Josh had the good grace to feel embarrassed over his rant and his father’s offer of breakfast. “Sorry. Guess I got carried away.”
“Mm-hmm,” his dad said, giving him the side eye. “If you’re finished, would you like to go to breakfast?”
Josh nodded. “Thanks, Dad. Let me shower real quick, and I’ll be right out.”
His dad shook his head at him but had a classic, frustratedly fond smile on his face. Josh took that as a win and headed out of the kitchen to shower.
~
The charge nurse on the second floor called Josh over to help her shift the patient in room two-sixteen while she removed and replaced their bedding. They headed down the hallway and turned the corner toward the room she indicated. As they approached the patient’s room, Josh could hear beeps of increasing frequency coming from a machine inside. Continuing behind Ramona, Josh knew beeping machines were part of the everyday norm in the hospital. He could tell though, from his many hours volunteering, that the machine making all the noise was a heart monitor. That didn’t really concern him all that much until he saw the person connected to the beeping machine.
The young man with the messy array of golden hair lying on the bed made Josh’s brow furrow at the immediate pang of concern he felt for the helpless being. Josh couldn’t help staring at the beautiful boy as he imagined how lucky he’d have to be to ever have someone like him in his life.
“Go page Dr. Thomas,” Ramona shouted, startling him from his thoughts. “He needs to get in here right away!”
Unnerved by the bark in Ramona’s tone, Josh drew out of his momentary shock upon seeing the gorgeous boy and turned on his heel to do her bidding.
A minute later, Ramona found him near the nursing station where he was looking up the code. “There’s no rush now, Josh. That was weird, though. Cory’s heart was beating so erratically for a moment, then just as soon as it started, it calmed down again. I still want Dr. Thomas to check him out, but he seems to have stabilized again.” Josh nodded his head and proceeded to the other end of the corridor to gather some dirty dishes that needed to be taken back to the cafeteria.
A few minutes later with his mind on Cory and his arms laden down, Josh noticed Dr. Thomas coming down the hallway from the direction of Cory’s room.
The doctor stopped at the nurses station and began speaking to Ramona. As he passed by, Josh stopped just beyond the desk to listen in. “Everything seems fine with Cory Lasting. His readouts indicate nothing unusual in his heart rhythms. Just that one tachycardic run. Not uncommon for a patient recovering from a minor heart procedure. Just continue to check on him regularly, and monitor his meds.” Turning just as quickly as he arrived, the doctor left down the opposite hallway.
Ramona saw Josh stopped there with his arms full and gave him a look. “I’m headed back down to Cory’s room to finish changing his bedding. When you’re finished delivering those,” she indicated the dishes he carried, “come on back to Cory’s room to collect the used linens, and take them to the laundry.” Josh nodded again and made the trip downstairs.
On his way back up from the cafeteria, Josh rode in the elevator with Cory’s parents. He’d seen them coming and going from the boy’s room over the last day and wondered if he should tell them what had happened while they were away. But hospital privacy policy ensured it was not his place to talk to any of the patient's family or friends about anything he saw or did on his shifts, so he simply nodded in parting as they headed toward their son’s room.
Stopping by the nursing station to take a quick drink from his water bottle, Josh encountered Ramona.
“I’m done in two-sixteen,” she mentioned. “Please collect that bedding. I’m headed down to Mr. Bishop’s room now.”
Josh nodded, but indicated for her to wait before leaving again. “I just came up in the elevator with Cory’s parents. They headed down to his room. I thought maybe they should know what happened with him, but obviously that’s up to you when you have time. Just letting you know they’re back now,” he said in a guarded tone. He’d never really spoken up to his supervisors at the hospital before. Even though he’d been volunteering there for a while now, and they joked around sometimes, it was always him laughing along with them, never him speaking up about anything first.
“Thank you Josh, I’ll stop in there after I’m finished with Mr. Bishop,” she smiled kindly and made her way down the hall.
In an odd sense of déjà vu, Josh heard the monitor in Cory’s room begin to beep more quickly as he approached the corner. To be sure he wasn’t imagining things, Josh moved a little faster to close the distance between himself and the room. When he entered the room, the beeping got even faster. Cory’s parents had heard the beeps starting up again, and now that they were really insistent, his parents had become distressed.
“What’s going on?” the woman asked with a concerned tone, coming to grab her son’s hand. She looked at Josh then back at her husband who had also come over to Cory’s bedside. “Do you think we should page the nurse?”
“I’m not sure what’s happening,” Josh replied, really looking at Cory for the first time. Cory seemed small lying in the bed, but appeared to be around his own age. He had sandy blond, golden hair that looked messy at the moment, but Josh could tell that it was probably styled nicely when he was looking after it. His eyes were closed, and Josh wondered what color they were when he was awake. Cory’s lips were a soft shade of pink, and he seemed to have ears that were maybe slightly too large, but still looked cute on his smaller frame. Josh turned from his inspection of the guy and spoke to Cory’s parents. “I don’t know what to tell you, but I’ll go find Ramona and maybe she can explain what’s going on.” Josh turned around to leave, wondering if Cory’s parents were still watching him.
Josh’s mind began to spin. He had to find Ramona. He’d heard the doctor say Cory’s racing heart wasn’t uncommon to have happened, but since it was happening again, even he was worried. Cory was unconscious and was supposed to be recovering from whatever had happened to him. Why was this new thing happening to him? Josh wondered why both times this had happened, he’d been there. Not only there, but approaching the boy’s room. It was strange that he had some sense of responsibility to this person he didn’t know. As soon as he’d seen Cory lying in that bed Josh felt an instant need to help him with whatever was troubling him.
Josh had been doing his community service hours in the hospital for almost nine months, but he’d never been affected by any of the patients he’d interacted with before. Why was this guy different? He was just another person in a bed, Josh had to change.
Ramona was in another patient’s room when Josh found her. “Something is happening to Cory again,” he said and Ramona excused herself quickly.
Cory’s parents were up next to the bed when they entered Cory’s room again.
“Just after you left,” Cory’s mom said to Josh. “His heart rate slowed back down. It went back to normal like before. Then all of a sudden it started to spike up high again just as you were coming back. Is this normal? Should we call the doctor again? I know he said this could happen, but this is starting to get us worried.”
“This is nothing I’ve seen before. It’s strange that nothing else seems to be affected. Just his heartbeat goes a bit crazy for a minute. I wonder if the medication is affecting him in some way,” Ramona mused looking at Cory’s monitor. Cory’s heartbeat was still elevated, though Ramona had turned the beeping sound down. “It only happens every so often, but just to be sure, I’ll call the doctor again and see what he says. Maybe we should decrease his meds and let him wake up. Josh, will you take that bedding and get back to your assignment? Your shift is almost over,” Ramona instructed, turning back to the monitor. “I want to look over all Cory’s readouts again. Then I’ll call Dr. Thomas and see what he recommends.”
Josh nodded his head and crossed to the back of the room. He gathered the bedding and stole a quick glance at Cory as he made his way out the
door. Cory looked so peaceful lying there. If he weren’t connected to all those monitors, no one would even know his heart was racing like that. As he walked away, Josh listened to the faint beeping noise he was leaving behind. Even though he was a distance away already, he could have sworn the beeping had slowed and returned to normal.
After dropping the linens off in the janitorial supply closet, Josh headed back to the nursing station to get his next task to work on. Although he tried to focus on his remaining time, Josh watched the clock idly while his mind remained occupied elsewhere. His thoughts were down the hall, where a guy he didn’t even know, was sleeping.
~
A few minutes before Josh was supposed to go home, Ramona came back to the nurses station and dialed Dr. Thomas. Josh was anxious to hear the outcome of the conversation, so he busied himself with tidying the desk and workstation, something he would never normally do.
From the end of the conversation he could hear it sounded like Dr. Thomas agreed with Ramona in thinking that the medication might have some bearing on Cory’s situation. Ramona hung up with the doctor and noticed Josh lingering around after his shift was over.
“Are you wondering what the doctor said about Cory?” Ramona asked.
“I guess. I know I’m not really allowed to know anything about the patients, so...” Josh shrugged, not finishing his statement.
Ramona smiled at him with a look that Josh imagined a patient mother would have. “Dr. Thomas thinks it might be a good idea to start reducing Cory’s medication and let him wake up. The doctor isn’t sure why Cory would have an increased heart rate when he’s asleep, but something is stimulating his heart, and if he’s awake he might be able to tell us what’s triggering these heart rate increases,” Ramona explained.
“So, how long will it take him to wake up once you decrease his medication?” Josh asked.
“It varies for each patient but shouldn’t take too long. Maybe just an hour or so. Long enough for his blood to filter out the medication,” Ramona explained. “He’ll be awake tomorrow when you come in.”
“I was just wondering,” Josh mumbled. “See you tomorrow,” he said and headed for the employee room to gather his things.
~
Josh had felt anxious after leaving the hospital yesterday. He couldn’t explain the weird sensation in his chest and stomach after he’d left. His thoughts had continually returned to the boy lying in that hospital bed.
He’d distracted himself with a night filled with a movie he didn’t remember and some dinner he probably ate. He couldn’t bring himself to go out as his father had suggested. He’d simply not had any interest in doing much, other than wallowing, after his shift had ended.
Once he’d settled into bed, after one last depressing spin through social media, he’d let his mind wander to what the golden haired boy would look like when he woke up. His thoughts had swirled and circled and kept him up into the zombie hours. But, Josh found himself eager to get in to the hospital first thing. He wanted to see Cory again and know that the young man was alright. Josh didn’t know why he needed that, but he figured he’d feel anxious and agitated until he was able to verify for himself.
Pulling into the parking lot, Josh found a spot and exited his car. He had never been early before when volunteering his time.
After checking in with Brenda, who was the weekend volunteer coordinator, Josh was directed to the second floor which was where he was usually assigned. Ramona was at the nurse’s station when Josh arrived.
As she gave Josh his first tasks for the day, Ramona mentioned, not offhandedly, while still looking at her computer, “Cory’s heartbeat has been stable since you left yesterday. We’re still waiting for him to wake up so we can figure out what’s going on with him. Maybe whatever it was has passed since he hasn’t had any more occurrences. Seems you took a liking to him yesterday.” She finally did look up then and winked at him. “Why don’t you go pop your head in his room and see if the Lasting’s need anything. Then you can start on that list I gave you.”
Josh could feel the heat rise in his cheeks, but nodded his head and walked down the hallway.
He had been waiting for this moment since he left yesterday. Although it was absolutely absurd, he was beginning to think he had been the reason behind Cory’s racing heart. He had gone over it so many times in his head since last night. Every time Josh was with Ramona and every time he had gone there alone, Cory’s heart had sped up. Of course, there was no way he could possibly have any influence over a guy in a coma. Cory wasn’t even awake to know Josh was there. But every time Cory’s heart monitor went wild, Josh had been there. And then to learn that Cory had had no further occurrences after he’d gone home? That news was solidifying Josh’s theory. Only, how was that even possible?
As he made his way slowly down the corridor, thinking all this through again, he almost missed the increasingly frequent beeps coming from the end of the hall.
~
Josh froze in place for a second. Long enough to realize that, over the din of the hospital around him, he picked out a quickening beep coming from somewhere near Cory’s room.
Josh forced his legs to move and made the turn, coming to a stop at Cory’s slightly open door. Aside from the wild beeping inside the room, he heard Cory’s mother murmuring softly. Josh needed to see Cory to put all the pieces together and grasp what was really happening. Raising his suddenly very heavy hand, Josh knocked on the doorframe.
Cory’s dad, whom Josh could see from his vantage point, turned his head first. His mom followed a short moment later. Josh couldn’t see the bed just yet, but he knew without even looking that Cory had woken up. Both of Cory’s parents had tears running down their cheeks. It seemed a long moment before anyone spoke.
Cory’s dad broke the silence as he looked between Josh and his son. “We were just sitting here and out of nowhere Cory’s heart started to speed up again. I was just about to press the call button for the nurse,” he glanced down at the bed remote in his hand, then looked back up at Cory. “But he finally opened his eyes.”
Cory’s heart rate monitor was still beeping excitedly from the corner, and Josh steadied himself as he entered the room. The beeping seemed even more enthusiastic as he closed the distance between himself and the machine, but he forced himself to focus only on the machine and the noise it was making. Reaching out, Josh turned the beeping down so it was almost inaudible. Josh felt Cory’s parents simultaneously focus their attention on him.
He lowered his gaze and his hand. He could feel the heat coming into his cheeks again. The wild beeping of the monitor that brought his thoughts to life, was now giving those same thoughts confirmation.
Out of the corner of his eye, Josh could see Cory’s parents looking back at their son. Their faces seemed puzzled, but happy. Josh took a fortifying breath and raised his gaze to look at the face of the guy that had given his crazy theory life.
Cory’s eyes were still heavy with sleep, but his deep blue gaze had shifted from his mother to Josh. The room seemed so quiet all of a sudden, like everyone was holding their breath. The moment Cory’s eyes met Josh’s there was an audible silence from Cory’s heart rate monitor. Almost like it had skipped an entire beat.
In that moment time slipped away. The past. The future. All melded together into one endless beat. If Josh had been connected to a heart monitor, he knew his heart would be beating in sync with Cory’s, every beat mirroring the other’s.
Ramona broke their reverie.
“What’s going on in here, Josh?” she asked, looking at him accusingly.
Snapping his eyes to her, he replied, “I came down, like you asked, to see if the Lastings needed anything.” He turned and looked at Cory again, and again there was a noticeable silence where a heart should have been beating. “But as I was coming down the hallway, heard Cory’s monitor start to beep faster like it did yesterday. I was worried, so I came in, and the monitor seemed to go crazy. I turned it down, and only just as you
came in, did I even realize myself, that he was awake.” He paused and looked back at Ramona again. “Mr. Lasting said he was just about to press the call button.”
“Yes,” the man spoke up. “I was going to call you to tell you that Cory’s heart was racing again, but the strangest thing just happened. I don’t even know what just happened,” he looked questioningly at Josh. “But whatever it was, it woke Cory up.”
“I see that,” Ramona said, focusing back on the young man. “How are you feeling, Cory? We’ve been expecting you to wake up for some time now.” Ramona moved over to Cory’s monitoring station and began checking readouts. She scanned her ID badge on the computer and started inputting data.
“I don’t really know,” Cory said, glancing around groggily. His voice sounded rough and scratchy from disuse, but pleasant enough to send a tingle down Josh’s spine. “I guess I feel okay, but it was like I had the strangest dream. I was asleep, and every so often, the dream would get really clear, but only for a minute. The rest of the time everything was fuzzy. Like I was trying to look through fog on a fall morning. I was trying to wake up, to force myself to open my eyes and get out of the fog, but nothing would happen. When the dream seemed like it was going to last forever things got really clear again and I woke up.” Cory paused and rubbed his eyes, perhaps trying to make sense of his thoughts and shake off his lingering drowsiness. “Otherwise, I feel a little sore and tired, but nothing I can’t handle,” he continued, sending a small smile toward his chuckling mother. Clearly, she knew what he meant.
“Good,” Ramona said. “I’m glad you’re not in too much pain. You took quite a spill and need to take your recovery slowly. Now that you’re awake, the doctor will want to check you out to make sure your concussion has subsided. As for your rib fracture, time will heal that, assuming you take it easy. The doctor will also talk with you about your sutures and explain a bit about what happened to get you those sutures,” Ramona continued. “I’m going to need to check your vitals real quick, then we’ll let you guys have some privacy, and you can get your rest. It’s nice to finally see you awake, Cory.” Ramona patted his blanket covered feet as she moved to the other side of the bed to start her routine.
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