Love After Death

The sound of beeping machines and unrecognisable voices was all that I could hear, my eyesight was currently useless. I thought I was dead? I tried to move, nothing worked. Instead I lay there in absolute awe as my awareness slowly grows.

My senses slowly became clearer, lights flashed over my eyes and the feeling of life exploded in my chest. Breathing in deeply, I could once again feel my chest expanding, then lowing again. The sweet, cool air soothed my anxious thoughts as the scent of disinfectant takes cover in my sinuses.

“Doctor, he’s waking up.” A female voice. Young. But experienced.

“By Jesus,” A male voice this time.

“We need assistance,” the female voice again.

My eye sight slowly focusses, I could see the faint outline of the doctors moving vastly around me. I press my back against the bed, it was hard and tilted upward slightly. Definitely a hospital bed. My concentration moved to my hand, I manage to grasp several fingers together into a fist.

“Doctor, he is conscious.” A new voice, another male, I guessed it was the nurse, “Positive, cognitive responses are recognisable.”

“Get me the epinephrine,” the doctor demanded.

A sudden sharp pain stabbing into my left arm. I could feel the juices pouring into my veins and into the rest of my body. My hearing deafened for a moment but soon returned, as did my vision. The unrecognisable faces surrounding me became clear. Two doctors, one nurse.

“Well for the love of God,” The doctor said, “Son, can you hear us alright?”

I couldn’t do much but nod. I tried to use my voice but nothing came out at first. The doctor sent the nurse to get me some water. I gulped it down.

“You are in the hospital, do you remember anything?” He asked.

I thought about this for a moment. For some reason, I looked at my hands to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Nothing, I thought, I remember nothing. I couldn’t get the words up to I simply shook my head. The other doctor and nurse were beside the bed, both scribbling down notes and taking every few seconds to look back at me.

“You don’t remember anything?” he asked, “Think of your family, events, names, anything?”

I thought harder. Nothing. Tears started to blur my vision. My family, where are they? Me, who am I? What happened? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Questions flooded my main, causing my anxiety to skyrocket.

“Please,” I begged, “Tell me what’s going on.”

I was left in silence as they exchanges glances. The doctor spoke first.

“This might be a lot to take in, but you were rushed to Emergency Room due to a horrid accident that occurred two weeks ago.”

“Two weeks.” I didn’t ask, I stated. Two weeks I have been here. “What happened?”

“We will get to that.” He said, “But first, you should understand that your name is Felix Justinstine, you are seventeen years old.”

It was numbing to think that my own name was news to me. Felix Justinstine. My name is Felix Justinstine. I am seventeen years old. I sit in disbelief for a moment. I observe the essence of the room they set me in, it was tiny, one bed and the constant beeping machine beside me, a chair that’s taken by the female doctor and a window with the blind covers shut. The room was bright, but my eyes may not have adjusted.

“What happened to me?” I, Felix Justinstine, asked.

“I’m not sure we are the right people to tell you.” He replied.

“Why?” I wanted answers and I wanted them now. Not later. Now.

The doctor asked the nurse to send someone called Chloe in. They followed his orders immediately.

“Felix,” at first I didn’t register that he was talking to me, something about Felix Justinstine sounded strange, “We are bringing in the girl you brought you in after you accident. I gather she would like to give you details that you do not remember. After all, I don’t know your life like she does.”

I couldn’t say anything before the door opened. A girl I had obviously never seen before entered the room. She had pale skin, glossy brown eyes and her hair light brown hair streaked with blonde tied in a messy bun. She was beautiful. I hadn’t imagined such a magnificent woman have anything to do with why I am here.

The girl hesitates as she switch her gaze between me and the doctor. The doctor stands.

“I’ll let you have your privacy.” He says as he moves passed the pale girl and exits the room. We stare at one another for a moment, neither of us aware of what to do in such a situation.

“Felix,” she said, “Do you-“

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted, “I don’t remember anything.”

She burst into tears turning her face slightly pink, covering her mouth with her hand she sits in the lone chair beside me.

“Felix I don’t know where to start.” She says through her sobbing. Despite her tears, she was strong.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked, “Why am I here? All the doctor said was that I was ran to the ER”

“Oh,” she started. She composed herself before continuing, “Look Felix, I will start from the start. This might be a bit to take in.”

“I can handle it”

She laughed a struggled laugh, “Felix, I’m Chloe, I’m your girlfriend. We’ve been together two years.”

I now understood why she was crying. Chloe. She was right, it was a lot to take in and she had only just begun. Wonders to what she will say next.

“I must have pretty good taste,” I said. Chloe smiled and laughed again.

“Look, you’ve been here two weeks now and I’m not sure if your family will come. I told them to wait until you had woken up before buying their tickets here.” She said, I wasn’t going to ask about my family, not yet, I wanted to find out what had happened two weeks ago. “So, we were at this party together for our mates 18th and you got a phone call saying that… that your brother had just passed away.” She stopped for a moment, at first I thought she was waiting for me to say something but then she continued, “You went into slump, drank everything that you could, I swear I grabbed a bottle of dish washing liquid off of you at one stage, you raged at everyone, broke so much crockery and you started throwing chairs at anyone who would come near you or try to stop you from leaving. We couldn’t do much so you left. We tried to come after you but you were too strong for me,” she lifted up her sleeve to reveal wound marks that had scabbed and infected. I was in absolute disgrace.

“What the hell.” I said. “Chloe I’m so sorry. I know I can’t remember anything but that’s not something I would do.”

“That’s what we thought.” She said pulling down her sleeve. “To put a long story short, you drove off to ‘save’ your brother even though he was already gone. You didn’t even make it down the street.”

I stopped and thought for a moment. No way would I do this, no way, no way, no way. I had nothing to say, and nothing to do. How could I put such a beautiful girl in such a horrible situation?

I did the first thing that came to my head, I stroked Chloe’s tears away and held my hand on her moist cheek momentarily before pulling lips towards mine. And then we kissed.