Hear me now

Part 8

He decided to take a day off. He plans to spend the day lounging. He feels it again, the stinging headache, it's beginning to be frequent. It used to happen once a week, now it's almost every day. It doesn't last long enough for him to worry. Now it does.

He texts Indra.

Luthfe 'I'm having headaches, it is happening frequently now.'

Indra 'For how long?'

Luthfe 'when I got home after the surgery'

Indra 'hrmmm, I'll get back at you'

Indra stops, turn around and rushes to Dr. Erka office.

The door opens, Dr, Erka looks at him and look at him sneeringly. There is a patient in the room. Indra closes the door and shakes his head.

Always the wrong time.

The patient leaves the room, he goes to see her.

"Luthfe has been having headache. Can I have a look at his CT-Scan after the surgery?"

"I have to look for it, I'll send it to you ASAP." She replies

Indra resumes his normal duties, and an hour later, Dr. Erka comes to him and hands him the file. He looks at each picture. He couldn't find anything. He informs Luthfe to come in for a scan.

Brrrr, the vibration of the phone alerts him, he looks at the text.

Luthfe 'today?'

Indra 'could you?'

Luthfe 'yes'

Indra 'great, text me when you're here.'

Luthfe rushes to Indra. They immediately go to the CT-Scan room. Indra straps him on the machine bed. He went to the control room and the bed moves slowly to the centre of the machine. In the control room, Indra starts the scanning procedure, the images form and morph diverse ways, it goes on for a few minutes before it spits out a collage of Luthfe heads. He looks at the picture under a light, he notices an abnormality inside the skull, a black string. It is a liquid from his vestibulocochlear nerve.

They are now in Indra office. Luthfe watches Indra scribbling notes and looking at the scan. Dr. Erka enters, he nods, greeting her. Indra gestures to her to look at the scan. She analyses it. She turns to Indra. Luthfe watches as their lips move, Indra expressions are that of concern and Erka of dread. They both turn to Luthfe.

In sign language

"There's something in your brain, a fluid leaking out from your ear and into your brain." Indra says.

Luthfe worryingly nod.

"The headache that you are feeling now is a side effect to that. The reason the implant won't activate is because of the fluid."

No reply.

Dr. Erka buts in "Unfortunately we can't do surgery to remove the fluid as it may harm you." Indra helps to sign.

Silence fills the room. Indra tries to console him.

"I'll try my hardest to help."

Without saying anything. Luthfe gets up, nods to both of them and leaves.

He watches Luthfe walks out that door. His eyes see through him, a tiny part in his heart feels relief when Luthfe steps out, he is not his problem anymore. He sighs. The door closes. she turns her head to Indra. The dimness of the room contributes to the sombreness that's overcoming Indra. Dr. Erka sits with crossed arms, watches Indra. It's not said but she knows the hopelessness overcoming Indra. She pats his shoulder and walks away.

____________________

His mind went blank. Hopelessness fills him. He drives aimlessly through the streets of the city. Out of all the roads, it takes him to the entertainment district. He strolls around the block. He sees a closed shop, with the dilapidated sign above it that says, 'The Jazz Tree,' a club where he plays his first show. It used to be a gathering place for jazz lovers, now it's closed, run down with rats hanging between the rubbish accumulated.

He continues his strolls, suddenly a loud ring hits him. He cups his ears, but the sound is still there. Headache follows, an unbearable sting in his head. Then it went away as fast as it strikes. He feels lightheaded, his walk wobbly.

He bumps into a person. He raises his arms apologising.

"Luthfe!" the person exclaims. "It's been a long-time man, haven't seen you for like years dude."

It is one of his bandmates, Qayyum. He smiles.

"What's up dude?"

No answer, he could only see his lips moving. Luthfe just smiles. He is trying to keep his composure, cupping one of his ears to keep balance. takes a while for Luthfe to gesture to Qayyum that he is deaf.

Awkward hums from Qayyum.

"Sorry to hear that"

Luthfe smiles. He gestures that he has somewhere to go.

Qayyum grabs him by the arms and brings him to a bar. He sits Luthfe down and goes to the rest of the band. He talks to them for a bit then all of them come by to greet him. Then, they go to play a set on the stage.

Luthfe watches them playing up there. They are in sync, just like they used when he was in the band. They are having so much fun playing together. He imagines he's up there on that stage playing together.

Out of the blue he could sense something, a note, a low one but a sound, nonetheless. He could feel it in ear on the bone a low frequency sound vibrating in there. Then, he starts hearing more notes gradually, one octave higher and a frequency higher. Then the amalgamation of sounds begins to dawn on him. It's muffled but he knows that it's music that he's hearing.

He closes his eyes to focus. He begins to decipher the sounds. It feels nice, familiar, and cosy. All of a sudden, a bright, powerful and mellow sound hits his ear. It's the saxophone. He opens his eyes; the band is performing his song and the sax player is belting out his solo.

The realisation that he could hear hits him. He's smiling from ear to ear, tears streams down his face. He felt joy, his longing for sweet music finally comes true. He watches the performance with delight.

Sharp ringing starts to come over him, an immense pain travels from his ear, through his brain and the spine. The pain pluses in his cranium. His body starts to twitch and goes into convulsion. His body slid and his head thumps the floor. Audible gasp from patrons who notices.

The sound starts to fade, his view dims. It's dark but the ringing continue to stop gradually. His body on the ground lifeless.

Patrons surrounds him, some horrified. The band stops the performance and goes to him, an unexpected scene, dead in the night.

Moments later, paramedics comes for him. They check his breathing, his pulse but nothing.

He's dead.

-END-

THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR. I HOPE THAT YOU LIKE IT.

WHILE SOME OF YOU MAY HATE ME FOR KILLING HIM, BUT IT WOULD WORK AS WELL IF IT WAS A HAPPY ENDING. DO VOTE IF YOU LIKE IT AND SEND ME A HATE MAIL IF YOU HATE IT. EITHER WAY I APPRECIATE IT.