4. Theo is awake

There were rapid and swift movements of the people in white uniforms. They exchanged glances of hurry and worry like there had been an emergency of life at stake. But inside this white-walled four-cornered ward, there was more that mattered, there was a heavy amount of hope for someone who'd been asleep for two years.

Theodore Luis was now awake after two years of being in a still trance.

Everyone was very cautious with their every move. Breaths withheld, mouths shut in silence, eyes fixed on the monitor. Yet there was only one person in the room who had closed eyes and bowed head, whispering soft orations of the Virgin Mary. 

It was Nana Lucia.

"Ma'am..."

The doctor called after Nana Lucia. He was a tall middle-aged man, with a well-built body yet there was the evident degeneration of his skin. The old lady looked up.

"...all his vitals are good. Well keep him in a close monitor for any progress. This has to be a miracle ma'am. Theodore had been very brave." 

Nana Lucia smiled.

"He was indeed brave, doctor. He was indeed a living miracle since the beginning." 

The doctor nodded and gave out a sympathetic smile.

"Just call for assistance if there are any malfunctions ma'am."

He then walked his way out.

Nana Lucia walked over to the bed, where Theo lays still. She gently brushed Theo's hair.

There are evident scars on his face, small cuts, and purple-brownish bruises-- which after two years haven't had healed. They're like eternal marks of the accident. 

"Theo... I thought I had lost you."

Her voice broke into an outpour of bitter-sweet tears. She was simultaneously happy and sad at the same time, for having to endure the pain of seeing her beloved nephew every day in a critical condition, uncertain whether each day will be a vision of hope or a welcoming of death. 

"I don't know how many times I cried since the day you were put in that state."

She paused and chuckled softly as she recalled those times when the nurses would frequently change the bedsheets for being stained wet from her tears. 

"You see, Hijo, everything was really hard for me. While you are forced to sleep, I am on the other end was cursed to be awake."

She let out a hoarse laugh.

"Though in a later time, I managed to develop a way on how to sleep. You guess, Theo. Aha! You never fail to be ahead of me."

She poignantly smiled.

"Yes, I would cry myself to sleep. It's been another burden for the nurses, I was apologetic every day. But now, it would be different because you are now awake. "

Nana Lucia took a deep and sharp breath in between her sobs. 

" Theo I know you are listening. I hope you haven't got sick from my cycle of rants." 

The old lady laughed while in tears. She was indeed very happy because soon enough, she will get to talk with her favorite nephew. She had mastered the art of imaginary talk with her everyday endeavor with Theodore, asleep.

It wasn't easy, most especially that the old lady had no children of her own. Theo was like a son to him, he was her everything. 

"I am certain you will recover fast. You'll have your eyes on focus to the world you've missed for two years, my boy. But now, just continue your focus on the white wall adjacent to you." 

The old lady joked, but she only let out a minimal laugh. She knows she'd been convincing herself too much.

What she wanted at the moment was to show her the most sensitive spot of vulnerability, but she knew that wouldn't help. She wasn't certain of what else could help her than to finally speak to Theo. 

Seconds tick too slow, and her eyelids are getting heavy, indicating signs of a feeble state of her health. Tiya Lucia grabbed her 2-year-old chair, which she personally paid for a customized design.

The chair was wrapped in vintage style fabric. The color was her favorite, burnt sienna, with silver traces of triangle patterns. It had a resting back with a length above her head.

The chair had only one resting arm, like the one on the school. The desk was thick like it had a secret vault inside.

It was well cushioned; the foam would mold her body when she would sit on it. Very well, that chair was the only inanimate object she had bestowed identity for herself.

She named the chair Zeus. She assumed the literal Greek god Zeus, and whenever she would sit on the chair that would give her the chance to sit above the God of all gods. And secretly hoping he'd bring her babies. But that was all for hilarious ideas by the old lady. 

She sat and stretched out a little. That little was way too hard for her.

Clearly, old age is the state of a human being parallel to early infancy. Old age is hardly capable of doing the usual things, which is akin to early infancy. Old age needs nursing - the care and comfort adequately bestowed on infants.

Yet, the only contrast which generates malignant rust annihilating the parallelism of the two-time elements is the love and lavished effort granted to infants than the old people.

The old are neglected, while the infant is pampered. Where in fact both are still humans who were just born to conception and the other has reached putrid death; who cannot stand on their own; who had degenerated to Abraham Maslow's third down to the ground level in the pyramid of his Hierarchy of Needs.

Slowly she closed her eyes and eventually glued now her eyelids to deep sleep.

The room was shortly lighted. There was a man in a corporate suit standing in front of a very familiar desk. The desk was well varnished. The only thing that flawed it was the carved initials F.L.V to be found on the hutch of the desk. 

"Take this, that amount would feed your family for a year, even without the help of your wage. Hire someone and I'll give him a separate payment."

"Nana... Nana Lu-cia..."

The old lady was woken up by a hoarse voice surviving to deliver her name.

"Nana..."

She eventually snapped to full consciousness after hearing Theo call after her.

"Theodore! Dios Mio! Doctor!"

She stood up in a slight panic. And called again for the assistance of any medical staff. But there was no response.

"Theo, my boy, you wait up here okay? Just stay still I'll be back for help."

In that quick instant, Nana Lucia saw a lift of Theo's lips. He smiled, and the old lady saw his brother, Jose Manuel.

She smiled back in grace.

... 

"For two years of being asleep, I feel like a baby yearning for different kinds of foods to taste. I'm so outdated for these yummy treats Nana."

Theo laughed as he munched his last bite of Jco Doughnuts. Nana Lucia handed him a bottle of water.

"You take it easy, I know how much you missed eating since it's your favorite thing to do, but take it easy Theo. After all, you'll need to fully recover first so eat up these fruits and veggies I've brought you as well."

She took a wooden basket full of fruits and vegetables. Theo made a face of disgust but smiled afterward. 

"You don't want me angry, do you? "

"Of course! I love veggies, Nana. Their green color makes me think of nature that I missed so much."

He grabbed a handful of lettuce and lay it on the bed beside him. Tiya Lucia was shocked and was about to rant him out. 

"Ah-ah! This young lettuce beside me will make me feel one with nature again."

The young man laughed and it made his aunt laughed as well. 

It has been a month since Theo woke up. He had a fast recovery. He knew it'll be no longer after they can finally go home.

He and Nana Lucia had been very close. She was her closest family. He never saw his father, Jose Manuel. Nana Lucia told him that his father wouldn't want to see him, even acknowledge him as his son.

But he never felt hatred towards his father. First, he killed his very own wife and second for not recognizing his very own son. Theo had long considered himself an orphan.

The young man grew up with only Nana Lucia by his side.

But there was something he hasn't told her. 

He was feeling missing after he woke up. It was inexplicable, and he was clueless at the most. There were so few fragments that could help him put up a thought about it.

The only that he was certain of, was a blurred vision of a woman-- he longed to meet before or is yet to meet in the future.