A miniature drummer lived inside the pillow on Ren’s bed. Whether he lay on his left side or right, the drummer pounded rhythmically into his ear, bum… bum… bum… bum… The only remedy was to keep his back flat on his bed. His head pointed toward the ceiling while trying to keep his mind apart from all the other subtle sounds he could make out in the empty night. He tried his best, but the distant whirr of cars spun from outside his window still managed to reach him, as did the near silent buzz of his electronic clock, as did the pulse of blood that ran from his chest to his skull every second. His mind may have been destined to remain awake.
Desperately he reached his hands behind his head and flipped his pillow over so his neck could feel the chill of a gentle kiss from the fabric’s cooler side.
He breathed in, and out.
Pitch black turned to a faded fuzziness as his eyelids peeled open for a glance at his clock, placed on the nightstand beside his head.
2:40, it read.
Ren blinked, weakly. He lifted his hand to the nightstand to pick up his watch, and as his touch enabled its bright light to pierce into his eyes, he noted the time on his home screen… 2:42… his eyes trekked back to his bedside clock, which time had not changed, and then to his watch again, which now read 2:43. With a squinted gaze, he looked to his clock one more time, which after two long seconds, switched to 2:41. He sighed, and set his watch back on the nightstand.
Exhaustion was felt throughout his whole body, but his eyes remained open, and staring blankly.
Bum… bum… bum… bum…
He rolled off his covers and turned on the lights.
At this time of night, the hospital was quieter, which in a sense made the air grimmer than it would be if the rooms were filled up with more people, as they were during the daylight hours. During the night, whoever was unfortunate enough to find themselves in a hospital would be there knowing they did not have the support of those who were still sleeping, and they did not have the luxury of having a condition mild enough that it could be put off until the sun rose.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Ren walked through the sliding doors, then approached the bright-eyed young woman behind the counter, with short black hair and exaggerated winged eyeliner.
“Hi there,” he greeted her with a smile.
“Hi, what can I help you with?”
“Oh, I’m just here to see my brother, Barry Kenson.” He pulled his ID out from his pocket and showed it to her.
The woman typed on her keyboard. “Perfect! You have an all-hour pass on you?”
“Yes I do.” From his jacket he took out another card, this one a small red rectangle attached to a lanyard, the back of which had a barcode on it.
She aimed her scanner at the card, and it gave a confirmative beep. “Awesome, you’re good to go, he’s in 410!”
“Hey thanks a ton.”
“No problem.”
As he began to walk away he said, “Oh, and I love your makeup!”
She smiled. “Aw, thanks!”
After leaving the elevator, he walked past several rooms, glancing inside at the sleeping patients, until he got to 410.
Ren pushed the door open. Sealed inside was his brother, who lay completely still in the bedding with his eyes shut. The EKG beeped every second or so.
He stepped toward his younger brother, and looked down upon him, with his hand rested upon his brother’s wrist.
Two lonely chairs sat by the room’s window across from Bear. Ren walked toward them, their firm cushions calling to him. He sighed as he sat himself down and let his body’s tension sink into the floor. After a few breaths, he let his eyelids fold over, and his vision became darker.
It took only a moment until he let his eyes open. His sight directed to Bear, right into his closed eyes, at which he stared for a good while. He wondered when they would open, he wondered if by him being here, somehow, his brother’s eyes would open at just the perfect time for him to see them first. Or maybe it would be a nurse who got to have that privilege.
Maybe whenever he would wake up, the first thing he would say to the nurse is, “I wish I could have seen my brother in the room with me” and Ren would know for sure, that Bear sensed him there all the times he had been with him. Ren knew the doctors weren’t sure if he was thinking at all, but “not sure” didn’t lean one way or the other. For all Ren knew, Bear had known what’d been happening all along. For all Ren knew, he could have been dreaming this whole time.
Ren ever so slightly leaned forward.
“Bear?” Ren said to the room.
He lay silent.
Ren wasn’t sure what he was expecting.
“Bear, can you hear me?” he asked again.
Bear still did not answer.
Ren looked at the bed and did not say another word. His back loosened, and he let himself sink back into the chair.
He closed his eyes.
Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…