Chapter 3: Home Coming

David’s eyes fluttered open and then immediately closed. Pain shot through his head, like someone was hammering his temples with sledgehammers. David let out a moan and tried to roll away from the light that pounded against his eyelids. A sharp pain in the crook of his elbow and hand stopped his attempt to move. Another moan escaped his lips, more of his senses kicked in. He could feel the needles in his arms and the breathing tube inserted in his nose, and something slid into his groin. His whole body ached and there was a strange tingling sensation everywhere. He rolled onto his back and heard a slight gasp to his left along with beeping noises. He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the source of the noise. His eyes had adjusted slightly and the throbbing in his head had diminished to a manageable level. His vision was blurry at first and he could not make out much but a dark shape. The blurry shape approached him and softly spoke his name “Mr. Jenkins? Can you hear me?”

“Not so loud,” He croaked with a wince. “Thirsty.”

The blurry image slowly took the shape of a very attractive woman in light blue scrubs. She had red hair pulled up tight in a bun and very pretty green eyes. David’s vision cleared. He got a good look at her face and he suddenly knew her. He did not know her name, or who she was, but he knew her. He could not take his eyes off hers and again he asked for water. His mouth was extremely dry.

The nurse smiled at him and with a sad look on her face replied, “I’m sorry Mr. Jenkins I can’t get you a drink without the Doctor’s permission, I’ll go see if the on duty Doctor is available.”

The nurse headed to the door. David again tried to move and was again stopped by the IV’s in his arms. He did not understand why he was suddenly so angry, something in him, something dark, demanded that she listen to him. With a growl David dropped back to the bed and hollered as loud as he was able to. “Water! Bring me a damn glass of water!”

The nurse stopped and turned. She blinked twice and shuffled on her feet as if she was fighting with herself, then turned around and headed to the bathroom, grabbed a cup and filled it with water. “Yes sir.”

David tried to sit up, and grew even more frustrated by his inability to move. The IV’s the catheter and the tube in his nose seriously restricted his movement. He reluctantly fell back to the bed and felt the tingling sensation in his body suddenly shift and begin to concentrate in specific areas, his nose and throat, his groin, hands and arms. With utter astonishment David watched the needles in his arms and hands slide out of their own accord, as if pulled by an invisible force. The breathing tube was next, it simply slipped from his nose and fell to the bed. He was not ready for the last part and he started screaming from the pain. Pain so intense that it almost drove David into unconsciousness. His entire groin was on fire as the catheter began to slowly emerge from within his urethra.

David was screaming, brought the nurse back to the room along with; two other nurses, a Doctor and hospital security. Everyone stopped and stared at the scene in front of them as if under a spell. Once the catheter finally fell to the floor, the first nurse approached David, her eyes wide. She stared at the needles and catheter, she appeared uncomfortable and was moving slowly as if she wanted to do something other than she was. Once she got to David she gave him a bit of a smile and handed him the glass of water. “Here is your water Mr. Jenkins.”

The Doctor stared at the nurse his mouth open and closing quickly, as she handed David the cup. “Nurse Dale, what in the hell are you doing!” He exclaimed, finally breaking from the spell of what he had just seen, “You know better than to give a patient anything to eat or drink without approval!” The Doctor quickly crossed the room to David’s bedside and reached for the cup.

As the Doctor got closer, however, he stopped moving, his eyes grew large and his face flushed in obvious strain. David looked at the Doctor confused by what was going on. His mind calmed as he remembered the conversation with the girl on his dream. Maybe it wasn’t a dream after all. “I am thirsty Doctor I’d appreciate it if you let me drink,” He stated with a false confidence as he took a sip of his water.

Once David brought the cup to his lips and started to drink, the Doctor fell to the floor and stared up at David. After a few seconds he quickly picked himself up, adjusted his lab coat and walked up to David. He adjusted his lab coat once more as he addressed Nurse Dale, who stood beside David’s bed, arms clasped in front of her staring at him like a lost puppy, “Thank you Nurse that will be all, you may continue your rounds,” He stated as he motioned one of the other Nurses over.

Nurse Dale looked at David as if asking for permission. David quickly nodded and she exited the room. “What in the hell has gotten into you today Karen?” The second Nurse whispered to Nurse Dale as they passed each other.

“I don’t know Julia. I just could not help myself.” Karen replied with a whisper and then quickly headed out of the room followed by the other Nurse and the security officer.

The Doctor looked down at David with a frown. David continued to sip at his glass of water wondering what was next. He introduced himself and began to ask David a series of questions about how David was feeling and what the last thing David remembered was. He also instructed Julia to put the IV’s back in until they were able to get some tests completed. David answered the Doctor’s questions as best he could, leaving out the whole experience on the lonely highway. He also asked that they not put the IV’s back in. The Doctor shrugged off his concerns and assured him it was routine, they needed to ensure he was ok and that there were no side effects from whatever caused him to go into a coma in the first place.