Amnesia

Chapter 1

What's going on?

Where am I?

As I slowly come to, I realize that my eyes are heavy with pain. I open them only to be met with a blurred reality. After a few minutes, the room comes into focus and I see where I am. I'm in a small room. A hospital room. It wasn't until I felt this overwhelming sting in my arm that I looked down and saw that there were tubes coming out of me.

What happened to me?

As I really became aware of my surroundings, it hits me just how bad my head really hurts. It's as if I've been trampled on dozens of times by a stampede of raging bulls that saw my head as something red. Though the pain is almost unbearable, I can't help but notice a man probably middle-aged with a five o'clock shadow sitting across from me, no more than 5 feet away, asleep in a chair. I gather that he has barely left my side for more than a few minutes at a time because coffee cups, candy wrappers, and basically whatever you can find in a vending machine, clutters the area around him. Unsure who this man is, I attempt to get out of the bed to find out why I'm here.

Why am I in so much pain? Who is that man? Most importantly, who am I?

These are the questions that I demanded answers to and I wanted them now. When I try to move my whole body aches. I contemplate pushing through the pain to stand on my feet, but I decide against it because I fear that I will be too weak to hold myself up. So instead I rely on my voice to call for assistance.

"Hello?" I just barely breathe out. I wait a few seconds for a response but am met with none. I try again.
"Hello?!" My throat burns. If I wasn't heard that time I may be stuck until someone came to check on me. Or worse... that man woke up. I can't quite explain it but it was something about him that seemed familiar but also gave a weird feeling that I couldn't shake. I was in no rush for an introduction. I just wanted him gone. Until I find out who he is, the longer he stayed asleep the better.

They must have heard me call out because nurses burst through the door moments after. The first one glanced at the tubes sticking out of me and then, I assume, checked my body for progress in healing because she began examining bruised parts of my body that I didn't even feel. Another administered something into my IV while keeping her eyes on my vitals and that seemed to take the edge off. But the last nurse appeared a little more concerned than the others. Though it only lasted a few seconds, she looks at me in way that felt different. She reads my chart and explains that the doctor will be in shortly with a rundown of everything.

I thought they'd never leave but finally, the first two did. The last nurse seemed as though she was going to stay and wait for the doctor but received a beep from her pager. When she looked up, we lock eyes and I can feel that she wants to say something more but doesn't. She slowly leaves the room leaving me alone with the man. With all the commotion, he is up from the chair and wide awake. He begins walking to the foot of my bed, while resting his hands on the frame, he stares at me intently. I watch his eyes jump back and forth between mine with the only sound being that of my heartbeat increasing by the minute, drumming into my ears. Not wanting to prompt him to say something, I look away from his gaze.

Who is this man?

Luckily for me my discomfort didn't last much longer because the doctor finally comes in and he says, "Hi, how are you feeling Jordan?" I quickly glanced at the man still staring at me for some form of comfort but saw none. Looking back at the doctor, I muster a whispered voice and ask,

"Who is Jordan?"