A Little Excerpt

Levi Cranston was getting wheeled into the operating room. He had no idea why he would even need an operation. Apparently the surgeon wanted to perform an open heart surgery just because he was diagnosed with a heart murmur when he was eight years old. He is now almost twenty-five years old, so why would he need that surgery now? Levi was very dumbfounded to the point that he couldn't even think anymore.

He was half-awake and so oblivious of his surroundings. He knew he would be under during this operation so he wouldn't need to worry too much about how painful it would be. Levi just stared at the ceiling while being wheeled in. He somehow found it fascinating to watch paint dry. Since the ceiling was just recently painted.

When Levi was finally in the operating room, he felt very cold all of a sudden. He has been in the operating room before, when he had his tonsils taken out when he was almost fourteen, and when he had his appendix taken out in college. And he could not remember the room being this cold. And there was jazzy music being played in the background. This was definitely new.

"You okay, Levi?" Dr. Daniels asked.
"Why am I here? I don't have any heart problems," Levi replied.
"You were diagnosed with a heart murmur when you were eight."
"I know that."
"And you were diagnosed with asthma when you were five," Dr. Daniels remarked.
"Yes. I also know that," Levi said. He was way more than tempted to take the oxygen tubes out of his nose and run as quickly as he could.
"You didn't always take care of your asthma, and we believe that negatively impacted your heart." "Oh, bullsh-"
"I'm sorry, but we do need to perform this operation."
"Fine. I give up."

Levi couldn't escape anyway, as his wrists and ankles were cuffed, causing him trouble if he tried to escape. Dr. Daniels put the sticky EKG pads on Levi's chest. He started to listen to the steady beeping sound that came from the monitor. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him, and he thought this was a total crock. He just stayed and listened to his heart rate skyrocket once he knew he had to go into surgery.

At 3:09 in the morning, on Friday September 2nd, 2016, Levi woke up. He was sleeping on his stomach, and when he woke up, he rolled over on his back. He was not wearing a shirt, but he had on his plaid shorts from the night before. Levi had absolutely no idea what had happened. He must have woken up from a rather scary dream.

Levi took his phone off the night stand and turned on the built-in flashlight. He decided to shine the light over his chest to see if he had a scar there. He had absolutely no scar. Not much chest hair either. He just saw his bare chest and his belly button.

While his chest was exposed, Levi put his left hand on his chest and felt for his heartbeat. He didn't think there was anything wrong with him, aside from the fact that he does have a slight heart murmur that means no harm, and he also has asthma. His steady pulse gently rocked his hand. It was a little fast, but that was just because of the weird dream he must have had. As far as he knew, everything with him was normal.

"Levi?" Mackenzie asked in her sleep. She is one of Levi's three roommates. Jack and Asad were probably still asleep in their room.
"Yeah?" Levi replied, quite relieved that Mackenzie must have known what was going on.
"What happened?"
"I had a bad dream that I was getting open heart surgery."
"That's weird," Mackenzie remarked, moving herself closer to him.
"I never had open heart surgery, did I?" Levi asked, really confused himself.
"I don't think so, no."
"I've never had a dream like that in ages."
"So would you like a cuddle buddy?"
"Absolutely."

Mackenzie was wearing her night clothes, consisting of a baby pink t-shirt and purple athletic shorts. She moved herself closer to Levi. He was now on his right side, so she wrapped her left arm around his side. She put her hand on Levi's chest so that she could feel his heart beating. And Levi put his hand over Mackenzie's hand so that he could also feel his own heart beating.