Rome & Julie

Chapter 32

There was a faint beeping sound.  That was the only thing I could identify.  Everything else was fuzz in my mind.  I couldn’t feel any part of my body—assuming I still had one—I couldn’t smell anything, I couldn’t move.  There was nothing but that soft, continuous beeping in the back of my mind, the only thing keeping a loose hold on my sanity.  No matter how hard I concentrated, I couldn’t make sense of anything.  Who I was, where I was, what I was doing.  There was nothing there, except for the beeping, as I teetered on the edge of insanity.

And as though I was destined for that fate, the beeping sound slowly faded away, until there was everything I was afraid of.

Nothing.

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Voices this time.  Soft, murmuring voices, but voices nevertheless.  My ears perked up at the pleasant sound, glad I wasn’t alone in the darkness any longer.  The terror gripping at my soul slowly loosened as the voices became more distinct, although I couldn’t decipher any words being said.  Either way, I wasn’t alone.

Then I smelled it.  A strong, stinging scent that burned through my nostrils.  I wanted to curl my nose up out of instinct, but I still could not feel any of my body to do so.  And although it scared me, I wasn’t completely terrified as I was before.  I could hear, I could smell.  I could identify voices.  That was an improvement from the dark abyss of before.

Although I might’ve imagined it, the thought of being in that gulf of nothingness seemed to send a petrifying chill over my body, and before I knew it, I was returning to that void of dread once more.

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Beep…

Oh… she’ll be fine…

Beep… beep…

Just banged up.  Her body will naturally recover.

Beep… beep…

When will she wake up?  Can’t be sure.  That’s up to her body to decide when it feels right and strong again.

Beep… beep… beep…

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“Julie! JULIE!”

My eyes immediately snapped open, and, ignoring the burning of my pupils, I sat up sharply at the sound of my name.  The movement caused my body to protest heatedly and my insides to swim, and I came extremely close to vomiting at the sensation.  A gasp to my right sent my head spinning in that direction.

Elizabeth Madden.

“Julie!  Oh my God, you woke up!” I looked down and noticed she was clutching my arm with a death grip, and it was very evident that she’d been crying.  “You’ve been in a coma as far as I know.  Only been here for about twenty minutes.  You’ll be fine they said.  You’ll be fine!” She desperately screamed the last part, much to my confusion.  What was she talking about?  Where was I?

I glanced around the room, and my heart sank as the horrible memories came flooding back.  I was in the hospital.  I was sure that I’d been shot, because there was only blackness after the sound of the gunshot, but by the pain on the left side of my head, I could’ve just been knocked out.  Hard.  What other explanation was there for my life?

“Please!  Rome… Julie… Rome is…,” Mrs. Madden tried to say, and suddenly my heart found its wings and started thrumming in double time.  The heart monitor beside my hospital bed sped up accordingly.  Something was terribly wrong.  I could feel it.