Page 85 of Final Temptation
“It’s a very good thing. At least to my knowledge, withcoma patients, these are all signs of the possibility he could be waking up. He’s been out of it for weeks now, but I can only assume this is him slowly coming out of the coma—waking up.” Paige stood behind me, her hand reaching out to grip my shoulder, almost as if she was trying to tell me that it would all be okay.
“How long do you think it could take him to wake up?” I asked impatiently.
“There’s no telling. It’s different for every case,” she responded, pulling up a chair next to me, a dip of concern laced in her brow, “but I do want to prepare you, honey. It could be tomorrow or days from now, and unfortunately, there are still some unknowns.” Her soft, petite fingers reached out and rested on my arm. “We have no idea what condition he will be waking up in; again, it’s very different for every case.” I nodded my head, doing my best to digest the information and internally screaming at myself not to get my hopes up.
“It’s possible that it could be a while from now before we see another sign like you experienced with the squeezing of your hand and his eyes opening and shutting.”
“Yeah.” I sighed, unsure of what else to say.
“Everything I just said to you, that’s what you’d hear from me as Myles’ nurse. But if you were to ask me the same questions as the mother of your best friend? I’d say, keep hoping, keep doing what you’re doing, stay strong, and we are all in this together.” My lips lifted, curving into a sad smile.
“Thank you, Lisa.”
“I’m going to step out and give you and Paige a few moments. I’ll be back in a bit. If anything else happens, you know how to reach me.” She stood from the small chair onwheels beside me and let herself out, leaving just me, Paige, and Myles.
I slept on the couch most nights, but tonight wasn’t comparable tomost nights. I spent the entire day with my emotions tied up in knots. Today there were highs and lows—each high dropping at lightning speed, to the bottom of the barrel.
With each squeeze of my hand, I felt more naïve by the minute—absolutely pathetic for thinking he would what… Wake up right then and there?
I laid awake on his chest all night, my mind refusing to shut off and my body denying me the sleep I desperately needed. Even after hours of attempted sleep with my eyes pressed shut and each beep from the machines acting as a metronome, my hopes of being hypnotized into an alternate world slowly fading away.
Thebeep, beep, beep,that I’d been so used to hearing lately, began to speed up. My attention instantly perked up, my not-so-sleepy eyes bugging out of my head when I propped up on my elbow to see Myles’ eyes open.
Not blinking open and shut.
Wide. Open.
“Oh my fucking God.” I slid off the edge of the bed, rounding the corner, slamming my hand against the big red button I hadn’t had to use yet—but dreamed of being able to for reasons like this.
While I waited for Lisa to come running into the room,I looked into Myles’ eyes, his crystal blues staring right back at mine.
“Myles, can you hear me?” I tried to remain calm, awaiting his next move, if there was one.
“What’s going on?” Lisa stepped into the room, walking at a fast pace over to the bedside.
“H-his eyes. They are open,” I responded, tears pricking at my eyes.
“Honey, Myles is awake.”
I took a few steps back, allowing Lisa to take over.
My heart pinched on the inside of my chest, my breathing starting to pick up. I hadn’t felt the overwhelming sense of anxiety in a while, but it was currently taking over my body, a million thoughts running through my head all at once.
Will he remember who I am?
Will he remember what happened at all?
Will he be able to explain what his intentions were all those nights ago?
But most of all, my mind couldn’t stop hearing Lisa’s voice echoingMyles is awake.
I couldn’t putmy finger on it, but something felt different.
For days, weeks, months, years—who even fucking knows how long it had been—I felt completely unlike myself, living life in a wildly different universe.
My eyes focused on a clock hanging straight ahead on a wall from where I lay stiff. It was dark, and the hands pointed to ten, cluing me in that it was nighttime. I had no idea what day it was.
The urge to speak wasn’t there quite yet. My mind was spinning, trying my hardest to gather every thought as I took in my surroundings.
