The Rainbow Maker's Tale by Melanie Cusick-Jones
Chapter 24
After I’m not sure how long, I woke up. For a long while there had been only darkness and nothing: no dreams, no voices…just endless nothing. Now there was light. My eyes were still closed, but I could feel the light through my lids. I wasn’t ready to open them yet and so I listened instead.
It was quiet. But, it was a type of quiet that told me I was alive, in a physical place with things happening around me. I heard the soft hiss of an air processor and the muted regular beep of some type of computer system. Beneath those sounds was another, deeper thrumming noise: constant and droning, but also at a distance.
My head was foggy. However, as I lay immobile, I realised for the first time in a long while that I wasn’t in pain. Dull aches in my fingers and chest told me that I still had injuries – I was definitely not perfect – but at the same time, I knew that I was much better than I had been.
With a huge effort I forced my eyes open. It felt like they had been glued shut. As soon as the light hit me, I had to close them again: after the blissful darkness it was too much.
Seeing would have to wait and so I began trying to piece together my memories of the past few hours…days…it was difficult to be specific. I started working backwards from the last things I could remember.
The final thing before the darkness fell: Cassie had been with me. Somehow – I have no idea how it was possible – but she had made it through everything and found me! Even through the disorientation, I knew she had been with me: I had a vague sense of being sat beside her with my eyes closed. Something must have happened after that, because I was laid down now…I strained to think of what had changed my situation, but there was just…nothing. I continued going backwards.
Before the memory of sitting beside Cassie, we had been walking – through brightly lit rooms – but hard as I tried, I could picture nothing specific in them. It was as though I hadn’t actually seen them, even though I’d been there.
It was no use. My mind was still too clouded to think clearly and my thoughts kept jumping around, not making sense. I returned to trying to open my eyes. Very slowly, with lots of blinking, I managed to force one eye open. I was squinting for a long time, not really seeing much except yellow light and my eyelashes. Then finally, I began to focus.
I was laid in a narrow bunk. Above me – not far from my face – was the top of the bunk. It was made of a familiar cream-coloured plastic. And the sight of it made me panic.
Tilting my head to the side, I was able to make out more creamy-white shapes: a bench, chairs, and some darker shapes, like cupboards, across from my bunk. Close to me, on the floor, was a mobile monitoring unit. It was switched on, beeping away to itself and, as my eyes traced the cables, I realised that they were attached to me. The wires disappeared beneath the sheet covering me, presumably attached to my chest. From the looks of it, my vital signs were pretty good, all things considered.
Scattered around the mini-monitor were a random assortment of medical supplies. Some were used, haphazardly discarded on the floor; others were clean and new in their packets, waiting for use. And there, amidst the chaos was Cassie.
She was lay on her side facing me: her hands clamped beneath her head as a makeshift pillow, her breathing soft and peaceful. Beside her was a flask of water and I could see faint lines around her mouth where spilled drops had dried on her face. Even though she was sleeping, Cassie looked exhausted: grey shadows were smudged beneath her eyes, while her face looked pinched and drawn.
I wanted to reach out to her, hold her hand or brush my fingers through her hair, but my body was uncooperative and so I had to settle with watching her sleep. After the previous days – eternity – without her, just being able to do this was more than I had hoped for. I have no idea when it was that I closed my eyes, because all I saw in my dreams was Cassie sleeping beside me.