Lydia- The Pet Communicator (Wattys13- Finalist!)

Chapter 2

Lydia- The Pet Communicator

Chapter 2

After my father ended his call, he immediately informed me that Ricky was coming for a visit. I was excited to see him, but also worried about my appearance—in my hospital attire, I was surely a mess.

In a little while, my mother walked in. She sat freely in the chair next to me and drank some cold water from the small filter on the table next to her. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and her face had turned red from the humidity outside. Soon, she took a napkin out of her hand clutch and started wiping the sweat away.

“Mom, do you have a pocket mirror? I want to see how I look.” She nodded and started searching for it in her hand clutch.

I shifted my gaze to my dad, who was deep in thought.

“Daddy! What are you thinking about?” I asked loudly.

He shook his head and offered me a smile that reached his eyes, with dimples forming in his face. My father had a great personality and a good build, so nobody could guess his age.

“Nothing much my baby, I was just thinking about the moment when you were born. I was so happy and excited then, and now I’m feeling the same after such a long time. You don’t know how much I’ve missed your company over these six months. I remember starting my day with your teddy bear hug and ending it with your laugh. Get well soon, my angel. Daddy needs you.” He got up from his chair and walked out the room, and I could tell he was holding back tears.

“Here, got the mirror.” My mom handed it to me, and I observed myself.

Dark circles rimmed my green eyes. My curly brown hair was all sticky, and the softness was gone; my skin was pale, and my lips were all cracked up because of the dryness.

“Mom, I look so sick. What will Ricky think of me?”

“Dear, he’s already seen you at your worst,” my mother replied. “You look much better than before, you know. He used to visit you often, coming to the hospital almost once a week with Clara.”

“Thanks for the reassurance, Mom. I love you so much.”

The color in her face drained as I spoke that, and she said, “It’s good that you love me. You’re always with your father, and you never talk to me unless it strikes your fancy—it’s almost as if I don’t exist.”

“No, Mom, you’ve got that wrong. This is your main problem as my mother—you don’t understand me enough, and we can’t connect over anything. Dad and I have a lot in common, so we spend a lot of time together. You don’t like what we do, especially for the animals,” I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Grace!” my dad said angrily as he entered the room. “What’s going on?”

My mom just chewed her bottom lip, not knowing what to say.

“Dad, it’s all right. We were just talking,” I replied quickly.

“I heard what she said to you while I was coming in, Lydia. I mean, she’s not getting the fact that you just woke up from a coma and can’t be stressed!”

Just in time, Ricky walked into the room, and we all fell silent.

“Hi! Am I interrupting something?” Ricky asked.

We all shook our heads, and Ricky’s gaze shifted to me. When our eyes met, I started to feel anxious, which set off the butterflies in my stomach. He looked so hot in his black leather jacket and fitted denim jeans; his blue T-shirt matched his eyes, and his lips looked so soft.

He walked towards me with a big grin and hugged me tightly. He smelt so good, just like he always did.

“How are you, baby doll? I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’m doing well, thanks. How are things with you? And what did I miss?” I inquired with a smirk.

“Everything’s going well, just glad that you’re awake and feeling better. You didn’t miss much, but now there’s plenty of time for us to hang out.” He kissed me on the forehead and held my hands tightly, then turned to my parents and asked, “When will she be released from the hospital?”

My dad replied, “After a week. She still needs to undergo some tests.”

Ricky nodded and glanced back at me with affection; I could see the love for me in his eyes. “I love you, and I’ll always be with you,” he whispered in my ear.

I could feel his breath on my neck, and I felt like pulling his face down and crushing our lips together. But sadly, my parents were still watching. “I love you too, Ricky,” I whispered instead.

After a while, a doctor came in with a nurse. “Sir, we need to do some tests. Can you all please wait outside?”

“What kind of tests?” my father asked quickly.

“We need to do an EEG scan. It’s a brain scan, and it’ll tell us a lot about the activity level of her cortex,” the doctor replied. “It’ll also give us a better picture of the blood flow in her head.” He asked the nurse to lay me down on my back, and she obliged.

“I hope everything is all right with Lydia,” my dad mumbled, sighing loudly. Ricky and my mother just stood there and listened.

“Sir, as you can see, these hospital monitors help us read the patient’s breathing patterns and brain activity through CT scans. According to these readings, she is no longer in immediate danger. Now the medical staff is only focused on preventing infections like pneumonia, treating any bedsores, and providing her with a balanced diet. In order to do that, we’ll need to know more about her blood flow,” said the doctor, smiling radiantly.

My father nodded and walked out the room, followed by Ricky and Mom.

The nurse moved me onto my left side and checked for bedsores on my back. Luckily, there were none, and she proceeded to check my blood pressure, recording her findings on a clipboard. She adjusted my drips, telling me she was adding glucose to my bloodstream; she then fed me some vegetable soup and gave me some tablets, which I washed down with a glass of juice.

After a fifteen-minute break, the staff began the brain test. It lasted for about a half hour, and afterwards, the doctor stepped away from the equipment and smiled.

“Okay, Lydia, everything seems to be under control. You recovered very fast, better than most coma patients do, and I’m sure you’ll be able to sit up on your own very soon,” the doctor assured me.

“I’m really uncomfortable, doctor. I’m kind of frustrated, and there’s still a lot of pain in my body. Also, I’m getting pretty tired of these IV attachments. I feel like pulling them off.”

“You have to be strong for a little longer,” said the doctor. “You want your life to return to normal, right? I’ve seen your parents crying over you, so you have to do it for them, okay?”

 I nodded at his remark—he was being completely serious.

As the doctor opened the door to leave, my father rushed up to him and asked, “Thomas, is my baby doing well? There are no problems, right?”

Oh, so the doctor’s name is Thomas. Well, he and my dad must have known each other for a long time—I have been in the hospital for six months, I thought.

Dr. Thomas kept a hand on my dad’s shoulder and told him, “She is absolutely fine. You’ll be able to take her home sooner than expected.”

____________________________________________________________

How did you find this story so far? Please leave your comments and thank you for reading! it really means a lot. Yeah! It encourages me to write more and more. Hugs!