Flux

“Bought you a present,” and threw a copy of Razzle onto the bed. It fell open to show some short-haired blond, legs akimbo.
    Great , thought Iain. Just what I need, an erection that can’t be serviced to add to my woes. It didn’t help.
    Dave took a bunch of green grapes from the carrier bag he was holding. There were also eight cans of lager in the bag but they weren’t for Iain. “I suppose you still can’t eat these?” he said, starting to pick grapes from the stalks and popping them into his mouth.
    Iain smiled, or at least he thought he did, he couldn’t be sure. He had good friends; often infuriating, a complete pain in the arse sometimes, but at least they had taken the time to visit which told him they at least cared and were showing it in their own idiotic way.
    They stayed until the bell rang to signal the end of visiting hours, chatting about events in the outside world, nights out at the pub and girls they’d almost slept with; nothing of great importance or significance. When they left they closed the door behind them leaving a half eaten bunch of grapes on the bedside table and soft porn still open on the bed. Iain didn’t have the strength to move and so there it stayed.

    The room was once again plunged into silence, now intensified if it’s possible for silence to intensify. Maybe it was just more noticeable now that the chatter had gone and Iain was once again left with only his own thoughts for company.
    His mind now turned back to his encounter with Bert. Apart from a truly horrible experience, which he would never tell anybody about, he wondered why the words had left him so shaken. Again his mind drew a blank and he tried to push it from his mind, but there it stayed like a nagging ache. He started to think about what he would do when he got out of the hospital. An experience which brings one so close to death is bound to leave an impression and make a person question his place in the world. His thoughts took the form of a conversation in his head; Iain playing both parts. One thing was for sure, there was no desire at all to return to his old job, punching numbers into a keyboard day in, day out.

    By the time Tim the clergyman came into the room, Iain was once again fast asleep. Slightly disappointed not to find him awake, he pulled up the chair and sat down anyway. The copy of Razzle was still where Iain’s friends had left it, still open. He picked it up and quickly flicked through the pages before opening the drawer in the bedside table and placing it next to the only other item in there, a copy of the New Testament. A slight red flush coloured his cheeks. The drawer was half closed when on second thoughts, Tim removed the bible and positioned it in Iain’s lap in place of the magazine. Iain’s body twitched, as if recoiling from the touch.
    After a few minutes sitting in silence Tim gently took Iain’s hand in his, being very careful not to dislodge any of the tubes which still stuck from it, and started to say a little prayer for his recovery. Iain’s eyes started to race about beneath their lids, as if dreaming a violent dream. His body stiffened and convulsed to such an extent that Tim let go and quickly withdrew. Scrabbling for the alarm attached to the wall he pushed it, summoning the nurses before once again taking Iain’s hand in an attempt to calm the twitching body.
    Nurses arrived, practically charging through the door so that it rebounded from the rubber stop. As they took control of the situation, Tim stepped back from the bed. Iain immediately ceased his convulsions and lay at peace; in a restful sleep and completely unaware of what had just happened.
    Perplexed, Tim shuffled from the room, head bowed.

Chapter Six
    Angels Come in the Night

    When Dr Goodman made her usual morning visit, she wasn’t disappointed. Looking at the readout from the EEG machine she ummed and ahhed and tutted and Iain wondered what the hell all the verbal gesticulating was supposed to mean.
    “Well, you’ve had a busy night haven’t you?” She stated and without waiting for a reply, continued. “There are some unusual spikes here, nothing to worry about.” She held the printout that was now in her hand, up to Iain’s face; “see? Here, and here,” pointing at different points in the graph. “They are what we would expect to see from dreams, but bigger, much bigger” She bit her lower lip, thinking hard.
    Even in his immobile and almost expressionless state, Iain still