Chapter 52
The voice inside the room jerked me awake. Slowly, my heavy eyes fluttered open. I found myself staring straight at the pretty face of a young woman in her mid-twenties. She saw my head move, making her eyes widen in shock.
“I'll call the nurse to inform them you're finally awake,” the woman breathlessly said before skittering to the door, leaving me alone inside the cold and quiet room.
While waiting for her to return, my eyes surveyed my surroundings. The low ceiling was painted white, and so were the walls. Although the room was small, it was clean and neat. The presence of various medical apparatus told me I was in a hospital.
It was still unclear how I ended up there and what exactly happened to me, but the woman must have been the one who brought me here. I didn’t recognize her, though.
I willed myself to get up, but the sudden surge of pain across my chest stopped me. “Arghhh!” Wincing, my head fell back on the bed while tears stung my eyes.
The pain took too long to disappear, so I just lay down with my eyes firmly closed and waited for the pain to subside. When the pain eased, I opened my eyes.
The hurried footsteps in the hallway reached my ears, and it wasn’t long before the door burst open, and the young woman returned to the room. Following behind her was the doctor, accompanied by a nurse.
The doctor and the nurse immediately examined my vitals. As they did so, the doctor asked me yes or no questions, which I answered by shaking or nodding my head.
When the doctor finished, he talked to the young woman. Their voices were low, and I couldn't understand their conversation, so I stopped trying to figure out what they were talking about.
The nurse and the doctor left the room to visit other patients, and the young woman came to me. “I’m glad you’re finally awake,” she told me, relief shining in her bright blue eyes as she sat down on the chair beside the bed. “You’ve been unconscious for a week now,” she added while touching my cold hand with her warm fingers.
One week? My lips parted in shock, but no words emerged. How could that possibly happen? I asked myself, forcing myself to recall the past events that led me to this hospital, but despite trying, I failed to remember anything.
“I found you washed ashore near where our house was located. You suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and a cut on your head. I’m not sure how you acquired your injuries, but I immediately brought you here to a public hospital. You almost died. The doctor managed to revive you in time,” the woman explained. This time, her fingers tightened around my hand as though she was trying to comfort me.
Silence lapsed inside the room as though the woman was giving me time to digest the information in my head.
After a long moment of silence, the woman continued, “May I have your name? Do you know your home address? Do you have any relatives? Is there someone we could call to inform you about your condition?” The words were spoken gently, and yet I stared at her in shock after realizing I couldn’t answer her questions. But what bothered me most was not knowing my name, as though my memory had been wiped clean.
Who am I?
Panic surged through me. Thinking hard, I forced myself to remember, but nothing came to mind. My mind felt like an empty vacuum.
My head began to pound, and a headache seemed to split my head in two from forcing myself to remember anything.
With panic-stricken eyes, I looked at the woman. “I—I don’t remember a thing,” I replied in a barely audible whisper. My hand went to my head in exasperation.
“The doctor said so,” the young woman replied sympathetically. “He informed me that you might be experiencing temporary amnesia due to the injury to your head. Don’t worry about it now; I’m sure you’ll remember something soon.” She assured me, but it didn’t help me calm down.
My family might be looking for me now, I thought to myself in growing panic. They might be very worried that I suddenly disappeared without a trace.
“I checked the newspaper every day and even browsed online looking for a notice of a missing woman, but your face wasn’t on the list.”
The information made my heart sink. It seemed I didn’t have a family at all. They would likely be looking for me if I had one. But in this case, no one had been searching for me, so I could only assume I had no family or perhaps my parents had passed away a long time ago, and I was an only child.
“Don’t strain yourself by thinking too much,” the woman told me. My gaze went to her face, and she smiled at me gently. “What’s important is that you’re alive.”
“Are you feeling hungry?” the woman asked, trying to divert my attention away from my worries.
“I don’t feel like eating now,” I replied.
“That’s okay. You can eat later. Just rest for now so you can recover from your injuries quickly.” She squeezed my hands and adjusted the pillow on my head.
“Also, don’t force yourself to remember everything. Your memories will return in time,” she said reassuringly.
What if they don’t? A faint voice inside my head asked. I immediately silenced my doubts, knowing they wouldn’t help me now.
I closed my eyes and realized how heavy they were.
Indeed, I needed some rest, I thought to myself as I acknowledged how tired my body was.
My surroundings swayed, and I felt like a child lulled back to sleep. I no longer fought to stay awake. Instead, I let the wave carry me to the place it would take me.
As I slowly drifted into dreamland, a question reverberated in my head.
Who am I?
Unfortunately, the question would remain a mystery until I recovered my memory.