Page 2 of The Fates We Tame
Then it falls back to the sheet.
Why is my throat on fire?
I raise my finger again.
Tap.
Tap.
I’m choking. Drowning.
I ache to reach for my throat.
Tap.
Tap.
“Switch. Fuck. Switch! I’ll get a nurse. Wait… Help, my friend…”
The words fade. I don’t hear the rest.
Tap.
Tap.
I focus on my eyes. A millimeter open. The light is too bright.
Noises flood in. Beeping monitors. Then something swishing.
Tap.
Tap.
I open my eyes wider and see an ugly fluorescent light above me.
I can move my arm. First at the wrist, then the elbow. It’s slow.
Jerky.
What the fuck?
My heart races; equipment beeps.
There’s a flurry of activity around my bed. Excitement. I can feel it.
“Switch. You’re back, motherfucker,” the man says. He squeezes my hand hard. Phone to his ear. “King,” he says. “Switch is awake.”
I steal my hand back and reach for my throat.
“Theo? Can you hear me, Theo?” It’s an older woman in a white coat. “I need you to stop fighting while we remove your intubation.”
The man takes my hand. “Here, hold on to me. Will this hurt him?”
I glance over to the woman, who shakes her head. “It’s uncomfortable.” She’s peeling tape from around my face. “This is just like ripping off a Band-Aid, Theo. We’ll have the tube out in a second.”
I begin to fight on the bed. The man looms over me. “I’ve got him. Just do it.”
“Theo,” the nurse says, holding her palm to my forehead. “Theo.” When she says the name a second time, it sinks in that she must be talking to me. I stop and look up at her.
