You'll Never Know

Part 5: Chapter 1: Perspective

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We are sorry to say that we lost connection with our story. It is gone now. It is lost in the time line, never to be found again. You will never know what happens next, but hey. Lets move on and see another story.

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Heart monitors aren't actually that loud in real life.

Dawn Arlington regains consciousness in a hospital bed, feeling thick and heavy. She blinks groggily and flicks her eyes around the room as the heart monitor beeps quietly. Each beat drags, slow and relaxed. It wasn't quite the same way a few hours ago.

She strains to remember what happened. The most vivid thing in her memory is her heart beating itself up her throat. She was terrified when it happened - whatever it was. She can't remember it right now. She decides to give it a few hours, it'll come back to her.

Dawn shifts, but feels something gingerly tug her forearm back. She plops her head on its other side to see she's hooked up to an IV as well. Something serious must've happened, she's only seen those in movies. She numbly puts her free hand over to poke it.

"Ow." Her voice sounds gravelly. She clears her throat with a grimace. "Ow . . ." Still sounds weird.

The door cracks open and a nurse comes in. She's skimming over her clipboard before glancing up and seeing Dawn. "Oh, you're awake."

She nods. "Yeah, uh." She tries clearing her throat again, "What happened?"

"You were in a fire two days ago." The nurse answers.

Wait, two days? Not two hours? Dawn blinks, surprised. The nurse notices and hurries to explain. "You're perfectly fine, really. You could even leave today. Let's just . . ." She looks Dawn up and down uncertainly as the girl herself listens on edge. " . . .Take this one step at a time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dawn asks suspiciously.

The nurse sighs. "I shouldn't be the one to say. Sit tight, I'll be right back." She sets her clipboard on the edge of the bed and leaves the room.

Dawn frowns and tries sitting up. She's aware her arm is being pulled back by the IV, but the rest of her feels like it's restrained as well. It's heavy and groggy. What, did she gain fifty pounds within two days? She grunts in effort to sit the rest of the way up.

Her hand grips the bed post for support as she sits up. She glances to it, noticing it's different. Unpolished, rough. It's almost mannish. She takes it away from the post to look at it closer. It even has black fuzz on it. She pushes up her sleeve to see more dark little hairs going up her arm.

Confusion hits harder as she drops her hand and looks at the bed sheet covering her legs. She pulls it off and glares. The heart monitor picks up. Those aren't hers, definitely not hers. Leg stubble is a reality after a few days, but this is not mere peach fuzz.

Has it been longer than the nurse said? Dawn starts to panic in her ignorance, looking wildly around her. Her eyes catch a well cleaned window with a man outside. He looks like he hasn't taken care of himself in days; stubble, dark circles under the eyes, and a bed head are all present.

"Sir?" She tries.

The other's mouth moves when hers does. Her brows furrow and she waves her hand to see the other mimic her. Her hair stands on edge when she realizes. Nobody is outside the window, that person is a reflection.

With wide eyes she feels her face. She rubs her jaw that's full of more scratchy tiny hairs. She picks at her much darker, shorter, and straighter hair. This has got to be some sort of drug thing, she's never had anything stronger than NyQuil before. She whimpers and looks to the clipboard the nurse left at the edge of the bed.

In an instant she snatches it up and reads. This isn't a regular form, she doesn't understand half of what the writing means.

"Is this not even a hospital?!" She whispers, horrified.

The heart monitor races faster. She drops the board and struggles to get out of the bed but she's still hooked up to everything. In a panic, she starts to wrestle the needles out.

Then the door opens up. "Dawn?" It's her mother.

"Get me out, get me out!" She says, sweaty hands refusing to firmly grasp the needle in her forearm.

"Honey, don't hurt yourself . . . " Her mother says.

"Get this out of me!"

"Dawn - Dawn, don't touch that, you need it." She hurries over right as the nurse shows up again. The nurse holds a kit - but immediately has to set it down to handle Dawn.

"Relax, please," The nurse grabs her arm.

"What did you do to me?!"

"You were in a fire, you weren't going to survive." Her mother says. "We did our best to save everything we could."

"What?"

"The fire was massive." The nurse explains. "Your corpse was beyond recognition, there was no way your body would survive." A deep breath. "But they still wanted you, your mind. So . . . they had to compromise."

"Are you crazy? You - you can't do this! Look at this!" Dawn gestures.

"We saved your life." She's still unnaturally calm.

Dawn groans. "And you stole a body and put me in it!"

"They volunteered, now calm down. You're overreacting." The nurse says.

She can't find the words. "What - What's the proper reaction to this?!"

"A thank you would be nice." Her mother says steadily.

She stares in disbelief. "Thank you?!"

"You're welcome."

Dawn puts her face in her hands. "Ugh. Who is this? Whose life did you screw up?"

The nurse shrugs. "You don't know him."

Dawn lets her hands slack enough to look at her. "Where'd you put him?"