He woke up with a headache again this morning. A mild discomfort, that was always there,nagging him, like a guilty conscience at the back of ones mind, or in this case, the corner of his left eyebrow. He looked at her sleeping beside him. Peaceful. That brought a smile to his lips. He didn’t want to wake her up so early. But she would insist that he leave after having breakfast. And would ensure that he did. He loved her, would have liked to spend more time with her. But he was always busy. They would go to a weekend getaway this Saturday. Yes, that would be fine. He would surprise her.
With that thought he got up, got ready, had breakfast and left.
He lit up. The smoke helped with the headache sometimes. It didn’t today. Was the headache worse today, or was he imagining things? He wasn’t sure. He was getting paranoid, he thought.
He couldn’t concentrate on work today. He wasn’t very hungry either. In fact, the sight of those snacks made him nauseous. The pain was worse today. He would schedule an appointment with the doctor today. Saturday would do. But Saturday? Well, he had waited this long for an appointment, he would wait another week.
There was an explosion. A loud bang. He wanted to run, but then he saw that his colleagues were calm, they didn’t seem to have heard it. The explosion was in his head, it seemed that someone was tearing his head apart from inside.
After that it was a blur. Colleagues gathering over him. A ride in a vehicle. Traffic noises. Smell of a hospital. White coats, blue clothes. White sheets. Beeps. Wires. Needles.
Her face, her voice ( or was he hallucinating?) Some talk of surgery.
Deathly quiet room. A calm voice( was he dead?) talking. Reassuring. He wanted to talk, to move, but couldn’t. He couldn’t even feel anything, not even his body.
He must be in the operating theatre, he had similar memories from a childhood experience.
Then a deep slumber. A gap in time.
He felt the sunlight on his eyes. He was waking up after the surgery. There was no pain. He was glad. He opened his eyes. The room seemed vaguely familiar, almost like his own room. There was no hospital noises. He was glad for that. There were no wires or tubings either. How long had he been asleep? He didn’t know. He looked around. This was his room. He could hear the familiar morning sounds from the window. Then he heard her, she called him to have breakfast. He touched the corner of his left eyebrow. There was no headache. No headache.