Chapter 49 The Coma
Chapter 49 The Coma
SOFIA'S POV
My eyes open after what feels like a tremendous effort.
The bright lights hit me first blurring my vision.
Sure I use my glasses from time to time but this...this feels like a reminder to be consistent.
I blink a few times clearing my vision.
There's beeping sounds around me.
Where am I?
A familiar face towers over me blocking the bright light.
"Sofie? Sofie you're awake!" The man lets out a gleeful laugh before planting a kiss on my forehead.
My mouth feels stretched.
I cough suddenly feeling slightly discomfort in my throat.
"Careful, you have a tube inserted in your throat." He says.
He seems to care.
Who is he?
And why is he calling me Sofie?
"I'll get the doctor."
He walks out of the room in a rush.
There's a lot of things in this room.
The beeping grows louder the same time my chest thumps.
Three doctors in white labcoats walk in with the man behind him.
"Mr Vescovi I'm going to need you to wait outside."
That voice.
I've heard it before.
He steps outside watching through the glass window.
"Sofia..my name is Dr Meriva and these are my colleagues. Mind if we ask you a few questions?" The familiar face pulls her clipboard forward with the other ones working on the beeping monitor.
I try to nod but even that action feels strained.
Am I...paralysed?
"What date is it?"
The first question.
What day is it?
All I remember is....coming out of the building and Mila asking me to stay awake.
Oh my God Mila!
She must be so worried.
"September 11th 2024"
My voice doesn't come out.
That wasn't happening before.
What is going on.
I try again and this time she focuses on my lip movements.
A small voice comes out.
Then jolts something down.
"Do you know where you are?"
I nod.
She adds that to her clipboard.
"How old are you?"
That one is easy.
"22"
She nods.
Then moves over to me taking out a small torch like device.
She brings it to my left eye.
Then my right one.
"This is doctor Giovanni and Dr Sokov." She points at the man then woman respectively.
She's pretty for a doctor.
"Do you know who the man outside is?"
Dr Meriva glances at the window then at me.
I hesitate.
She walks over to the door and invites him in.
He stands infront me nervously.
"She might still be under the ICU delirium but she'll come around." She explains to him.
"Sofia this man is your father. He brought you here a month ago for treatment. You've been in a coma for a month."
My stomach drops.
Dr Meriva's eyes never leave me.
Like my response is so important.
A month.
What really happened? Or do I need time to remember that too?
I couldn't recognize my own father.
But I remembered my best friend immediately.
My eyebrows furrow this time.
It's been a month.
A month since September 11th.
Since the basketball game I was happy to go to.
"Where am I?"
I ask straining my quiet voice.
"In hospital. One of the best in Rome."
My dad says with a nervous smile.
Rome.
Not Milan.
A tear rolls down my cheek at the realisation.
"We'll come back to ask you a few more questions and also see if we can start weaning off the ventilator." Dr Meriva says before walking out and the two doctors follow quietly.
Dad stands there for a brief minute then walks over to the seat beside the bed.
"I'm right here Sofia." He says calmly wiping my cheek with the back of his hand.
Then takes a seat.
My eyes focus on something in the corn
Before they shut.
Not to fall asleep but to remember everything.
And it slowly starts coming back to me.
My step dad.
Mom and my sisters.
My best friends.
Then eventually it all makes sense why I'm in Rome.
Nova.
My eyes searched the room one more time.
Dad.
Machines.
Flowers.
No Nova.
I swallow hard.
Ofcourse she isn't here.
She has no reason to pretend to care.
Her secret is out now.
But how could she do that?
How could she pretend so effortlessly?
I got played and I didn't even see it coming.
I was nothing but a bet to Nova Castiello.
Is that why she moved to apartment?
To get close to me for the dare?
No. The video was recorded long after she'd moved in.
Did Mila know?
Is that why she insisted I stay away from her?
"I'm sorry dad," I say in a faint voice.
He catches it.
"Don't be. What matters is that you're here and you're...alive." there's relief in his eyes.
The room grows still again.
He must have been so terrified when he got the call.
I missed my meds that morning and I knew what would happen.
Dr Meriva had informed me and I didn't tell him it was getting bad.
That was selfish.
To keep something so important from him so I can make sure I go to Nova's game.
I lied to her too.
I wasn't fine.
I hadn't been for a while.
Skipping my meds didn't phase me.
Yet she was ever so agitated about it.
Why?
She didn't want her dare to go unfulfilled?
She chose basketball over my dignity.
I don't think it gets as cruel as that.
"What are you thinking about?"
He asks.
It's just the two of us so it'd be stupid to think he wouldn't notice my range of expressions.
"I missed my medication."
He pauses.
Then buries his dace in his palms.
"How many times?"
"Like two or three times."
He sighs.
His eyes gloss up.
Then he gets up from the seat.
And walks out of the room.
I didn't consider how he'd feel when I made those stupid choices.
He lost two daughters and his wife...my mom.
And here I am telling him that I missed my life saving medication that could have prevented this.
Maybe Nova was my karma for being reckless.
She only cared about herself and her reputation.
And I just followed her like a puppy.
Like she'd sacrifice her family name for someone like me.
But turns out I was the dumb one.
I put my health on the line for someone who wouldn't even think twice about hurting me.
Mila had warned me.
What made me think that the second time would be a charm?
Just a lesson learnt the hard way.
I stare at the white door waiting for it open and for my dad to walk back in but nothing.
Just beeping sounds and hospital background noise.
My body suddenly feels heavy.
My eyelids burn.
This time, sleep doesn't hesitate.