Long Away

Chapter 50

TW: mentions character dying from cancer

Somewhere in the back of his head, Ben perceived a faint, rhythmic noise. For a while, there was just this sound, high pitched and somehow familiar, as if it had been there for a long time, even though Ben just now began to notice it. He briefly opened his eyes, only to squeeze them shut again when white, blinding light hit his pupils. Ben wanted to lift his hand to block the brightness out, but as soon as he moved his arm, a stinging pain shot through it. When his face scrunched up, he felt something uncomfortable that was stuck in his nose. What the hell was going on?

He carefully blinked until it was bearable to keep his eyes at least half open. He found himself on a bed with papery white sheets. The beeping noise came from several monitors beside him. Needles and tubes in both his arms connected him to a bunch of machines he could vaguely make out in the corner of his vision, and more tubes were coming out of his nose.

He still wasn't thinking clearly. His mind was lagging behind, but after staring down at his body in this sorry state for a good minute or two, it began to dawn on him that he was in a hospital.
That was when the panic hit him. Ben tried to remember what had happened. There had to be a pretty big gap in his memory, because the last thing he could remember was celebrating their upcoming tour with the band. They didn't have that much alcohol, did they? Perhaps something had happened on the way back home? Had he gotten into an accident? And what about Rog? Was he here too?

The adrenaline allowed Ben to turn onto his side and reach for the red emergency button next to his bed. It flashed up when he pressed it, and somewhere down the hallway sounded a shrill noise. Ben let himself sink back into his bedding. Even this minimal amount of movement had cost him a lot of energy. He couldn't remember ever feeling so numb, yet sore at the same time. It felt as if he had been given an overdose of painkillers or something. His muscles were cramping, and his whole body felt extremely heavy.

Almost immediately, the door to his room opened, and a nurse entered. Her face was covered with a white mask that looked like it was made from a thicker material than the regular masks Ben had seen on medical staff.
"You're awake!", she exclaimed. She made her way over to Ben's bed.
"Can you tell me your name?"
"Ben Jones," he croaked. It was hard to speak, and the tubes didn't help.
The nurse nodded approvingly.
"And do you know what year it is?"
"1971," Ben said.
The woman frowned.
"I am going to get a doctor to look at you," she said.

"Is there anything you need before that? Are you in any pain?"
Ben ignored her question. He was feeling awful, but what he needed most of all was answers.
"What happened to me?"
"The doctor will explain it to you. I don't know enough about your case to be allowed to tell you anything. I will go and get him at once."
Ben closed his eyes again as soon as she left the room. His exhaustion got the better of him, and he drifted off to sleep.

A hand touching his arm woke him up after what felt like a few minutes. Ben blinked. This time a man was standing next to the bed. He was wearing the same kind of mask as the nurse before him. It was strange, Ben thought. Why would they be wearing masks if they weren't interacting with infectious patients or performing surgery? His train of thought was quickly interrupted by the man.
"Huh. So you really did wake up."
"Apparently so," Ben said, a little confused why everyone seemed to be so surprised by it.

"My name is Dr. Hidgens. I will explain your situation in a minute. But before we get to that, I was told you thought the year was..."
He checked the notes on a clipboard he had brought with him.
"1971. Is that correct?"
His question sent a shiver down Ben's spine. It couldn't be what he was thinking, right?
"Is... Is it not?"
"Sir, you weren't even alive in that year. It is 2020."

Ben stared dumbfounded at the doctor.
"You have been in a coma for just a little over a year. You got into a car accident, which you barely survived. However, why you..."
His words didn't make their way into Ben's brain. All he could think about was the life he had, or rather, hadn't lived for the past year. His friends. Roger. The man he loved more than anything else in the world. Was it all nothing but a hallucination? A stinging pain flared up in his chest. His vision became blurry. Tears streamed down his face.