2. Chapter One
Chapter One
Jaylen
L oud beeping.
Incessant squeaking.
Familiar voices.
Distorted conversations.
Those sounds have been on a constant, repetitive cycle for the past few weeks while I've been submerged in pain and agony, and it's starting to grate on me.
I know that everyone's been visiting me, so technically I'm surrounded by people, but every time someone comes to see me, all I can hear is their cries as they sit beside me, and there's nothing I can do to help soothe the pain that they're all going through.
I wish I could talk to them, tell them I'm okay, and provide them with the comfort that they need and deserve, but I can't. My body won't allow me to.
I've tried opening my eyes. I've tried moving. I've even tried speaking, but nothing seems to work.
It's as if I'm awake, but I'm trapped inside my mind.
The worst part of all of this is that I'm one of the nosiest people in the world, and I'm having to lie here while people are having conversations all around me without knowing what they're talking about.
It's torture.
I could be missing out on some prime gossip, and I wouldn't even know.
Thankfully, each day that I'm here, the pain swarming my body is starting to reduce, and I'm starting to be able to decipher who's around me by the tone of their voice, so I'm hopeful that I won't be like this for much longer.
The icy-cold feeling that has been cemented in my veins is finally starting to trickle out of me.
My body is starting to feel warm again, and I can no longer hear the wheezing in my chest that I've been listening to for the longest time.
Add in the fact that I'm now able to feel whenever people are touching me, I'd say these are all good signs to me being on the mend and hopefully back to normal sometime soon.
I feel pressure on my arm, then on my head, and I know it's my Auntie Lou squeezing my arm and kissing me as she does every day when she says goodbye.
I feel my sisters hand leave mine and my heart clenches as a wave of sadness sweeps over me at the realisation I'm going to be alone again until they come back.
I don't like being left alone whilst I'm here.
I like it when people are around me because I can put all of my focus and attention on trying to decipher what they're doing and saying, but when they're gone, I'm surrounded by a haunting silence, and I have nothing to distract me from my thoughts .
I hear the distorted voices grow distant, knowing my family is starting to walk out of my hospital room, and when I hear the door thud against the wall when it's opened, my heart drops.
That is until a voice enters my mind.
A voice I've never heard before.
It's sweet and quiet, and with every word spoken, it becomes clearer until I'm able to hear the exact words that are spilling from the woman's mouth.
"I'm sorry, I just transferred here, and Mr King has been assigned as one of the patients for me to check on, but I can request for someone else to be his nurse if you'd prefer."
My heart picks up, beating rapidly inside of my chest as her voice swims around my mind, seemingly awakening all of my senses that have been dormant for so long.