Diary/Journal/Whatever is Manly

Chapter 16

"Mr Traboune. So, we discovered fluid pushing against your brain. It's travelling between the two cortexes, and depending on which cortex it's pushing against, the opposite personality is brought forth. You're switching between your left and right brain essentially. This is also causing your seizures. Now you can remain with the fluid, the fluid is not life threatening. However, I recommend you undergo a procedure to drain the fluid, because the body can only take so much. Worst case scenario you have a seizure that leaves you in a coma."

Tyler thought over Dr Travis' words, as he sat by himself in one of the many gazebos scattered about. Fluid, seizure, procedure, coma; he was drowning in a sea of words. It all seemed to much, his breathing was becoming shorter as his heartbeat increased. His hands started to shake as his breathing got blurry. "You could have a seizure with no around, in an less than ideal location." Dr Travis' words were definitely haunting him, it was as though he predicted the future. Tyler tried to calm himself down, but it was useless. He was having a panic attack, which would most likely lead to seizure in the middle of the gardens with no one around. He should have brought Dennis with him to the hospital. How did the damn fluid even get into his brain? Was this it? Was he going to die out here, as though he were on an episode of NCIS?

"Tyler!?" The voice broke through the fog. Opening his eyes slowly he saw Dennis standing over him. Was he seeing things? Was he dead? "Tyler!?" Tyler groaned, his head was pounding, and his entire body felt heavy. "Tyler!? Hey mate, can you hear me?" Groaning once again, he tried to close his eyes to escape the pounding in his head, he was so exhausted. "Tyler stay awake man, help is on the way." That was the last thing he heard through the fog before it all faded away to blissful darkness.

---

Beep, beep, beep bee-shut up!

Tyler groaned, as he listened to the incessant beeping. It just would not stop, no matter how hard he willed it to. He figured that if he waiting long enough, he'll get used to it until it faded into background noise. But then, the rustling happened, the pitter-patter of footsteps, the poking and prodding, the hushed chatter. Giving up he decided opening his eyes, would be easier to achieve, than falling back to sleep. Squinting, he saw blue leaning over him, was that a name?

"Ma-ma-ri-a?"

"You're awake," He heard a shocked voice, though he could not place were it originated from. "I'll go call the doctor, your friends will be so happy." The voice continued, getting excited.

"Mr Traboune, welcome back to the land of the living."

"What happened?"

"You had a seizure, in a less than ideal location. Man, it's scary when I'm right." Tyler placed the voice as Dr Jacksons.

"My head hurts." Tyler complained, as Dr Jackson shined his torch in his eyes.

"According to your mate, you had a nasty fall off a bench so... Anyway, your vitals and everything seem fine. Can I ask what you were thinking about before it all went black?"

"Our earlier appointment. I guess I was panicking about the whole situation," Tyler admitted.

"Fair enough, can't really fault you for that one. But, I'm gonna be that repetitive doctor and stress, that you need to keep your stress levels down. If I could make a suggestion, maybe you could confide in someone, instead of panicking by yourself." 

"I guess I gotta stop sulking in the gardens." Tyler pouted, considering he really loved the campus gardens. They provided the best inspiration for anything involving scenery in his artworks.

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll go let your friends know that they can see you now, if you're up for visitors that is?"

"Yeah, send them in."

"You should have seen yourself man. It was like something straight of the exorcist or something." Dennis said jokingly. However, the way his voice shook, was not fooling anyone in the group.

"I'm okay, I just stressed myself out." Tyler reassured his friend. "You know you guys didn't have to come right?"

"Dennis called us," Stacey explained. 

"Tyler's right you know? I only texted because we had plans. Just wanted to explain why Tyler and I had to cancel," Dennis said.

"Well to tell you the truth, we were just gonna text you, to ask if you needed support. If you said no we weren't gonna come," Stacey confirmed.

"Then why did you come?" Tyler wondered. The twins turned their attention to Misty, in response. Misty who had yet to open her mouth to make a sound. "You forced everyone to come?" Tyler asked, skeptically.

"The last time I came here, I got some interesting data from Dennis." Misty explained.

"Data?" Dennis wondered, giving Misty his attention.

"Yeah. My grade has been a steady 99% for the longest time. It's always the same: 'it's just missing something'. So, imagine my surprise when I used the data from the first incident, you know when I asked you if it was worth it to have friends if they could die at any moment.  Anyway, imagine my surprise when I use it for my Eleanor and Park analysis... and I get 100%."

"Misty!"

"I'm starting to realise that this is a very one-sided relationship."