Chapter 01
MIZUKI
I opened my eyes to a bright – very bright – white light. It hurt. My eyes closed instantly and I waited until the pain started to ebb. Meanwhile, I concentrated on my breathing. My chest hurts with every breath I take but I ignored it. Bit by bit, I opened my eyes until I finally opened them all the way through.
I stared at the ceiling in what seems like eternity until my eyes eventually became used to the light.
White. Everything here is white -- he ceiling, the walls, and the linoleum. Even the sofa at the far end of the room is white.
Where am i? Am I at the hospital? Was I sick? Have I gotten into an accident? Damn. I can’t remember anything. I rummaged my head for memories but the only thing I found were bits of a conversation.
“It’s been a long time already. Are you sure you have done the procedure correctly?”
“Yes, I’m sure – and I swear – that I carried out the procedure successfully. She – it will wake up soon enough. We have to be patient with it.”
“Sigh. I know. I think I’m just worried. We don’t have any idea as to what the outcome would be. I just – well—I just can’t seem to be at ease, you know. I mean, this is my fault after all. This is the product of my carelessness, my stupidity and my idiocy. Dammit, I’m so useless.”
“Now, now. Please relax, sir. It’ll be alright.”
Ow. My head hurts at the memory. Aside from that weird and senseless conversation, there was nothing else. Why I am here, how I came here, who brought me here, how long I’ve been out, I don’t know. As to who I am, who I was, who I wanted to be . . . I can’t remember, either.
I looked around the room one more time. This isn’t the hospital, a voice inside my head told me. That’s right. A hospital room can’t be the size of two classrooms put together. There are no windows and no doors. Just the bare white walls and –as I looked up – a weird machine above my head. That is when I realized I was lying flat on a cot.
I sat up using my arms as support. There were tubes dangling everywhere, containing unusual colours for fluids – blue, yellow and light violet. These tubes were attached to both my wrists, both the crease of my arms and to both of my temples. Dammit. What are they trying to do to me? What have they been injecting to my body? I removed something – a clear plastic – that covered my mouth and nose. Was it an oxygen mask? I removed it and threw it at the wall. Its soft thud was loud as it bounced back and hit the linoleum in the still room. The sound echoed in the silence and for a moment I couldn’t move. I started to panic.
Why is it so silent? Why is there no sound? Why is it so quiet? It’s deafening!!
I struggled with the straps around my waist and legs that bind me to the bed. I started to move in a clumsy rush. If I don’t find a way out of here quickly I would go crazy. If I’m on some sort of mental facility, I have to get out to tell them, to show them that I’m fine. Nothing is wrong with my head except the fact that I can’t remember anything.
It’s really scary to have no memories. If I get out of here, what would I do? Where would I go? I’d get by just fine if only I know something about me like my name for example. But I have nothing. Nothing at all. Its scary. Really scary. Damn. What to do? What to do? What to do?
