Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 10

Shawn

My phone buzzes on the table next to my bed. I turn my body so I'm facing away from it and cover my head with my pillow. It keeps buzzing. I finally pick it up and answer it. "Hello?"

"Shawn?" Dr. Allan's voice blares into my ear.

I quickly turn the volume down and rub my eyes. I look over at the clock next to my bed. 2:36 a.m. Why is he calling me in the middle of the night? I blink about two times before I realize what this could me. I throw the covers off my bed and jump out of bed. I feel down the wall for the light switch and eventually find it. "I'm listening." I mumble.

"It's America." I ignore the tone of his voice in the midst of it all.

Oh, god. I rip open my drawer and try to slip a pair of sweatpants on with one hand. It doesn't work, so I hold my cellphone between my shoulder and my ear. "Is she okay?" I slip a sweatshirt on and grab my car keys. My mom is standing in the hallway. "Is everything alright?" she asks, shielding her eyes from the light coming from my room.

I kiss her on the cheek. "I have to run up to the hospital real quick. I'll call you later."

Before she can tell me not to, I rush down the stairs and out the door. 

Dr. Allan continues to talk. "How quick can you get over here?"

"I'm in the car." I stick the key in the ignition and the engine roars as it comes to life. Then I pull out of the driveway and onto the main road. There are no other cars out. Just me. I speed down the road. 

"Shawn, you're not going to believe this-"

"She's dead isn't she?" My foot presses down on the gas a little more without me realizing it and I'm practically going eighty miles per hour. 

"What? No. Absolutely not. I'm sorry to scare you like that-"

"Then why are you calling me?" I scream. 

"Shawn, she woke up. I walked into her room about twenty minutes ago and her eyes were open."

I take my foot off the gas and let the car roll to a stop in the middle of the road. I laugh a little. "You're serious?"

"How far off are you?"

I quickly start the car again. "About five minutes."

He hangs up the phone. 

Normally, it would've been about ten minutes, but no one was out, so instead of going fifty-two, you know, the legal speed limit, I sped down the road at seventy-five. By the time I pull into the parking lot, I'm so nervous and excited that I'm shaking. I sprint through the parking lot and past the nurse at the front desk. I know her well enough that she just lets me walk past her now when I come to visit. Then I hop in the elevator and curse the stupid music that get played in there. When the doors open again, I fly out of the doors and sprint down the hall. Dr. Allan is waiting for me in front of America's room. "Shawn,"

"Can I see her?" I try to move past him, but he doesn't let me.

"Shawn-"

"I can't believe this is happening-"

"Shawn! You can't go in there."

I shake my head. "What? Why?"

"There are some things you need to know."

"What are you talking about? I've seen her everyday for the past month. I know all the rules." I try to move past him, but he doesn't let me in. 

"It's just-"

"GODDAMNIT! JUST LET ME GO SEE HER!" I didn't mean to lose my cool like that. After all, Dr. Allan had been nothing but nice to me. He gives me a sad look and quietly moves to the side of the door.

As soon as he's out of the way, I push through the door and walk through. 

I don't know how I had been picturing this. Maybe I was expecting her to be perfectly fine, like she hadn't just been asleep for months. I was expecting a happily ever after, but what was sitting on the bed didn't look like a healthy human. 

America was sitting up and staring off into the void, looking at nothing in particular. She blinked every couple of seconds and did nothing else. Her eyes were an icy blue that seemed to be glazed over. The worst part was that she didn't look normal.

The pain started in my chest and then moved up my throat to the point where I couldn't breathe. I quickly shuffled out of the room and closed the door behind me. I start to walk back to my car.

"Shawn-"

"Don't talk to me."

"If you would just listen-"

"Why the hell would I want to listen?" I press the elevator button and wait for the doors to open.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with her. This is completely normal."

I let this sink in, but don't speak to him. 

"Are you going to come back tomorrow?" he asks.

I shake my head and think about what it would mean to tell him no, that I would never come volunteer again. "Is she going to be okay?" The doors open and I step in and hit the button with ML printed on it which stands for main level. 

Just before the doors close, he says, "It's up to her."