Magnolia Blooms

33. Formidable

Maggie was in the scary room again. She thought about her wish to Santa. She thought about the Blurryface song. She thought about her mama and papa and Santa and Christmas. She thought about Aunty Jenna and Uncle Tyler. And Rosie.

The light wavered but didn't grow.

"We have you," one of the monsters said. "And we're here. So we're stronger than when we were out of state."

"You won't get away as easily here," the other monster said.

The rope things came out of the dark and wrapped themselves around Maggie. She writhed. She tried to fight them. The monsters stayed in the dark, but they had their ouchie sticks and they used them on Maggie.

"Pleathe thtop!" Maggie lisped. They mocked her harshly.

"Mama and Papa will come," Maggie said. "Mama and Papa will come.

The monsters laughed.

Maggie kept trying to fight against the ouchie sticks and the rope things.

"Stop fighting!" The monsters yelled. "You can't fight them you stupid girl!"

"I. Am. Not. Thtupid!" Maggie yelled pushing back against the tightening of the rope things.

The monsters scoffed.

"Mama! Papa!" Maggie shouted. "Mama! Papa! I need you!"

"They can't hear you, you stupid, stupid girl. They're not here. Why aren't they here, Diana?"

"I'm not Diana," Maggie said. "I'm Maggie."

"You're so stupid you don't even know your own name!" the monsters laughed.

"My name ith MAGGIE!" Maggie cried.

The monsters used the ouchie sticks.

"Maggie? Wake up!" Maggie heard Mama, just for a second and so very far away.

"Oh no you don't!" the monster yelled and poked Maggie with the ouchie stick, but didn't take it off. He kept hurting Maggie. Maggie screamed. Finally, the monster stopped with the ouchie stick. Maggie relaxed. She was tired. She wanted to sleep.

"Don't fall asleep, yet, dummy. We're just getting started," the monsters poked her with the sticks again. Maggie didn't have the energy to make any sound. She barely reacted.

"She's falling asleep again. Wake her up!" one monster said. Maggie was hit with the ouchie stick again. She screamed in pain.

Maggie's body seized off and on. Josh and Debby sat by her side, watching their daughter's body seize and contort in painful-looking spasms.

The problem was, the doctors had hooked Maggie up to an EEG and when her body seized, her brain waves didn't show a seizure pattern. They looked like they were registering pain. But Maggie wasn't conscious, so they couldn't ask her if she was in pain. The doctors administered low levels of pain killer. Nothing really much stronger than kid's Tylenol or Advil. Since they couldn't gauge her pain level, they used a conservative dose, the lowest for her weight and height, at the longest intervals. They didn't see much difference in her pain registry based on the EEGs, so they upped her dose just a little, staying within the range for her height and weight. If they got any sign she was getting relief, they'd continue. If not, they weren't going to try anything stronger.

Occasionally, Maggie moaned, groaned and even screamed, but never seemed to come to anywhere near consciousness. She only needed a little extra oxygen, but was breathing okay on her own, otherwise.

They'd had to tape her eyes closed, as she wasn't blinking on her own, and they didn't want her eyes to dry out. Even still, she got eye drops every few hours, every day. A tube inserted up her nose and into her stomach took care of her nutritional needs. Tubes that came out from under her blankets took care of any waste, and Maggie was also in a diaper. Maggie was covered in wires and tubes, tape and bandages.

Mama and Papa had brought her her favourite blanket - Turtle, and her favourite stuffed toy - Uff, a dog that looked like Jim. Uff sat in Maggie's arms and Turtle was covering the hospital's blankets.

Pictures drawn by Rosie adorned the walls around Maggie's bed. Christmas presents sat underneath the tree in an empty house, still waiting to be opened by an overexcited seven-year-old. The dog that usually resided in that empty house, was currently lying at the front door of their friends' house, waiting for someone to come home. Even he could sense tension, fear and sadness. Something was wrong with the small human in the house. On Sparkly Shiny Paper Eating Day, Jim knew something was wrong with the small human, and woke the big humans up eventually. Something had been in the house over the dark sleep time, but even Jim couldn't figure out what it wanted. It was in the small human's cage, but then it wasn't. And somehow, the small human was both here, but also not here.

Maggie continued trying to fight. The monsters kept telling her that her name was Diana. She was Maggie! She was Maggie! She was Maggie!

"You're Diana!" the monster yelled so loud, Maggie's ears were ringing and the sound echoed around the scary room.

"No!" Maggie said. "I'm Maggie. Magnolia Dun! I will always be Magnolia Dun!"

The voice that came from Maggie was strong, powerful and mature. It didn't sound like a seven-year-old with two front teeth missing. There was no lisp.

The monsters didn't know how to react to the voice. They swirled around Maggie, just outside of the circle of light.

"What are you doing? What do you think you're doing?" the monsters asked.

"I'm not doing anything," Maggie said, in her own voice.

"Whose voice was that, then?" the monster asked.

"What voithe?" Maggie lisped.

The monsters looked at each other and then the rope things tightened around Maggie again.

Maggie screamed and screamed. The EEG went wild with spikes showing Maggie was experiencing extreme pain.

Suddenly, Maggie stopped screaming. She also stopped breathing and her heart stopped beating.

Josh and Debby were pushed out of the room and taken to a waiting area away from Maggie's room.

Doctors and nurses ran in and out of Maggie's room. Announcements were made, specialists were called, codes were called, alarms rang in Maggie's room.

And then it went quiet.