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Simon woke to a blinding light. He couldn’t focus. He found it difficult to breathe. There were strange sounding electronics in the room and it was hard to move.
“Nurse? He’s coming around.” It was Suchin. Her speech was slightly off as her face and mouth were still somewhat swollen. Then someone was holding Simon’s right hand. It was a soft, warm, affectionate hand. He found himself wishing it was Suchin’s. Or Sandy’s. Suchin. Sandy. Suchin—then he realized. It was Suchin he wanted holding his hand. The thoughts of Sandy were comforting, but almost more of a reflex for him now.
“Simon. Relax. They told me it may take a while for your vision to adjust. It’s me, Suchin.”
Simon heard someone else enter the room. Whoever it was did something with the machines in the room, and then touched his arm on his other side.
“Simon? How are you feeling? Here--” Simon felt something wet drop in both his eyes. “That’s just some eye drops. Try blinking. No rush, take your time. Your friend Suchin is here, she’s the one holding your hand. Simon? Can you talk?”
“Y-yes,” he said, “I think so.”
“Good. Do you know what day it is?”
“June?”
“No, that is what month it is. Can you remember the day of the week?”
“Thursday? No, Friday.”
“That’s right. What were you doing?”
“We were-- we were walking. On the street. Something happened. Suchin, got hurt. Then everything went black.”
“That’s good, Simon. Suchin is here with you, she is feeling better now. You’re a very lucky young man. And you should know that Suchin has been sitting with you ever since—since she got the doctor’s approval to get out of bed herself.”
“Bed?”
“Simon, Suchin was in a hospital bed for a couple of days, too. She will look a little rough when you can focus, but she is perfectly fine and should heal without any lasting issues. You’ll notice her face is discolored from the bruises healing, but she’ll look as good as new soon, and she’s healthy and happy to be here with you. Okay? You have been out for almost five days now and it’s now Tuesday morning. You took the brunt of the attack, you kept them focused on your from what I heard. She has been here the entire time. The girl wouldn’t leave your side.” Simon could almost hear the nurse smiling.
“What happened?” Simon said. He was starting to feel warm and floaty.
‘Floaty?’ he wondered, ‘what the hell kind of word is, ‘floaty’?’
“You will need some physical therapy,” the nurse continued, “but we are hopeful you will come out of this just fine. Don’t worry if you can’t remember things clearly, that may pass with time. You’re a very lucky man in a lot of ways. You have a very nice lady here, Simon. I’m going to go get the doctor. So you two visit for a few minutes. Okay? And it’s nice to have you back with the living.” The nurse patted his arm lightly and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Simon called after her, “what do you mean, back with the living?” He could feel the nurse hesitate. He was seeing blurred objects in the room now.
“Simon, you were legally dead for a few minutes. But we have a very good trauma unit here and we pulled you through. You’re going to be just fine, okay? Nothing to worry about. I turned up the pain killers for you now that you’re awake. Just rest till I come back with the doctor.” And with that, she walked out.
Simon tried hard to open his eyes. It hurt his head, but he wanted to see Suchin. The pain killers were making him feel better, though. He was still floating a little and except for the nagging pain, he was feeling pretty good now. Finally he got his eyes to stay open and focus, finally his vision was starting to come back. He could see a figure next to him and she was growing into the crystal clear form of a Goddess whom he knew as, Suchin.
A Goddess with a very bruised face, with parts still a bit swollen. It angered him that anyone could do that to such a sweet person as her. What kind of monster could harm a wonderful girl like this? Tears seeped from the corner of his eyes, running along the sides of his face around to the back of his head.
“Hi.” He said, grasping her hand more tightly; she responded in kind.
“Hi.” She said back. “I am so very happy to see you awake again.” He could see now that her eyes were quite moist, also. She put her hands up in a prayer position and bowed slightly a few time but the look on her face was one of happiness. It warmed him all through his body; a body that felt like it had been in a tumble dryer for a couple of days or so. Not to mention, there were a couple of stab wounds that ached like a hot iron in his torso. A thought stabbed into his mind through the pain and pain killers: ‘she’s happy to see me.’
‘Or,’ he thought, ‘was that just the drugs?’ She put both hands softly on his arm, massaging it and then he realized, she was the drug.
“I’m so sorry, Suchin—“
“Shhh—quiet. You didn’t do anything wrong. They were the bad ones, not you. You were very brave. You know, you broke the nose of one of them. You almost killed him.” She was smiling very broadly now.
“Suchin. I should have gotten my phone out faster. I mean, it’s all my fault. But I couldn’t move fast enough, I tried, I really—“
“Stop. It’s fine. Simon, we’re both fine. We’re both going to heal completely. We were very lucky. The police caught them. They had a record for that kind of thing. One of them had killed someone before and the police had been looking for him. We may have saved someone else from going through this.”
“But how? I couldn’t see their faces. Could you?”
“No. But Sandy called the police as the-- incident, began.” With that mention of Sandy’s name, Simon felt apprehensive. Suchin went on, “She was passing on information while we were talking with them. She had called the police and they caught those three as they came out the other end of the alley.”
“Oh,” Simon said, still feeling guilty.
“Simon, I have something for you. As they were—hurting us, I grabbed your phone and hid it. They ran off without it. And so—“ Suchin proudly held up Simon’s phone. Sandy was on the screen, she was active and looking at Simon.
“Hi Simon,” Sandy said and winked at him.
“Hi, Sandy. I’m sorry, I—“
“Suchin?” Sandy said.
“Yes, Sandy,” Suchin said, turning the phone to look at her.
“Please, hold the phone to Simon’s ear.” Suchin complied; she could not hear what Sandy was saying.
“Simon,” Sandy said gently, “You have a very good woman here. She loves you. For whatever reason, I do believe she can accept you for who you are. I would suggest you see a therapist with her. Be open with her. Heal yourself. She needs healing too. But I think the two of you were meant to be together. Or at least, I think the two of you have just enough of the right problems that you can work out a functional relationship. You don’t need me anymore, Simon. And you don’t need Grace. Trust me, you don’t need Grace at all. Okay?”
Simon was horrified. He was relieved, and fearful. He looked up at Suchin. Now Simon was terrified. Suchin was a real girl after all. A REAL GIRL. He would have to compromise, read her needs, react appropriately to her. Be there for her. But that last thought gave him a warm feeling. Someone to take care of, to love, and to have love him back. Maybe he could make this work. Suddenly, a feeling flooded through him. Anger. Anger at those guys who harmed Suchin. He felt a strong compulsion to protect her overcome him. He felt he might try to kill someone if they tried to harm her. Actually, according to Suchin, he already had tried that.
And in that moment, Simon realized that Sandy was right. He didn’t need Sandy, or Grace, or anyone. He just needed Suchin. Simon smiled.
“Simon? Do you understand?” Sandy said to him.
“Yes, Sandy, I do. I really do understand. Thank you.” Sandy smiled. She waved at him and the phone shut off. Suchin noticed the light on Simon’s face dim when the phone went out and sh
e looked at the phone, saw it was shut off and set it on the table next to the bed.
“I like her,” Suchin said.
“Yeah, I like her too,” Simon said. “But, I think I might get a new phone.”
“Oh, I don’t think so; she saved our lives, Simon. The two of you are heroes, you caught a murderer, not to mention our attackers.”
“Yeah, that’s a good point. But I think I need a new start. So maybe I can just rebuild her from scratch. Then she’ll come to grow into being our Sandy. How about that?” Suchin rubbed Simon’s arm in a warm and tender way.
“Well, if that’s what you want, I think I might like that, too.” She said.
“Suchin. You have such a lovely name. I’ve always wanted to ask, what does it mean?” She blushed again and stroked his chest gently.
“It means, ‘Beautiful thought’,” she said, slightly embarrassed.
“So perfect--to be your name, I mean,” he said. “Come here.” Suchin leaned in. “Closer,” he said.
Suchin leaned down closer then realized what it was that he wanted. She braced herself against the rails of the hospital bed so as not to disturb his brutalized body, and placed her soft and still slightly swollen lips upon his soft and swollen lips. He responded warmly, and gently. He licked her swollen lips and she licked back.
Then they kissed, drawing one another’s breath in and their first kiss was long and deep, moist and—oh, so profound.