Secrets Left Neglected

Chapter 41

Tadhg

My head feels heavy. I struggle to open my eyes, but it feels like sandbags are laying on top of them. I can feel my fingers twitch on my right, but my hand's too heavy to lift up.

There's a persistent whirling sound thumping in the background. "Is it a fan, or the blades of a helicopter?" I think to myself. I wonder in vague curiosity who's riding in it this time. On some level I think it might be me, but since I can't open my eyes or lift my head to find out, I don't really know.

I flinch as a tremor sprints through my body.

Was I asleep?

I feel so...so...

Maybe if I just rest for a while this blistering pain in my head will cease. Just for a minute...

Tadhg

An antiseptic smell penetrates the fog and I sense light on my eyelids. Are they glued shut? Why is it so hard to open them? I try and when they flutter open, someone shouts around me.

"He's waking up! He's waking up!"

Is that a woman?

What's that pinching feeling on my arm? Damn, it's cold in here.

That's not right. I'm in the desert. Why am I so cold? I should be sweating, but instead I'm shaking.

Why does my head hurt so much?

I feel a twinge somewhere. I can't place it, though. It almost feels like someone is touching my foot.

Why is the bed vibrating?

Why am I in a bed?

Where's my weapon?

I try to slide my hand down towards my waist but my arm isn't listening to me. It won't move. Wait, is something wrapped around my arm?

The bed I'm in is starting to vibrate harder now. I can feel my teeth rattle. I bang my head and my eyes roll into the back of my sockets.

After that, I lose myself. There is only blackness.

Blackness and shaking.

Tadhg

We're having an earthquake. The walls are crumbling down around me. I feel concrete smacking against my skull and the pain is tremendous.

From outside, I can hear yelling.

"He's seizing again!" someone hollers frantically. "Get the doctor!"

A sharp alarm sounds and the thunder of footsteps invades my ears.

Everything is loud.

Why is everything so loud?

But then the noise clears. I don't hear anything. The silence becomes deafening.

The tremors are getting more intense. I can feel the bed rattling. I bite my tongue but am unable to curse the copper taste in my mouth along with the pain. My mouth is taut and I can't control it.

The walls are crumbling faster around me now. The pain in my head explodes as another piece of cement hits me in the head before I fade out again.

Tadhg

Someone's wiping my mouth with a damp cloth. I can feel the warm water against my cracked lips. They're sore. The moisture feels good against them and I instinctively pucker for more.

Suddenly, the cloth is gone. I shake my head instinctively against the retreating form.

"No. More," I try to say. My voice doesn't carry, though. It's barely a whisper to my own ears.

Mercifully, whoever was there before returns. I feel the pressure of a flimsy plastic rim against my lips. "Easy, just a sip," someone instructs me slowly. "Take it slow."

I open my eyes and see a nurse standing next to me on the right. She's holding a green plastic cup to my mouth so I can drink. I try to sit up but she stops me.

"Hold on," she says, moving the cup away. She puts it down on a tray beside my bed. "Let me tilt your bed up so you can drink without choking."

When she's done adjusting my bed, she fixes the pillows behind me for extra support. Then she turns to pick up the cup and a napkin. "Ok, let's try this again. Small sips, Mr. MacCrithein. Take it slow."

I feel like I've been out in the desert without my canteen. Did something happen to me out there?

"What's going on?" I ask the nurse. "Where am I? Why am I here?"

The nurse turns around to put the cup back on my bed tray. She grabs a plastic chair and pulls it close to my bed. Sitting down, she makes sure she's at eye-contact level so I don't have to strain.

"Something's going on with my foot," I tell the nurse before she can answer the questions I had asked before she sat down.

"Your foot?" she asks, standing back up again.

"Are we having aftershocks?" I start to ask in a hoarse voice, fear cutting into me. I try to sit higher up in the bed and figure out what's happening. My arm is weak, though, and I can't bear the weight of my upper body on it. I fall backwards in the bed.

"Nurse, the earthquake! Are we having another one, or are these aftershocks? What's happening?"

My head rams back into the pillows behind me and I lose my ability to speak. My world is rocking all over the place. I feel a sharp pain in my right arm. There's yelling again and I feel the nurse holding onto me tight. She must want to keep me from falling out of bed. Before I can figure out what to do, I feel a warm wetness between my legs and lose consciousness again.