Gradually the darkness faded, and Amelia slowly opened her eyes. It took a moment for her vision to focus, and even longer for her to realise where she was. The bright lights and beeping machines told her she was sitting in a hospital bed.
She tried to sit up, but was stopped by a sudden wave of nausea.
"Hey, take it easy," said Darius.
Amelia painfully turned her head to the side, and saw Darius sitting in a chair next over by the wall. He looked subdued, and not his usual flamboyant self.
"Hey," said Amelia, and then she winced in pain. Her throat felt like she had swallowed sandpaper.
"Here, take a sip of this," said Darius, as he stood up and picked up a cup of water from beside her.
Amelia took the straw between her lips and sucked down the soothing liquid.
"How are you feeling?" Darius asked.
"Terrible."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised," said Darius.
Amelia scowled at him. "What happened?" she asked.
"You electrocuted yourself, dumbass," he said.
That did sound familiar to Amelia. She tried to focus the scrambled parts of her brain. Bits of what happened came back to her. The coffee pot, the water, the damaged cord. The last thing she remembered doing was reaching out with her hand to unplug it.
Amelia looked down and saw that her left hand was now wrapped up in a bandage. As she looked at it, she also noticed a slight throbbing pain coming from it.
"The power cord," she said, mostly to herself.
"Yeah. It zapped you, and threw you backwards so you hit your head on the door," said Darius. "So scary. You were like literally dead. I had to CPR you."
"You know CPR?" Amelia asked.
"Err, obviously. I was a nurse on Grey's Anatomy," said Darius. "I learned all the medical stuff."
Amelia rolled her eyes. "You were an extra, and it was only for one episode," she said.
"Urgh, whatever," said Darius. "I still saved your life. You basically owe me."
"Hmmm, yeah..." Amelia said, as she drifted off into her thoughts.
This was not quite what she had expected. When she had died and that weird man had sent her to try again, she had assumed it meant she would be repeating the day again. She would be stuck in a time loop, retrying everything until she learned from her mistakes. Kind of like in that movie. But if that was true, she should have woken up in her own bed. So this was something different, she just couldn't be sure what.
"This is Monday morning, right?" she asked.
"Monday? Babe, it's Wednesday afternoon," said Darius, with a look of concern.
"Oh," said Amelia. "I thought when I came back to life it would be like a loop of the same day. So then it would be like I'm stuck in a time loop and I have to keep repeating the same day and like learning new stuff and improving as I go until I slowly realise what I'm supposed to have done. You know, like in that movie we watched on Netflix where you said it was just a bad copy of the movie Groundhog Day."
Darius looked at her with a patient expression. "You could've just said 'like in the movie Groundhog Day'."
"Well I wouldn't know what happens in that movie. I've never watched it," Amelia said.
Darius threw up his hands with an exasperated sigh. "You literally just described the plot."
"Whatever, you know what I mean," said Amelia. "Wait, did you say it's Wednesday?"
"Yeah..." Darius started to reply, but was interrupted by a loud voice on the intercom.
"Code black. All staff. Code black."
Darius jumped up excitedly. "Oh, I know that one," he said. "It was in my episode."
"Was it? So what did you have to do?"
"Well," he said, as he mentally prepared himself to start his dramatic reenactment. "So, I hear the intercom and then it's... Reaction. Reaction. Put down the patient chart. And then exit stage left while looking concerned."
"No, I meant like what does a code black mean?" Amelia asked.
"Oh, right, yeah. So it was this patient who had been given a bad diagnosis and he got all depressed and climbed up on the roof," said Darius. "And then Ellen has to go up there, that's who plays Meredith, she's so amazing, such a professional, love her. Anyway she had this really deep monologue, it was like so emotional watching her, I literally cried. She so deserves an Emmy."
Amelia patiently waited for him to finish. "So it means patient in distress?"
"Yeah, something like that," said Darius, with a shrug.
The thought triggered a feeling inside of Amelia. It was something she had been familiar with. Something from a darker time in her life that she had wanted to forget.
Suddenly, a spark of inspiration ignited inside her brain.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, as she sat up in bed. "That's it. That's why I keep coming back. It's not to save me, it's to save someone else. That's what I'm supposed to do. I need to stop this guy from committing suicide!"
She threw the covers off and went to leap out of the bed. She was stopped by a sudden wave of nausea that punched her in the stomach.
"Lia, stop," said Darius. "You're not supposed to be getting up yet."
"Yeah, I don't feel so good," she said, as she clutched her stomach.
"Babe, you were in a medically induced coma after you like smashed up your brain or whatever," he said. "You need to stay in bed."
Amelia flopped back down. "But the guy. I'm supposed to save him."
"You should really be focused on saving yourself."
Amelia sighed in defeat, before her eyes flicked open again. "Wait, I know," she said. "You need to find him, and then phone me. I'll talk to him and stop him."
Darius just raised an eyebrow.
"Don't argue, just go," she said. "Please."
Darius shook his head in defeat and left the room. As the door closed behind him, he let out a sigh.
"Why do I always let her talk me into these things," he muttered under his breath.
When he looked around, Darius could see the corridor and the nurses station nearby. The staff did seem to be rushing around more than normal, so maybe he was right about what a code black meant, he thought. Or maybe it was a coincidence? He wasn't really sure.
Darius gave a sigh. He wasn't even sure what he should be doing. When he thought about it logically he knew that the hospital was huge, and he had no idea where the person was that was having problems. The chances of him actually managing to find this person was small. And even if he did manage to find them, he didn't really know what to do next.
After thinking for a little longer, Darius decided the best approach would be to just wander around aimlessly for ten minutes, and then return to Amelia's room. Or, an even better idea, he could just go get himself a coffee.
As Darius walked down the corridor towards the vending machine, he noticed a door marked 'Roof Access'. He paused, then shrugged. It couldn't hurt to check, he thought. There probably wouldn't be anyone up there, but it would still be fun to explore.
He pushed through the door, and then climbed up the stairs. When he reached the top, he found there was another door that had been left slightly open.
The door opened out onto a wide, flat roof. It was mostly empty, with a railing around the edge. There didn't seem to be anyone up there, so Darius decided to do some sightseeing instead. From where the hospital was located, he should have been able to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood sign. He would just need to head over to the other side of the roof.
But as Darius headed around the corner, he spotted a patient up on the roof. The guy had climbed over the railings, and was now standing precariously on the edge.
"Ah, damn," Darius said, quietly.
This was something he had hoped to avoid. And worse, the guy heard him, and turned around to see who was there.
"Don't come any closer," he said.
"It's fine, I won't," said Darius. "I'll just, err... I'm just going to call someone."
Darius quickly took his phone out and called Amelia. After a few rings, she answered.
"Babe, I've found him. We're on the roof. Can you get help," said Darius. "Call for a nurse or something."
"It's fine, I'm on my way," said Amelia.
"What? No. You need to stay in bed..."
But it was too late, she had already hung up. Darius sighed and put his phone back in his pocket.
Moments later, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. When he turned around, he saw Amelia staggering towards him. She looked pale, and she was only wearing a hospital gown and with bare feet. She was also carrying her IV bag in her hand.
Darius could only roll his eyes at her. She had one of her determined expressions on her face, so he knew he wouldn't be able to stop her now.
"I got this," she said. "It's emotional monologue time."
"Stop. Don't come any closer," the guy said, as Amelia slowly staggered toward him.
"It's okay, I just want to talk," said Amelia. "I understand how you feel. I've been there too."
"You don't understand. How could you?"
"I can, if you let me," she said, as she moved ever closer. "I'm just going to climb over this railing so we can talk properly."
Darius panicked when she said that. He wanted to rush forward to grab her, but he was scared that the sudden movement might make the other guy jump. The fear and adrenaline cancelled each other out, and instead he just froze on the spot.
He could only watch in dismay when Amelia tried to climb over the railing. But as she swung her leg over the top, the slight breeze caught the fabric and flicked it up. Darius turned his face away in shock.
"Ewwww. Babe, you're not wearing anything under that gown," he said. "You just flashed me your entire... everything. So gross."
Amelia's face turned red in an instant, and she quickly grabbed the gown to hold it tightly around her. But as she did, her foot slipped to the side. With a shriek, she tumbled over the edge and disappeared from view.
A bright blinding light was blasted into her eyes, and a loud roar shattered her ears. When they abruptly ended, Amelia found herself once again inside the strange white room.
"Aarrrgghh. Son of a bitch!" she screamed.