Waking Up

Jonathan was sleeping on the small plastic chair beside Liza. His hand was still holding Liza’s hand as if she would somehow vanish in thin air. His shirt was rumpled and his hair was a mess. He had spent his whole day waiting for Liza to wake up. He had refused to move from his place beside Liza for even a moment. As the day passed and Liza made no sign of waking the light in his eyes began to dim little by little and his heart grew a little less hopeful. It was around the time when he was dreaming of holding Liza in his arms once again, that the heart rate monitor began to go crazy. All those green little lines which held Liza’s life began to go haywire. Jonathan jolted awake, his eyes flickering to the machine which gave him hope that Liza was still alive. He panicked as it beeped in frenzy and rushed to call the doctor.

It is said that Light travels faster than the sound, however when Liza woke up she first heard the consistent beeping of the machine first, the kind of beeping which annoys the hell out of you. Her eyelids felt heavy as she peeled them open. At first all she saw was blurry image of a man and then before she could comprehend anything that man had swept her in his arms and placed his lips on hers. She was stunned for a second and then she began to lose herself in the familiar taste of the man she loved. She began moving her lips against his with just as much vigor and then as suddenly as she had lost herself in his familiarity she began remembering all the things she wished she had forgotten. All the pain of those nights spent alone, all those humiliating words he had used and all those proofs of his infidelity came crashing down on her. The hands which were fisted in his shirt holding him close to her, pushed him back away from her.

Jonathan stood in daze as Liza pushed him back. He knew that he shouldn’t have kissed her but when he saw her open her warm brown eyes looking around with a confused expression he couldn’t resist kissing her. He looked at her, she was looking at him with sad eyes, those hands which were pulling him to her just seconds before were clenched at her side, her lips were parted as she caught her breath and the heart rate monitor was going crazy. The doctor coughed awkwardly breaking the silence and began checking Liza’s vitals. The nurse pushed Jonathan out of the hospital room, reprimanding him for his little show back in the room but her words were falling deaf on his ears as he replayed those few moments when Liza had kissed him back. Soon the nurse left him alone as he sat alone after giving an absent nod to the nurse. Still in daze he pulled out his phone and dialed Alice’s number

“Hello Alice speaking” Alice said in sleepy voice.

“Hey Al, this is Jonathan. Liza is awake, she has just woken up.” He replied.

“What!!! I am coming over to hospital right now” she said her voice full of excitement all the traces of sleepiness gone from it.

He was grateful that Liza had a friend like his sister to hold her when he had hurt her, he wondered how Alice would react when he will tell her about the kiss he just shared with Liza. Alice will probably rip his head off he thought chuckling to himself as he sat outside the room waiting for Alice with a smile on his face.

Liza lied down as the doctor pushed her down from her seating position to lay down. She still couldn’t believe that she had kissed Jonathan back even if it was in a moment of daze. After all that he had put her through she shouldn’t even be feeling something for him much less kissing him back. She was now determined not to let Jonathan back into her life. She knew that he didn’t know about the fact that she knew about his affair with Stacey and she would keep it that way. She had once longed to save her relationship but the night on which he accused her of shameful sin of cheating and called her a slut, she had made up her mind that she would never let him back into her life, she didn’t even bother to defend herself against his accusations because she realized that the beautiful bond they had once shared, had become a twisted relationship that would only suffocate her. She realized that their relationship was not worth saving anymore.

“It looks like you are fine for now Mrs. West. Your injuries seem to be healing well and your heart rate reports are also normal. If everything goes well we will discharge you within some time” the doctor informed Liza with a smile.

Liza returned the smile with a weak smile of her own and said “Thank you doctor for helping me” the doctor nodded in return and turned to leave the room when Liza called and said “It’s Ms. Liza Hay. I don’t go by Liza West anymore.”

Jonathan heard Liza telling the doctor not to call her Liza West, as he stood outside the hospital room waiting for her examination to be over. Jonathan had expected Liza to be mad at him, angry at him and even to hate him but actually hearing her say that she no longer wanted to be associated with him had hurt him more than he had thought it would. He felt the lights dim around him as he was once again wrapped in sadness. He sat down on the chair outside her room with his head in his hands, when he felt someone touch his shoulder. Jonathan looked up to see that Alice was standing in front of him wearing a pale blue dress. “How is Liza?” she asked.

“The doctor is saying that she is fine. She won’t let me in. You go and see her.” Jonathan replied.Alice nodded once and entered the room.

Liza heard the brown wooden door of the hospital room open. Thinking that it was Jonathan she said “Go away Jonathan, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“It’s Alice Li”

“ Hi Alice.” Liza replied.

“Hi. How dare you say freaking ‘HI’ after nearly killing me from a heart attack? You put me through hell Liza. Do you know how worried I was? All this time I kept thinking that it was my fault, if I hadn’t picked up the call, you wouldn’t have heard Jonathan say those vile things and then you wouldn’t have run away and wouldn’t have gotten yourself hit by a freaking car and put yourself in coma.” Alice sobbed and screeched at once.

Liza lied there looking up at her friend in amazement. She knew that Alice loved her and cared about her but she didn’t know that she loved her that much. Liza held Alice’s hand and said “I am sorry, I am so sorry Alice. I shouldn’t have gone out alone, I should have been more careful. I-I just wasn’t thinking straight that night. It was not your fault, Okay. So don’t blame yourself for it.” Alice nodded. “Now come and give me a hug” Liza said opening her arms. Alice immediately hugged Liza and said “It will be alright. You will be alright.”

It had been nearly a week since Liza had woken up and the doctor had given her a green signal to go home but on condition that she will have someone to take care of her. “I am not going back to your house Jonathan” said Liza.

“There is no other choice Liza. The doctor has already told you that you need to rest and I can’t take care of you if you don’t come back to the house.” Jonathan said.

“I don’t need you to care for me. I am capable of keeping myself healthy and I have got Alice with me.” Liza said.

“Why don’t you let me take care of you Liza? I am already miserable by seeing you in this state don’t make this harder for me, please” Jonathan pleaded.

“You have no right to care for me. Go away Jonathan.” Liza replied in an icy tone. Liza had maintained her ice cold exterior since their kiss but it was killing her on the inside. She looked into Jonathan’s eyes and saw his pain, she knew that he was in pain but she couldn’t bring herself to comfort him, at least not after what he did. She could not bring herself to believe that he cared about her. To her his care, his worry, was all for show. She had once trusted him but now that trust no longer existed. It had vanished long ago.

“Please Liza, I will stay away from you, I won’t even speak to you if that’s what you want. Just come back to the house.” Jonathan pleaded once again. Liza could tell that he was exhausted. She may have refused to see him since she woke up but she knew that he visited her every day. Every day the nurse would bring in a bouquet of daisies telling them that the black haired young man has sent them for her. She knew that he sat there till the hospital staff threw him out because she could hear them grumble about annoying husbands. She wanted to correct them that he was not her husband at least not anymore.

“Ok” she said in a neutral tone.

“You don’t understand Liza it is for your own goo-” Jonathan stooped” Wait, did you just say ok. Ok as in you will come back to our house” Jonathan asked.

“Yeah and it isn’t our house, it is your house.” Liza replied.