From Sleep May Come: Contemporary Romance

by Julie Miller

  “Sorry bout that. He is like a worm.” A man with orange hair said as he picked up his toddler. He made a ship noise like a rocket ship was ready to go into space as the engine turned on. Pretending that the little boy was a ship going in the air, he carried him in the air from side to side. The toddler accepted the fun as he kept giggling.

  Dr. Reese remembered his two little girls at home. His wife did all of the busy work but he was fortunate for it. He stared at Dr. Randall with the realization that he was never able to have children because of his wife’s condition. Saying nothing more, Michael could not take his eyes off of that little boy. Dr. Reese gestured for Dr. Randall to follow after. They both went onto the eighth floor, which was where all of the severe coma patients stayed. Dr. Reese looked at his surroundings to make sure that nobody was catching him in a guilty act. Michael Randall smelled the cucumber soap that Mrs. Abram washed her daughter with since her stay as being in a coma state of mind.

  The heavy wooden hospital door was open then shut.

  “Now listen. You need to swear that if this does not work then you will leave her alone… for good. Do you agree?” Dr. Reese asked.

  There was no response from Michael. Reese covered his mouth with his right hand to appoint a complex situation. He stared back at Michael who was touching Rachel’s bangs. Her fine thick hair was cold. Her entire head had been cold from a recent hair wash. She smelled so good like cucumbers and watermelon. The scars on his face subsided and were almost non- existent. Each individual pink scar fit in with her light skin. Her cheeks were rosy.

  “Dr. Randall? Did you hear me? I will give you ten minutes and if she does not wake up. You will leave her alone from then on? Talk to me now. I need to know you understand.” Reese did not blink.

  Michael moved his thumb to Rachel’s lips. They were silky smooth and soft. “I can’t talk to her with you here. We need privacy.”

  “Ten minutes? Let me know you understand that if she does not wake up after ten minutes. You will leave her alone forever. You need to promise me.” Dr. Reese demanded an answer.

  “Huh. Gosh. I promise that I will leave Rachel alone if she does not wake up after ten minutes. Now, leave.” Michael said with courage. He watched as the kind doctor walked outside of the door as the door shut. Through the narrow rectangle window on the door, Dr. Reese stared to his way right and left before walking forward. Michael could not hold it in any longer. He made a massively loud sob. He just promised that he would leave his second love alone if the experiment did not work.

  “Rachael?” Michael was determined to make her move again because it had to happen. He pulled up the only chair in the room to get a better view of his second love. He placed both of his hands to his mouth to feel alive. Yes, this would be the experiment that would determine his overall happy fate.

  “Rachel, when I found you. I never thought that you would change me. My life was in pieces. My wife… she’s gone. And I can’t lose another person. I love you and I know you do too. There is that café I have wanted to return to but it reminds too much about my sad life. I feel alive when you’re with me. You need to wake up now. You must. Or else I will not be able to see you anymore. Rachel? Do you hear me? Show me a sign. Wake up.” Michael sobbed more.

  The young coma patient looked peaceful in her sleep. Noises from the life support system were still making its way up and down. There was no sign that Rachel could hear him. He stared to the clock on the wall. He only had seven more minutes. What would he do if she did not wake up? His entire life was nearly cured because she existed. He waited for a moment to look at Rachel for the last time.

  Michael stood up, bent down to kiss Rachel Abram’s rosy cheek. And he was interrupted. “What the hell are you doing here! Kevin, go get the police!” Mrs. Abram yelled her lungs out “get away from my baby girl!” One policeman arrived on the scene and was given the situation to best understand. Dr. Reese entered into the room. He was stuck in a crash. How would he respond? Michael fought against the policeman’s arm. Michael continued to whisper into Rachel’s air, ‘Wake up! Wake up!’ but still, no response.

  Michael was rushed out of the floor back into the elevator. Dr. Reese began to jog and made his way to the depressed doctor. “Please officer, that is my friend. Let him go.” Reese tried to catch his breath, he was obviously a little too late to witness the Abram scene. The African American policeman nodded and stepped foot outside of the elevator. He stared intently at the sad looking doctor and he said, “watch out.”

  “Michael, I’m so sorry. Mrs. Abram said she would not be coming this afternoon. You still had five more minutes.” The worried doctor said. Hell just broke loose, the depressed doctor would be giving out today. “She has been in the coma for one year and one month. It was not supposed to happen this way. It makes no sense. She should have woken up by now. Michael, do you want me to call you a cab? Will you be okay?” It was clear that Michael was being given pity.

  “It does not matter anymore.” The lonely doctor muttered underneath his breath and the elevator opened as it made a very irritating beeping sound. A nurse with purple scrubs excused herself as she stood beside the worried doctor. She clicked the number 8. Dr. Reese was not sure what to say. The waiting room on the first floor was still overly crowded. Michael walked out and was never expected to be happy again.

  Mrs. Abram filed a police report, receiving a piece of paper that Michael was not to be within ten feet of Rachel Abram. Mr. Abram made damn sure that the doctor would be fired. It took only five months in court for Michael to fight against being fired from the medical community in Chicago. He was given one more chance, including to not go near the Abram family. He would have been fired completely but he had four nurses, seven doctors and two family members argue on his behalf. As a result, Dr. Randall was suspended for two months without pay. Chief Anderson was happy to welcome back his top doctor. He made a tiny joke, “you been a good prisoner?” Anderson chuckled more but he realized that he seemed worst than how he was before he was moved outside of ICU. Michael Randall turned his head and glanced at his chief in command. He turned his head to look ahead again. He was like a stone on a dark cloudy snowy day.

  He was being let out of the game. He had been forced to move to a different hospital and now, he had discovered a young woman who made him feel alive. His first day went reasonably well and so did his first week. Little did he know that he would meet Rachel Abram. Michael dreamed of talking to Rachel again. She almost moved when he had sung Samantha’s favorite song. Now, she was like everything else that was gone. It upset Michael that Rachel would no longer exist in his life, he gritted his teeth and said, “stupid bastards”.

  Chief Anderson understood that his efforts had been a disadvantage to the overall case. Anderson waited for Michael Randall to exit his office. When Michael finally did, Anderson did not make a call this time. He did what any other upset man would do, not knowing how to help out a dear friend. He looked to the ceiling.

  A Perfect Woman

  Everything was mighty terrific. Rachel Abram finally waked up after two weeks when Michael had spoken into her ear. She had memories but she had not been aware whether she was simply dreaming. Mrs. Abram went out to the grocery store to buy cupcakes. There was to be a celebration! Her daughter finally woke up from a coma state of mind. Mr. Abram called the entire family relatives to share the good news. Dr. Reese was happy too but he rarely smiled about the case. He knew that Michael Randall had done all of the magic. It was not fair that the lonely good hearted doctor was receiving no thanks or pleasure of being with his second love. Instead, he nearly was fired from the medical community and it upset him that the Abram parents caused him even more grief. As a good doctor, he refused to speak his mind openly because he too did not want any trouble.

  “Okay, Rachel. How are you feeling this morning?” Reese said as he avoided eye contact.

  “Oh doctor! She is perfect. She does not have any memory loss. Isn’t that lovely, doctor?” Mrs. Ab
ram spoke with a cheerful optimistic mood. Reese looked to the vanilla cupcakes with blue frosting that sat open on the counter.

  Dr. Reese just nodded as in agreement.

  “Thank you so much. I’m happy to be alive without a life support machine.” Rachel said with hesitation. Something was not right. Someone was missing. A man who spoke of a Paris themed café just down the street. He spoke of a wife who was… who was very ill. No, wait. His wife, Sam is mentally ill. Things were starting to come back. Should she ask about the guy? She felt herself twitch. She stared at her gleeful parents. Her father was hugging his wife. And everything was as it should be but without the sleep.

  “Who’s Randall?” The random question had caught everyone by surprise. Reese no longer minded eye contact. He stared with all certainly that she had woken up only because of Michael. Mrs. Abram said, “nobody, honey” and then nodded her head in disgust. Dr. Reese stared at his patient then to the patient’s parents.

  “He helped wake you up.” Reese admitted.

  Rachel’s mother stated, “No, we did. He was nothing but trouble.” Mr. Abram agreed with his wife. Saying more, “Nobody to worry about. You’re here.”

  “But I want to know. I remember him, Mom. Who was he?” Rachel said. She produced the same look in her eyes that spoke of delight combined with sadness.

  Dr. Reese continued. “He woke you up.”

  “Don’t tell her that. We woke her up. We waited for a year!” Mrs. Abram battled.

  An intent for unwanted frustration happened. “No. You just turned that little sad doctor to be even more depressed since the loss of his wife. He spoke with your daughter and now, that is the only reason she has woken up. And I am sorry, thank you for paying me all of the expensive fees. I know you will most likely not recommend me to any of those in your life. Get this straight because I cannot lie. Rachel, I did not wake you up. Neither did they. Dr. Michael Randall spoke to you for a year. He was caught and you were moved here, this hospital. Matter of fact, I would call him for you but your parents got a restraining order against him. The same man who would never dare hit a fly. I am not going to pretend to be the powerful doctor because I did nothing.” Dr. Reese stared back at Rachel with a flight behavior in his eyes, his patient appeared confused and he slowly walked out of the room. It was the plain truth.

  “Mom? Dad? Why would you do that? He was safe.” Rachel asked with reasonable doubt. Her parents had gone evil during her sleep.

  Mrs. Abram began to cry. She grabbed a tissue from the Kleenex tissue box right by her side and she cried. The mother did a terrible thing. A mother who dragged a good doctor’s name through the dirt for all the medical community to acknowledge but he terrified the life out of her. Fighting to wake someone up when that person had a good possibility of never waking up. Making loud sobs, she began to say sorry over and over.

  “Honey, I did not want anyone to hurt you. I may have gone a little crazy. That truck driver caused your accident and that is why you were in a coma. He walked free. And you slept for a year. I could not trust anyone to be with you. I did not want you to get hurt. I’m sorry.” Mrs. Abram glanced at her silent husband.

  “Mom, he never would harm me! It was my fault for the car accident. I was having a seizure and my inhaler was nowhere to be found. Call Dr. Randall. Please.” Rachel Abram warned. Yes, she still had a fight in her independence.

  Months had gone by and Michael Randall was still sad as can possibly be. He heard that Rachel had woken up but he tried not to think about that. During the past two months, he visited his wife four times at the mental institution. It was apparent that one of the patients who had been registered after Samantha had went home. She had stayed there for over two years and a half and he had stayed for three months in the same state as his wife. Life was a terrible joke, he thought. Walking along the park, happy pet owners were throwing Frisbees to their dogs. Barking, laughing and the couples were displaying their public affection for one another. The man who had French kissed the woman were happy. And the woman was really pregnant. They looked happy, the man touched his pregnant wife’s belly then continued to kiss her as he stopped for a second to look into her eyes.

  Three girls and one boy had been calling out, “mommy” as the children battled for the last sandwich. A family picnic would be great for this weather. One teenager girl had the gothic appeal going on with extremely dark purple and black colored make- up. Her hair was dyed completely black. And the other two little girls were blondes who were wearing princess dresses, pretending to be drinking tea. A little boy was about three years old and his hands were being licked all over by the family’s dog.

  Michael continued to walk forward. The weather was set at 78 degrees. Samantha drew her mother a flower. She seemed to be progressing but her psychologist said that she was a hesitate one. This meant that her progress was good but one wrong move and she was back to being unresponsive. Saving his hopes, he forced himself to no longer believe that Sam would potentially go back to normal. Instead, he filed for divorce. Though, he would still visit her at least three times a month. It was time to make that big leap forward. He was turning forty- five next fall. It was not too late to make a family. Suggesting that a dating website would be great, he took his friend’s advice and opened up one account for eHarmony. Eight days as a member but no messages yet. Visiting many profiles, he came across a woman named Lisa McDell who was in her late thirties. She had no children but planned on discovering her soul mate and lastly, making a family of her own. Michael did not send her a message. He was too nervous but he thought, “what the heck?” He had been through hell the past couple of years. If he got rejected then so be it but it was worth a try.

  Hello Lisa,

  I am Michael. I also like the fine arts. I once went to Italy just to go looking for painters. Long story short, it was a nice surprise to know that Paris has better art.

  Regards,

  Michael Randall

  The lonely doctor smiled to himself. Fifteen minutes passed and an unknown number was calling him.

  “Hello, Michael here.” He said with doubt for his own identity.

  “Hi. This is… Rachel Abram. Could we meet?”

  Michael Randall was happy to have received the call. He did not know whether meeting was a good idea because there had been a restraining order against him. Rachel explained that the order was proudly dropped. Both agreed to meet at the café near the hospital he once worked at in Chicago.

  Rachel took sometime to get used to. She looked at Michael as he received a text. The email was a response from Lisa McDell with interest two days later. The fine doctor smiled and he felt fulfilled. He would be meeting this mysterious woman tomorrow night. “So, they say that this place has amazing blueberry muffins. Would you like to share?” This had been said with curiosity from the young woman in her twenties.

  “You know, I always forget what this place is called.” Michael concluded after trying to read the café name.

  “Me too. That says something in foreign. So I have not a clue neither unless you can read German?” Rachel laughed.

  “Nope. Not me.” Michael laughed back.

  “Michael, I invited you because I like you. Your story interests me about your wife. Can we start slowly?” Rachel asked.

  “Rachel, I love you because you remind of all the good things in the world. Not interested in dating you. You feel like a close friend. You are my second love. It only comes around in a lifetime. I guess you were an exception.” Michael stated as he drank his tea. His eyes stared directly at Rachel, who then agreed for mutual understanding. She wanted to find a mature man like Dr. Randall. By not meaning to, the memories of his words came back to her forefront. Wake up, Samantha sick, lonely, lost, empty.

  The waiter arrived to the table. And Dr. Randall could not help it. He stopped Rachel from finishing her talk. He said, “she will have the blueberry muffin and I will have the carrot muffin.” Their waiter was happy to have a quick- go. It had been years
since he had done that. The woman who was no longer a coma patient giggled, “Oh, my dad does that.”

  Dr. Randall replied, “Thanks for making me feel old.”

  For endless hours, Rachel explained to Michael about her personal inspirations, how she wanted to earn her degree for filmmaking and how her journalism degree has gotten her at a dead end. Confessing that life could be a torture sometimes, a film involved the best times that everyone somehow came to admire. The emotional break up, flirty men who are already married and how much a singer can help people feel happier. In return, Michael understood everything he heard. He always imagined his former patient as a reading type of person but accordingly, she was more fascinated with watching chick- lit movies with loads of popcorn.