The Machine

I heard a pumping noise. Pump. Pump. I opened my eyes. I was in a white room with machines; an exercise room. Why was I here? I gathered my memories. Dan. He was lifting weights on the bench press, and he had forced me to go to the gym with him. He says I need to do more physical activity, and he’s probably right. The only reason I’m not overweight is because I’m a modest eater.

“You gonna do anything?” grunted Dan, as he lifted the bar. Without a word, I put on the earphones, turned on my music to full blast and ran on the treadmill. 8 kilometres per hour. Twenty minutes. I listened to the same four-minute song five times; I can take my mind off any tiring feelings if I avert my attention to something else, such as a song that I really like.

I turned off the music; my face was red, and I knew it; I could feel the blood rushing throughout my body. I glanced at Dan, who was looking very tired. “Dan?” I called. “Dan!” He wasn’t responding. I was scared for him. He was looking at me, and could see that I was talking, but he wasn’t responding. His nose started bleeding. Before we knew it, he passed out, and I called 9-1-1.

I climbed into the ambulance with him, who was now on a stretcher, on the way to the hospital. Dan opened his eyes and called for me. “Alice…”

Neither of us knew the extent of his injuries, but I was scared at the possibilities. My vision became blurry from tears. “It’s going to be all right,” I said while quivering. “It’s fine; you just had a nosebleed, is all.” I was lying to him and myself with that sentence. We both knew there was something terribly wrong, but we still clung onto hope, and wished for the best. Two birds with one stone.

The doctor told me. “Dan. He has…”

Dan had recently bought a new game that both of us were looking forward to. He returned from the store, with Modern Warfare 2 in hand. I snatched it from him eagerly, ripped off the plastic, opened the case and threw the disc into the console. I picked up his white Xbox 360 controller, and we alternated levels for the campaign. In several hours, we had completed it. “Dan, let’s play the Special-Ops mode now,” I said swinging my head back to look at him. Expecting him to be laying back against the couch, I was surprised to see Dan placing his head between his legs, gripping it tightly with his hands.

He then let out a scream I’ve never heard before. I could hear all the pain he felt in his voice, to the extent that I felt his pain as well.

“What’s wrong?!” I asked.

“My head hurts! It’s pounding; STOP IT!” he yelled. I ran to the medicine cabinet and snatched the bottle of Advil, poured out two pills, and handed it to him. Dan grabbed the pills, threw them into his mouth. Nothing happened. Suddenly, as quickly as it came, the pain stopped. His face was flushed. His hair was ruined from holding his head. With a weak voice, he said to me, “Water. I want water.” I went to the kitchen and poured a cup of water for him. He gulped it down as if he hadn’t drank for days. He took a deep breath, and sighed. “Let’s play Special-Ops now.”

It was winter. We executed a tradition that was never broken; I put on my ski pants, grabbed our toboggan and dragging to the hill next to the elementary school that we attended. Halfway there, I looked back and saw Dan jogging towards me. “Wait up!” he yelled. I stopped, turned around and smiled at him. We walked the rest of the way to the hill together, gleefully looking forward to the thrill of speeding down the slope.

We climbed to the top of the hill together, and I handed him the toboggan. “You first,” I said, as I knew that he was more excited than I was. He jumped onto the wooden board and slid down. But something happened that has never happened before; the toboggan twirled and spun around. The toboggan flipped over and he rolled down the hill. I ran down to help him. When I reached the bottom, I saw that he was unconscious, which explained why the toboggan was out of control.

I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital after the incident in the exercise room. I was bored, so I decided to walkthrough the hallways. All the doors were closed, except for one, and I curiously looked inside. There was a girl sleeping in the bed, and a boy who was next to her, weeping.

I heard a pumping noise. Pump. Pump. I opened my eyes. I was in a white room with machines; a hospital room. Why was I here? I gathered my memories. The boy I saw earlier…

That’s right. It wasn’t Dan who went unconscious on the toboggan; it wasn’t Dan whose head pounded with pain while playing a video game; it wasn’t Dan whose nose bled and went unconscious in the exercise room.

“Alice…” I heard the boy next to me call. I could tell he didn’t know what to say.

I was the girl in sleeping in the bed. It was Dan who was sitting next to me.

“Daniel…” I called. I tried to reach out for him with my right hand, but it wouldn’t move. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t have enough strength to open my eyes anymore. The world became dark.

Before I withdrew, I heard his voice one final time. “I love you.”

Author's notes: I originally wrote this for Connie's "Sorrow" Creativity contest. With this post, I'd like to void my submission. Also, if there are any mistakes, or any suggestions, simply post them in the comment box below. =)