The head nurse, like all of the nurses on her ward, 
always thought that the day it happened would be such a happy 
day.  Out of all of the patients that rolled in and out of ICU, 
Andrew Ikeda, or AYI, as he was called, was their favorite.  
This was for a variety of reasons.  First, his family was amazing.  
They all clearly cared about him AND still managed to be nice to
the nurses.  In fact, when the new nurse on the wing had to work 
through her birthday to deal with complications related to AYI, 
the family threw her a party the next day.  That kind of response 
was not nearly as common as it should be.

	Second, and there was no denying this, AYI was HOT!  Black
hair that fell in his face, a well-defined body, a few well placed 
scars...he looked like the original bad boy.  Unfortunately, as he 
hadn't opened his eyes in the thirty days he'd been in the hospital, 
no one was sure what color his eyes were. But somehow, that didn’t 
matter.  Brown or blue or hazel, everyone was sure that it would 
just be icing on his “total package” cake.

	But, the real pull toward AYI was the story behind what 
got him in the hospital in the first place.  No one talked about 
the accident, but it was a doozy.  His life-story was a Lifetime
movie in the making, if he would just wake up.

	No one really wanted to think about what would happen if the
young man never woke up.

	But the day he did was not the dream for which everyone
had hoped.  In fact, it was more of a nightmare, especially for 
Head Nurse Gretchen Michaels.

	Gretchen had been late to her shift that day.  Her sister 
had called and rambled on, rather selfishly, about pointless stuff 
in her life.  While Gretchen tried to talk and get ready at the same 
time, she managed to stub her toe, pour hot coffee down her front, 
and scrape her leg.  Three outfit changes and one pointless phone 
conversation later, Gretchen walked onto the floor to an argument 
between Alia and Bahavani, the newest nurse.  It appeared that 
Bahavani's motherhad taken a turn for the worse and she had put her 
up in a rival hospital.  Alia, in part because of her work with the 
administration, was screaming at Bahavani for that choice.  But that 
was just the beginning.

	It was that day that Doctor Blake decided to suggest that 
the family remove AYI from life support.  That, of course, did not
go over well with the parents.  Alexandria Washington-Ikeda was
near hysterics scant minutes after the interview.  Mitsuru Ikeda
was extremely cold in his own right.  Whatever Dr. Blake had said,
it wasn't good, which wasn't surprising to Gretchen.  After all, 
Gretchen had been there when the "great doctor" told some poor 
accident victim that they saved her but that was the only miracle 
she was going to get.  The doctor could be amazingly insensitive and 
seemed to take issue with having to help anyone, especially the boy 
in the hospital bed.

	So, before noon, Gretchen had to deal with a mini-war between 
the nurses on the floor and distraught and agitated parents.  Although 
she would never admit it if asked, she had prayed that AYI would stay 
asleep one more day, if only to allow everyone to calm down.  When she 
saw the frantic call signal from his room at one that afternoon, she 
knew she wasn't going to like the answer that she got to her prayer.

	As with all the other nurses on the floor, she rushed to 
the door of the room, noticing that Alexandria was in their midst 
as well.  She heard the women cry out to her son and her husband, 
her fear evident.

	It may have been better if her husband had answered her 
right away,but he had turned back to the bed to hear something that 
AYI had whispered.  The look of confusion on his face as he answered 
was the last straw for Dr. Washington-Ikeda. She pushed through the 
nursing staff in the room until she reached her husband's side.

	Gretchen sighed as she looked over all the confusion.  Damn, 
she needed a vacation.  NOW!

	"Okay everyone.  This confusion helps no one.  Let's all 
calm down and check on the viability of our patient."

This Side of Living
Living Flat on Your Back - Chapter 2

	If the young man thought he was confused before the fainting 
spell after he woke up, the commotion in the room now made his first 
moments of awareness seem almost crystal clear.  He didn't understand 
why he was in a hospital.  He didn't understand why Koemna was calling 
him Andrew.  He didn't know who that strange dark woman with Koto's 
voice was.  He didn’t know why everything was in English and not 
Japanese.  And that not knowing was pissing him off.

	"Mitsuru," the dark woman insisted of Koemna when she got 
close to him, "what is it?  What's wrong with him?"

	The older Koemna sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  
"Maybe Blake was right."

	That obviously wasn't the right answer for the female who 
asked the question as her eyes narrowed.  "What do you mean?" she 
demanded.

	"He doesn't know who Andrew is.  That's what I mean." Older 
Koemna sighed again.  "At best, he's got amnesia.  I'd rather not 
think about the 'at worst'.  Not just yet."

	"No," the woman whispered in denial, although her voice didn't 
stay quiet for long.  "No!  I don't believe it.  He does not have 
amnesia.  My little boy hasn't forgotten who he is!  He hasn't!"

	At that point, it seemed that the woman with the demon 
announcer's voice started to cry, but he really couldn't tell as he 
was surrounded by nurses, who started to poke him and look at the 
various machines in the room.  He wanted to object, to complain.  He 
wanted to scream at someone to remove the damn tube in the back 
of his throat, but he couldn't seem to force the words out.  He wanted
to shoot off a spirit gun blast, if for no other reason than feel as
if he had some control.

	As he laid in the bed, surrounded by nursing and objecting 
to their actions in his head, he saw one of the nurses go over to the 
Koemna/Koto couple.  He was able to see her nametag for a split 
second, and, although it was clearly not his native Japanese, he could 
read the name Gretchen on it.  This Gretchen blocked his view of 
Koemna and the hysterical woman with him, but he could still hear the 
three of them in conversation.

	"Dr. Washington-Ikeda, Mr Ikeda.  I realize that you are both 
upset, but we promise to do what we can for Andrew." 

	"What is wrong with him?  He can barely speak!" Koemna 
asked, obviously not happy with the what was happening.

	"Mr. Ikeda, until we can get some readings done, we won't
know-"

	But whatever Gretchen was going to say was interrupted when 
Koto's voice objected, "Oh, hell no!" she shouted as she pushed 
Gretchen aside.  

	Suddenly, Yusuke could see the agitated dark toned woman again, 
but her gaze was not focused on him but on someone on the other side
of his bed.  Following her gaze, he saw her looking at a nurse 
who was fumbling dangerously with a needle.  He suddenly became
very nervous.

	"Who the hell is that?!" the gaijin female shouted as
she pointed to the nurse with the needle.  "She's incompetent!
There is no way she's sticking anything into my son."

	'I'm not sure who her son is,' Yusuke thought, 'but I 
agree with her on this.  I don't want her sticking me with
anything, either.' Apparently, luck was on his side, as another
nurse took her place.  It was amazing that all of that happened 
over the woman's ranting.  Whoever she was, she was barely 
holding it together.

	Just to make everything more surreal, at that moment 
another raised voice could be heard from the hallway.  "He's 
my brother.  You cannot keep me out of that room," the voice 
asserted before footsteps were heard.

	'Sakyo?' Yusuke thought in surprise.  'It can't be!
He died when he blew up the stadium.'  But, a few seconds later,
Yusuke’s eyes cooperated with him enough for him to see Sakyo 
standing in the doorway of his room.  It was definitely Sakyo, 
right down to the scar over his right eye.  Now Yusuke was really 
confused.

	The older Koemna also seemed to recognize him.  "Samuel! 
Thank God.  Here," he said as he pushed ranting women into Sakyo's 
arms.  "Take your mother into a waiting room and calm her down.  
She's on the verge of collapse."

	"What?!" the woman objected.  "I'm not leaving.  I'm not.  
That's my son!" 

	It seemed that no one was listening to her as Sakyo gently 
dragged her out of the room as she shouted, "If anything happens 
to my son, anything at all, I swear I'll sue.  I'll sue this hospital 
into the ground.  Don't you kill him.  Don't you dare-” Whatever else 
she shouted disappeared in her sobs.

	In all of the strangest of this situation, watching this 
hysterical woman reminded Yusuke of his mother’s reaction when he 
died, or at least when he died the first time.  Admittedly, the 
strange female wasn’t drinking or cursing, but she was about as 
upset as his mother had been.  Who was she?  What the hell was 
going on?

	Koemna sighed as he turned to Gretchen. "You'll let us 
know, as soon as you know anything.  Anything at all," he ordered.  

	The surprised woman just nodded.

	As Koemna began to leave the room, Yusuke managed to call 
out "Wait!" in a depressingly weak voice.  And in English.  Again.

	Koemna managed to hear the cry and turn around.  Seeing 
the young man reach out to him from the bed seemed to affect the 
ruler of Spirit World in a strange way.  As he began to tear up he 
said, "We'll help you.  I promise.  We will be there to help you in 
any way you need.  I'll be back.  Just rest and let these ladies
look after you."  After a pause, Koemna quietly said, "I love you."
Then he turned on his heel and left the room.

	So as Yusuke lay there, in a constant state of confusion 
and pain, he wasn't sure what to think.  He could barely talk, 
couldn’t move, and couldn’t make sense out of anything.  He wasn’t 
sure why everything was in a foreign language or why Koemna was so 
worried or why Sayko was alive.  And he also wasn't sure why the 
sight of those strange people comforted him in some strange
way, as if, somewhere deep inside, he knew who they were.

	Why did nothing seem to fit right?

- to be continued –