Believe It Or Not (An Eddie Munson Story)

Can't Sleep Love

Eddie's POV:

It's been a week since I first started coming to Ripley's room. Every day, I spend most of my time here, only leaving when her nurses kick me out or when visiting hours end. I do everything under the sun I can think to do to help wake her. Dr. Bishop said that singing to her, talking to her, and reminding her of things that she loves could help stimulate her to want to wake up. I also help keep her body active by stretching out her arms and legs with some exercises her nurses showed me.

Her condition has stayed relatively stable and luckily, she has not had any more seizures. The doctors, though, are very anxious for her to wake up. So am I honestly.

I spend every single second of every day missing her. Talking to her unconscious body leaves me cold and empty and I long to hear her voice, her laugh.

Everyone else is worried for her, too. The gang all bombards me with questions whenever they get a chance, wondering if there are any new updates. Even Chrissy, who woke up the day my visitations started and was moved from the ICU, has been fussing endlessly over her status. Steve has been doing his best not to worry her, concerned that any bad news will result in a setback to her recovery. But Chrissy is determined to remain in the loop and I feel that out of everyone, she has more right to know what's going on.

She's opened up a little bit to Steve about the horrors she experienced at the restaurant and my stomach turns to knots at the thought of it. Both girls still have such a long road ahead of them.

Chrissy has helped me come up with a fun little song for Ripley and with some help from the rest of our friends and Mike's tape deck, we were able to record it to be played for Ripley each day. We all sang together,

"Ripley, wake up. We don't like this. Ripley, wake up. Hey, hello?
Time to wake up, time to wake up
Can you hear us, wake up Ripley?
We don't like this, Ripley, wake up."

Followed by our laughter, the tape goes on for a few more verses and is accompanied by a silly electronic beat Jeff played on his brother's keyboard. It was the first time we were all together in a while, crowded inside Chrissy's hospital room. The only thing we added later was the background music, but everyone was really excited to help do something to potentially make her recovery move along faster.

The first day we played the tape for Ripley, her EEG or brain waves increased and there was some slight movement behind her eyelids. The doctors were extremely excited by this and asked to keep the tape in her room. They play it every hour and after another 48 hours, she started to breathe on her own. Dr. Bishop called me personally at home to tell me the news and I rushed to the hospital as soon as the sun was up the following morning.

Dr. Bishop is very hopeful we are on the cusp of waking up, and so am I. Just this morning, she flinched at the sound of the bathroom door closing too loudly in her room. I've seen her hands twitch multiple times throughout the last few days and her features don't seem as dormant.

I'm currently in the cafeteria, grabbing a quick bite while they bathe her and perform some routine tests. I typically come down here every day at this time and the lunchlady, Frieda, has already learned my order.

"Here you go, sweetheart," she says kindly, pushing forward my ham and cheese sandwich, bag of chips, and pickle.

"Thanks," I say with a smile as I pick up a soda and pay her, carrying my tray to a nearby table.

I'm halfway through my chips and sandwich when Wayne comes jogging into the cafeteria, looking wide-eyed and clammy. He frantically looks around and I jump to my feet so he can see I'm here. He quickly strides over, grabbing me firmly by the arm.