As she busied herself she directed her comments toward Josh. “Why don’t you get back to work, Josh. You have things you need to get started on.”
“Sure,” he begrudgingly mumbled. Since Cory had woken up, all Josh wanted to do was sit in his room and stare at his beautiful blue eyes. When he thought about leaving the room to go do his rounds he felt a pang in his stomach and felt anxious all over again. He didn’t understand why he felt that way since he’d never reacted that way to another patient before. But no other patient had reacted that way to him before either. At least now that Cory was awake, he and his family could talk and start their recovery together. Josh could rest easier knowing that even if Cory’s heart was doing crazy things, he was comfortable and loved.
Josh tentatively turned around once more and asked, with a touch of hope in his voice, “Can I get you anything before I go?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think we need anything right now. We’re just glad to finally have Cory awake,” Mr. Lasting said. “Are you hungry, Cory? We could get some food brought up for you. The cafeteria wasn’t actually all that bad.” Ramona chuckled at that.
“I don’t think I can eat right now, Dad. I’ll let you know when I feel more awake though. I’m assuming I missed out on the usual pizza after the game. Oh!” Cory said. “The game. What happened? Did we win?” Cory perked up a bit at that and tried to sit up more to see his father better.
Mr. Lasting reached a soothing hand out to Cory’s arm in a seemingly practiced move to stay the young man’s motions. “Relax, Cory. We’ll fill you in on all that after a bit. For now just rest, and let the nurse finish up.” Cory’s dad looked over to Josh then. “I guess we’re fine for now, Josh. Thanks, though. We’ll page you if we need something.”
Josh nodded at him and turned to leave. Ramona was still finishing up, and Cory’s parent were watching her intently, but Josh paused in the doorway. His brain was on overload even though he had just gotten to the hospital. How was he going to be able to focus on anything after all this? He turned back once more as if to verify Cory was really alright. Cory had been watching him go and their eyes met once again. This time Cory knew about the monitor keeping tabs on every tremor of his heart. He looked away from Josh toward the monitor. A question played on Cory’s face when he looked back at Josh. Josh smiled at him, and Cory’s monitor paused again. Josh’s smile grew wider, and he finally found the will to leave.
He didn’t go far; just around the corner. Stopping himself and bracing against the wall for support, Josh thought about what just happened. Was there any possible way that a person could affect someone else this way? How could Cory possibly have this reaction toward him? They had never even met before, but Cory was definitely having some kind of reaction to Josh nonetheless, even when he was asleep, apparently. Could people even do that? Josh had so many questions.
He stood up straight and tried to steady his thoughts. It took most of his concentration to make his feet move. He made his way back to the nurse's station and got the list of beds that needed to be changed. Today of all days he would be glad for the mundane tasks ahead of him. They would give him plenty of time to think about this thing with Cory. The biggest thought he kept coming back to was: What did all this mean?
~
After all the excitement from earlier, Josh’s shift had been passing extremely slowly. He’d been asking himself the same questions for hours going round and round in his head. He’d spent his time running between the janitorial supply closet and patients’ rooms on the third floor, with the occasional trip to the cafeteria. As he was coming back to the nurse's station for something to drink, he noticed Mrs. Lasting coming toward him.
“Can I talk to you? Do you have a minute?” she asked.
“Sure. I was just going to get some water. What can I do for you? Is Cory okay?” he asked nervously, wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants.
“Yes, he’s fine, but Cory fell asleep almost the moment you left the room,” she paused, seemingly hesitant to go on. “Would you mind coming back down? I know this sounds crazy, but...” She shook her head. “What happened last time…is hard to explain. I wondered if it might happen again. Do you know what I’m talking about?” Cory’s mother asked.
Nodding his head, Josh ran his fingers through his unruly, chestnut colored hair. “I have a feeling I know what you mean,” he trailed off not sure what else to say. It was nice that Cory’s mother had noticed the connection and seemed to have put two and two together. Josh didn’t know where to begin to handle the bizarre circumstance they seemed to find themselves in. “Are you sure you want me to come back? This is so weird.”
“Let’s just see what happens and go from there, okay?”
He nodded again and was relieved to notice his own unsettled emotions calming as they made their way back down the hall toward Cory.
-III-
Josh was not surprised this time to hear the monitor in Cory’s room taking flight. Cory’s mother, however, was. She had only just thought about putting these pieces together, while he had been trying to wrap his brain around them a little longer. She turned her head and looked at him as they walked, as if really looking at him for the first time. Josh met her glance and gave a weak smile and a shrug of his shoulders.
As they entered Cory’s room, Mr. Lasting looked relieved to have his son awake again. He had been sitting next to Cory’s bed with Cory’s hand held in his own. He looked up at Josh and his wife, then back to Cory, whose eyes now held Josh’s like a trance. Josh again steadied himself and went to turn the beeping monitor down. He looked over to Cory’s parents, who stared back at him wonderingly.
“I’m not really sure what to do in this situation,” he said, walking over and sticking his hand out to Mr. Lasting. “I’m Josh.”
“Nice to meet you, Josh,” the man said, shaking his hand. “I guess you know by now that I’m Jim, and this is my wife, Diane,” he replied.
Josh turned his attention to Cory and summoned his inner courage. “Hi,” he said lamely, rubbing his left arm. “I’m Josh.”
“Hey,” Cory said, blushing at the attention and the low beeping coming from the corner. “I guess you already know my name.”
“Yeah,” Josh said, smiling a little. “We met yesterday, only, you were asleep.”
Cory smiled then. “I guess from the sound of things I must have noticed you too, though,” he chuckled nervously.
“Do you want me to stay?” Josh asked, hesitating for a moment, not sure what to say. “This feels really awkward,” Josh said, looking around again. Cory’s parents must have been thinking the same thing, but they didn’t ask him to leave since they seemed relieved to have Cory awake at all.
“I don’t know,” Cory replied. “I’m not really sure what any of this means, or if we should talk to the doctor. Do you even know what’s going on?” Cory asked.
He looked at Cory for a long moment before speaking. Josh gathered his thoughts and tried to move his mind away from the crazy beeping in the corner. “I was thinking about all this last night,” he started, looking at Cory’s parents. They had only made the realization a few hours ago. How would they react knowing he had had suspicions yesterday?
“I thought it was strange that every time I had been around your room your heart rate monitor would go crazy. Okay, well I thought it was a little more than strange. But, I couldn’t be sure if it was a coincidence or something more. I kept asking myself the same questions over and over again. How? Why? I was up half the night. I was trying to get all the pieces to make sense. But in the end, I couldn’t be sure. I’ve never been so nervous to come do my hours as I was this morning. I didn’t know what to expect. I knew they were taking you off your medication and you would probably be awake when I got here. But I couldn’t help wondering, had I just imagined all of it? What was going to happen? What if I was right?” Josh paused his ramblings and lifted his head with a hesitant smile on his lips.
“I had to force myself t
o walk down the hallway this morning. Ramona told me you hadn’t woken up yet, but I wondered if you would have the same reaction as yesterday. Maybe it was just me being crazy. But when I heard your monitor beeping as I got closer to your room, I knew, I knew I had been right. I hadn’t imagined everything. You were subconsciously having a reaction to my presence. Then I heard your mom talking and saw their expressions. I didn’t even have to look at you to know you were awake. Since you weren’t being drugged to keep you asleep, your heart's reaction to me forced you to wake up.” Josh stopped, then lowered his head into his hands and rubbed his eyes.
“What am I even saying?” Josh mumbled. “This doesn’t make any sense. There’s no possible way people can affect each other this way. It just doesn’t happen.” Josh paused again. “I’m crazy to even think this, right? It has to be some weird coincidence.”
Josh looked at Cory’s parents with searching eyes, scanning their faces for some kind of understanding. Some sign that, yes, they thought he was crazy, too. But they looked at him with disbelief and understanding. There was no possible way that what he had just said could be true. But the signs seemed pretty clear to Cory’s parents, too. As much as they wanted to hope Josh’s presence was not tied to their son’s consciousness, oddly this seemed to be exactly what was happening.
“I’m going to page the nurse,” was Jim’s reply. “Maybe the doctor will have an explanation.” Jim pressed the call button on the bed’s remote.
Cory seemed restless, shifting to try to get comfortable, so Josh suggested he might take a few minutes to stretch his legs until the doctor came.
Ramona entered the room soon after and noticed Cory stretching. “Ready to get out of this place?” she asked, but at the same moment realized that Josh was in Cory’s room again. Her smile faded as she looked at him disapprovingly.
“I asked him to come in,” Diane said as she took in Ramona’s expression. Diane hesitated. “It seems we have a strange situation on our hands, and we wondered if you or the doctor might be able to offer us an opinion on it.”
“What’s going on?” Ramona asked cautiously.
The four heads turned from one to the other, searching for a reprieve from this crazy scenario. When a certain two faces met, something in the background went quiet for a moment, then continued on.
“It seems that your volunteer, Josh here...” She gestured in Josh’s direction and continued, “is the only thing keeping my son conscious.” Diane spoke quietly, but confidently, aware of the effect her words would have. “I realize this sounds crazy, but it appears that whenever he’s away from Cory, Cory can’t remain conscious. When Josh is nearby, Cory’s heart reacts instinctively and Cory’s able to function.” Diane stopped herself there. She could see that Ramona thought they were playing some kind of joke on her.
“I can see that you think we’re nuts, but it explains why Cory’s heart has been racing and having those crazy spikes. He’s been trying to wake up. He hadn’t been able to wake up because of his medication. Then we couldn’t understand why he didn’t wake up once that was stopped. It was because Josh wasn’t here. When he came in this morning to check on us, Cory’s heart reacted and woke him up. Once Josh left, Cory fell asleep again. I asked him to come back, and now Cory’s awake again.” Diane paused, and looked at Jim, then she looked at Cory. Cory nodded his head and looked at Josh.
“Josh,” Cory said softly. “Um, I think we need to show her what we mean.”
Josh gaped at Cory. For the first time since all this had happened, since Josh had realized his strange effect on Cory, he felt a new attachment to the guy. He realized what the weird feelings in his chest and stomach had been. Feeling a brief flash of worry wash over him, Josh couldn’t quite understand the feeling, or why it was there.
“Are you sure?” Josh asked, searching Cory’s face for the same emotion he just felt.
“Yeah. I know,” Cory said, interpreting the look that crossed Josh’s face. “But I think it’s the only way for her to really see what we’re talking about. She needs to see for herself, or she’ll never believe us.”
Josh hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and crossed the room to the heart rate monitor. He reached out and turned the knob up so the beeping of Cory’s heart could be heard without difficulty and then made his way to the door. “You’re sure?” he asked again, pausing. “I feel bad leaving you like this,” Josh said apprehensively.
Cory nodded and gave Josh what looked like an attempt at a brave smile.
Josh left the doorway and went down the hall, not sure where to go. There was only one place he wanted to go and it was the place he just left. His mind buzzed. What was happening to him? What was this weird feeling he suddenly realized was building up inside him? He felt it last night starting to creep in, but now it was front and center.
Alone with his thoughts again, all of the things he had been wondering were being aired out like laundry on a line. He had wondered what would happen if he was correct in his crazy assumptions last night. The feeling in his stomach was giving him his answer.
Josh’s mind had been so distracted thinking of everything that just happened, he hadn’t realized that he’d ended up in the break room. He was sitting on a chair by the coffee machine with his head between his hands, when someone walked in and startled him out of his thoughts. Absentmindedly, he glanced down at his watch the way he always did when he was logging hours. He realized he only had an hour left for the day’s shift, and a new thought came to mind.
Josh was up and out of the break room in seconds. Ramona rounded the corner near Cory’s room, as Josh approached, startling when she saw him coming on so quickly.
“Well that’s something I’ve never seen before,” she said to Josh, who was anxious to get moving. “We were just standing there while Cory shifted in bed and he fell asleep in less than a minute. I have to admit this is weird. Let’s walk back and see what happens.”
Regaining himself, Josh moved his feet toward Cory as the feeling he had been wondering about persisted. Ramona turned her head and looked at Josh as they approached Cory’s room, but Josh’s eyes were fixed ahead. He heard the beeping escalate as they re-entered Cory’s room, but he went directly over to the side of Cory’s bed as Cory opened his eyes. Cory raised his head, and in his growing awareness, smiled up at Josh. Everyone else in the room stood watching them with mystified eyes.
Ramona broke the silent exchange when she walked over and turned down the beeping. “This is…” she hesitated, searching for the right words. “Unusual. I’m going to call Dr. Thomas and have him evaluate the situation. Cory, would you like Josh to leave so you can rest until the doctor can get here?”
“No. Please don’t make him leave,” Cory responded quickly, looking at Josh with pleading eyes.
“Can I stay with him for a while?” Josh asked. His question was not entirely directed at Ramona, but also meant for Jim and Diane.
“That’s fine with me. If it’s alright with you,” Ramona gestured to Jim and Diane, who nodded their agreement. “It’s a slow day and this strange circumstance certainly seems to warrant an exception,” Ramona concluded.
“We’d really appreciate it if you stayed, Josh,” added Diane. “We really haven’t talked with Cory much and I’m sure he would love to have a chance for his friends to visit.”
“With any luck, I won’t be in here long enough for them to visit,” Cory murmured.
“Why don’t I go call the doctor now so we can start sorting all this out as soon as possible,” Ramona said as she turned and walked out of the room.
~
“Josh, why don’t you have a seat and make yourself comfortable,” Diane suggested. “It’s past lunchtime, and Jim and I haven’t eaten either. You guys have to be hungry, too. I think we might go grab some lunch for everyone and you two can chat for a while.” She smiled at Cory then. “Josh, what time are you done with your hours today?” she asked.
“I’m supposed to be here until two,
” he said, looking at the clock on the wall. Realizing he had less than an hour left, he felt a sudden pang in his stomach. What would happen when he had to leave?
“Okay, well we’ll be right back then,” Diane said. She grabbed her purse and squeezed Cory’s hand as Jim got to his feet. Cory’s parents gave a quick glance back at them and left the room.
An awkward silence filled the room.
Neither Josh nor Cory seemed to know what to say. Josh looked at Cory, then at the machine that just skipped a beat. “This is so weird,” Josh said. “I’m sorry if my being here is making you uncomfortable.”
“I know what you mean, but I’m not uncomfortable. I’m glad to finally be awake and have a chance to talk to you,” Cory said. “I haven’t really even had a chance to talk to my parents about any of this. I guess it does seem weird though,” he paused. “Just so I understand, since I’m the one losing consciousness here, walk me through everything one more time.”
“Sure,” said Josh with a slight smile. “But I guess there’s not much more to say than what you already know. Whenever I’m near you, your body, or heart, or whatever you want to call it, reacts in a crazy way. Apparently, that’s the only thing keeping you awake. When I leave, you fall asleep, or lose consciousness, or whatever. I have no idea why, or how, or even what to think about all this.” Josh rubbed his eyes for a moment and then looked at Cory seriously. “But so far, for me, every time I leave I get this weird feeling like I need to get back to you. Like something inside me knows you need me. I can’t explain that either. I don’t even know you. We’ve never talked or met before. But whatever this is, it’s going to get complicated in less than an hour,” he stopped then and regarded Cory. “What do you think about all this?”
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