Unplugged & Disconnected

21.

New Beginnings.

"No. Who's Normani?"

***

The Hospital – 7:10 am

Normani sighed out of pure frustration as Dr. Khol ran through a series of questions. "How many times are you going to ask me the same question? I know my name now; I was just groggy from waking up."

"I understand that, however, I need to understand how much you remember to assist you better. You suffered a serious head injury that, frankly, almost killed you. My goal is to assure you are well enough to go home without further complications," he said. Hearing his explanation, Normani took a deep breath as a sign that she would comply. Tajiah observed quietly, still confused about how Normani acted toward her when she woke up. "Now, what grade are you in?"

"Junior or senior..." she shrugged with uncertainty. "Going into my senior year I think." Tajiah folded her eyebrows. Normani was only halfway through her junior year in college.

Dr. Khol wrote on his clipboard with a slight nod while asking, "How old are you?"

With great confidence, Normani answers, "Eighteen."

The sounds of Dr. Khol's pen writing on his clipboard and Tajiah's breathing paused. A wave of silence overcame everyone in the room as looks were exchanged. As if she wore three heads on her shoulders, both Dr. Khol and Tajiah were staring at Normani. Normani self-consciously stared back at them, thinking there was something on her face.

"What?" She looked back and forth between Tajiah and the doctor. He stood up fleetingly flipping the pages on his clipboard and put his pen away.

Backing away to the door, he says, "I think now would be a good time to take a quick break from all the questions." He opens the door and heads out saying, "I'll be back momentarily."

Another beat of silence filled the air. Tajiah couldn't find the words to say especially not knowing if Normani even recognized her. Just as she started to speak, the door opened. It was her parents and Bey. Her parents rushed to her side embracing her happily as Bey went and stood beside Tajiah letting her have her moment with them.

Squeezing her daughter tightly, her mother, Andrea, whispered, "Oh my baby! You had us so scared."

"We have been praying for you ever since we got the call that night," her father, Derrick, said joining in all the hugging.

As they conversed, Bey quietly chatted with Tajiah. "So, how is she?"

Shrugging, Tajiah said, "Physically she's okay but..."

"What?" Tajiah shook her head unsure of the correct verbiage.

"I don't know. When she woke up, she didn't know her name. And then she remembered shortly after," she started. "Then the doctor asked her what grade she's in and how old she is and—"

Dr. Khol came back into the room and greeted the family along with Bey. A situation like this requires only immediate relatives to know the details. The doctor asked to borrow Normani's parents outside in the hall where he would then reveal some shocking news.

Further testing would need to be done, such as an MRI scan and potentially another CAT scan, but he believes Normani is suffering from dissociative amnesia. Dissociative amnesia is a fancier way of describing memory gaps. It is usually linked to traumatic or stressful events that cause a person to forget a certain period of time. Generally, to block out an event that occurred that may have had a negative impact on the person.

Of course, after that night—the night Normani was injured—after detaining Tajiah and attempting to detain Normani, Detective Whitaker did have to reach out to all the families of those involved. It was a lot to drop Normani's parents, as they have not been in the loop for all the drama happening, other than seeing their only daughter's nudes plastered on the internet. They were not familiar with Dinah Jane and the trouble she had been causing, so finding out their daughter was almost arrested for killing the blonde girl out of self-defense was astonishing.