Chasing the Sun

It had been thirteen days since Abbey had taken a breath on her own, and as he was sitting sabbatical next to her as he typically did, she breathed, one shallow and slow breath; but it was enough breathing to alert the machines- along with nurses and doctors- that she was beginning to bring herself out of the comatose state she had been drugged into.

“As much as this is a positive right now, Mr. Kennedy, I want you to still realize that there is so much more that we have to figure out and take into consideration before Abbey can begin to feel normal. I want you to remember that,” Dr. Davidson had mentioned- for the thousandth time- as she wrote in the orders for the barbiturate that they gave Abbey to stay comatose to be downgraded over the next twenty-four hours. In all hopes, she would be talking and back to her jovial self before then, he thought.

“I understand,” he responded—as usual, grasping onto Abbey’s tiny hand, and giving it a small squeeze. All of the ‘please wake up’ and ‘I’ll buy you whatever your little heart desires if you wake up’ must’ve started working, or at least Tyler hoped they had. He had meant real stuff when he told her that every day for the past thirteen.

“She’ll probably be very groggy, and disorientated when she wakes up. Once she does, I wouldn’t be surprised if she asks you to leave because it’s very stressful coming out of a coma, and extra people cause worry… I just wanted to let you know that now.”

Tyler only hoped that wasn’t going to be true in Abbey’s case. He needed her back again, at home, and in his bed, her warm body sleeping next to him. He needed her cheering him on during his games, whether that is at home or at the CONSOL. But most of all, he just needed her. To be able to hear her laugh, and see her smile, and try to not get annoyed when she said some sarcastic comment back to him—a defense mechanism for stupid people she often referred to it as. He didn’t think he was stupid.

Dr. Davidson had been right on the head when she spoke about it only taking twenty-four hours to bring a very irritable Abbey out of her coma, from the moment she had began to blink her eyes, take more breaths on her own, and ask for a sip of water she was in bitch mode.

“Why the hell am I here?” She asked, finally speaking. Tyler was surprised at her usage of curse words, typically the only time she cursed was when her and Tyler were arguing and only then did she have to be extremely pissed off.

“Abbey--” Tyler was cut off by the doctor, who gave him a reassuring look, it was probably only going to be time before he was kicked out.

“Ms. McNealy, you were in a very serious car accident. Your head was hit, and you suffered a blood clot in your brain, we took it out and relieved pressure. You’ve been in a coma.”

“For how long?” she asked, licking her dry, and chapped lips. For the most part Tyler had tried to keep up- and tried to make the guys keep up- with making sure vasaline and chap stick were applied multiple times a day, that was one of his worries.

“Thirteen days.” The doctor replied, looking over at Abbey’s vitals, and charting them in her book. Abbey looked from the doctor, to Tyler, back to the doctor.

“Can I ask you something?” her voice was low, and monotone. Nothing about it seemed like the old Abbey. No loud, vivacious, or raucous laugh to the end of it, like typical.

“Absolutely,”

“Who is Abbey? Or Ms. McNealy?” Tyler’s heart sank as she spoke those six words.

“You’re Abbey. Abbey McNealy. You’re twenty-five years old, and you’re my fiancée.” Tyler spoke up before the doctor could. Abbey looked, wide eyed, over at the man who had just said that and pulled her legs up to her chest.

“No, that’s not me. No. I’m fourteen; I’m too young to be engaged. Where’s my mom? She said she’d be back soon. Where am I at?” Tyler’s heart sank even lower this time, now it felt like it was jumbled up between his lower and upper intestines. Did she really not remember who she was? Who he was? Who they were?

“Mr. Kennedy, I’m going to ask you to step out while we run some tests. Now may be the time to let your family and friends know developments. We’ll call you as soon as we know something.” Dr. Davidson spoke quickly as she pointed towards the door, in the bed, Abbey stared at Tyler, scared and confused.

She really didn’t know.

A couple of the guys were waiting in the waiting room after they had gotten out of practice. A select few had been told that Abbey was going to be waking up today, and for moral support those few had shown up. Tyler tried not to look completely distraught as he walked into the room.

“How is she?” Jordan finally asked after Tyler slumped down in one of the chairs, he was exhausted and hurt, and all he wanted to do was not be bothered. But he also knew people wanted to make sure- people who loved both of them- that she was okay.

“Great, great; absolutely perfect. Woke up and wanted a huge pitcher of water, doctors are just running some preliminary tests on her. Routine stuff she said. Should hear back within the next couple of hours.” At that moment, he wasn’t ready to tell any of them what exactly had happened as soon as she woke up. He just needed to sit, and be around people who weren’t Abbey.

“That good!” Geno annunciated in his broken English, Tyler attempted to put on a happy face. He wasn’t going to be all upset because she woke up and didn’t remember her name- or his- he was going to stay positive.

This had to be temporary, didn’t it?

“From what our preliminary tests show, the swelling was centralized to the hippocampus, the memory storing part of the brain. As far as we can tell there is no more swelling, but the after effects of both the anesthesia she’s been given, and the injury could be playing a role into her confusion of things.”

“Does that mean she’s ever going to remember again?” Tyler asked. The doctor wasn’t exactly giving him any information that he wouldn’t have been able to look up online. He wanted the facts, especially about her memory.

“That is the tricky part with brain injuries. Sometimes, they do begin this way, and eventually with therapy, and stimulation the memories return. Other times it returns by itself as soon as it went away, and other times the memories wont come back.” The last part nearly scared the shit out of Tyler. She had the possibility to never be able to remember again? What was going to happen if that happened, he questioned himself multiple times just in those couple of minutes. Rubbing his unshaven face, he shook his head. Another hurdle they’d have to climb. Even if it took a thousand years, he’d be there to make sure she got her memory back.

“Another thing is, she asked if you wouldn’t be allowed back in the room. At least for a day or so, I have to respect my patient’s wishes, so waiting room is okay… But not her hospital room.”

That was it. That was the straw that broke the camels back, the thing that ripped out his heart, and tore it into a thousand pieces. If she didn’t remember who he was, was she going to give him the time of day to explain everything? Or was that that? Was he going to get a chance to explain how madly in love they’d been or was he going to be kicked to the curb? In the next twenty-four hours, he hoped, she would seriously start getting her memory back… Or else he might have some sort of mental breakdown.