I'm Going Ghost....

Wake Up! ^ Interlude

      My fingers gripped hold of her hand on instinct, and she said, "Alright. I'm not goin' anywhere, but I will need to be tellin' my pop what's takin' so long."

      "If you need to go," the woman said, "We wouldn't want to suffer another attack from the Phantom Devil without you holding down the fort."

      Danny!

      "Ow. No need to squeeze, girlfriend. I can stay a little longer. Danny would've been better to help you through this, but I'll have to do."

      I loosened my grip only just slightly before going about moving my fingers on my other hand. They were stiff, able to move much more easily altogether rather than individually.

     "Let's see if you can lift your hand up. Lift it as high as you can, but don't push yourself."

      I began working through the motions of lifting my hand, but my joints were stiff. My shoulder and elbow wouldn't bend, and my hand barely cleared the bed before I gave up and felt the stiff hospital blankets.

     The woman nodded, "Alright, last thing. Take a sip of water, here. Tell me your name if you're up to it."

      The woman passed the cup to her, and a brown hand which I didn't recognized came into my vision. I jerked away from the liquid so that it spilled all over my front.

     "Oh man, I'm sorry, girlfriend. This is my first time. Let me help clean that up."

      "It's enough," the woman said, "She still recovering. We'll keeping trying tomorrow. Ms.Gray, thank you. I'm sure you have the city to watch."

      "Well, yeah," her voice was downcast, "as long as you know what you're doing."

       The woman nodded while I carefully watched the wall. I knew that voice; why didn't she have an appearance to match?

     When I heard the door shut, the woman returned back into my field of vision holding another paper cup. She was saying, "You do need to drink to build your strength," holding a cup filled with liquid to my lips.

     I bowed my head slightly, awkwardly fitting the cup to my lips while the woman tilted it up. Feeling the water run over my dry lips, I realized how pasty my mouth was, like baked clay. The water pooled on my parched tongue, seeping into every corner of my dry mouth.

     "Swallow," she intoned, and, glancing at her, I remembered to do just that. The water felt warm as it went down my throat, and I leaned in for another drink.

     "Eager are we?" the woman grinned, holding the cup up to my lips. The cool water only sat for a second before I swallowed it, wetting my dry throat. My tongue moved around more easily trying to get a feel for my teeth and gums, tasting a desert on my lips. How had it come to this?

    I opened my lips, but nothing came out no matter how I tried to form the thoughts into sounds. I saw how the woman watched me expectantly waiting, but all too soon I was closing my mouth to take another breath.

    "It's alright," came the woman's easy voice, "You can tell me all about it when you're ready. I'll be going, but Mr. Ashley will be around to help you if you need anything."

     I turned my head slightly at the sound of the opening door and found a clean-shaven man smiling gently as he strode into the room. His head full of fiery red hair contrasted my expectation for ashen black. His forest green eyes could have never reached up to the sky blue which I desperately wished to see. The surprising realization struck me that he was not a kid either. If I looked closely, I could see a little stubble, shaved by an uneven hand.

     I was brought to the further realization that his jaw was moving up and down which drew my gaze up to his lips which were opening and closing as I heard, "...anything?"

     I quirked my eyebrows in confusion to see his smile turn to a grin, which was reminiscent of his expression which I yearned to see, as the other boy, well, man said, "Maybe watching something will help your appetite. Let's see what we've got."

     Moving over to the other side of the room, Mr. Ashley began rummaging around before he turned around holding a set of blocks? As he held each one up, he told me about it, "There's sit-com. You're right; I wouldn't want to watch this one either what with all the ghosts roaming around.

     "I think this is a chic-flick. Yeah, me too. Never understood what goes on in those movies.

     "Action-Adventure with some Indiana Jones. Too old fashion, I understand.

     "Disney? No, I guess you don't like Disney.

     "And well, I'm not sure what you'll think, but it's a documentary on dolphins. I pulled it out just--"

      I gave a slight nod after so long blankly watching his monologue.

      "Oh," he said, "If that suits you, I'll put it on. We'll have some food afterwards. How does that sound?"

      I smiled and nodded, watching as he began setting it up. The thin disc actually went into the wall, and when it started going, I couldn't take my eyes away. It was almost like watching dolphins for the first time. The wall seemed to merge and meld as the dolphins came to life before a dolphin seemingly leapt towards me before returning to the scene. I had never felt so enthralled in my life.

Please let me know what you think. I've never written someone getting fresh out of a coma, and I did want to explore a little of what that would be like. I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far. Toodles!