Amnesia

Chapter 10

"I have nothing to do in this place." I say, my arms folded.

I'm in Anthony's office sitting on the opposite side of the desk from him. He says he is recording my citation- because apparently that's a thing here too. 

"If I had something to keep me occupied maybe I wouldn't get so curious and go to hang around with Ahren." 

He looks at me with suspicious eyes. Then folds his hands on the table and smiles.

"I could see if the nurses have a little helpful job you could do. We sometimes encourage patients to do this because it boosts morale, and gets your brain pumping. 

"Oh thank you!" 

"Maybe that'll keep you out of trouble from now on." He slightly chuckles, but I can tell he's being serious.

The slightly awkward tension in the room is broken by a nurse entering the room. 

"Dr risenburgh- Oh, a patients here, I'll come back later." She starts to close the door.

"Wait, hold on one second nurse Mitchell!" He hops from his chair and trots over to her, "I was wondering whether you could give our patient, Thalia, a little job to keep herself busy and uh...out of the way." He leans back and forth from heel to toe as if waiting for her acceptance to the task. 

She looks at me and gives half a smile, "sure." 

"Thank you, nurse Mitchell. Now, don't be letting her get up to any mischief." He winks at us both as if he were joking. 

She puts out her hand in a gesture to leave the room, giving a bit of a warmer smile now.

I follow suit. She doesn't look as old as all the other nurses I have seen. Maybe late 20s? She has short hair braided back  into a french plait. I feel like I know how to do one of those.

We go into what looks like a laundry room. Dirty and clean towels separated into piles all over the place.

"Now, this is where we keep the laundry. But as you can see, there are no washing machines in here." She waves around the room and smiles, "so this has mainly been my job since I joined last week, and its easy so you don't have to worry."

I smile and nod. 

She eyes me  and sighs, "I don't know what its like being a patient, but I hope everything goes okay for you in the end." 

She is the most genuine person I have met here. I almost want to breakdown and hug her.

She hands me a pile of dirty towels, "these are today's first batch to be washed. I'll be here sorting the next batch then I'll come and join you. The way to the washing room is just down the hall, to the left and down the stairs. It's a little dark down there, but if you just walk straight down then you'll get to the washroom. And only i go down there so its perfectly safe."

"Okay, I'll get to it." She seems to be trying to reassure me as if I'm scared to go down alone. But in all honesty, I'm excited to see some place interesting other than these stupid white walls. Maybe down there it'll be grey. black? We can only hope.

I head the way she directed me. It is a little dimmer down these stairs, and the ceilings lower. But it looks as though they haven't bothered to paint down here.

Its so silent, silent to the point that I can only hear my own footsteps; my hospital slippers dragging on the ground. Silent, only until I hear a thump echo in the distance.

I can see the washing room straight ahead, but there is a little left turn off just before it. Maybe Nurse Mitchell hasn't seen it before. 

I move closer to it, and look along it. A small dead end hallway. It has bars on the wall to my left. A cage? What would they keep in a cage? The curiosity eats away at me, I decide to check it out.

I hear a shuffling noise from inside which makes me hesitate. Is this a good idea? Who knows what's in here. I proceed anyway. 

I stand not too close to the bars. Its dark in there, but there is a barred window in the right corner which casts light on the figure across from the entrance. 

A boy in tattered clothing sits with his back to me. I don't think he knows I'm here. 

I ponder saying hello. Is it wise to alert him of my presence? What if he is one of the level 10s that is extremely dangerous and that's why he's hidden away down here? 

He can't hurt me. Maybe he just needs a friend? 

I clear my throat. 

He carefully turns his head. Before he even looks at me I can see the fear on his face.

And as he turns in to full view, his eyes meet mine, a sudden urge to run and hug him enters me. 

A shooting pain instantaneously appears in my head the more I look at him. I squeeze my head as if trying to lessen the pain, dropping the towels as I do so.

He still looks at me, searching my face for something. 

"Who's there?" His voice cracks.

In hearing him speak my head pain gets worse. I stumble back and I hit the wall. My legs seem to give way all at once and I drop to the ground. My vision is blurred and I can feel my consciousness disappearing. 

It's all a blur, a sleepy blur. I hear the boy run up to the bars. 

As I drift off I hear him shouting, "Are you okay? Hey! Can you hear me?" 

"Avyanna can you hear me? WAKE UP!" I sit up quickly. My arms are all sandy. We're on the beach.

"I wasn't asleep! I was just resting my eyes." 

"Yeah right! You were totally sleeping, you're the heaviest sleeper on the planet." He laughs.

"hey, It is not very helpful having a boyfriend that thinks I'm dead all the time!" I start fixing my hair, "and anyway I'm allowed to enjoy the summer breeze while relaxing!" I stick my tongue out at him. 

He laughs, "It is very hard not to think you're dead, because you don't respond."

"Who says I'm not choosing not to respond." I smirk.

He gasps, "That's it!" He tackles me and starts tickling me. I laugh and laugh. He does too.