Mutation

Chapter 1: Waking Up

Hazel

Beep, beep, beep.....

My eyes were still closed, but I could hear beeping sounds and voices near me. I couldn't open my eyes or move. How long was I asleep? My body was extremely stiff, so I knew I'd been asleep for quite awhile. The strange thing is that I only remember small things. My memory was filled with random fragments of dreams, and some things involving my family and childhood. The most recent thing I remembered was my first day of middle school. The rest was very vague or blank.

The voices I heard were doctors, and I figured out I was in a hospital. One way was because the doctors were calling each other "Dr." and the other was the beeping sounds that hospital equipment makes. I also felt many needles and tubes poking in me all throughout my body. I was concerned about why I was in the hospital. Did I get in an accident and hit my head, causing me to lose my memory? I started to eavesdrop on the doctors' conversation to find out some answers.

"Dr. Baker, have you ran some more tests on her?" a male voice asked.

A woman sighed and said, "I've done everything I could, Dr. Reed. It's been so long since she's showed any sign of improvement. I honestly don't know how she's even alive." The woman, who I assumed was Dr. Baker, whispered that last sentence to where I barely heard her. But I definitely heard it, and it didn't feel too good.

What happened to me? What does Dr. Baker mean when she says I shouldn't be alive? The thought caused me to have some sort of reaction in my body. Energy surged through me, and I felt it like it was fire inside of my chest. I felt a sense of burning, yet cool, feeling all over my body. It felt good at first, but then it was so intense and overwhelming that I started shaking. My eyes popped open and I gasped at the burst of energy that was running through my veins. The heart monitor was beeping uncontrollably.

I huffed air in and out, trying to catch my breath and make sense that I was awake. I tested my limbs, which moved weakly. I sat up slowly, wincing at the stiffness of my muscles. I felt like I was the Tin Man and I was rusted still. I looked at myself all over. Surprisingly, I was flawless of any broken bones or wrapped up wounds. I peered around the room. I was in a private hospital bedroom. Wait, not just a private room.

I was in intensive care. The sign on my door said so.

I remembered that once, I had to go to the hospital for my mother. Something about drugs? I barely remembered with my memory issue. Anyways, the nurses had taken good care of me and even showed me around the hospital. They told me about the intensive care unit, and that was where people who had severe health issues went. Or if they were dying. I'm not injured or anything, so it's the other thing. So I must be dying.

This isn't good. I can't be dying and not know why. How long have I been like this? How long do I have to live? I began to panic and breathe heavily again. I froze when I saw the door open.

A nurse froze as soon as she saw me. I was fixing to ask her all the questions I had, but she ran off and screamed, "Dr. Baker!"

Immediately, several male and female doctors rushed into my room. As soon as their gazes met mine, they froze and stared at me like I was an alien. The middle-aged blonde doctor, whose badge read Dr. Baker looked the most surprised.

Without any hesitation, Dr. Baker stepped closer to me, giving me a genuine smile. She put out her hand for me to shake, and said to me, "Welcome back, Hazel."

I could barely get any sounds to come out of my vocal chords, except tiny squeaks. Guess I hadn't used my voice in a while. I managed to squeak, "What happened to me?"

Dr. Baker chuckled at my voice. Then she sighed and came over and sat down on the bed beside me. I could tell she had bad news to tell me. My heart pounded in fear.

"Hazel, you were in your school and a bomb exploded. Surprisingly, you survived the explosion. You were very lucky, and have been in a coma for a few months." She tilted her head to the side sincerely, understanding that I was in shock.

It took me a while to process what she just told me. I feel like I've been hit by a truck and broken like my bones have fallen apart. Part of me feels confused and lost, while the other is thankful that I'm even alive. Mostly, I'm too shocked to do anything.

"How...how long have I been..?" I managed to say, my sentence trailing off at the end. My eyes glistened with tears.

Dr. Baker carefully chose her words, and replied, "Sweetie, this may be hard for you to hear. I'm so sorry you had to go through all this." She paused and sighed apologetically. "You've been in a coma for the past eleven months and three weeks. Basically a year."

I stared at Dr. Baker in total disbelief. Tears started to pour from my eyes, which made me stare at the floor. I covered my face with my hands because I hated people seeing me cry. That's why I don't cry. I hate looking weak and I don't want attention drawn to me. If I ever do cry, it's into my pillow. But this situation was different. I felt weak and confused, and I've lost a year of my life by sleeping through it. I even lost a large majority of my memory.

After a while, Dr. Baker just gave me a reassuring hug and said she had to leave. I let her go, saying I just wanted to be alone. As soon as she left the room, a billion things started flashing through my mind. What all have I missed? Do my parents know about my accident, and are they even here? What will happen to me when I leave the hospital? Will my memory come back? Where's Leo?

Wait....Leo.

I remember Leo Esteban. He was my best friend who sat with me on the bus every day. I also remember he was with me when the bomb exploded at the school. I wonder if he's okay. Is he even alive?

My heart thumped wildly and I felt panic surge through me yet again. Leo is fine, I told myself. Leo is perfectly fine and healthy and waiting for me to get out of this hospital. Then we can move on and forget the incident ever happened.

The other part of me said otherwise. I couldn't imagine my life without Leo. My memory about him was coming back to me. He got me through all my problems with me and my parents, all my stress and sadness, and even those days where I hated the world. No other person has made me feel safe and comfortable. Now there was a possibility I lost my best friend.

While I sobbed, the nurses were all around me and frantically were fixing the beeping machines that connected to me. They replaced the needles and tubes that I pulled out of me too. Giving me the sleep medicine was smart of them, because it knocked me out immediately. I drifted off into a dreamless sleep with no pain and no memory of what was said to me by the doctors. Not even Leo was in my thoughts...