Infinity

Chapter 23: Stardust

Bright lights overtook Rose's vision when she slowly lifted her eyelids. She shielded her eyes from the hospital's lights, but then regretted it when pain jabbed through her arm. That was when she noticed she was covered in tons of bandages. She started her hear herself quietly moan as she felt pain return to every part of her body. Then a group of doctors rushed into her room.

Her hospital bed was reclined slightly so that she could sit up. The hospital lights now didn't blind her and flashed around the room to help her see. She stared at the wall in front of her, still exhausted. Even though she guessed she was asleep for at least one full day, she felt droopy with fatigue.

"How are you feeling?" a doctor next to her asked. She looked at the doctor.

"I feel pain," Rose answered. "I am not paralyzed?"

"No, you are not paralyzed," the doctor chuckled. "But you are covered in cuts and bruises. Plus, you have a few broken bones. Maybe that's why you're in pain." Rose sighed. "You also had a broken jaw. We performed surgery on it while you were asleep." Rose then noticed that she had no pain in her jaw for the first time since she hurt it by trying to escape from the Dublekas.

"How long have I been asleep?" Rose asked.

"Three days," the doctor answered. "We almost lost you a few times in those days. It was... pretty scary. But it's nice to know you're awake and doing better now." Rose sighed and nodded. Then she gasped.

"Jake!" Rose screamed. "How is he?!"

"Um... you mean the unconscious guy you came here with?" the doctor confirmed. Rose nodded, shaking with fear. "Ma'am... he's been in a coma ever since you two were admitted into the hospital." Rose gasped as she felt tears sting her eyes. "We don't know at this point if he'll make it or not. I'm... very sorry." Rose's urge to cry got stronger and stronger as she fought it away.

"C-Can I go see him?" Rose asked, trying to not sound like she was on the verge of tears. The doctor sighed.

"Well, I guess so... but I'm restricting you to a wheelchair," the doctor answered. "I want you to rest." The doctor helped Rose into a wheelchair and wheeled her to Jake's room. Rose became even more sad at what she saw.

Jake, in a hospital bed and a white hospital gown, was still unconscious, with multiple machines attached to him through tubes. His skin was pale-white, whiter than the blanket sheets. He looked sick with fear and hurt. The top of his head had a large bandage around it. There also were multiple bandages all over his body, just like Rose. The only difference was he had even more bandages and broken bones than her. The doctor wheeled Rose inside of the room and closed the door, leaving her alone with Jake.

Rose couldn't take anymore and bursted into tears. She buried her head into Jake's hospital bed as the tears came pouring out of her eyes. She held Jake's hand tightly, but felt no grip back. The hospital machine that detected Jake's heart rate continued to beep, telling Rose to not give up hope, one beep at a time.

The beeps would stay in the same rhythm. Beep, one, two, three. Beep, one, two, three. Beep, one, two, three. Rose would count to three every time she heard a beep before another one was heard. She'd continue doing that, just to remind herself Jake was still alive.

After 20 minutes of doing that, Rose counted again, but she didn't hear another beep. While she was saying two, there was a flat line. A wave of fear shot through her as she screamed for doctors. Three doctors rushed in and started activating multiple machines. Jake also had many needles injected into him. Rose couldn't stop bawling.

~~~~~~~~~

It seemed like reality to Jake. Even though he knew he was in a coma, his dream looked like real life. He was sitting on the couch in his old apartment. The TV was on channel nine, the news. There was a news story about the current civil war in Ukraine. He was still in his graduation robes from when he had graduated from YALE University.