Project Perses: Redemption

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Something has changed.

The only way to describe it is like when you're lying in bed on a cold winter's day, snuggled up to your ears in blankets and you know it's bitterly cold and cloudy outside. In your mind you can feel the weight of the cloud cover.   Then, even with your eyes closed, without taking a peek at all, you just know the sun has just come out, breaking through that heavy weight of clouds and that it's gentle heat is warming the bleak, frozen world.

That's what I am feeling.  My eyes are still closed; I can hear the beeping of a monitor nearby.  There are blankets draped over me, the texture rough under my fingers, like sand paper.  I'm distinctly aware of every muscle in my body, every bone, every pore on my skin.  Everything feels connected, my pulse radiating through every vein, every sinew.  I can even feel every hair on my head.  When I inhale, the deep, cleansing breath I take seems to go on forever, like I could suck in all the air in the room.  The exhale is just as invigorating, like I hadn't ever breathed before. 

The still, antiseptic environment that's around me, the sounds I hear, immediately brings back my memory of being in another hospital, months ago. 

I hadn't like it very much.

My eyes flutter open, and I focus on the acoustic tiles above me, my arms jerking a little in response to my sudden alertness. That's when I become conscious of the thick straps that are securing me to the bed, keeping my arms from moving.

There's a quick intake of breath near me, and a deep voice that mutters, "Thank God." 

I turn my head to the left, towards the sound, when Mitchell's head and torso come into view.  "General?"  I whisper, my throat feeling parched. 

He reaches for the remote for the bed, elevates me a little, and then retrieves a glass of water so I can take a sip from the straw while he holds it.  "You've been out for over a week.  You had me scared shit-less that you weren't going to come to." 

His words triggered a memory and I glance down to my right side, but I can't see it really well between the bunched up blankets and my arm being strapped to my side. "What happened?"  I take in the view of him, standing there with bandages around his head, and his left arm in a sling. 

Mitchell sighs again, shaking his head.  "We were on final approach to Honolulu International Airport.  About ten miles out, as we passed over the neighborhood of Ewa Beach, someone fired a surface to air missile at our plane.  Someone had to of breached security at air traffic control; no one even knew we were planning on a refueling in Hawaii." He pauses, clearly unsettled.  His forehead furrows a bit as if studying a puzzle, trying to make sense of the pieces.  "The missile impacted on the starboard side, just in front of the rear exit door.  If we'd been higher, the pressure would have blown off the whole back end of the plane and taken us down immediately.  Fortunately, because we were descending for landing, the loss of cabin pressure wasn't as catastrophic."

He reaches up and rubs his face, adjusting his stance next to my bed.  I find myself intently focused on him, at the deep hue of his skin, the timber of his deep voice, the glittery composition of his eyes.  With a start I catch myself and wonder what the fuck is wrong with me.  Why was I staring at him?  No, not just at him.  At everything.  I can't help but let my eyes wander as Mitchell continues to speak.  The edge of the curtains, the light streaming through the window from outside, the dust modes hanging from the textured ceiling tiles, everything seems sharper, more defined, and brighter.  Every sound is amplified and clearer.  Is it the post near-death reaction? Jesus, I'm so thankful to be alive.  

"Master Hi and two of the team were sucked out on impact."  Mitchell says, oblivious to my lack of attentiveness.  "One minute they were there, the next...gone.  We didn't even have time to react.  You woke up just as it was happening, so you know what went down."  He grasps what he had just said and grimaces at his reference to 'going down'.