 

“I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit. In the meantime, keep working on wiggling your toes so we can get you back on your feet.”

8 Hours before the Incident

“Wow, I am incredibly impressed by how much progress you’ve made over the past 6 weeks. You may actually be a walking miracle.”

The doctor was really singing himself praises while I paced from one side of the room to the other without any help. I glanced up at Erica and saw the excitement in her glistening eyes. We’ve done a great job keeping our Taboo relationship low but part of that means pretending she had way less to do with my healing then she did. The other doctors and nurses in the room continued to watch me in scientific awe.

“Doctor Fitzpatrick, this patience progress is absolutely amazing!”

“Indeed”

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of Doctor Goud.”

That’s when it happened. I felt the coldest chill down my spine as one doctor stepped forward. Gray long hair falling to the collar of his very worn lab coat as he smirked in my direction. Everything about this man felt wrong.

“Now now Doctor, you did the work you take al the credit. All I did was offer some small assistance. 

As he spoke everyone else in the room focused intently on his every motion. He was definitely something to see and I have no doubt the entire room felt the aura of his presence. 

“Mr. Valiente, tell us how are you feeling?”

“I’m… feeling… good.”

I don’t know why I struggled ton get those words out. I looked back over at Erica and saw her same comforting eyes and smile.

“Yea, I’m feeling real good.

“That’s great to hear! You should be ready to get out of here in the next few days. Doctors, let’s get back to our patients and continue saving lives.”

Dr. Fitzpatrick began clapping after his heartwarming declaration. The other doctors clapped, well all but one. Dr. Goud just smiled and stared at me. It was a cold stare, the complete opposite feeling I get anytime Erica looks my way. 

As my visitors leave, Erica sneaks over to help me get back into my bed. 

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to bring you down to Xray.”

“Oh so I should get naked right”

We both laughed. 

5 Minutes before the incident.

“Hey, you sure you don’t wanna join me in here? It’s cozy.”

“Haha, yea if only. Focus so I can make sure everything is going great.”

This full body X Ray is so damn uncomfortable. It feels like I’m getting squeezed into a tube that is clearly to small for me. Then right as I get comfortable, the damn thing starts up and makes so much noise it feels like it’s falling apart. Just lying in here. Is this what a coffin is like? Lonely. Tight. Cold.

“Alright all down, your coming out now.”

“Thank god.”

The machine starts sliding me back out and that’s when it happened.

Boom. An explosion like nothing I’d ever felt or heard before. The entire building shook and everything went completely dark. Erica let out the loudest scream I’d ever heard. I try to force myself out of the machine.

“Erica! Get down on the ground I’m gonna come your way don’t move.”

The emergency lights kick in and I can get a glimpse of Erica in the corner of the room. I make my way over and hug her tight.

“Everything is gonna be ok. A generator probably overloaded.”

She’s in full panic and I’m doing everything I know to calm her down. Another, smaller explosion goes off. Suddenly a voice comes over the hospital intercom.

“Emergency lockdown protocol is now in effect. All floors below ground level in the East wing are quarantined and lockdown until further notice. All other areas of the hospital must be immediately evacuated. This is not a test. Please await further instruction if you are within the quarantine zone.”

In that moment, Erica went stiff. Completely stone as if medusa had came by and they gazed eyes for a decade. 

“Hey, hey, your our only hope here. You kept me going at my worst. You can;’t shutdown on me now. Whats going on?

“We… we are in… we’re in the quarantine zone.”

And then another explosion went off. This time, much closer to us than before. And it was at that moment that I remembered, I’m not built for this.

“We are in the quarantine zone?”

That’s when I heard it. It was the loudest roar I’d ever heard in my life. It was like the sound of a lion, dragon, beast fused together as the sound echoed through the hospital. Erica became weak in her knees and I caught her as she began to collapse to the floor.

“Hey, hey, hey stay with me nurse. You’re supposed to be my hero. We’ll be ok don’t worry.”

And just as if the world heard me and wanted to make very clear the situation we were in, another roar rang and screams began. First it was the sound of a woman. Short and fast. Then it was the sound a man. That was the sound that crushed me. I immediately felt my heart start racing. The world around me became quiet, as I stood in shock only to  be broken by Erica’s whimpering. 

“We’re going to be ok. Don’t worry.”