Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Seven
Jess sat reading a book while Brian was away in
physical
therapy. They both decided to play CD’s out of Nick’s
personal collection to stimulate him into waking up. A smile
played across Jessica’s lips when she thought of how much
Nick hated hearing any song by n’sync or Britney Spears.
Quietly setting the book down, Jess went over to the CD
player and put in n’sync’s latest CD, No Strings Attached.
She purposly laid the headphones near Nick’s right ear.
Turning the volume up, Jess giggled in spite of herself and
sat back down into the hard plastic seat and picked up her
book.
“If this don’t do it, nothing ever will,” Jess sighed as she
stole a glance over at Nick.
Brian was wheeled back into the room sooner than Jessica
expected from physical therapy. He looked exhausted, but not
tired enough to notice the music coming from the CD player.
“You trying to kill him or something?” Brian asked with a
smirk on his face. He knew how much Nick loathed any music
from n’sync.
“Nope, just trying to piss him off,” Jess replied as she wet
her index finger and flipped a page on the paperback novel
she was evidentally engrossed in.
Brian nodded his head in Nick’s direction. “I think it’s
working, look.”
Jess stood up and looked at Nick’s face. Instead of seeing a
peaceful look, his eyebrows were knotted together and he
literally looked mad about something. Jess smiled and looked
at Brian.
“I knew it! I knew we would get a rise out of him!” She
rushed over and caught Brian up in a big bear hug. “Now if
he would only complain!”
Before Brian could reply, Nick started off into a loud
moaning, turning his head from side to side.
“N-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.”
It was barely understandable, but Jess and Brian understood
it, it was music to their ears.
“What did you say, Nicky?” Brian asked.
Nick’s eyes popped open. He still was moving his head from
side to side. “N-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.”
Approaching the side of the bed, Jess looked directly at
Nick’s face. “You want this off?”
Nick’s head became still. He laid there, just blinking his
eyes. He looked like he was concetraiting on something to
say.
After waiting for a few moments for a response, Jess turned
the music back on. This started Nick moving his head side to
side and moaning, “N-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.”
Brian gestured to Jessica to turn the CD player off, it was
clearly agitating Nick. Once the music stopped, Nick was
quiet again. Jess walked over to his bed and lovingly
straightened his blankets up and fluffed the pillows.
Nick laid in bed quietly, watching Jess, not showing any
emotion except exhaustion.
“Nick, I wish you’d snap out of this,” Jess sighed.
“Do you think we should call Nick’s nurse, I think this is
something like progress for him, maybe they can do something
more for Nick since he reacted to the music,” Brian said as
he stared at Nick.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Jessica replied. “I’ll go down to the
nurse’s station and tell Melanie, be back in a second.”
Brian wheeled himself up to the side of Nick’s bed. He took
Nick’s hand and squeezed it. To his amazement, Nick lightly
squeezed it back.
“Nick, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand again,” Brian
commanded.
It took a second, then suddenly there was a slight squeeze
placed on Brian’s hand. Tears welled up in Brian’s eyes.
“Nick! You’re coming out of this, aren’t you? You’re gonna
come back to us!” Brian could hardly contain his excitement.
“Do you want to hear n’sync again, Nick?”
Nick responded by shaking his head “no.”
Brian patted him on the arm, “Yeah, I guess you’re right,
God knows you’ve suffered enough trauma for one day.”
Chapter 48
