Miss Sephoney Specialty Hospital- Part 1

Clean cold air filled the hospital room. Some rays of sunlight penetrated through the window, and the nurse had begun to pull the white curtain over it. The light, however, wouldn't bother the patient who had been in a coma for almost a month.

Other than the nurse that occasionally came in the room to do her daily routine, no one came to visit. The only thing that broke the deafening silence of the room was the heart monitor that was kept on the patient. 

It was November the 10th when the nurse noticed that the patient was moving her hand slightly, and the heart rate monitor began to speed up. Immediately the nurse ran to get the doctor. nearly a minute had passed before the nurse returned with the doctor.

"Are you sure she's waking from her coma?" The doctor asked, heading to the young woman. "Are you positive you saw her move?"

The patient moved her hand again and began to force her eyelids open, answering the doctor's question. He did the usual routine when patients were to wake from their coma and told the nurse to bring some water. 

The young girl was finally beginning to focus in on parts of the room till she looked at the doctor. She went to talk to the doctor but was unable to fully move yet. 

"It's okay, take your time. You've been in a coma for a little over a month now. It's going to take some time to regain use of all of your muscles." 

The nurse returned with a plastic cup and a bottle of water. The doctor thanked her kindly and she continued with her other patients. He cracked open the seal of the bottle and poured a bit of water in the cup. The young woman was slowly beginning to gain use of her facial muscles again and tried to talk again, though still a bit mumbled. 

"What habben?"

"There you go, slowly now." The doctor reassured. 

The girl swallowed hard and tried again to ask something a bit more clear and on the lines of her whereabouts. The doctor began to tell her she was in Miss Sephoney specialty hospital. He then continued to ask her what she last remembered. reminding her to take her time. 

"loud crash... I think. It's fuzzy." 

He wrote a note on the clipboard he brought along and nodded his head. He continued to try to get answers from her all of which she couldn't quite make out, the last one being her name. It was apparent at that point on she had suffered some kind of amnesia. 

She began to move her fingers more trying to get more use out of them. The doctor began to explain to her what had happened. 

"Well, we should start with your name, no?" He said with a smile. He continued to inform her that her name was Macaria and that she and her boyfriend had gotten into a terrible accident with a driver three times over the legal limit. 

"Luckily no one died, though both you and your boyfriend were knocked unconscious and have been in a coma." 

"Did he wake yet?" Macaria asked. If she saw him it might help with the amnesia she was experiencing. 

"I'm afraid not, but give it some time and you'll be free to visit him." 

Macaria supposes it made sense that she wouldn't be allowed to run out and talk to him. Thinking about it she wasn't quite sure if she could even walk, let alone run. She was still working on trying to gain control of her hands and arms. 

The doctor gave her a light smile and stood up. He told her he would be sending in a nurse if she needed anything and started to walk to the door. Macaria stopped him before he left, one question still tugging at the back of her mind.

"You said this is a specialty hospital right? What does it specialize in?" She asked. 

"Coma patients, anything else before I go?" He answered. 

she shook her head no and went back to trying to will her muscles to work for her again. She sat there in near silence as the heart rate monitor beat steadily until the nurse finally entered. It was a different nurse than the one from before and seemed much more cheery. 

"Hello there, my name is Janet and I'm going to be your day nurse. Is there anything at all I can do for you?" she began, erasing the whiteboard that sat in front of Macaria's bed writing her name. 

Macaria shook her head no and gave the nurse a light smile. Janet smiled back at her and directed her to the red button just behind the headboard of the hospital bed to call her in if she did need anything or had any questions. 

Macaria found herself back in her own world shortly after Janet left. The rhythmic beeping of the monitor, and her focus directed to her arms until she could finally get some movement out of them. In only a couple of hours, she was finally able to move more but dared not put pressure on her legs. 

After another hour of trying to focus on her muscles, the nurse entered the room with a tray of food. Janet was just as happy as she was a few hours ago and helped Macaria pull up the dining table on the bed and placed down the tray in front of her. 

Macaria ate slowly, whether it was her lack of appetite or the look of the food, she couldn't guess which was worse. She thanked Janet and Janet seemed to write something on the board again. And before she left told Macaria that she should try to get some rest. 

Macaira ate as much as she could force down her throat and put the tray aside. She mustered all of her strength to roll over on her side and quickly fell asleep not realizing just how tired she made herself. Her dreams did nothing to help her memory and woke to Janet opening the door and bidding her a good morning.  

That Terrible Silence- part 1

"My name is Allison Olivia Barker. I'm almost 18 years old, I live in Georgia. If anyone can hear this please send any response you can." The young girl said frantically, continuing in a couple different languages.

It was only a minute ago when the shelter shook and she knew it had actually happened and that her dad didn't just send his occasional 'test drill'. Her hands shook as she turned off her mic praying for any type of response.

Her phone gave a loud buzz on the counter and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She jumped out of her seat and ran over to it only to see it was a national alert telling everyone in the area to head to their nearest bomb shelter. She shook her head and went back over to her seat.

"A bit late for that..." She mumbled.

Lacie, Allison's cat, rubbed her cheek gently across Allison's leg. She bent over and picked her up gently petting her beautiful white soft fur. Lacie began to purr and made herself comfortable on Allison's lap, blissfully unaware of the anxiety pulsing through Allison's body.

The shaking of her hands didn't become any better as minutes of silence passed her. Her heart beat so loud in her ears she could no longer take it. She placed Lacie on the ground, who gave a disapproving meow and went over to the old Vynals her dad kept in the shelter as it seemed to be a great place for storage.

Her fingers skimmed across the many records, most which seemed to be old classics, like Frank Sinatra, and Buddy Holly. Finally, she found one that the music would remind her of better times. She put the record on and let the notes drown away the silence.

--------

Five records later and two full breakdowns later, she finally heard someone on the radio through the signal wasn't clear. She turned down the music and rushed over to her radio station system doing everything she could to make the other person clearer. She struggled for a few minutes but finally could make out what the voice was saying.

"Hello? Anyone? Can anyone hear this? Did anyone else survive out there?" The voice sounded like a young man, and he too sounded panic-stricken.

Allison turned on her mic and tried to remain as calm as possible, "Hello? I can hear you. Can you hear me?" There was a silent pause for a moment until the man's voice returned, sounding a bit more joyful than before.

"Hello yes. I can hear you. My name is Ethan, I'm in a shelter in Kentucky."

"Hey there. My name is Allison, I'm in a shelter in Georga." She responded.

Both of them were thinking the same thing, more than one place in America was hit. There was a long moment of silence before the man named Ethan spoke again. He asked if anyone else survived where she was and how their radios were even able to reach each other.

Allison explained that no one else was in the shelter with her and that her radio transmitter was one of the best in the world. She had made it herself with the help of a friend of hers. Such a good friend she often regarded him as a family member. His name was Max, and thinking of him filled her with dread once more.

She had yet to think about what might have happened to him. She also wondered what might have happened to her father who was in the military and was stationed in Canada with only a month left. She couldn't help but think he would be fine and that only the U.S. was the one hit, but as for Max...

"I'm with 10 others, we nearly didn't make it in time. I don't know if anyone else made it alive. Have you heard from anyone else? It sounds like you made a pretty powerful machine, can you pick up on any other countries radio stations?" Ethan asked, breaking Allison from her thoughts.

"Other countries?" She repeated. She had never tried before, though now might be a good time to try. She wrote down the numbers she would need to get back to his radio waves and began her search for other counties broadcasts.