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time: saturday, noon day: march first place: Buffalo General Hospital, Matthew Engel's room. (I open my eyes. Yes, I'm still here. The same bed. The same clothes. The same annoying nurse. I can't sleep because I'm too restless, and it really agitates the nurse staff. Frankly, I don't care. I'm racking up quite a bill here and they'll see every dime of it. I grab the designed-for-hospitals TV remote and turn it on. I surf around, and find nothing appealing.)(Yawn. I'm tired, mentally at least. Warren and Joe have been playing videos from the PWA airwaves, trying to keep me sharp for my return. I guess it's working, I'm not sure. The doctors say I didn't suffer much brain damage. I guess I'm lucky. It could be a lot worse. Machines could be keeping me alive, without me knowing.) (If I was in that position, I'm sure my family would've done the right thing. Living because of machines and being a vegetable is, ironically, no way to live. I think my family agress on that issue. Euthanasia. How's that for irony?) (I turn off the TV. I wish Mia was here. I miss her and Alexia, a lot. I got to see them Thursday for a little bit, then they had to go back to Bermuda. Something about Alexia having a basketball game. I wish I could be there. But, I'm stuck here...in Buffalo, and fuck it looks cold outside. The nurse comes through the door, something in her hand.) VIRUS: Don't suppose you're going to let me go today, huh? Nurse: Sorry! Can't do it. Maybe tomorrow...and that's a big maybe. (That's refreshing. Maybe.) VIRUS: What's that in your hand? Nurse: This envelope was just dropped off for you by a courier. He said it was urgent. VIRUS: Did you catch his name? Nurse: No... (I roll my eyes. She smiles, then sets it on the table next to my bed. She leaves the room and I turn my head, looking out the window. I'm thankful to have a window in my room. Most people don't. Maybe I'm special...or maybe nobody thought I was going to wake up. Who knows. I would assume most people have so many things on their mind when they come out of a coma. How it happened, why it happened, and who it all affected. Questions need to be answered. But, for me, I don't have any questions. I'm not wondering how this happened, or even why. I have one person on my mind. Night and day, I think about what I'm going to do to him. He's going to regret everything, up to and including looking at my sister. He will pay.) (But...for now...I suppose I'll just look at this envelop. Curiousity killed the cat, as they say. I grab hold of the brown envelope, opening it and pulling out photographs.) (Suddenly my thoughts of revenge turn to horror and surprise. Each photo is a different angle of my wife, Mia, shopping in our local grocery store in Bermuda. I sift through all of them, and they're so close. They were within ten feet of her each time, and she never knew. There's no note. There's no sign of anything except someone's idea of a joke. A joke? No...what if it's more? What if they have her?) (I hit the nurse call button, maybe a thousand times. I can hear the alarm echo in the nurse's desk. The nurse comes through the door.) VIRUS: Get my wife on the phone! NOW! (She sees the pictures and has a confused look on her face, but she does what I say. She goes back to the desk and calls Bermuda. Mia picks up the phone on the other line, and the nurse puts her on hold. She comes back through the door.) Nurse: She's on hold. VIRUS: Ask her if her and Alexia are okay. (She goes back to the phone, and the longest seconds of my life go by waiting for the nurse's response. She gives me a "thumbs up" through the glass panel. A huge sigh of relief comes over me. I guess it was somebody's idea of a sick joke. I gotta get the fuck out of this hospital. I can't protect her from here.) |