It was Tyler who found Josh and Debby's unconscious bodies beside Maggie. He'd thought they were just asleep with Maggie, but when he tried to wake them, neither moved. He called for a nurse who came in and frowned.
Doctors came. They checked over the parents who both seemed to have fallen into a coma-like state, along with their daughter - though her coma wasn't really a coma. So maybe the parents weren't in a real coma either?
"Josh? Debby?" He tried. Neither adult moved. Neither opened their eyes.
They brought two more beds into Maggie's room and moved the parents to their own beds, beside their daughter. Tyler, having noticed they were holding Maggie's hand, placed the tiny girl's hand into each of her parents' hands.
"What is going on?" Tyler asked, sitting between Maggie and Josh. "Where are you guys?"
It was looking like tour might need to be postponed.
Meanwhile, Josh and Debby had managed to get the rope things off Maggie. As Josh was singing the Blurryface song, the light was growing and the rope things slithered off Maggie.
"What are you doing?!" The monsters complained. "How are you doing that?"
Debby was singing with Josh, and holding Maggie's limp body in her arms.
"Mama?" Maggie said, weakly. Maybe weaker than before?
"Yes, Bug?" Debby was trying not to cry. She wanted to be strong for Maggie so maybe Maggie would keep fighting.
"Keep singing," Maggie's voice changed. Her lisp was gone.
"Okay, Bug. Okay," Debby said, stroking Maggie's hair as she sang.
Maggie's eyes were closing.
"No, Bug, please stay awake," Debby pleaded with the seven year old in her arms.
"I'm so tired, Mama," Maggie said again.
"I know Bug. But we need your help to fight the monsters."
Debby focussed all her energy and love onto her daughter. The light brightened and the circle expanded.
"Josh!" Debby said. "It's love. Love is what's making the circle bigger."
Josh scooted over to Maggie and Debby and put his arms around them. He kissed Maggie's forehead. Her eyes moved slowly in his direction. She smiled a tired looking smile. Then she sighed and closed her eyes.
"Bug?" Debby said. "Bug? Please, Maggie. Please open your eyes!"
"It's okay, Mama. I'm just resting them," Maggie whispered. "Keep singing."
Josh and Debby started singing 'Stressed Out' again. Maggie smiled.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Tyler, meanwhile was sitting in the Dun's hospital room, wondering what to do. What was happening? How could he fix this? Could he fix this.
He brought in a speaker and started playing music. Everything he had. Bands Josh liked, bands Tyler liked, their own repertoire.
He noticed something. Maggie's heart rate and blood pressure improved whenever 'Stressed Out' played. When the song would end, her heart rate would slow again, her blood pressure started to drop and she seemed to be struggling more. So Tyler decided to put the song on repeat. 'Stressed Out' became the only song that played in that room.
"Why are you playing the same song over and over?" One of the nurses asked.
"Watch this," he said. "Watch Maggie's monitors."
Tyler turned off the song. Maggie's vitals started dropping. He turned the song back on, and her vitals improved.
"That's incredible," the nurse said. She made a note in Maggie's chart.
Medically none of this made any sense. Comas aren't contagious. How did three people all seem to fall into the same state? The doctors were stumped and no amount of testing showed anything. EEGs, MRIs, nothing showed anything.
Yet, the Duns were all unconscious and unrousable.
In whatever world they were in, Josh and Debby sang Stressed Out over and over. And they could hear music from somewhere.
"Do you hear that?" Josh asked Debby.
"The music? Yeah. It's Stressed Out, too. Where is it coming from?"
"Outside? Like, the real world?"
The circle started closing in ever so slightly. Josh and Debby renewed their singing. The monsters were anguished and complaining.
Debby looked down at Maggie. Her eyes were closed and Debby couldn't see if she was breathing. Tears came to her eyes as she stroked the little girl's hair. Her eyes fluttered open and Debby smiled down at Maggie.
"Hi, Mama," Maggie said.
"Hi, Bug," Debby smiled.
Something started to happen to Maggie. A glow, a light, something started to emanate from her.
"NO!" The monsters yelled. "No! Don't you do that!! Don't you let her do that!"
Debby caught a glance of one of these 'monsters'. They did look like their faces were melting. But Debby sensed something else.
Fear.
The monsters were afraid. They were afraid of Maggie. They were afraid of this, this glow? This light?
Back in the hospital, Tyler was watching as Maggie's vitals all started improving. Her blood pressure, while it had already been improving with the music, kept climbing. Her heart rate climbed, too. It had been slow, but steady. Now it was a strong beat. Steady. Maggie even looked more peaceful. Colour was coming back to her cheeks.
"Bug?" Debby asked. "I think we need your help. We're doing something right but I think we need you to finish. I think you're strong enough now. Are you?"
Maggie looked at her parents and nodded.
She suddenly sat up and looked around the room. The light reached almost everywhere.
"Bug," Josh said, as Debby picked up the song. "Do you know who the monsters are?"
Maggie nodded. Something had changed in Maggie's eyes. A strength and determination that she hadn't been able to reach before now set her features.
"You are not my parents anymore! You never loved me and I don't love you! I'm not Diana! I am Magnolia Dun! And you can never, ever change that. I don't need you! I have a mama and a papa and a doggie and a family that loves me. AND YOU DON'T MATTER TO ME!" Maggie shouted. The light filled the room. Maggie glowed. The light from her pushed out and out until the entire room was filled with it. Josh and Debby were hugging Maggie as she shouted.
They heard a scream - two screams - from somewhere in the distance. Maggie looked around.
"This was my room in my old life," she said. Josh and Debby looked around. The room was barren. A thin mattress was in the corner with a worn wool blanket and a thin pillow. There were no toys. No furniture. Nothing to indicate this was a child's room. Nothing like the warm, inviting room Josh had made for Maggie. They hugged their little girl. She looked up at them, smiled, and then closed her eyes and fell back. Josh grabbed her, but Maggie wasn't responding.
"Is she breathing?" Debby asked. She was. They lay down beside her and implored her to come back.
Suddenly, Maggie wasn't in their arms. Both parents opened their eyes again and found themselves lying in hospital beds.
"Josh! Debby!" Tyler cried, as the two adults opened their eyes for the first time in four days. He called for the nurse, who came in quickly.
It took some explaining, most of which they were confused about. How had they wound up where they were? They couldn't explain it.
Once they'd reoriented themselves to being awake, they looked beside them and saw Maggie, still lying with her eyes closed. Still unconscious.
"Bug?" Debby said, touching her daughter's arm. "You gonna come back with us?"
Maggie didn't stir.
YOU ARE READING
Magnolia Blooms
FanfictionMagnolia (known to family and friends as Maggie) is seven years old. Two years ago, her life was changed when she was tossed out of her parents car, in a garbage bag. She was found by none other than Josh Dun of the band twentyone pilots. She was a...
