Aspiring

Recovery Time

The first thing that Percival Kane could make sense of was a faint sound, a slight monotonous beeping noise that sounded in the distance. It was steady, consistent, each beep coming in perfect time after the previous one. As the noise grew gradually louder the beeping sped up, slightly pounding out a fast rhythm that was so loud it had him wishing he could cover his ears with his hands.

He tried to move his hands, but couldn't even feel the appendages, trying to look down to see why his arms weren't working and realizing he couldn't see anything. He began to panic as voices joined the loud beeping, random yelling and loud frantic talking in a language he couldn't understand. He tried to make his body do something, desperately willing itself to pull away from the hell it was stuck in. The voices grew louder, deafening in their yelling as he lay helpless and immobile, unable to escape.

From the darkness a slight light appeared, casting a warm glow over him as it grew. A faint pink haze clouded his vision, providing little comfort over the noises around him. He felt a twitch in his eyelid, a promising motion as he struggled to regain his vision. Drawing strength from wherever he could he struggled to open his eyes, regretting the decision immediately when he was blinded by a harsh light. He blinked rapidly, the noises around him all at once silent as his vision strived to right itself. The strength was leaving his body quickly but he could sense his vision clearing and he struggled to hang on, if only to see what this hell he was caught in looked like.

He only was able to get a glimpse of a white tiled ceiling before he was pulled back under.

Everything was black again, that faint beeping sound steady and consistent in the distance. The warm pink light was back again, comforting him as he felt his eyelids struggle to unstick from each other. When he was able to open him the light wasn't as harsh, only a faint glow in the darkness. He blinked rapidly as his surroundings came into focus. The only light in the room was coming in from the hallway, the open door allowing the small room to be lit enough to see that he was in a hospital.

He tried to move, his body unresponsive to his brain telling it to get up. He grunted in frustration and looked down at his body, staring in fascination at what seemed to be the hundreds of wires disappearing into it. He opened his mouth to yell out, the only sound escaping him a high-pitched whine that was barely loud enough to reach the door.

A large red button to his right caught his attention as he began the tedious process of trying to reach for it. He focused with all his might on moving his arm, getting only a twitch from his pointer finger for all his efforts. His eyes burned in frustration, his mind trapped inside of this immobile body. A movement from the door had him snapping his eyes up to meet that of a man in scrubs. The man's eyes widened slightly before he was quietly saying something into his radio.

An older woman in a white lab coat, who was obviously a nurse or doctor, came skidding into the room, eyes wide as she looked at her patient. She gave him a slight smile as she approached his bed, pulling the seat next to it closer to him and sitting down.

"Welcome back."

He blinked in confusion, the words seemed familiar but he couldn't piece them together.

"I'm going to need to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

Once again he was stupefied, some of the words jumping out at him but the rest remaining a mystery. He could vaguely remember the word "question" and his mind began to revolt. He wanted to scream, wanted to yell at the woman and tell her that he had a million questions he needed answered first but when he opened his mouth to do so all that came out was that little pathetic squeak again. She carried on as if she didn't hear it.

"Do you remember your name?"

He tried to tell her that he didn't understand, couldn't answer any of the questions because he didn't know what they were. When he replied he looked around as a high pitched voice filled the room, wondering who else was there before realizing that it was coming from him. The woman sighed as talked to him some more before starting her physical exam, a light shined in his eyes had his head screaming in pain, but he was pleasantly pleased to find that he could feel the pressure when she squeezed his toes and fingers.