Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip.
"There’s not much left."
Blip. Blip.
"Not yet ma’am. I’m sorry."
Soft, velvety dark… peaceful, even…
Blip. Blip.
An alarm? How to turn it off… but why is it so soft… He strained his eyelids, willing them to open. So tired…
---------
"Don’t stop… believing…" gentle, wavering lyrics pierced through the ringing that now was occupying his ears. The song… it was familiar. That voice, though.
He’d heard that voice before. Not just with the song… in fact, there was usually a second voice joining it.
But where… “Baby, please say you can hear me…” Lightning shot up his arm. What was that warmth? Pressure… it was almost a painful amount. He twitched, a sharp gasp hissing through the stale air almost simultaneously.
"Doctor!"
It was shrill, and followed by frantic footsteps, the slamming of a door, then a hand groping at his opposite arm. Jamie hissed in pain, blood rushing through the limb at the sudden movement.
"Baby, can you hear me?" Mom. Her tear-filled voice rang in his ears until finally, with a burst of will, he forced his eyelids open. The stark white blinded him, and he blinked a few times before managing a blurry picture of the room.
"Momma…" he choked out, his voice tired and hoarse. "Where am I?"
"The hospital, baby," Michele choked out before being ushered from the room.
---------
Hours later, he awoke to darkness. His eyes only protested a bit before scanning the room, barely making out a bundled and exhausted figure in the corner. The blip-blipping continued and he strained to look beside him, realizing that his mysterious alarm clock was his heart monitor, standing eerily between an IV drip and several other machines.
A sudden burst of panicked energy made him test each limb he could - it didnt last, but he felt numb yet heavy, so he could only imagine the shape he was in. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember what had happened, but his train of thought was cut short at the sound of the room’s door creaking open slowly.
