The Focus Effect

Two

The first time I wake up, I can't move.  People dressed in blue suits with helmets are gathered around me.  I get the strange feeling that I'm being studied.  It feels like I'm taking my first breath.

There is something wrong with my eyes.  Everything I see is wrapped in either blue or gold threads of light.   Some of these lights are more like laser beams.  They streak through the room like shooting stars, sometimes getting absorbed by a person or object.  I should probably be afraid of these lights, but I'm not.  It seems odd more than anything.  Waking up surrounded by a bunch of strangers, now that's a bit scary.

It seems to surprise these people that I'm awake and there's a bit of commotion.  A woman with red bangs cut straight as an arrow frantically pushes keys on a laptop before a robotic arm whirls down from above to administer a shot to my arm.  I fall into dreamless sleep.

When I wake again, I'm restrained and sitting in a chair before a table with a glass of water on it.  The threads of light that I saw before have subsided but I still see streaks of blue and gold zip through the room every now and again.

The room is made of tinted glass so I can't see through to the other side.  I see the ragged reflection of a skinny girl with a shaved and bandaged head staring back at me.  It takes me a moment to realize that this girl is me.  I focus again on the glass of water.  I'm so thirsty. 

I realize for the first time that I'm nauseated and that I have been since waking up.  A buzzer sounds and I hear the whirl of a door as it swings open.  I see a figure in a blue suit enter behind me reflected in the tinted glass.  The person walks across the room and sits down at the table with me.  I think it's the woman with red hair from before.  My nausea is overwhelming.  I'm going to be sick.  Leaning to the side, I intend to throw up when I see a stainless steel bowl on the floor next to me.  Someone knew I wouldn't be feeling well.  The woman hurries over and holds the bowl for me.  A little water comes up but nothing else.  I feel a little bit better and nod to her that I'm finished.  She sets the bowl back down and holds the glass of water so I can sip it.  After I take a few drinks, she sits down opposite me.

I get right to the point.  "What's wrong with me?"

"We're not sure," she answers through a speaker on her helmet.

"Am I sick?"

"We don't think so.  But you can make other people sick."

I look around the room and see a streak of blue light shoot from the ceiling and disappear into the floor.  I want to cry and feel a knot tighten in my throat.  "What happened to me?  Where am I?  What is this place?"  I churn out questions.

"Let's start with your name.  Do you know that?" the woman asks calmly.

I shake my head slightly.  "No."

"Mr. Kingshire?"  She looks up towards the ceiling behind me.

I try to see who she's looking at but can't.

A man answers through an intercom.  "Go ahead," he authorizes her.  "We knew this was a possibility."  He has a slight English accent. 

The woman sighs and her face suddenly looks tired and stressed.  She directs her eyes back to mine.  "Your name is Hannah McKenzie," she begins, watching for any reaction from me.  But the name sounds foreign as I think about it.  "Hannah.  I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this," she says sympathetically before taking a breath.  "About three weeks ago, your family perished in a tornado along with eleven others." 

I feel nothing at first.  I understand that my memory has been affected by whatever it is that I survived.  Tears suddenly sting my eyes because I'm afraid.  The woman misreads this.  I want to remember my family but I can't.  My imagination goes on to tell me how upset I would be if I could.