After a few minutes, Meir finally calmed down enough to stand.

  He’s awake. He’s awake. The thought kept looping through his mind. His eyes landed on the glass bottle, still half full of amber liquid on the desk, and he locked it away in disgust.

  He drained what remained of the water bottle, savoring the soothing feeling in his throat.

  His eyes lit with determination. We need to go meet him. He thought, and quietly padded to Michael’s room, where he knew Lital was sleeping, a smile slowly spreading on his lips.

  He stepped into his room for the first time in over half a year as Cassie raised her head and looked at him, then lay back down.

  “Tal… Wake up.” He whispered as he shook her gently.

  Lital’s eyes fluttered open as the bitter scent of whiskey on Meir’s breath stung her nose. It took her eyes a few moments to focus.

  “Meir? Wha’s 'ong?” she mumbled in confusion through half lidded eyes. He never entered this room ever since…

  “I just got a call from the hospital.” He answered, and his smile grew.

  The hospital? Lital’s sleep-addled mind struggled to process his words, why would he smile af-

  “He woke up, Tal.” Meir shook her shoulders, “Mickey’s awake.” Cassie raised her head, ears pointed straight ahead.

  His words landed, but her brain lagged, refusing to assemble them into sense.

  “Mickey’s awake.” He repeated with a whisper, and finally his words pierced through the sleep fog like a bolt of lightning.

  She tried to sit up too fast; stars flashed in her eyes as Meir stifled a curse, reeling back.

  “Oh God, Meir! I’m so sorry.” Lital whispered while rubbing her forehead and noticed a dark trickle appear on his lips.

  “’s fine.” Meir grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose and tilting his head back. “Not your fault.”

  “He’s awake?” She asked with breathy disbelief, and Cassie moved over to lick her face.

  Meir nodded, and she wrapped her arms around him.

  After a few quiet minutes, Meir headed over to the bathroom to take care of his nose, while Lital went to Noga’s room with Cassie trailing along.

  Lital tried to open the door, but she realized it was still locked.

  “Noga?” Lital called, knocking on the door, “Wake up. We need to go.”

  Noga opened her eyes and looked around, her body stiff from the awkward position she slept in on the floor.

  “Mom?” Noga asked, and winced when she let go of her Lion, the fur pulling at her scabbed over wounds.

  “Come on Noga, open the door. We need to get to the hospital.” Her mother said through the door.

  Why do we need to go to the hospital? Noga thought, her heart started to race, It’s too soon. They said it will happen next week.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked shakily.

  “Get dressed. Mickey’s awake.” Her mother answered.

  Noga’s eyes widened as those words scattered away the final dregs of her sleep.

  He’s awake? He’s back?! She jumped to her feet and rushed to the door.

  “Is he really awake?” she asked as she turned the key.

  “The hospital called earlier. They said he was communicating, and that they’ll tell him we’re coming.” Her mother answered, and she tried to open the door, but it remained closed.

  She tried to turn the key again, but it was turning freely, without unlocking the door.

  Come on! She pulled on the door, but it remained stubbornly locked.

  “Cobe od Nok, oben the door.” Her father said.

  Why does he sound like that? Noga thought, “I can’t. I think it broke. The key’s turning, but nothing’s happening.” She said, slapped the door to no effect.

  Lital and Meir traded glances, and Lital nodded.

  “Hold Cassie back. Noga, bove to the side and tell be when you’re ready.”

  Noga stepped away into the room, “Okay, now what?” Before she could even finish her question, she heard her father grunt, and then the door flew open, the lock splintering the door frame.

  She jumped back in surprise, and her parents’ eyes widened as they laid eyes on her.

  “Nog… What happened to you?” Her mother asked with a shocked whisper.

  Noga tilted her head, “What do you mean?”

  “Your face… Your hair… Your hands… Why are you covered in blood?” Her mother asked, as Cassie ran over and started sniffing around her.

  Noga looked down at her hands, feeling her hair pulling at her scalp. “Oh…”

  “Oh?” Her father asked as he approached, “Noga, what happened?”

  She showed them her hands, “I got scratched, it’s nothing serious. Let’s go, Mickey’s waiting.” She said and moved to leave the room.

  “Stop. That’s not ‘nothing’. Let’s clean that up first.” Her mother said, concern hardening her tone, and Noga deflated.

  Why do you even care? Noga thought with a tired sigh, “There’s no time.”

  “If anything changes, the hospital will call us. Think about what would happen if your brother saw you like this.” her mother said.

  “And what about him?!” Noga growled, pointing at her father, “He looks like he ran into a wall, and can barely even stand!”

  Her father opened his mouth to argue, but her mother silenced him with a glance.

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  “Noga’s right, go get cleaned up, and maybe take Cassie out for a quick walk.” Her mother said with a stern tone.

  “Bu-“ Noga and Meir tried to argue together, but Lital raised a hand to stop them.

  “No. I want to go and see Mickey just as badly as you two, but we can’t show up like this. Let’s trust that now that he’s awake, he’ll stay that way.” She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot.

  Meir’s shoulders slumped, and he stepped over the remnants of the door, “I’ll fix this when we’re back.” He said on his way out.

  In. out. In. out.

  The pace set by the ventilator was raw torture.

  Despite trying to maintain the pace, I kept trying to breathe slower. Deeper.

  I might have been able to do it if there was no Aether, but its rejuvenating presence kept tempting me to try and breath it in, but the mechanical breaths forced by the infernal machine prevented me from absorbing it.

  The door opened, and I saw Sarah entering again to check on me.

  TUBE. OUT. I tried to blink at her again as she approached with a concerned frown on her face.

  “95bpm, and O2 sats at 91%... Mickey, you need to stop fighting with the vent.” She said, and I repeated the same message.

  TUBE. OUT.

  “Do you want another dose, to make it easier for now?” She asked, and I shook my head as hard as I could, though the effort only resulted in some small side to side twitches.

  TUBE. OUT.

  I saw her eyes light up.

  “Are you trying to say something? Blink once for yes.”

  Blink.

  “Do you want more Midazolam?”

  Blink. Blink.

  “You have to breath with the vent, Mickey.”

  TUBE. OUT. I blinked again.

  “Is… that Morse?”

  Yes! Finally! I thought and tried to smile around the tube in my mouth.

  Blink.

  She poked her head out the door, “Esther, you wouldn’t know Morse code by any chance?”

  Whatever the answer was, I couldn’t hear it.

  “Okay, page Dr. Abramovich,” she said, then returned to me.

  “Mickey, did your parents teach you Morse?”

  Blink.

  A spark of hope lit up in her eyes.

  “Okay, they should be here soon, but I can call them and maybe they can help over the phone? Do you want me to call them?”

  Blink.

  I tried to sigh with gratitude, but the infernal machine shoved another breath down my throat.

  Meir was petting Cassie, trying to shake off the anxiousness he felt while Tal finished drying off Noga’s hair.

  His mobile phone started ringing, bringing him back to the Now.

  He hurriedly pulled it out of his pocket and nearly dropped it as his hands started shaking.

  “H-hello?” He asked hesitantly.

  “Meir? This is Sarah, I work at the Loewens-“

  “Is sobething wrong with Mickey?!” He asked, and Tal shut off the drier as her eyes turned to him.

  “Ah, no. We’re still waiting for the results of the CT. I’m calling because Mickey is having trouble syncing with the ventilator, and he refuses the sedatives. He seems to be trying to say something though. Using Morse. And when I asked if one of you would know it, he said yes. Maybe you could translate for us?”

  Meir straightened, and pantomimed pen and paper at Tal.

  “Tabbing or blinking?” He asked, immediately switching to comms mode.

  “Blinks.” Sarah answered.

  “What’s wrong?” Tal mouthed as she handed him a notepad and pencil.

  Meir blocked the mouthpiece, “It’s the hosbital. They think Mickey’s tryig to use Morse,” then removed his hand, “Sarah, this is ibortant: please confirb with him first if long blinks are dashes and normal blinks are dots.” He spoke clearly and waited.

  “Single blink. That means yes.”

  “Good. Before we start, confirm with him if anything longer than a normal blink should be a dash, and tell him that if he waits longer than two dashes without blinking, it will be counted as the next letter.”

  “He said yes.”

  “Okay, you can start.”

  “Dash. DotDotDash-“

  He listened, carefully noting down every word.

  “He says ‘TUBE. OUT. TOO. FAST.’” Meir said, “It sounds like he’s habing trouble with the bentilator.”

  “Mickey, we can’t take the vent out. We can’t be sure you can protect your airway yet.” He heard her speaking kindly to his son, “What do you mean by ‘too fast’?”

  “He just frowned and rolled hi- wait, he’s signing something else; DotDotDashDashDash-“

  Meir heard Noga rushing to her room, and the muted sound of the hair drier being turned on.

  “2 IN. 2 OUT. TOO FAST.’ Do you know what he means?” Meir asked.

  A new voice, this time male, “This is Dr. Abramovich speaking. That’s roughly the pace the vent is setting… Michael, I can’t get the tube out yet. Do you want to try a slower rate?”

  He switched the phone to speaker and placed it on the table.

  “He blinked once for yes, and now-“

  “That means ’4 IN. 6 OUT.’ I guess he wants a pace with a 4 second inhale and 6 exhale.”

  “That’s… Six breaths a minute, Michael. That’s very sl-“

  “DotDotDotDashDash-“ Sarah interrupted.

  “That means ‘3 IN. 5 OUT.’ Can you do that?”

  “Is Mickey really speaking?” Noga asked, startling Meir and Lital.

  “Seems like it.” Tal whispered and pulled Noga in for a hug.

  “Did you do it?” Meir finally asked.

  “… We can, bu-“

  “Doctor,” Tal interrupted with steel in her voice, “Based on what I heard so far, I’m going to assume that our son is completely awake and lucid. Therefore, if he makes a complaint I will side with him. If you want our signature to do it, you’ll need to satisfy yourself with oral consent for now. We will be there in about half an hour, and if this can make things easier for him, I will have you listen to his request.”

  Meir put a hand on Tal’s shoulder and pulled her close as they waited for the silence to break.

  “Very well. We’ll try adjusting the rate to what he asked and monitor his vitals closely. If his vitals continue to deteriorate, we’ll need to revert to the current settings and sedate him.”

  Tal glanced at Meir, and he nodded, “If his vitals deteriorate, Doctor, I expect you to do that.”

  They heard a few beeps, then silence.

  A minute passed, “Heart rate seems to be going down. O2 sats rising.”

  “He just started blinking again: Dash. DotDotDotDot-“

  “He said, ‘THANK YOU. BETTER.’”

  “That’s great to hear, Mickey. That’s what we’re he-“

  “Can you tell him that we’re on our way, and I missed him?” Noga interrupted.

  “Hello there. Who is this?” Sarah asked.

  “I’m Noga, his sister.”

  “Hear that, Mickey? Your sister says your family’s coming and she missed you.”

  “DashDash. DotDot. DotDotDot-“

  “He said ‘MISS YOU TOO. WAITING. SEE YOU SOON.’.” Meir translated, then his eyes widened as he processed the subtext. Lital’s hand squeezed his shoulder, and when he glanced at her, he could see on her face that she realized what was said too.

  He clenched his fists as his hands started to tremble.

  “We’ll be there in about half an hour. Please keep us updated about any changes.” Lital said, and they hung up after Sarah confirmed the request.

  “No-“ her father called as she jumped out of the car and slammed the door after her.

  She raced ahead through the entrance, and chose to skip the elevator, instead taking the stairs two at a time.

  She reached the nurses’ station on the third floor, breathing heavily.

  “My…” she struggled to breathe, “we got a call earlier, saying that my brother woke up.” She heaved.

  “Are you Noga?” a brown-haired nurse gave her a warm smile as she left a room, “I’m Sarah, it’s nice to meet you.” She said, her warm smile wrinkling the corners of her hazel eyes.

  “Yes! Can I see him?” she asked.

  Something in the air seemed to shift, like everything turned slightly green, but she screwed her eyes and shook her head, and when she looked again, the world returned to normal.

  Sarah signaled for her to follow.

  “Where are your parents?” she asked as they walked.

  “They’re downstairs.” Noga answered, “I just wanted to see him first.”

  Sarah opened the door to the room, “Mickey, Noga is here, and your parents are on their way.” She turned back to Noga, only to see that she stood frozen at the entrance.

  “Noga? Are you okay?” she asked.

  Noga shook her head, and forced her legs to move past the threshold into the Room and towards the Bed.

  Fwoooosh… tss-tchk…

  The ventilator was still stuck in her brother’s mouth, and he still had all those tubes.

  “M-Mickey?” she whispered past a lump that was forming in her throat.

  It’s still the same… She thought, but then his ice and moss eyes found her.

  His lips twitched as he tried to smile, and her vision grew blurry, but she could see the way the corners of his eyes would wrinkle as he smiled in her mind’s eye.

  She blinked away the tears and steadied herself with a breath as she approached her brother’s bedside for the first time in months.

  He looks so thin… she said as she put her hand in his.

  Twitch.

  She gasped as he responded to her touch, and he smiled around the tube again. Tears started flowing from his eyes.

  “Stupid!” she accused, and punched his shoulder slightly harder than she intended, causing the machine connected to her brother to beep.

  “Careful sweetie! Your brother’s still weak. That probably hurt.” Sarah said, rushing over to put a hand on her shoulder.

  Noga nodded, her sight blurring again, but she forced a smile on her face.

  “You need to smile if it hurts, that way the pain will pass faster.” She muttered and saw her brother smile around the tube in his mouth, and his hand twitched, trying to form a thumbs up.

  She hugged her brother, the dam of her tears finally breaking as the realization that Mickey was awake settled in her heart, lifting the darkness of the past months.

  “D-don’t y-you e‘er scare me like that again!” she sputtered through her tears.