Withered Love

A vase overcrowded with withered and wilted flowers is the first thing I see when I open my eyes. Any water within has long since dried up, and what used to be vibrant petals litter the table around it.

Please, help!

The words ring out, and I look away from the bedside table for the person calling for help. My stiff neck offers plenty of resistance. It feels like I’ve been asleep forever.

“Hello…?”

The sterile white of a hospital room greets my gaze. Nobody else in sight, save for the vaguely human-shaped lump of blankets in the bed across the room. I search my mind for any reason I might be here, and my eyes widen. The image of that girl flashes by. Her silhouette darkening in front of a car’s brightening headlights.

That’s right. A car crash. It’s almost too much to believe, but here I am. Naturally, my eyes drift back over to the only person in the room. He seemed to be asleep, but if he called for help then passed out afterwards, he could be in real trouble. Obviously I can’t just sit here thinking about myself!

I move to stand, wincing from the pain in my arm. Needles root me firmly to an IV bag hanging above. Luckily the heart rate monitors prove much easier to disconnect from, and I manage to wheel the IV rig along with me. Honestly, with how unsteady my balance is, I would be on the floor without it.

As I draw closer, the man’s features become clearer. He’s covered with a blanket up to his chin, stubble covering his otherwise bland middle-aged face.

Please, I’m so hot. Burning. Help.

The desperate voice emanates from the sleeping stranger, but their lips are still. Somehow I can tell; I’m not hearing this voice the same way I’m hearing the sound of my bare feet on the floor or the flatline of the vitals monitor I just pulled away from.

“It’s like I can…”

I pause, mouth too dry to be talking to myself. I must have been out a long time, but why? ESP? Mind reading? This isn’t some manga or sci-fi movie. Can you even think while you’re in a coma? Wait, was I in a coma!?

Hot. Sweaty. Water. Nnngh…

There’s that voice again. Listen, I’m getting to you. Walking is kind of hard after not moving for… Okay, this is too much. I’m talking to a voice in my head after waking up in a hospital bed. I must have been hit hard.

“There. Better?” With some effort, I manage to pull the blanket down the sleeping guy’s body. Thankfully he’s wearing a hospital gown underneath, same as me.

So much. Wait, is someone there? Where are you?

Already, coma patient #2’s “voice” sounds much less tortured.

“Mhm, right here,” I say, having moved to my own bed and stretching lightly.

You can hear me! Thank god, I have this itch and–

And that’s enough from you, patient #2! I try my best to focus on anything else than what the unconscious person across the room was about to ask me.

Silence.

“Is that how this works?”

How… works…

The voice returns, but broken up and almost too quiet to hear. As if someone was speaking into a broken microphone. With a bit more focus, I’m able to drown out the voice completely.

Still stretching while sitting at the edge of my bed, I decide to experiment. Blocking out my new roommate is one thing, but what if I go the other way with this?

I concentrate, as if straining my ears to hear something far away. The silence of the hospital room was shattered in an instant.

I don’t want to die!

Are you even listening!?

So hungry, why won’t they let me eat?

I bet he’s cheating on me. That nurse was way too close…

Please, God, anything but more needles.

Mommy, where are you!?

LET ME OUT!!

Just breathe. Breathe. In and out. In. Out.

Countless disembodied voices screamed into my mind, assaulting my ears. Before I know what’s happening, I’m clenching my head, covering them. The voices don’t stop.

Time of death: 1:13PM.

My head is splitting open, stop stop stop!

I wanna go home.

I don’t wanna work. Boss is gonna kill me…

Wonder if they have a vending machine around here.

Make it stop…

Is that blood?

My own thoughts blend in with everyone else’s. How many people am I hearing? Sounds like the whole hospital. Blood trickled from my nose, dripping onto the front of the gown I have on. That’s weird, I never used to have nosebleeds.

Kamiya Kei.

I’m dying. Help. Help me!!

Which patient is that?

Coma. Flatlining.

Awake? Dead? Hurry.

The sound of the vitals monitor I pulled myself free of slowly grew louder, drowning out the chorus of thoughts stabbing into my mind. The corners of my vision grow darker and darker. I fall back into the bed, drifting off just as a doctor and nurse rush through the door. I knew they were on their way before they even came in.

Static. That girl’s voice.

I want to be with you. Forever.

Then, silence.

* * *

It turns out that even superpowers have limits. Until just recently, I didn’t believe in supernatural phenomena at all, then the next thing I know, I’m reading minds until it makes me fall unconscious. The nosebleed even left me with a minor case of anemia, apparently. As a result, the doctors decided it would be best to keep me here for a few extra days. Lucky me.

I’ve been stuck in this bed for what feels like forever, and if I relax for even a minute the voices start pouring in again. Not enough to repeat that last incident, but I can tell who is walking by the room by the volume of their thoughts. Honestly, it was disorienting, but something told me I would have to get used to it sooner or later.

And that’s how I heard her.

Clear. No static. That girl’s voice.

Why does this have to be so hard? I should tell him. No! He’d forgive me. I was lonely. Can’t tell him. He won’t know. It was only for a month. I’m awful. I was lonely. Just walk in. I miss him.

It came from the other side of the door. That voice I’ve been longing to hear, remembering in my heart, was now breaking it. The door slowly swung inwards.

“Coming in…”

There she was. My girlfriend. The same one I saved, only to end up here. The one that was supposed to wait for me. The one that wanted to be with me forever.

“Hey Kei… I’m so happy to see you again. I was so worried.” Her smile was as sweet as ever, but I heard her true voice loud and clear:

So awkward. Wish this could be over. I didn’t know how long he’d be gone…

“I waited so long for you. Now that you’re up… I can help you get used to everything again!”

Why did you have to wake up? Now I have to pick up the pieces.

I stare blankly at the beautiful face in front of me. Subtly, ever so slightly, I could see the anxiety from her thoughts creeping into her body language. Did she always twirl her hair when she’s nervous like that? Despite her words, she didn’t so much as move to embrace me. No romantic kiss to sweep away the tension. No heartfelt apology. Just a lie. Finally, she speaks again.

“Kei…? Why aren’t you saying any–”

“Then leave.”

I hear my own voice speak to cut her off in an icy tone, as if it was coming from someone else.

“You don’t have to explain. We’re done. Why don’t you go pick up the pieces by yourself?”

“K-Kei! What are you–” her thoughts become jumbled and fray at the edges. “Please, I…”

…I gave up everything to come back. How dare you!?

She stammers and rambles on with sugar coated lies, but I can only focus on the withered flowers on my bedside table. I bet they were perfect and colorful, once. I know without asking that she’s the one who left them here.

I don’t even notice when she leaves. Soon enough, I’m watching a nurse take the vase away.