Worms - Part Two
Theo resolved not to wake up. The comfort of the soft womb of sleep only momentarily opened, and flames erupted before his eyes. He learned to shut his eyes tight, to block out the fire of consciousness. He would sleep forever if it meant avoiding the sear of fire. What use were senses when all they brought was unpleasantness? He allowed the numbness to penetrate deep within his body, taking him further and further into the womb, where he wrapped himself in darkness and slept. He forgot all time and space, ceased to be anything except his pure mineral existence.
A finger of electricity plunged itself into Theo, wrenching the opening of the womb wide. With a jolt, sensation tore through Theo’s mind. Bright, white light flashed all around him. Confusion. The information flooding his body was jumbled, not being filed away correctly, resulting in a general sense of stimuli occurring, but without any detail finer than that. It was overwhelming, messy and chaotic, like TV static. As time passed, (Theo could not say how long) the static slowly began to resolve itself. Coherent thoughts passed through his mind from time to time. Images, phrases. A charred car. Heart arrhythmia. Smoke. Death Rattle. A hospital bed. The light was not as bright anymore. He could feel some of his body. His right hand. He felt the soft blanket draped over him. His nostrils burned with the smell of industrial strength cleaning agents.
Theo’s eyes opened on a curtained-off section of hospital, dimly lit by a lamp in the corner, blinds shut on the windows. Nobody was around. He could hear muffled squeaking behind a wall, then he listened to it move away to merge into the distant clangor of hospital shuffling.
Bella.
Was she alright? He remembered only sense-flashes of the bright fire, hot smoke.
A tear welled up in his right eye. Just the right one. Something small inside Theo told him that was odd. He tried to sit up, just a little. He barely managed to move his head, but he tilted forward enough to glance down at his body. His entire left side was covered in stiff white bandages. The movement caused pain to lance down from his neck to the tips of his left finger tips. Nausea bubbled through his chest and he let his head drop down onto the pillow, which caused another bout of pain and nausea. He saw black circles dancing in his eyes like black holes, taunting him, growing larger until he couldn’t see anything else. They plunged him back to sleep.