Try Not to Breathe Read Online Free PDF Page A

imagine playing a sport, such as tennis.”
    “And can all the patients do this?”
    “No, and it’s really sad when you see that all the lights are out. But on the other hand, you can’t imagine the sheer joy of seeing a supposedly vegetative brain light up and show imagination, memory and willingness to take part. And you see, Alex, that’s what I’m in this for.”
    “So can you tap into any of their original ideas and memories or just watch them reacting to stimuli?”
    “Well, here is the really exciting stuff, especially for the patients’ families. Once we establish a number of different parts of the brain and how to generate a response in those, we can start to ask questions and tell them to imagine playing tennis for ‘yes,’ or lying in warm water for ‘no.’ Essentially, they can have a conversation with us, albeit a simple one.”
    “That’s incredible. So can all the patients that show this cognitive function communicate like this?”
    “Sadly not; in fact, very few can, but the more we understand about the process, the more we can help the others.”
    Alex bit her lip and the tingle of blood helped to focus her mind. “Peter, I’d like to ask about a specific patient of yours. When I was last in the ward, I noticed that you were treating Amy Stevenson.”
    She glanced at his face for signs of a reaction, but he remained impassive.
    “I’m the same age as Amy,” Alex continued, “and I grew up here, so I remember her abduction really vividly. I feel bad admitting it but I had forgotten all about her.”
    “That’s perfectly normal,” the doctor said abruptly, “all life can possibly do is move on around these patients.”
    “Well, yes, I suppose…But when I left here the other day, I couldn’t stop thinking about Amy and her situation. I’d really like to write a follow-up piece on her case and I’d love to ask you or your staff some questions about her story.”
    Alex held her breath.
    “That wouldn’t be a problem in theory.” He paused, looking briefly at the door. “There are lots of limitations on what my staff could tell you about Amy, though; she’s protected by confidentiality like any other patient.”
    “I’m not interested in muckraking or upsetting her family. In fact, if you’ve got contact details for her parents, I’d really like to talk with them too.”
    Dr. Haynes fixed his eyes on Alex. Tilting his head slightly quizzically, he said: “Amy doesn’t have any family.”
    Alex sat back in her chair. She had hoped the hospital staff would act as a go-between and give her a leg up with the relatives.
    “I remember her mother on the news though. What happened to her?”
    Peter stood up suddenly so that the wheels of his chair squawked sharply.
    “Her mother died some years ago, not long after Amy was attacked. Maybe a year…”
    “Oh…Oh I’m sorry,” Alex said, offering condolences to no one. “What about the stepfather?”
    “I have no idea. But if you’d been accused of trying to kill your stepdaughter, would you stick around?”
    The doctor was blunt, but he was absolutely right, precious few families could survive having a child torn from them, much less like that.
    “Would you be able to pass my details to her next of kin?” Alex asked, reaching into her bag for a business card.
    “Amy doesn’t really have a next of kin. She’s the responsibility of the hospital trust and, ultimately, the local authority.”
    The more Alex learned, the more crushed she felt. Amy had been a normal, healthy teenage girl, walking back from school to her family home.
    “God, this is just so sad,” Alex blurted. “I suppose you become desensitized to these sorts of details in your job?”
    Peter Haynes was edging closer to his door, work clearly on his mind, but he seemed affronted. “I don’t think you become desensitized. I haven’t anyway. There are weeks I want to lock myself in my office and not face them.
    “You keep things in boxes though. You