When I woke up it was seven am and Pauline was gone from the reception already. I had to vanish from Jimmy’s room before someone would see me there.
I pecked his lips, said goodbye and went away, wanting to stay more. But I knew I could come back later that night and that was comforting me.

When I got home, the minute I placed the keys on the door, it was when I heard his voice. That soft voice calling my name made my eyes close in shivers.

“Emily?” he touched my shoulder and I instantly remembered. Pill time. “Where were you? I was calling you like crazy, only voicemail.”

I breathed heavily once and turned to him.

“Well I… I’m sorry, I turned off my phone last night and forgot to turn it on again. I was at… I was visiting Jimmy.” yeah, I stuttered a lot here.

“What? You… managed to…”

“Yeah, that receptionist gave me a card so I could visit him at nights. His family is not staying there so that was my cue.”

He pursed his lips and raised his brows in surprise. A kind of disappointed surprise, I supposed.

“Good… Good for you.”

An awkward silence built up between us as we tried to stare at everything around us but into our eyes.

“Well I brought your…” he showed me the vial on his hand, like every morning.

He was being very nice by bringing it everyday to me. He hated waking up early, I knew that.

“Yeah, right… Thank you! Just come in.”

Then he would come inside and I would make some coffee and we would talk about stuff, that was our daily routine. But I never let it escalate to other things. I was still mad at him. And it was getting harder and harder to look into his eyes and not return the love he was showing.

“Okay, what do you think about putting that plan on practice?” I drank a sip of my coffee. “We can go there early in the morning and I ask Pauline to help us with the security guys when we bring the instruments inside. She can find some doc scrubs so we can pretend we are doctors or something.”

“Emily, are you nuts? She already allowed you to get in. You’re gonna ask her more favors? She can lose her job, you know that.”

“Nobody will even notice we are there, so no trouble for her. And we don’t need to play it loud. I have two tiny amps here, we can hide it very well. We just have to play for him to listen, it’s not like we are onstage playing for thousands of people.”

Brian stared at me skeptically for a few seconds and held his face on his hands.

“They are throwing us out, I’m telling you.”

“They won’t! That hospital is damn dead at early morning! Trust me, please.”

He shook his head and I held a laugh. He was all scared of breaking the rules out of a sudden. He didn’t even seem like a rockstar. When he saw I was trying not to giggle, he smiled beautifully and I could only reply.

“Alright… I’m in. We’re doing this tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah, by seven?” he nodded and then kept shaking his head.

“Okay. I can’t believe I just agreed with this.” He stood up and walked towards my front door after finishing his coffee. Then I couldn’t help but whisper:

“What a wuss…”

“I beg your pardon?” he smirked, pretending he didn’t listen.

“Nothing, nothing… see you at 6:30?”

He shook his head one more time, chuckling and left after winking and melting my heart like in ages I didn’t feel.

---

Next morning, they waited a few minutes by the car and discussed the last details of their plan in the hospital parking lot. Jess seemed nervous. Mei and Kim looked more than excited, they wanted to come with them since Emily called Jess and told her about her plan. They were the ones to convince her to bring her keyboard along. But Emily knew she wasn’t able to play lately so she was hoping it wouldn’t mess with her emotions. Her wrists wounds were at lot better at least.

“So… that’s it. We have to go inside before Pauline leaves her shift. I already talked to her, she will help us with our plan, distracting the security as we walk in. Everybody ready?”
Everyone nodded with certainty but Jess. She was exhaling too much uneasiness.

“Jess, don’t worry, we can do this! This is gonna help him! Now listen, at my sign, you girls go to that gurney in there and hide the instruments under the sheets, alright?”

“Yep!” Kim and Mei answered promptly, their eyes shining with the morning sun and the lab coats I had arranged with Pauline for them on their bodies like they were hospital employees.

“Now, let’s carry on with the first part of the plan.” she stared at Brian with an evil smirk and he breathed heavily, shrugging.

“What did you do for her to agree with this, Emily?”

“Well I… we don’t have time to discuss it now. I’ll… I’ll tell you later.” Emily sounded a little nervous about his question and went out of the car as he followed her.

“Emily, what did you do?” he insisted, frowning in suspicion.

“Let’s go!” Emily diverted from his question and walked towards the hospital entrance with decided steps, being followed by Brian.

Emily walked in first as they had discussed while Brian stood outside until she was free to pass through the security guards and hold the elevator for the rest of them.

“Good morning Pauline!” Emily spoke and Brian heard her asking to see Jimmy. When she was calling the elevator, that was his cue to go in there, to make a ‘scene’.

“Hello, my name’s Brian, can I… can I ask you a favor? I think I lost my ID here last night, do you know where I can find a lost and found department?” Brian asked and noticed from the corner of his eyes the girls with lab coats placing the instruments on the gurney quickly. He felt like exploding in laughter, this was crazy.

“Well… sir, we have a little box with people’s lost belongings at the end of that corridor there. Hey, Ray, can you take this guy to the lost and found box please?” she smirked at Brian after calling for the security guy at the entrance and winked at him seductively. What… what was that?

“Come with me, sir.” The tall guy walked ahead to the corridor at the right and Brian followed him, seeing Emily in his way. He blinked and nodded discreetly at her telling his part was done, so it was time to call the girls in. The passage was free.

Emily made an ok sign to the girls and they walked in quickly, dragging the gurney fast with them all along the empty reception area. Pauline rose from her seat to see if their path was still clear and watched as the girls got the elevator up. Emily mouthed a thank you at her before the door closed.

“I’m sorry, man, I swear I looked into this pocket before and it wasn’t there. I’m glad I didn’t lose it, right?” Brian came back to the reception with his ID in hands, wearing a stupid face to the bored security that felt he made a fool of him.“It’s such a lame bureaucracy to make a new one, isn’t it?”

The guard went back to his place at the door with that same annoyed face and Brian moved to the receptionist.

“Hey, mrs, thanks for your help. I found it in my pocket after all.” he came with all his charms, showing that their plan had worked.

“I’m glad I could help somehow. Can I do anything else for you, sir?” Pauline raised one eyebrow and licked her lips before biting her bottom one, that seductive look still surrounding her.

“Err… No, it’s… it’s alright, I’m okay. I just need a… card to visit my friend and that’s it.” Brian got all embarrassed all of a sudden. He knew this definitely had something to do with Emily.

“Alright. Here’s your card…” Brian picked it up and left to the elevator with a puzzled smile on his face. “…handsome.” he looked back once and thought he heard a whisper, but he didn’t hear what she said exactly.

Before the elevator door could close, Pauline mouthed a ‘call me’. And Brian finally noticed the other paper that came along with the visitor’s card. The one with a phone number and Pauline’s name written on it.
He shook his head and could only think about one person involved in this: Emily.

---

“So… it’s all plugged in. Let’s hope no one comes in while we are here with all this cables and guitars around.” Brian whispered to Emily when he finished placing the tiny amps around Jimmy’s bed.

They all had already said hello to him, saying who were there just in case he was listening.

“Stop worrying about it and let’s play!” Emily called out as she sat beside Jimmy and held his hand slowly not to scare him. Then she whispered on his ear. “Jim, we managed to bring a little fuss to you, how do you feel about listening to some live music? Do you miss it?” like all the other times before, she waited anxiously for his reply, just a move of his finger to let her know he was aware, but it never came. “Well, I bet you do. Jess came with her keyboards and her two friends, Mei and Kim…” the girls said hello to him again, touching his other hand. “I brought two guitars, two amps and your best friend. Can it get better?”

“Alright, you and Brian, playing together… I could think about a lot of better things than that, Emily…” Jimmy felt so bored inside his head and now he felt worse somehow. He remembered the first time he saw his best friend and girlfriend playing together and realized, just by the way they were staring at each other, how deep was the connection they shared, musically and mentally. It still hurt.

“Well, I know you would rather be kicking that bass drum of yours with us by now but… I thought you could need a few songs to cheer up.” She watched as his chest went up and down steadily and pursed her lips, giving a step backward and strapping her guitar.

Brian worked on the volume as low as they could and they started with a few songs he remembered of their childhood. They played a little from Metallica, Pantera and Zeppelin, Jimmy’s favorite bands in his early youth, as the girls tried to sing the lyrics they knew almost whispering. In between one song and another, Brian would tell a funny or trashy story about their adventures, making all the girls laugh most of the time. But not a single change on Jimmy’s state was seen.

“Hey guys, I love this, I love those stories and the songs but don’t get me wrong… I don’t know how to wake up. Even if I wanted to...”

Then they moved on to other songs of his taste, a few notes and passages from Dream Theater, his favorite band at the time, and his favorite ones from Maiden. He remained still as he wasn’t listening at all.

They were starting to get frustrated, so they took a break and Emily asked them to be patient. It wouldn’t happen like a miracle. It was a gradual process, maybe.

Before lunch time, they have to be out of there so next part of the ‘setlist’ had to be played out now. The part they had chosen the songs that had deep meaning to him and would have a bigger chance to provoke some kind of emotions more easily.

Jess sat on the couch and placed her old keyboard on the legs so she could play it right and could reach the pedal. Her hands were shaking and her mouth was dry. She wondered why she was so nervous about playing a simple piece for her closest friends, for Jimmy. She had faced much bigger and intimidating crowds before, demanding piano teachers, lots of hard music tests and she never hesitated once. She was always sure of one thing in her life, music. And now, when she needed the most, she was failing at it for unknown reasons.

“Hey, babe, you don’t need to do this if you’re not ready. You should rest your wrists a few more days, don’t you think?” Emily approached her friend discreetly and she saw how anxious she still was.

“No, I… I wanna do this, Emily. I need to do this for Jimmy.”

“Alright, so you should do it. Just pretend you’re alone and play for yourself. Music is supposed to be a delight, not a struggle.”

Emily kissed her friend’s cheek and smiled sweetly, giving her assurance. Jess breathed as heavily as she could, looked over her shoulder one last time towards Jimmy’s figure and started Clair de Lune, by Debussy. Emily asked her to play that song cause she knew it connected them from day one.

She sat beside him and held his hand again while the girls and Brian gave a step back, just watching how it would go. Jess was playing beautifully, like she had never stopped.

“Remember the first time I woke up on you bed? You didn’t want to wake me but you missed me, so you played it beautifully as I was asleep. You were shirtless, your hair was messed up in a perfect way and when I looked at that view, I thought it was the best way I could ever wake up. I asked Jess to play this one to show you how much we miss you, Jimmy. Come back to us. Wake up like I did. Please.” When Emily finished her whispered speech, she felt a spasm of his pinkie on her hand and her eyes went wide. She waited anxiously for more responses throughout the song but… nothing came after that.

Jimmy relived that morning with Emily as she was telling the story and he felt so much better than before. The first night they spend together was memorable to him too, for reasons he wasn’t aware of, but maybe it was just because she was there. Completely there with him. She wasn’t thinking about any other thing or any other person. Neither was he.

“Oh fuck, I just moved my finger. Can I do that again?”

Brian couldn’t help but remember he could never wake up next to Emily as being a real couple before. She was never his. And now it seemed, it felt she would never be his. His jealous kept eating his guts throughout the entire song but he managed to hide from the others.

Mei and Kim were shaken up. That song had affected them a lot, in a positive way. It was nice to see Jess playing that good again, it could only help her gain back her confidence. And it was good to be there witnessing that moment, their united effort to bring their beloved friend back to life. Even if it wasn’t working out the way they wanted, they were trying at least.

When Jess finished, Kim and Mei had to hold their hands hard not to clap to their friend and not to make too much noise. After all, they were at a hospital room. Emily tried hard not to cry, standing up and going slowly towards Brian and the girls, while Jess also came along.

“He… he moved his finger in my hand, guys. Like he was… like he was trying to hold it but had no strength. Just when I finished talking and the climax of the song went on. Now I’m more than sure he can hear us. He can hear us!” Emily was pouring excitement over her eyes and everybody had their hopes higher now, smiling at her.

“I wanna try that one I showed you once, Emily. The last time we wrote something together for the new album… Maybe it might work?” Brian’s eyes shone to Emily for the first time in that morning.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. I still remember the rhythm, let’s do it.” Emily stretched her hands and fingers, they got their guitars back on and she waited for Brian’s clue to get in the song.

Brian didn’t tell any stories like in the other times, he just played the first chord with so much intensity that the room went silent at the same time. Jess, Mei and Kim noticed how his expression went darker and he didn’t dare to take his eyes off his guitar this time. They felt like that song was quite meaningful to him. And he truly touched all their hearts with those sad notes as they imagined Jimmy filling in the silent parts with his skillful drumming.

Jimmy remembered by the first note the exact same day they were working on that song. It happened just a few days before he met Emily.

“Hey, I just went to pick up a beer and you already wrote another one, genius?” I walked back to Brian’s living room with two beers, handled one to him and sat back on my drums. Sweat was dripping from everywhere, we’ve been jamming for the entire afternoon nonstop.

“No, this one is… not for the album. It’s something else…” Brian’s eyes dropped to the floor and he stopped playing. Suddenly, his energy went completely down the drain.

“Hmm, who’s the lucky sweetheart this time?” I tried to joke to get the mood back but he only gave it a slight chuckle.

“No, it’s not about a girl. It’s… it’s for my grandpa.” He looked down his guitar and started to caress it, taking the dust from the body and cleaning the strings with his fingers. “I’m a little stuck on some parts...”

His grandpa had passed away a few months ago and he hadn’t showed any new ideas for us since then. We could tell he was struggling.

“Oh…” I sighed and drank my beer. I wasn’t sure what to say next but maybe I didn’t have to say anything. Maybe he needed to play those emotions out in that song instead of talking. “Do you wanna work on it? The chords are very deep, I think the guys will like it.”

“Nah… I don’t know if this song is right for us, you know? I’m trying to write the lyrics and I never did that before so… well It’s private, it’s not like I want to show it to the world.”

“Okay, but… Can I help you with the rhythm at least? There are some fill-ins that came to me in a click while you were playing, I think you’re gonna like it.”

After that, he took a deep breath and seemed more excited to keep working on it. That was probably the last time we sat on his house and wrote a whole song together. Or had a friendly talk at all.


But now he was playing more than what we had done that day. He was fingering the chords, I could tell he had dropped the pick. Emily stopped playing the rhythm and only his fingered strings were sounding through the room. My mind started to imagine what kind of beat I should create for that singular part and I managed to play it like I was seating on my drums inside my head. It could be something really subtle and well-paced, like… like a snare playing on a military march. Then… it could explode in something bigger, with the focus still on the very melodic lines he created. There wasn’t space for show-off drum solos. Not on this one.
Wow… I need to play again. I need to finish this song with him…

Emily gulped hard and looked to the girls, pointing to Jimmy’s fingers with her head. They were tapping the mattress like he was creating some kind of rhythm. They stood up quickly and walked to his bed to see it closer. Their smiles lived again. Brian was so focused on the song he didn’t even notice what was happening. He just went on until the song was over.

“Well… that’s all I have so far.” He breathed heavily and placed his guitar aside. Emily made a sign for the girls not to say anything yet. He probably had a story to tell then. “Remember when you helped me with this one? I was stuck on it for months and you didn’t question if we were working on it for our next album or pushed me to show it to the others. You just sat on your drums and helped me get the best out of this notes I had in my mind. It felt so right when you played it with me that, from that day on, I started to work on the lyrics in a good flow and last night I might have finished it. But I still need to fix a few verses and…” his voice broke down a little and he cleared his throat. “…I need you to write this with me, Jim, I know you must have so many crazy ideas to show to the world yet. It just doesn’t feel right to keep writing songs with the guys or anything without one of us there. It’s just meaningless without you, man…”

“I might be too far away for now but… I guess I’m not done yet. Right?”

When they felt Brian had finished talking to Jim, the girls came closer to him and patted his shoulders and he stood up quickly, trying to avoid every eye contact he could and every pitiful feeling that came along but Emily’s. When their eyes met, she nodded slightly with a smile bigger on her eyes than on her lips, in appreciation for coming along and getting involved with that entire thing. It had never worked that out without him, she thought.

She was more than sure that that was the right way to Jimmy’s heart now. They were reaching him.

Could they bring him back?

Notes

Ohhh I've been thinkin about this chapter for sooo looongg :3 hard to come up with but worth the effort, I enjoy writing it a looot!! And I enjoyed listening to the orgasmic instrumental tracks of Nightmare again, goooooddd its fuckin awesome, that Natural Born Killer bridge, daaamn, that's possibly the most beautiful line they ever wrote like...ever! hahaha xD

Well... anyway... I hope u girls enjoyed this one, a little bit bigger than I expected but yeah =p
Oh and... I hope u heard the song while reading :P Maybe the effects are not only on Jimmy's brain, you know... ;)

<3

NOTE OF CLARIFICATION

The scene I wrote, that involved a few practices of Music Therapy with comatose patients, it's not really a therapeutic process per se. On college, we learn that music is therapeutic for human beings when they listen to it to relax, or feel better after a bad day, but ITS NOT the real therapeutic process without the intervention of a music therapist or a capacitated professional. On my story, the characters are musicians, they are not capacitated or have the knowledge to make the right use of music in a healing bias. They are only using their instincts here to help their friend so, its not MUSIC THERAPY itself, it's just musicians performing to an ill friend.