Andrew Royal Scott
May 21st, 2035
Chicago Med.
Chicago, IL.
12:30 PM
I heard a strange beeping noise, that woke me up. I soon realized that it was a consistent feature in the room. It was coming from a machine to the right of me-- a small touch screen with flashing buttons on a long pole with three wheels at the bottom. I was not sure where I was. This place did not look familiar. The machine had a clear tube connected to it. My eyes followed the length of the tube until it disappeared into a piece of tape surrounding the inside of my arm near the crease of my elbow. Around my wrist was a thick plastic white bracelet. I turned it over with my left hand. The bracelet read: Chicago Medical Center; May 18th, 2035; 4:15 PM; Andrew Royal Scott, DOB: 12/18/13. No wonder I hear a lot of strange noises. I'm in a hospital. All of a sudden I heard a rustling sound to my left. There I found my mother asleep in one of the armchairs. She looked so at peace. A few minutes later my father walked through the curtain with two cups of coffee. I said "HI DAD!" and waved. He smiled and waved back. "Hales, Drew is awake. Here's some coffee from the cafeteria." He said nudging my mother awake. "Dad, do you know what time it is? I can't find the clock," I asked with a shrug. He did not respond. "DAD! What time is it?" I shouted. Still no response. My mother looked at me with concern.
"Sweetie, is everything okay?" Mom asked.
"No!" I said shaking my head.
"Babe, where is the emergency call button?" Mom asked Dad.
"Um, it's right here." Dad said holding up the remote that was connected to the bed.
"Okay, can you press it? We need Will." Mom said concerned.
"Sure!" Dad said pressing the call button.
"Hi, is everything okay?" the nurse said as she peeked behind the curtain.
"No, something is wrong with our son. Can you please reach Dr. Halstead?" Dad said with concern in his voice.
"Of course. He will be right with you." the nurse said before closing the curtain.
***
Will found Nathan sitting in one of the chairs to his right, while Haley sat on one side of Drew's bed, her back to him.
"Hey guys, what's happening?" Will asked after the dispenser gave a spritz of sanitizer.
"I just walked in, and Drew waved at me with his mouth open as if he was greeting me, but he was not saying anything. He tried asking me something after I woke my wife up, but he did not say anything then either." Nathan said with concern.
"When I asked him if everything was okay, he shook his head no. So we tried to reach you." Haley said turning around to face Will.
"Okay, let me look over some things." Will said walking toward Drew as Haley sat back down in her chair.
***
Dr. Halstead sat down in a short swivel chair to my right, he held out a piece of paper and pen to me. He asked me to write some words. I did that now. My hand cramping when I held the pen. Shooting pain extending from my wrist up to my shoulder. Something was terribly wrong. He held a couple fingers up, and asked me to say them, but the words that came out were muffled, it was not my voice. When he asked me what my name was his expression changed to something close to shock or concern I was not sure. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened it and pressed the play button of his music app, and asked if I could hear what was playing. I told him no, and shook my head.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?" I screamed waking myself up, but no one responded.
***
'Mom! I just had the weirdest dream ever, I dreamt that I could not talk, and Dr. Halstead did a bunch of tests and I could not write anything he was asking me and then I could not hear music he was playing on his phone." I said in one breath, feeling anxious.
"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Haley asked not being able to hear her son, but noticing his heart rate was extremely high.
"What do you not understand, Mom?" I said before feeling something different about my throat and realizing I could not hear her voice. Tears swelled in my eyes as I grabbed the notebook full of paper and a pen off a table to my left and wrote five words. Shooting pain went up my arm as I continued writing.
***
Drew turned the notebook around so I could read what he wrote. 'I can't hear you, Mom.' was written in all caps in the middle of the page. I immediately hit the emergency call button on the side of Drew's bed. Tears falling from my eyes.
"Hi, is everything okay?" the nurse said as she stepped through the curtain.
"No, something is wrong with my son. Please get a hold of Dr. Halstead." I said as Nathan opened the curtain with two coffees in his left hand.
"Of course. He will be right with you." the nurse said before closing the curtain behind her.
***
Maggie walked hastily through the hallway in search of Will. She knew he could be anywhere, but the locker room was her best bet. She opened the door so loudly her presence was known before she even spoke.
"Mags, what's wrong?" Will said looking up from the computer.
"Will, it's Drew Scott. . . his mother said there is something wrong." Maggie expressed still holding the door.
"Okay, do you know what--never mind, I know what it is." Will said after getting results back, jumping up from the chair he walked through the door in one quick motion.
"Okay, you're welcome. " Maggie said concerned.
"Thanks Maggie, I appreciate it." Will said walking through the curtain of Drew's room.
***
"Hi guys, I know why you are concerned. It seems to be that Drew has suffered hearing loss and vocal cord damage from the crash. Now, we will do our best to repair the portions of his vocal cords that were damaged, but we do not have the necessary doctors on staff today that specialize in hearing loss and those procedures, so our nursing staff is getting in touch with them--.
My parents were so invested in what Dr. Halstead was saying to them that they did not notice I was motioning for them to look in my direction, so I hastily flipped the page of the notebook over and frantically wrote something down. I turned it to face them and loudly smacked the page to get Dr. Halstead's attention.
"Ah yes! He has also fractured his right wrist, which we will be able to take a closer look at in surgery." Will gathered from the words he read off the page.
Dr. Halstead and my parents carried on a conversation between them for what felt like hours, most likely because I could not join in.
"I'll go tell the others, Haley said kissing Drew's forehead, before opening the curtain.
"I'll be right behind you." Nathan said taking hold of the curtain, turning around to face me with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes, he let the curtain go, his footsteps disappearing down the hall.
Dr. Halstead left the room behind them. I was now by myself, watching as the curtain settled back in place for the fifth time.
"If only they knew how terrifying it feels to have dreamt reality." I thought, my vision clouded with tears.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Halstead
FanfictionThe sequel to One Day Is Today. "Some people say 'like mother, like daughter', to be truly honest my mother and I are nothing alike and we are certainly nothing like my grandmother." This is a second generation story based on the life of Kaylin Ha...
