Just Cruising

Chapter 15: After

The tempo of my heart was steady. I heard it, and felt it.

I opened my eyes blinking to the beats of my beating heart. I look over towards my brothers bed. Still beeping, still beating. I take a slow inhale and feel my lungs expand and contract as I exhale. I smell the tangy yet familiar scent of coffee, and look towards my other side. There, my father lays, slouched in a chair with a steaming cup of coffee of the little table beside him. Theres another cup, sitting patiently beside my mother's restless sleeping figure.

Must've been the nurses, I think to myself. I smile a bit, thinking of how they took time out of their busy schedules to come and visit us. I know that my heart isn't repaired from all the resentment that built up over the years, but I feel a crack in the wall I've built between my parents and I.

My dads mouth opens as he exhales through his sleep, a strong snore resounding through the room. I laugh a little, thinking of the intensity of that snore. You could probably hear it from across the hall. It's probably strong enough to wake Sam up.

I glance over at Sam again, wishing he'd wake up. Thinking over the last few days, I can't believe so much has happened, from new friends, to new relationships, to accidents if all sorts. I kind of wish that we had never gone onto that wretched ship, but then I wouldn't've met this great guy, and made these new friends. I just wish I could've accomplished that all without this fiery mess.

I jump when I feel someone grasp my hand, but relax once I see my father there. His eyes are ridiculously puffy, so I say, "We should go for a spa day after this. Your in some serious need of relaxing and pampering!"

"Have I acquired that many wrinkles in the past 36 hours?"

I laugh but look closely at his face. The laugh lines around his eyes have deepened. The lines around his smile now remain even whens he's never thought smiling. My heart breaks at the stress and strain I see all over his face. I pull his closer and give him a hug. I start tearing up a bit, and after about 15 I start crying in his arms. He wraps me in a warm embrace. I hear him sniffle and try to keep the tears at bay but they win the battle. Soon we're a huge weeping mess. Eventually I let him go though.

"Thank you for being here", I say.

"Wouldn't want to be anywhere else", he says, smiling sadly.

I smile back and hear a rustle. My mom slowly wakes up. She looks over and says, "Did you have a crying fest without me? How dare you!", and starts laughing at our puffy eyed and tear-stained face. I just smile.

I catch something in my peripheral vision, and I look over at Sam. I scrutinize him over for a second and when I don't see anything move, I'm thoroughly could nvinced I'm losing my mind. But then I see it again. His pinky finger.

"Look! Look! His fingers moving!", I exclaim.

My parent shook over and there it is again, that minute movement that could change everything. My mom runs out into the hallway to call a nurse, and I push the button that calls the nurse, because why not?

Then a nurse comes running in. I tell her to look at Sam's pinky, but it doesn't move. We wait. 5 seconds, 10, 20. It doesn't do anything. When the nurse is about to turn around though, Sam's whole hand shifts. We all catch it. The nurse runs out and calls for a doctor.

Soon the whole room is crowded with someone checking mg for vitals, a declarat someone checking breathing patterns, and someone doing something else. It a circus in here. And soon he's awake. His eyes flutter open, he takes a breath. I'm so happy to see him I start tearing up again. So do my parents.

Is a good day. When Sam wakes up the first thing he complains about is how fuzzy everything feels. Then he asks for some tacos which obviously the doctors rule out. He's forced to accept the gross hospital food they served that consists of grey-brown sludge, green slime, and grey sludge. I laugh at the stuff he gets but soon shut my mouth because I'm given the same stuff. Then it's my parents' turn to laugh. I just grumble and shove the tasteless mess into my mouth, not even bothering to chew.