𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚒𝚊 ~ 𝙰𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎

.1.

Dark. The sound of the door opening. Closing. Slow, careful steps. One, two, three, four. Stopping by her right, like they did every time she's heard them, ever since she couldn't open her eyes. She's heard many steps around her since then. But she noticed something different about these. They were careful. Hesitant. Almost as if they weren't supposed to be there. If it wasn't for the complete silence in the room, one would easily miss them. But this time, it wasn't just the steps. There was a touch. Barely a brush of a finger, but it was there, and gone just as quickly. Then there was a voice. It came from above, soft and quiet.

~ "...I never meant for this to happen. I'm so sorry."

It was barely a whisper, as if the person was about to break into tears any second. She could feel soft touch against her forehead this time. Then she heard a soft click of a closing door before being left in silence, once again.

She's been existing alone. For as long as she could remember. Might not be for long, she couldn't remember much afterall. Occasional unfamiliar voice here and there, coming out of nowhere. Telling her about everything and nothing. Often, she couldn't even figure out what it was saying, even though she knew the meaning of the words. It was hard to make sense of anything. That was all that it was for a long time. At least it seemed like that to her. An hour in nothingness could feel like years and a few seconds at the same time. But eventually, all the voices came into a blur. A distant hum playing in the background of the turmoil she was surviving in.

And with it, she heard a continuous beeping of an EKG machine that started driving her insane after a few seconds. Flashes of light made their way through her eyelids and she frowned slightly, attempting to blink the sharp pain away even though her eyes were closed.

"Ava? Ava-" A hand touched her face briefly before pulling back. She then heard footsteps making their way out of the room, coming back with another set of footsteps behind them.
She tried to open her eyes a little, the light blinding her again.

"Ava, it's me honey, it's okay. You're safe." Once she opened her eyes enough to be able to see a bit better, she saw a woman leaning above her. What was this? Or a better question. Who was this?

The woman reached out towards her face once again, placing her palm on her cheek before another person came into her sight, making her flinch when they lit up a small flashlight, right in front of her eyes.

"Can you tell me your last name?" The other woman asked, making the brunette look up at her, her eyes still recovering from the sudden strike of light. White coat. A doctor. She looked around, seeing white tiles lining around the walls and floor of the room.

"Ava?" The woman, the doctor, spoke again before snapping her fingers next to her ear a few times, making her look at her hand with a light frown. For some reason, she couldn't form a coherent sentence in her head right now. The woman seemed to understand that soon.

"Okay. How about this?" She said and raised her hand for Ava to see, moving each finger down to touch her own thumb one after another.

"Can you try and do this for me?" She asked, repeating the movement for her a few times. Ava now looked down, looking at one of her hands and lifting it up a little before copying the woman without problem.

"Good. Very good." The woman smiled a little, nodding and scribbling something down into a paper that she placed on a small nightstand next to her. With that, she stood up and looked at the other woman in the room. Only now, Ava noticed that she had been watching them from afar the entire time. She looked her up and down, just wondering why she was there.

"She just woke up. Give her time. I'll give you two some space and will be back in a bit." The woman said, holding her paper as she walked out of the room. When she left, the other woman walked up to the bed and sat down next to it, obviously searching for words to say.

"... Please say something-" She said eventually, not moving her eyes off of her. Ava gulped at that a little, not sure what the woman wanted to hear.

"Your name. Age. Anything. Who am I?" She continued, filling Ava's mind with questions she didn't have an answer for. The woman in front of her didn't seem to take her silence well. She sighed and hid her face in her palms, looking down. Ava didn't know what to do, so she just laid there, trying to work out what the hell all of this was.

"Miss Silva. A word, please." Ava turned her head towards the voice, seeing the doctor from earlier standing by the door, motioning for the crying woman to go with her. So, she did. She got up with a defeated nod, walking out and leaving the room with the other.

She could hear them talking in the distance, though they weren't close enough for her to hear. It finally gave Ava a minute of silence. Something she's had plenty of these past few...hours? Days? Weeks? She wasn't sure. But it allowed her to get her thoughts together a little.

She finally really looked around the room for the first time. Though there wasn't much she could see. There was a tall, white curtain splitting the room in half. But she could see a window behind it. The ceiling and a part of the walls were painted light yellow. She moved her eyes along the walls, as if in search for something more than she was seeing.

"She's just worried." A voice echoed across the room, making her look around in confusion. After a bit, she realized that it probably came from behind the curtain. She turned her head a little to try and see behind it, but couldn't.

"I can see you through the reflection in the TV." The voice said, seeming a bit amused. Ava looked up on the wall, seeing the black screen hung up in the middle of it. And really, the reflection allowed her to see the other part of the room to some extent. Her vision was still a little blurred though, so she had to narrow her eyes. Now she saw, there sure was someone in the other bed. She couldn't make out details though.

"I know, it's a bit awkward. Talking like this, I mean. I'll stop if you want me to." The voice said, making Ava look to the side to see the curtain again. It was nice having someone to talk to. Or...having someone talking to her. No requests or teary eyes to make her feel guilty for not having a clue why she's here. Just talking.

"It's fine." She said, her voice a little raspy from lack of use. The other didn't seem to mind that at all though.

"Okay, good. It's Ava, right?" The voice continued. By the tone, she'd assume the woman on the other side was a bit older than her.

"I don't...I don't know." She answered, moving herself up in the bed a little to try and see the reflection better.

"Well...I know. It's what they've been calling you all along." The girl said, making Ava wonder how much she knew.

"All along?"

"The woman. I'm assuming she's your mother. She's been visiting you every day. Your name is Ava. Ava Silva." She explained, giving Ava time to absorb the information.

"Ava...and...and you?" She asked, her eyes still on the curtain.

"I'm Beatrice."

"Beatrice...okay." She repeated, looking away from the curtain and at the TV screen again.

"Can you talk more?"