Someone was shoving something down Cabot’s throat.  The hard, plastic tube slid down past his tongue despite all of his thrashing and kicking.  Behind his eyelids, starbursts of color bloomed against a black nothingness.  The sound of hissing filled his head. He put his hands to his ears but the noise would not be shut out.  Then, blackness.

   “I didn’t expect the bleed to be so large to be so enlarged,” a man said.  A female voice replied, “I take it we’re going to be here a while.”  An enormous pressure filled his chest. He felt he couldn’t breath, but somehow he was.  Was he dreaming? A dream couldn’t be this painful, this real. Then he remembered. He’d collapsed during the training exercise.  The image of the field opened up in his mind like a movie.  He and his squad were running the obstacle course.  Teddy, his best friend was ahead of him and they had just finished a long stretch of sprinting. They were approaching forty-foot wall of wooden blanks with a rope to climb.  Teddy had gotten about ten feet up.  Cabot grabbed the rope.  He hoisted himself up and then the pain slammed into him like a freight train.   The last thing he saw as he fell back backwards was Teddy looking back at him, his face screwed up in surprised and concern.

    A rapid beeping interrupted the movie in his head.  “He’s arresting again,” said the male voice.  Cabot realized with growing horror that he was hearing the sounds of his own surgery.  His hands wouldn’t move.  How could he make them know he was awake?  He tried to push air through his throat, to make a sound but the plastic tube was blocking his efforts.  With each effort, brilliant bolts of light flashed in the darkness behind his eyelids.  Streaks of bright yellows, reds and green filled his vision and he began to focus on them to block out the pain.  The darkness behind the bolts of color expanded and Cabot had the sensation that he was watching space, seeing a universe expand.  There was a strange depth to the blackness and he felt himself looking around it, felt like he could fall into it.  The sensation of standing on some sort of ledge overcame him and he was afraid. He took a mental step backward, away from the abyss.

 “We’ve got a rhythm, Doctor Apostolides.” 

“Good, let’s close him up.  We’re just going to have to wait and see with him.”

 Danica looked at her watch for the millionth time.  The doctor had told her that Cabot’s surgery would take about two hours.  It had been three and half.   She’d already drank three cups of coffee and read through all of the ancient magazines.  Her cell phone chirped.

 “Hello?”

 “Dani, it’s Teddy.  How’s is he?”

“God, it feels like it’s been 24 hours since they took him.  I’ve haven’t heard anything yet. What the hell happened out there?"

“I don’t know, he was fine.  Running like a horse, right behind me.  He was even cracking jokes about the cadets.  Said we should throw a blanket party for Farrell cause he’s such a hot head.  Anyway, we got to the wall and I heard him groan.  I looked back and he was laying on the ground, staring off into the sky.”

“The doctors think he ruptured an aneurism or has a tumor ” Danica said.

“I’m sure everything is going to be alright Dani.  Cabot is a hard ass, he’s not about to let a lump or leak get him down.  I’m on my way to the hospital now.  I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay Ted, and thank you.”

“You bet.” 

Danica slid her phone back in her purse.  She heard the sound of electric doors swinging open at the end of the hall.  She left the surgery waiting room and walked around the to the hallway. Doctor Apostolides was striding toward her, his face unreadable. 

“Is he awake? Is he okay?” she said.

   “He’s not awake yet, but we were able to stop the bleed in his brain. He came through the surgery just fine. But,  we’ve had some difficulty getting him to breath on his own after the anesthesia.”

    “He can’t breath?”

“Well, not on his own, not yet anyway.  Sometimes these things happen.  It’s not common, but it does happen.”

The doctor turned to head back to the surgery unit.  “I can take you to him now.  But, he’ll