The Bucket List

The Aftermath

Ash's whole body ached as he craned his neck, stretching out the kink that had developed from sitting in a chair for hours on end. Since she'd been rushed to the hospital, he'd kept vigilant watch over Misty, never leaving her side, even though he knew she had no recollection of him being there. Their other friends had come and gone, pushing him to leave and get some rest or a bite to eat, and the nurses had tried to kick him out, but he'd bargained and pleaded with them to let him stay long past the posted visiting hours. In the end, they'd given up arguing with him and allowed him to stay, so long as he continued to let Misty rest.

She had been in and out of consciousness due to the powerful drugs the doctor had given her to force her to rest so her body could heal. Her sedated state also helped to prevent her from pulling at the chords that crisscrossed across her body, attaching to the various machines that were monitoring her heart rate, blood pressure, and slowly releasing medicine into her body, or whatever else they were supposed to do-Ash had lost count of each machine's purpose long ago. At first, their incessant humming and beeping had driven him crazy, but after a few days, they had become nothing but white noise.

As he held her hand and watched her chest rise and fall in time with the beeping of a nearby heart monitor, he suddenly felt her start to stir. She groaned as her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she stared at him with a far-off look on her face. It took her a while before she registered that it was him, but when she finally did, her eyes narrowed in disdain.

"Why are you here?" she snapped at him. Her voice was rough and crackly from disuse, and her words were ice-cold. He opened his mouth to answer, but she jerked her hand away and whipped her head around so she didn't have to look at him. "Haven't you done enough already? Get out of here, Ash. I never want to see you again. I hate you."

He reached forward to grasp her hand once more, but she yanked it away, yelling at him about how much she hated him and how he was dead to her.

"Misty, please!" he cried. He knew he deserved the treatment she was giving him, but he didn't understand why she couldn't just talk with him. Given a chance, he was confident he could put a small dent in the canyon-sized hole between them.

"Get out!" she screamed, tears now streaming down her face.

In her fit of distress, she began gasping for air, and her eyes fluttered shut as frantic beeping echoed through the room and alarms sounded around him. Ash was shoved aside as doctors and nurses rushed into the room, surrounding Misty's bed as some barked orders and others grabbed nearby equipment. One of the nurses grabbed Ash's arm and started shoving him out of the room, ordering him to leave immediately. As his mind caught up, he stood steadfast, refusing to move. He couldn't leave. Misty needed him. He couldn't let things end like this.

"Misty!" he shouted as he tried to push past the nurse. He craned his neck to try and look past the nurse's shoulder at the scene unfolding before him. "Misty! She needs me!"

"Sir, you need to leave the room. You are not doing your friend any favors by standing here. You need to let the doctors work," the nurse snapped, her patience long gone.

Ash and the determined nurse battled for dominance as Ash continued to call out to Misty. Tears clouded his vision, and his voice grew hoarse and desperate as he had fallen into near hysteria. "I'm sorry, Mist! I'm so sorry...Please, Misty, hang on." I need you!

Finally, in a display of near-superhuman strength, the nurse pushed him out the door and slammed it close behind him. He rushed over to the window, standing helplessly as the doctors shouted about crash carts and dropping heart rates. Then the machine that had once been beeping erratically reached its peak as it bottomed out into a long and steady tone.