Chapter 5

I was aware before I was conscious. It took some effort, but I was able to tune my ear into the activity around me. Everybody seemed to be talking at the same time, but one voice overrode them all. “How is it that a young boy could be so very, brutally injured, seemingly recover nearly all the way, and then have his heart stop all of a sudden? I just don’t understand.” It was Judge Marshall. She was questioning Doctor Halberstadt. For some reason they thought I’d died.

Sienna answered before the doctor got a chance. “Sometimes when a person is very badly injured, the body releases loads of adrenaline and it pumps up their heart and lungs to compensate for the injuries. Ross’ body has been abused so much and so often that his brain released the adrenaline just like always and after so much abuse, his heart just couldn’t take any more.” She sounded sad ... really sad.

Just as the judge started to speak, Halberstadt interrupted. “I’ve got a heartbeat. We’ve got him back.” That got everyone talking. It was impossible for me to separate any voice once all of them were speaking at the same time. Sienna gripped my hand so tightly that it started to hurt, while Halberstadt kept holding my other wrist, checking for a continued pulse.

Sondra was crying. I could make out her voice from among the others. The judge was pacing. Her shoes made a specific sound as she stalked back and forth. Jeanette was behind me, holding my head off the floor. Rather than fight my way awake, I chose to let myself waken up, instead. It went slowly, but the more I relaxed and stopped fighting to open my eyes, the closer I felt I was getting to full consciousness.

When I finally opened my eyes I was looking into Sondra’s face. Everything felt wrong. I was on the floor beside my wheelchair in the courtroom. All the people who were there when I was taken were right where I left them.

But I was gone. I left ... was gone a long time. How do you leave for decades and end up right when you were?

The Doctor Halberstadt held a syringe, ready to use it on me, but stopped when he saw that I was awake. “Ross, I am so glad to see your eyes. We thought you’d left us.” He spoke loud and clear for my benefit.

Sienna smiled through what looked like tears, and I could see Sondra standing just behind her, twisting her hands in the hem of her skirt, watching everything with a look of fear or sadness on her face.

“What happened?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Halberstadt was obviously driving at something that happened just before I passed out. I must have passed out and everything else was a vivid dream.

“The judge was arguing with the other lawyer,” I was not about to say her name.

“Ross, your heart stopped. One second you seemed to be fine, though shaken up pretty good. Then the judge said that your expression changed so dramatically that something was very wrong. When we got you out of the chair and flat to see what was going on, your eyes rolled back and your heart stopped beating. I had my hand on your chest and felt it.

“Sienna and I were just about to start CPR when you took a deep breath and your heartbeat was there again. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, but you’re fine now. It’s like it never happened. When we get you back in bed, we’re going to hook you up to a heart monitor and keep a close eye on you for a good while.” He seemed nervous and happy at the same time.

I heard the judge speak. My hearing must be recovering from Hazel’s latest attack. “The paramedics are here.” Everyone except the doctor and Sienna moved away to give them room. They didn’t rush in and take over. Everybody seemed to know Halberstadt and let him run the show.

“Get a heart monitor on him and let’s get him on four liters of oxygen.” They scrambled to comply and one paramedic got my shirt off and leads hooked up within seconds, while another adjusted the flow of oxygen and placed the tube around my ears and under my nose.

The ride was short and I was wheeled to ICU instead of my room, which puzzled me. When I started to ask about our destination, Sienna smiled and squeezed my hand, again. “Doctor Halberstadt wants to keep you up here for a little while until we’re sure you are fully recovered from your episode at the courthouse.” She could tell that I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, and answered before I could ask. “Ross, you passed out and your heart stopped. We were right beside you when it happened, and it was like someone just turned off the lights in your body. Doctor Halberstadt called for an ambulance and ripped open your shirt to perform CPR, but your heart started to beat by itself...” She would have continued, but two more doctors converged on my stretcher before she got a chance.

Doctor Halberstadt brought them up to speed. “We have a fourteen year old boy, in very poor health due to years of neglect and abuse. He has numerous injuries including those you can see on his head and chest. He has been systematically abused far beyond what his body should be able to survive.

“Earlier he was appearing before a family court judge when the source of his abuse, his mother, attacked him without provocation, opening new wounds around his skull and face. He was also kicked and gouged.

“None of those injuries should have caused what we are treating him for. His heart stopped without warning. He was without a heartbeat for less than a minute and before I could administer CPR his heart began to beat on its own. The rhythm you see on the monitor is the heartbeat he has had since the incident.

“We are going to find the source of his electrical problem that caused the heart stoppage. I will be ordering a cardiac intervention consult and seeking other medical minds to cooperate as we investigate his condition.” He was all business and the two ICU physicians nodded and promised to cooperate.

The next three days were torture, as the doctors searched for a cause for my momentary death. I was poked, prodded, hooked up to electrodes, drained of blood, and injected with all kinds of serums. Sienna stuck with me almost twenty four – seven, offering support, encouragement and taking the lead when I had to be moved or lifted. I became so accustomed to having her hands on me I knew it was her even in my sleep, just from the touch of her skin.

During those three days she talked about her life and how she came to be nursing in North Carolina. “My ex-husband was the love of my life...” She spoke about him in the middle of the night two days after hazel attacked me in court. “We were in love from the first time we danced. We met at a wedding. My mother’s oldest girlfriend had a daughter marrying a local boy and we went to the wedding together.