I Guess I'm a Hero

Bedside Manner

Here's the thing about hospitals – I hate them. I mean, I understand the necessity for them but they are just too, I don't know, stark. And sad. Sure there have been improvements over the years. Coffee shops and cafes and gift shops, and not everything about a hospital is sad. I just feel that for every family gathered around a new baby there are way too many families gathering around someone to say goodbye. Even with the babies not all of them are happy occasions. Some of them are in trouble too. Maybe it is about balance. Maybe the amount of joy in the few instances of new life greatly outweighs the grief of everything else that is going on and, even though there are fewer of them, somehow a balance of a sort is achieved. Or maybe I am over-thinking this and completely missing the point. Whatever the case, I've sat vigil at a bedside in a hospital far more times than I have experienced happiness in them. This time was no different.

It had been a few weeks now – almost a month – since the attack on Jess and she still hadn't regained consciousness. Her bullet wound was down to a nasty scar and no infection (the bullet passed clean through) and her vitals were strong. Tim was, understandably, beside himself. Peggy and I were pretty worried too. By all accounts, she should be awake and recovering at home by now.

There was a light rap at the door and we looked up to see the familiar face of Dr. Rathbun. He was a tall man – about 35-ish – with just a little bit of gray invading the dark hair near his temples. His kindface was marred only by his lips which were pressed into a thin line. This usually meant that the news wasn't good. Not always bad –just not good.

Tim stood up right away and then looked at me. This happened a lot since Timmy couldn't always get the words out past his worry. Dr. Rathbun had long since given up on the fact that Peg and I weren't strictly"family" and always answered any questions we had about Jess' condition.

"What's the word, Doctor?" I asked as I extended my hand in greeting.

"Hello Bill. Tim. Peggy," he responded, shaking my hand and nodding to each of us in turn. "No real word yet. We are actually pretty baffled about the whole thing."

"Why isn't she awake yet, Dr. Rathbun?" Peg jumped in. "You keep on saying that she is healthy, apart from having been shot. Well then why is she still sleeping? Do people usually stay asleep for this long after surgery following a gunshot wound? I thought that only happened in movies."

Her brow furrowed and her voice took on a tone that was all too familiar to me. I chuckled inwardly and just looked at Dr. Rathbun and smiled. He seemed to understand and gave a quick grin back. Before turning to address Peggy.

"No,people aren't usually unconscious for this long following such simple surgery. There doesn't appear to have been any head trauma. Due to Bill's proximity at the time of the shooting, we were able to respond rather quickly. The wound in her shoulder has healed quite nicely. There was no fragmentation of the bullet, so we got all of it out in one try and no infection settled in at all in all this time. She's healthy and she's strong. Jess should be awake." He adjusted his glasses and flipped a piece of paper on his clipboard over. "However, there are some real puzzling results from her last EEG. He alpha waves are very active. I mean very active. She seems to be constantly engaging in REM sleep – dreams she can't seem to wake herself from."

Dr.Rathbun looked at Tim. "Has she been prone to night terrors or sleep paralysis in the past? That could explain a few things about the alpha wave activity. Sometimes people can't wake from them. Although, admittedly, if that is the case, this would be the longest night terror on record and she would be in a lot worse condition and be in danger of a myocardial infarction after this long of a nightmare."

"No,never that I know of," replied Tim. "A heart attack is a real danger here?"

"Only in very isolated cases," the doctor assured Tim, hearing the panic in his voice. "There have been a few rare, let me stress the word rare, instances where someone has died of a heart attack after being unable to wake from what was obviously a very bad dream. Jess doesn't seem to be having nightmares, however. Just a lot of dreams. While her heart rate goes up a little each time she has one, it isn't any more of an increase than what would happen if you or I were having a dream on any normal night."

Tim just looked out the window and shook his head.

Dr.Rathbun cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Is she one of ... them?"

Tim turned his head and looked at him quickly.

"One of who, Doctor?" I answered.

"You know, one of them. Like you see on TV. A woman who has visions. One of those seers." He looked around at each one of us and smiled slightly. "I will take your collective pause as an affirmation."

Another pause. "So, is one of you her partner? Her hero?"

"I'm not sure how that..." I begin.

"Yeah,"Timmy answered, interrupting me. "She's my seer. You probably saw us, or me anyhow, when our boss had the camera crews at our restaurant a while back."

Dr.Rathbun adjusted his glasses again. "Well, that's good information to have and it explains the alpha wave activity. What it doesn't explain is why she won't wake up. And since I've never treated a seer before, this is going to be completely new territory. Territory I'm going to have to go alone now."

"Alone? Why alone?" Tim asked.

"Well,I remember reading enough about 'secret identities' as a child to be able to assure you that yours is safe," the doctor replied solemnly but also adding a sly wink. "I'll let you know if anything changes or if I find anything out."

"Thank you, Doctor," I said as he shook all of our hands and left the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

Peggy looked at me worriedly. I just put my arm around her and kissed the top of her head, studying my friend who had sat back down next to Jess and took her hand. Peg and I were sitting down too when we heard the heart monitor beep a little faster and realized that she was having another dream. As we all looked at Jess, wondering who was in trouble now and knowing that there wouldn't be any help for them, we noticed a single tear escape the corner of Jess' eye and splash on her pillow.