Warmness on the Soul

Matt woke up to the beeping of a heart monitor in the clinically white hospital room. He sighed, functioning on lack of sleep wasn’t his forte. Everything came rushing back to him.

He remembered being in the studio with his band, Avenged Sevenfold they were recording their new album. They were eating lunch, listening to some of the material they had laid down earlier in the day when he received a phone call, “Hello, is this a Mr Matthew Sanders?” the woman asked.

“This is he,” he replied into the phone.

“Hello, this is Rose Lawson, calling on behalf of Dr. Green at the Huntington Beach Hospital. Your wife Valary was admitted not long ago, we would appreiciate-”

“What’s wrong with her? Is she ok? Is it the babies?” his band-mates heads spun round, realising there was something wrong.

“I’m afraid I can’t disclose that information over the phone, if you could please come down to the hospital-”

“I’ll be there,” he said, hanging up, “Guys, I, uh, I, there’s something wrong with Val, I have to, uh, I have to go.”
***

A Nurse came into Val’s room and picked up her chart, reading it over.

“How you holding up?” Zacky asked Matt, coming into the room behind the nurse.

“A coma, dude, she’s in a fucking coma, how do you think I’m holding up?” Matt replied, running his hands down his face, “We had two boys Zack, two beautiful little boys, and she might never get to meet them, they might never get to know her - hell they might not pull through…”

“I know dude, I know,” Zack didn’t know what to do with himself, whether or not to stand or sit, comfort his old friend or just listen, “Look, go home, have a shower, get something to eat, I’ll call you if anything changes.” Matt hesitated, he didn’t want to leave Val, he didn’t want to lose her, “Go dude, you’re no good to her if you can’t function properly, go.” he urged, Matt nodded, he knew he was right, he got up, gave his best friend a hug and left.

“How is she? Be honest with me,” Zack asked the nurse.

“With brain trauma it’s hard to tell, we really have to wait until she wakens up from the coma, if she wakens up.” Zack sighed.

“I don’t know what to do, Val was always the strong one, she helped us through so much shit. When our band was first starting out, she was our only fan. Hell, we were so bad, I think she was only our fan because she was going out with Matt,” he chuckled, as did the nurse, “We expected way too much from her, and got so much more. She was our manager, tour manager, she’d set up the merch booth, then work the merch booth, she’d pack it up when she was done, and settle for us after each show, I don’t know what we’d do if we lose her. I don’t know how Matt would survive, they’ve been together forever.” he looked down at his fingerless-glove-clad hands.

“How long have they been together?” the nurse asked, who, thanks to some inspection of her name tag, Zacky found out was called Grace, “If you don’t mind me asking,” she corrected herself.

“Of course I don’t. They met years ago, long before I met Matt. They met in grade school and were inseparable. They finally got together in junior high.”

“Been together ever since?”

“Ever since,” he agreed, “When they would get into arguments, and break up, it wouldn’t last long, they need each other you see. Everyone knows it, and some drunk driver isn’t going to get in the way.” the nurse nodded, she admired his honesty. Grace Reynolds, Gracie to her friends, had seen one too many cases like Mrs Sanders’, a small percentage pulling through. She had hope though, it was all she had working in the ICU.