A Jane Doe with no identification is brought into the ER after being found in a pool of her own blood. She can't remember anything or even who she is. After random spurts of memories are discovered, her amnesia fades away. And she is faced with the...
Fresh bleach burns my nostrils, forcing me into consciousness and my eyes shoot open.
Where am I?
I'm in a laying position with my eyes staring straight up at a white tiled ceiling, there's a faint slow beeping that can be heard to my right. I sit up and intense pain shoots across my cranium, I reach my hand up instinctively to try to stop the pain, I feel something wrapped around my head. I let out a loud groan as the pounding and stinging in my head intensifies.
The slow beeping from earlier becomes rapid, it matched the speed of my humming heart inside my ribcage. I wince from the loud noise, causing my headache to pierce deeper into my skull. I look towards the horrific ear-piercing sound and see that it's a heart monitor. My heartrate continued to climb as I can't remember where I am, what day it is or even who I am.
Who am I?
I look down at my hands and move them around, there's an IV stuck into the vein on the back of my hand. My fingernails are painted a lovely shade of lilac, but a few chips were etched against their slick surface.
A man dressed in light blue scrubs runs into the room, his eyes are wide as he sees me. "You're awake!" He rushes over to me, bends over and opens my eye wide with his fingers, then he uses this bright light to check my pupil dilation. The bright light causes more intense pain to my head, and I can't stop from squinting and wincing.
He looks at my heart monitor and runs out of the room. I'm left alone and only blinking at my empty room. Suddenly the man returns and has some clear liquid in a syringe and pushes it into my IV back that's hanging above my head.
"There you go, some Venlafaxine. we've got to calm down your heartrate. I think you're having a panic attack." He runs his fingers through his dark brown bangs covering his forehead.
I try to lick my lips and open my mouth to speak but then I realize it's dryer than a desert. My tongue doesn't cooperate in time and soon my eyelids become stones and I fall back against my pillow and am immediately knocked out.
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That slow beeping flows into my ears as soon as I'm conscious. I open my eyes and stare up at the same white tiled ceiling. I remembered that searing pain I felt last time I sat up, so this time I just move my head to look around. I'm in a hospital. I can see nurses, doctors and people walking by my door ever so often.
How did I get here?
How long have I been here?
Why am I here?
As I ask every possible question in my head, I hear the beeping quickening and I decide to take a deep breath and calm down my heart. I didn't want to be knocked out again. No, I wanted answers.
I sit up slowly and gasp when my head feels like it's split into two halves. I throw my legs over the side of the hospital bed and try to cover myself best I can with this flimsy gown they have on me. Before I can think about standing a nurse that was walking by sees me and pops her head into the room.
"Hey! Don't do that! Stay in bed, I'll page your nurse." I try to look at her face but it's fuzzy. I squint trying to get a better look, but I can't. The pounding and tearing against my brain were blinding me. I decide to listen and wait a few minutes.
Soon a nurse wearing light blue scrubs rushes in again. He grabs my shoulders and positions me back onto the bed and back into a laying position. "Please don't move too much dear." I blink rapidly, I was trying to clear my blurry vision. I couldn't see the face of my nurse.
He taps his finger against my IV bag. "Looks like you're out, I'll get you more morphine." The nurse runs out of the room and after a minute of me staring at the door, he reappeared. I squint harder, I could only see his outline.
The IV bag is removed and replaced with a fresh bag of clear liquid.
My nurse grabs a chair from the corner and sits it by my bed. I try to look at him, but I can't see much of anything. "Give it a minute, sunshine." I lift my hand to my face and rub my eyes roughly. I just wanted to see clearly.
The hammering ache in my head lessens suddenly and soon my vision becomes sharper. I finally see my nurse for the first time. He offers me the warmest, kindest smile and I feel my worries instantly fading with just the grin.
"Well, there she is!" He smiles wider, his eyes turning into crescents. "I've been waiting on you sunshine. You've been out for a week." My eyes widen and my heart picks up. I've been in this place for a week?
Rising from his chair, my nurse grabs a cup of water and a straw from the table near my bed. He holds up the straw to my parched lips and I quickly take it between my teeth and take a big sip. The water soothes every dry crack forming on the surface of my tongue. I draw from the straw a few more gulps before I feel like I can finally speak.
"W-Where am I?" My voice comes out gravelly and it startles me. It's the first time I've heard my own voice besides inside my head. My nurse grins at me and sits my cup down back on the table.
"You're in Mercy Hospital." He holds up his badge clipped to the neckline of his scrubs showing his identity and grins widely. "Let me officially introduce myself."
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