The Amnesiac

A Harsh Awakening

The dull throb of your head is the first thing you notice. As you purse your lips into a grimace, your chapped lips nearly crack. Your face feels like it hasn't moved in ages, and you slowly open and close your mouth with great effort, disgusted at the dry, sticky feeling in your mouth.

You open your eyes a sliver, groaning as the bright light hits you from above. Through the bright while tiles glaring down on you, you make out a pair of tubes running out of your nose.

...the fuck...?

Pulling your hands back to your body, you feel them slide underneath a cool, uncomfortable cloth-like substance. You take a second to gently shake the strange feeling out of your arms.

Your effort to lift your neck results in barely any motion, so you plant your hands below you and start pushing. But nearly as soon as you begin, your arms give out, and your head falls three inches back down to the pillow.

Holy shit. I'm in a hospital. 

The realization hits you at once as you finally jut your head down to see the other wires and tubes hooked up to your body

Your neck tires quickly, and you lay your head back down, starting to panic.

I hope I'm not... dying...

The thought graces your mind, but you push it aside, thinking that you'd probably feel a lot worse if you were dying.

What happened? I think... I...

You close your eyes and take a breath, trying to focus through everything bombarding your senses. Pushing your mind back, you try to evoke something that could make sense of your predicament.

You open them again, now utterly terrified.

A loud clattering sound snaps you from your panicking thoughts, and, in a jolt of adrenaline, whip your head up the few inches it could go to see the source.

A wide-eyed nurse stares at you, with a clipboard and pen at his feet.

"Oh... my..." He mutters. 

Your lips part.

"...uuu..." 

The guttural sound is all that rises out of your dry throat before you enter a coughing fit.

He runs out of the room, leaving the clipboard behind him. In under a minute, multiple doctors are surrounding you, tending to you and checking your vitals.

"Wha... ha..." You try to voice the one question burning your mind, but you can't get it out.

"You're ok. I'm sure you're confused, but I'll explain everything that happened in a moment," one of them says, pulling a stool up to your bedside.

 "...ok..."

"So tell me, how much do you remember?" She cautiously asks, glancing at your heart monitor.

You try again to close your eyes and push your mind into the past. But where there was probably once a vast wealth of people, experiences, and memories, you feel nothing but an abyss. Her earnest question nearly puts you to tears, and you slowly shake your head.

"...nothing?" She asks, wrinkling her forehead in worry.

"..."

The rest of the doctors, satisfied with the results of your awakening, filter out one by one. 

"It was an accident. A car accident," she starts. "You were driving alone, and... I think the police report said it was an intoxicated driver that hit you on an intersection," she informs you. "You've been in a coma for four weeks."