Feeling light-headed, I lay back down. I rubbed my head and tried to picture going on a space cruise. Who would I go with? Were they looking for me? Were they dead?
As far as I knew, my life had just begun. I knew two people existed besides myself.
"Maybe your memory will come back," suggested Liv. "Or... if it doesn't, maybe it would be for the better."
I didn't say anything.
There was a constant humming and a light warm breeze coming from a vent on the wall to my right. My eyes became heavy.
I started peacefully drifting to sleep. I felt almost nothing but bliss. The one hindrance was a mild but sharp poking feeling below my stomach.//
"I have to pee," I said as I reopened my eyes.
Liv was sitting on a bed built into the wall a few feet from me. "It's up front." She pointed.
Front and back meant nothing to me in this room, and it seemed like she pointed directly at the wall.
"Do you need help?" she asked.
"No, I think I'm good," I said.
I sat up and looked around the room. It was metal everywhere.
I tried to stabilize my spinning head with my hand. I felt like I had a hangover.
I pushed my leg down to the floor, and the entire room began to spin. I stopped moving and grabbed my head with both hands. The spinning was faster and faster to the point that I started feeling nauseous.
With a thud, I was on the floor.
"Are you ok?" said the voice.
The spinning didn't stop until I shut my eyes.
It was dark, except for the glare from the snow, reflecting the starlight. And the light to the distance. I felt nothing.
"Are you ok?" echoed the voice.
I opened my eyes to see metal and a strip of flat light.
Two pink sock-covered feet set inches away from my face.
A gentle hand caressed my back.
"Yeah," I muttered. "Just a little..." My voice trailed off.
"You probably have a concussion," said the other woman from a few feet away.
I pushed myself up slowly. Both of the women helped.
The room wasn't spinning anymore. It was more of a rocking, like a boat in rough waters. I deduced that neither of the women noticed it. It was just me, just my head.
I stood shaky and uncertain. Liv still had hold of my arm.
The redhead stood before me. She looked about 30. And she had confident eyes, somewhat intimidating.
I started to walk awkwardly, each step its own endeavor. Balance was difficult, but Liv walked with me. It helped.
The room was round, like a donut, with a wall in the middle where the hole would be.
My feet were in big red boots, or maybe Christmas stockings would be a more apt description. They seemed to be a matching set with the mittens. Stitching just above the toes read, 'Asteria,' stylized with a star forming the A.
There were no windows in the room, just metal and plastic. The wall panels were a dull green. That same Asteria logo was plastered all over.
On the other side of the donut hole, a straight wall jutted inside the round outer wall. There were two doors. On the inside, there was another door into the donut hole.
Liv led me to one of the doors on the straight wall, the one on the right. The redhead was already there, and she opened the door. Inside, a light turned on automatically.
Liv stopped at the door and I held onto the sink.
"Do you..." she hesitated. "Um... Need help..."
"No," I said and looked at her with both hands holding firmly onto the sink. "Thank you." I looked into her eyes and tried to show her that I was sincere.
I closed the door.
I was wearing my wet jeans, but no shirt. It seems Liv and her friend got me out of some of my wet clothes but stopped at the pants. The red mittens and booties must have been their doing as well.
I wobbled toward the toilet and stood over it with my left hand still on the sink, keeping my balance. I peed intensely.
I looked into the mirror to see a bandage taped to my forehead. The face looking back was only vaguely familiar.
