I woke up with a shout as an extremely loud noise swirled around me. I couldn’t pick out where it was coming from, or what exactly the noise was, but it was deafening. Remembering what Sarah and the doctor had said, I reached for the remote, but couldn’t find it. The pain grew and my search became more frantic until my fingers brushed against it. The relief I felt was short lived though, because I lost it again, my jerky movements and the mind numbing pain in my skull making it impossible to tell where I’d felt it. Teeth clenched, I pushed up onto my elbows, snatched it from its hanging position and assaulted the button. Energy spent, I fell back to the bed with a groan. My head felt like it was being crushed as all the noise swirled together into a whirlpool from hell, I couldn’t even hear myself think. I hardly registered when Sarah came to check on me, or when she ran out of the room to get the doctor. All I could focus on was the pain.
***
The first thing I realized when I opened my eyes was that the noise wasn’t as mind numbing as it had been before. Though it was no less annoying. It sounded like a thousand crickets were chirping in a great cacophony. Sitting up, I looked around my room. Seeing a cricket hanging from the window curtain, I frowned. Was that what I was hearing?
‘No that’s impossible,’ I thought as I covered my ears. It was too loud, way too loud. My hands muffled the sound, but only just and I could feel another headache forming.
“Shut up!” I yelled, throwing a book, which was sitting on the table, at the curtain. The cricket flew away and the noise stopped.
Finally able to hear myself think, I reached up and massaged my temples. That cricket was way louder than normal. What the hell was going on?
Sighing, I scratched my arm absently and lay back down on the bed. I didn’t know when I fell back asleep.
***
The next time I woke up, it felt as if my head was being split open with an axe. Through the haze, I thought I saw Sarah inject something into my IV drip. She glanced down at me and whispered, “Focus on your breathing and the sound of your heart beating. It’ll drown out the other sou…” Before I could tell if it was real or not, I passed out again.
That night when I woke up, I lay on my bed, wondering if that really happened, or if I was just hallucinating. Was there a secret side effect of painkillers? I shrugged, it was worth a try.
So I focused on my breathing and listened to nothing but my heart beat. After a couple minutes, I could finally hear myself think, and my headache slowly faded.
As relief filled my chest, I faded back to sleep wondering if Sarah was really just a simple nurse.
***
I was sitting cross legged on my bed, taking slow, deep breaths. My heart pounded in my ears, drowning everything else out. Slowly I began focusing on the sounds around me. A bird whistled a shrill tune about 20 yards away from my window, a doctor spoke to a patient who had broken both wrists doing an acrobatic stunt three rooms down and a woman was crying because she found out she would not be able to bear any children due to an injury she sustained to her pelvis. I heard the pitter patter of Sarah’s shoes as she walked to my room to see me before her shift ended.
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Listening to my surroundings was an exercise I’d made to get accustomed to my new hearing, something that had taken me an entire week to come to terms with. A knock on the door made me look up. Sarah was leaning against the door frame, her arms folded, her left eyebrow raised and her lips quirked into a smile. “Whatcha doin’ there Gandhi?” she asked walking into the room.
“Just meditating, need keep my chakras clear,” I said in a low hum, doing my best impression of a sage as I opened one eye to look at her. Sarah bit down on her fist as she fought back a fit of giggles but it came out as a snort. Her eyes widened and her tanned cheeks became bright red.
“You didn’t hear that!”
I closed my eye and in the same voice said, “Gandhi hears everything.” I couldn’t see her, but I was sure that Sarah was giving me a death glare.
***
I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. My hair had grown out these past three weeks hanging just past my shoulders. A haircut was the first thing I planned to get once I was discharged.
The bathroom was fairly small, a mirror which had fogged over, on my left and a rack on my right. Taking my towel off the rack, I dried myself before wiping the mirror and inspecting my reflection. Standing at an even 6’4” I was only a bit taller than my dad. I had his high cheekbones and his firm jaw, but my small nose, full lips and soft chin were from mother. My hair was darker than my dad’s, something I was told I got from my grandmother. She had died before I could meet her. My eyes were a mix of my grandfather’s bright blue and my grandmother’s green, a cyan that was a shade away from icy. I was glad I didn’t resemble my mother much. I would hate to see her every time I looked into a mirror.
I opened the door enough for my hand to fit through, and Sarah handed me my clothes. She looked up and smiled as I stepped into the hallway. “Had a good shower?” she asked, falling into step beside me as we walked back to my room.
“Yeah it was good.” I nodded breathing in small short bursts. It was the only way to keep myself from being overpowered by the scents of the hospital. That brought me to the other problem I’d encountered, my nose. Whenever I took deep breaths I was assaulted by the scent of sterilizer and sickness. Something that had only been mildly noticeable before, was now so overpowering that it made my head sway.
As we walked in silence, I glanced at Sarah, unsure of what to think. It was obvious she knew about what was going on with my body, something that baffled even the doctor. I planned to ask her what was happening to me, but I never could build the courage to start. So I kept my thoughts to myself and continued walking.
When we arrived at my room, I walked over to sit on the bed and Sarah pulled up a chair. “How do you feel?”
I studied her. “I feel fine, though my ears still ring now and then and my nose itches.” It might’ve been my imagination, but for a second Sarah stiffened.
“Well that’s understandable,” she muttered, “and with luck you’ll be out before the full moon.”
“Before the full moon?” I asked, “What do you mean?”
Sarah looked at me, her large doe eyes brimming with tears. “Well…Stephen…the thing is you-”
“Nurse Williams!” We both flinched and looked towards the door as a deep voice filled the room. Standing at there was a bear of a man, easily 6’5” with broad, muscular shoulders and ripped arms. His face was covered by wild red hair that haloed his head like a lion’s mane. He wore a lab coat over a brown tux and simple brown shoes. “You’re needed in the director’s office”
Sarah’s eyes widened and all the blood drained from her face, “Han…D-Doctor Morgan,” she quickly corrected when the severe look on the man’s face hardened. “I-I just felt he needed to-”
“Director’s office, nurse Williams. Now.” Shaking out of my stupor, I glared at him.
“Now wait here bud-”
“No Stephen, it’s fine,” Sarah uttered as she rose to her feet, “It’s gonna be fine.” Though it felt like she was reassuring herself more than me, I could do nothing as she walked out the door. And with one last look in my direction Dr. Morgan walked away as well.
My mind reeled from all that happened. What was going on? What was Sarah about to say? The thoughts swirled in my head as I stared out the door of my room.
That was the last time I saw Sarah.