Pursuit Of Liberation

Endeavor

Lisa woke up early the next morning to get the doctor's appointment. She found Aden in a sound sleep when she had left the room, which made her smile contentedly.

It was almost 12 noon but Aden had still not woken up. Their appointment was at 3 in the afternoon. So there was still three hours to go. She thought that if he didn't wake up till 1, she was going to wake him up. She didn't want to, because she was sure that after many many days, he was sleeping so peacefully.

It was 1.15 and Lisa decided to wake him up or else, everything would get very late. She went to his room and she saw him sleeping exactly in the same position. He seemed so oblivious to all his worries, fears, nightmares and charges. His mouth was a little open and she saw how heavily his chest was rising and falling.

She went and sat near him, trying really hard not to feel guilty for waking him up. But it had to be done. "Aden?" She said softly. He didn't move at all. "Aden, it's almost 1.30 in the afternoon." He closed his mouth and blinked his already closed eyes.

"Aden, wake up!" She touched his shoulders and nudged it a little. This did the trick. She saw him opening his eyelids with tremendous efforts. "Good Morning. Oops! Good Afternoon!" Lisa smiled her friendly smile.

When Aden had completely woken up, he sat up on his bed and looked at her. He kept looking at her and after some moments, for the first time, he smiled at her. Lisa was amazed and happy. He had the most beautiful smile, Lisa had ever seen. "My, my! You smiled at me? It is my lucky day." She smiled back.

Then Aden took her palm and wrote something on it, which Lisa understood immediately. "Thank you? For what?" He then again wrote on her palm, very distinctly, so that she could understand clearly.

"Oh that? That's no problem. I just helped you sleep. You needed it. And unless you sleep properly, how will you have the energy for everything that we need to do? Go to the doctor, for instance?" Lisa's eyes popped out. "Shit! The doctor! It's 2 almost. Aden go and get ready! Run! We will be late! Hurry up!" Lisa almost pushed him to the bathroom and hurried herself to get ready. In no time, both of them were out of the house.

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"Good Evening, Dr. Burke. We had talked on the phone. I'm Lisa Raymond. He's Aden Collins. He is the patient." Lisa said.

"Evening Lisa! Finally had a chance to meet you. Have heard so much about you from Ashley." Dr. Robert Burke smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too, doctor." She thought of getting to the point because she didn't have time for socialising. "Doctor, he has not been speaking for seven years. Pardon me for not telling you why. So if you could check his vocal chords?" Lisa explained.

"You haven't spoken for seven years. My curiosity is going to kill me. But I will not pry." He reassured the both of them. "Mr. Collins, please come and sit here, next to me." Dr. Burke said.

Aden looked hesitantly at Lisa and she smiled the smile that calmed him down. "I'm right here, just a foot away from you."

After all the tests and examinations, Dr. Burke said that Aden's vocal chords had become completely numb for not talking for so many years. They could do a transplant but that would take several months for him to recover and it would be very expensive as well.

So he gave a couple of high dosed medicines along with a solution for Aden to drink, thrice a day which will soothe his trachea and help him to start talking. "It is very necessary that he has these medicines on full stomach. There shouldn't be any compromise in his diet, Lisa." Dr. Burke explained.

After all the instructions and understanding the dosage, Lisa and Aden left.

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