by A. E. Murphy
The pain, my stomach burns. My entire body burns. Yet I feel detached from my body. Like I’m not there yet I am. “Baby,” James says and I feel his forehead rest against mine. “I love you. Damn, I’m so sorry. So sorry.”
“She’ll get through this,” I hear Sylvia say soothingly. “You know she will.”
Darkness claims me.
“NURSE!” I hear and there’s a bustle in the room. Something is pulled from my throat, I gag and choke, wanting to open my eyes. “Is she ok?”
“Yes, she’s waking up. This is normal.” A female voice says. “She’s going to be ok Mr. Freeman. Her vitals are fine, her fever has broken and she’s responding well to treatment.”
There’s a whimper of relief and James lips are pressed against my forehead. It takes me a few minutes that feel like hours but I manage to open my eyes. The room is dark, only a lamp above my bed lighting the room. My eyes find James immediately.
“Oh, Maya,” he sighs and a tear falls down his cheek. “Maya. God I…”
“Hey,” I say softly and touch his hand with what little energy I have. “I’m going back to sleep now.”
He nods and kisses my nose, “I love you. So much.”
“I know,” I give him a small smile and fall back into darkness.
Light causes my eyelids to glow pink. There’s a light breeze on my face and the sound of a fan humming somewhere to my left. I peek my eyes open and smile. The entire room has flowers and cards and gifts on every surface, it smells divine, a little like Febreze actually. The sunlight pours through the open blinds. I’m in a private room, I know this because it’s similar to the room my father was in.
“Hey,” James soft voice caresses my ears. I smile weakly and look at him. He’s disheveled and still in his suit from the morning before this incident. A shadow of a beard is across his face, it suits him. “I missed you baby.”
“I missed you too,” I say and grip his hand. My voice sounds croaky from lack of use. “Are you ok?” He lets out a laugh, a genuine smile showing, “Am I ok? Are you crazy?”
I nod a little, “I think we’ve established the fact that I am.”
“How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve travelled through hell and back,” I groan and blink the sleep from my eyes. “How long have I been out?”
“It’s Thursday, you’ve been out three long torturous days,” he says and his eyes shine. I never want to see him cry again, its heart breaking. “God. We lost you baby.” His shoulders shake and his head rests on my hand. “You died, for two fucking minutes. They took you into surgery and then you… your heart… you started having a fit and then you just…” I run my fingers through his hair, barely able to hold up my own hand.
“I was probably just keeping them on their toes, you know how much of a prankster I am.” I say and he rolls his eyes. “So how long until we can have sex again?”
He grins a wide sexy ass grin and peppers my face with wet kisses. I grin with him and watch as Sylvia comes into the room with two coffees in hand. She sags with relief, places the drinks on the desk and comes straight to me. Her eyes are tired and sad, I wonder if she’s been here the entire time.
“Maya,” she says and kisses my forehead. “This is a classic case of the boy who cries wolf.”
“Mother,” James hisses but I laugh twice. It’s painful to laugh but god I need it. “You’re right. Definitely Karma as well. What are the chances? I lie to get out of the lunches by saying I’m too sick to get out of bed and the one time I go I actually end up so sick my heart stops.” I turn to James. “I wonder if I’ll be able to see dead people now!”
“See, I told you so,” Sylvia chuckles. “Nothing keeps our girl down for long.” Our girl… I like that.
James grunts and sips his coffee. I sniff at the air and my nose crinkles. “Baby, you stink. Go home.”
He frowns, “I’m not leaving you.”
“Go on, I’ll stay with her.” Sylvia smiles and pats my hand. “Go, she’ll probably fall asleep again anyway.”
“I am feeling tired. A little out of it.” I motion to the two drips going into my wrist. “One of these morphine?”
“Yep,” James smiles and strokes my cheek with his fingers. “Are you in any pain?”
I reach for the morphine button, my dad had the same one so I know how it works. “Nope.” I grin mischievously and press the button. “I’m off to the pub.” I press it again and sigh as the cool liquid floats through my veins, almost instantly making me float. “You go, get a shower, get some sleep and bring me back a toothbrush and toothpaste. Oh. Don’t come back until you look alive. But keep the beard it’s sexy as hell.”
“Yes mistress,” he chuckles and looks at his mom. “I’ll be a couple of hours.”
“I don’t want to see you until tonight. Well rested, clean, and happy.”
He groans and cups my face in his hands, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
I kiss him goodbye and watch as he leaves the room before turning to Sylvia. “So. What happened?”
“Scariest day of my life is what happened,” she sighs and holds my hand. “You were fine one minute, then suddenly you were ghastly white, so white you looked gray. You started sweating and your body kept convulsing. A waiter came over and lifted you onto the couch by the bar. We called an ambulance, shockingly my son got there before they did.” She rubs her face with her hands. “I’ve never seen him so… scared. Nobody could console him. Not even you. You tried but,” she lets out a laugh. “Half of what you was saying didn’t make sense. Something about a pigeon and some rice and how funny it was. Then you kept telling him if he stopped crying you’d let him take down a poster.”
I cringe but giggle. I don’t remember this part but I know what she’s talking about. What I can’t believe is the fact he cried. James doesn’t cry, he only almost cries.
“Your appendix exploded, we all heard a pop. It was awful, you blacked out and woke up when James arrived for all of a minute, you mumbled a load of stuff and then you fainted again. The doctors immediately started prodding you with needles, as soon as we got to the hospital a whole team was waiting for you. They took you in and operated immediately. It was three hours before they brought you out. You were out for an hour, you woke up and then you started convulsing. Your heart stopped Maya,” she whimpers, taking a deep breath. “James… he… he was sobbing, begging. I’ve never seen him so heart broken. So angry, so lost. When they took you back away to surgery again he just collapsed and didn’t get up until you were brought back out. He cried again.” She laughs again, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “He called you quite a few names. Some of which I’ve never heard in my lifetime.” We both laugh at this. “You gave him the middle finger. Completely comatose and you gave him the middle finger. Your friends were in hysterics, Marie is it?” I nod. “She was… not well. She stayed until midnight last night. I don’t doubt she’ll be back soon.”
“Marie is flaky but she hasn’t much family, we’ve always been closer than most.”
“I have to admit I didn’t like the girl at the wedding but seeing her like that… she cares very deeply for you.”
“My girls are special. Thank you Sylvia, for helping me. Just for the record, I blame your bloody tea party,” I joke making her laugh. “You should go get some rest. I’ll be fine. This morphine is sending me off.”
“I’ve been home since yesterday afternoon. I got back an hour ago,” she smiles and motions to the room. “Most of these are from James, some from the ladies at the tea party as you call it. The bottle of whiskey is from Marie.” I glance at the Jack Daniels on the windowsill between two bunches of wildflowers and laugh a little. If it wasn’t so painful I’d probably be cackling as James calls it. “Go to sleep, your eyes are drooping.”
I must have dozed off on her command because I don’t remember willingly falling to sleep. Got to love morphine!
“She’s ok,” Marie’s voice cuts through my peaceful floating in the da
rk. “I told you she would be.”
I crack an eye open, “Oh god. I’m in hell right?” I joke and squeeze my eyes shut after glimpsing, Summer, Jessica and Marie.
There’s a chorus of squeals and three sets of arms hug my legs which are hidden beneath the blanket. I chuckle silently and open my eyes. James is glaring at the girls and I watch as they back up with their hands raised in surrender.
“Hey,” I croak and run my tongue around my furry mouth. “I need a drink and a toothbrush.”
“The doctor wants to see you first, she’s angry because we didn’t come and get her earlier,” I look over at Sylvia who is sat on her phone in the corner as she speaks. “Marie, could you?”
Marie nods and disappears out of the room.
“Oh, the pipe work in your office is almost finished,” Sylvia says with a little wink. “Margie informed me that someone needed to oversee it. She’s doing that and keeping me informed. I’ve also notified everyone of importance on your side of the business that you have been ill and they’ve been handling things rather efficiently.”
“That’s fantastic,” I say and smile at James. “See. And you said your mom was just here in life to make you miserable.”
“I did not say that!” James laughs incredulously and looks between me and his mom a little panicked. “Honestly mom…”
“I’m pretty sure you said something along the lines of get the holy water and the priest,” I lie and reach up to ruffle his hair.
He grunts and kisses my hand. “Definitely got the short straw.”
“Let’s not tell lies. I’m the longest straw of the batch,” I wink and watch as Sylvia chuckles at our banter.
The doctor comes in, fills me in on what I already know and tells me I’ll have to stay a few more days just to be sure. She shows me the incision on my stomach, its low enough that a bikini will cover it but about four inches long. Yuck. It’s also yellow from iodine and bruised and swollen. Double yuck.
“Totally going to tell people I was stabbed by a samurai,” I grin at Marie who is watching me with sad eyes. “Come here girl.”
The doctor leaves after instructing James that I’ll be allowed to drink and brush my teeth but only small sips and all the other boring stuff.
Marie comes over to me and very carefully hugs my shoulders. “You scared me you dumb bitch.”
“Hey,” I laugh and shoulder bash her, its weak it’s feeble but she pretends I’ve thrown her a good foot. “I’m sorry guys. I should have gone to the doctors. I just thought it was because of my implant.”
“I should have forced you, I could see how sick you was,” James sighs.
Summer slaps him on the back of the head, “Don’t say that because then it’s our fault too. We saw how ill she was. Nobody could have known it would’ve been so serious.”
“Somebody get me Bruce Willis,” I announce and everyone looks at me. “Tell him to bring his tape recorder. I died right? I could be able to see dead people like the kid off the sixth sense. How freaky would that be? I mean, I’ll just be casually laid in bed when my dad walks in for a little chat or to tell me off for gambling in Vegas.”
Everyone watches in amazement as I rant on. It’s my way of diffusing, being stupid is like a safety mechanism I think. I just can’t help myself.
“Did she hit her head too?” Jessica giggles and checks the monitors. Jessica is a nurse so she knows what all the little numbers and squiggles mean.
“Reckon they’ll let me have the whiskey?” I say whilst wagging my eyebrows at James. He doesn’t roll his eyes, he just smiles and rests his forehead on my shoulder as if he is just happy to see me alive and well. “No? No takers… damn. Ok, well I need to brush my teeth. I think my tongues turning into a caterpillar.”
“Nice,” Marie laughs and Jessica rushes to fetch me two glasses, one filled with water, the other empty and my toothbrush prepped and ready with a healthy dollop of minty paste.
“Thanks chick,” I grin and raise the bed so I’m sitting up a little more. The strain on my stomach causes me to hiss and everyone in the room jumps to attention. “I’m fine, just sore.” They visibly sag with relief.
I brush my teeth, not embarrassed in the slightest and James helps me wash my face with baby wipes. Best they can do seeing as I’m not allowed out of bed. I need a shower so damn bad.
The girls keep me company and make me laugh. I don’t even care about the pain as I laugh I’m just happy they’re happy. Summer and Jessica leave after a couple of hours as they have work in the morning. Marie stays, she’s looking extremely forlorn. I know it’s because we’ve been like sisters for years, I’m literally the only family she has and if I didn’t have James it would be the same for me as well.
She sits beside me and watches Lord of the Rings on the flat screen opposite my bed.
James is brushing my hair for me and braiding it as a knock sounds at the door. Sylvia gets up and answers it.
I feel James tense beside me as Jacob Stone walks in holding a huge bouquet of lilac roses in a crystal vase and a large box of very expensive chocolates. Nom. “Hey you,” he says softly and places the flowers and chocolates on the windowsill. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner I only just heard.”
“Don’t be silly, you didn’t have to come at all, thank you,” I smile and beckon him in. “We’re just watching Gandalf kick some orc ass.”
He smirks and sits beside Marie, “So. What’s the diagnosis? The rumor mill is ridiculous. People are saying you’re pregnant, others are saying you got hit by a bus.”
“Neither,” I giggle and shuffle up the bed a little. “My appendix popped and my insides got poisoned. Hey, I died for like two minutes apparently.”
“She seems to think now she’s died she’ll be able to see dead people,” Marie snorts.
Jacob glances at James, “That’s some scary shit. Bet you were going out of your mind with worry.”
James nods and laces his fingers through mine, careful to mind the tube coming out of my arm. “I don’t think I’ve ever lost it so bad. Scariest day of my life. She didn’t die in surgery. She’d just come out of surgery, her body convulsed and then her heart stopped.”
“I think it’s safe to say it was totally dramatic and definitely something only I would do,” I joke. “I’m extreme, what can I say? I don’t just get ill with the flu, I die for two minutes from a horrible infection after something inside me explodes. Extreme until the end you see.”
“Unfortunately she didn’t leave her sense of humor in the afterlife,” Sylvia sighs playfully. I sip my water and dribble at the sight of the chocolates. “No. No solids yet remember.”
“Somebody call security there’s a chocolate Nazi in the house,” I grumble. James laughs and stands up to stretch I watch the beautiful V dip in his abdomen as he stretches his shirt rides up.
“I’m going to go get some food, you coming mom?” he asks and kisses my forehead as Sylvia agrees. “I won’t be long princess.”
“I’ll try not to cause any trouble while you’re gone,” I grin and finger wave them out of the room. “Notice the word try. I’m making no promises.”
They both sigh and shuffle out of the room, they can’t hide their smiles from me. I turn to Marie and Jacob, “Sorry nobody told you Jacob. I only woke up this afternoon. If I could have texted you I would have.”
He waves me off, “It’s no problem, don’t apologize. I’m not family or anything.”
“No but if you was in hospital for something so serious and nobody told me,” I give Marie a pointed look. “I’d probably be pretty pissed.”
“I forgot, I was totally freaking out. I called him as soon as you woke,” she says and turns the TV down. “So Jacob. When are you expected back in Hollywood?”
“Not until next week. We finished the commercial but I have to wait for the boss lady to watch it and approve it.”
“Marie,” I say and she nods. I turn to Jacob, “Marie will have a look. She’s better at that stuff than
me anyway.”
“So… why’d you come to the shoot?” he says with narrowed eyes and cute smirk toying with his lips.
I grin, “Dude, to ogle you. Did you not get that when my husband showed up to piss all over me?”
He throws his head back and laughs, “Your husband must be a very patient man.”
I nod, “That he is. He knows I’m harmless, I’d never cheat on him. Nothing wrong with staring though.”
“She’s incorrigible,” Marie snorts. I scoff, “Says you.” “Yep,” she agrees. “Says me.”
I roll my eyes and tap Jacobs arm, “So, Los Angeles huh?”
“Yep, you should come down some time. My house is amazing. I have my own private beach.”
“Oh! You’re not going to be here for my house warming. We just bought a house in the Preston building. The penthouse apartment top floor! It’s fucking beautiful,” I sigh at the thought of my perfect new home.
“So you are going to have a party then?” Marie grins excitedly. I nod and reply, “Hell yeah. Nothing like a near death experience to make you want to dance.”
“You are so weird,” Jacob laughs. “I’ll try my best to be here.”
I touch his hand, “Don’t worry if you can’t make it. We’ll send you pictures and rub your nose in it.”
Eye roll, pfft, why does everyone always roll their eyes at me? I know I’m a div but seriously, I’m surprised all the loved ones in my life haven’t lost their eyes from the amount of rolling they do.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“You guys ok?” James asks as he walks in with Sylvia. They watch as we stop laughing at our ridiculous antics. Marie cracks me up, which isn’t great at the moment but I’d rather be laughing in pain than crying in pain. “You look happy.”
“Yeah, Marie was just telling us of her most recent antics,” I say and wipe my eyes. “You shaved off your beard.”
“I looked like a woodcutter.”
“It was sexy as hell.”
Sylvia waves her hand, “Mother in the room. Seriously.”