Numbered

Numbered Chapter Three

~Chapter Three~

 

Chelsea regained conscious slowly, her senses grasping at the edges of reality like the hands of a child catching fireflies on a summer night. Her head felt clouded and heavy as If she had just woken up from a deep, medicated sleep. Her eyelids felt heavy, as if they were made of lead but with a surprising amount of effort she managed to open them slightly. The room she was in was lit, a little too well, the florescent lights burning her now delicate eyes. She squinted them as she looked around herself moving her head as little as possible to stave off what was sure to be a killer headache.

She seemed to be in a hospital room connected to a blood pressure machine and a heart monitor. An IV was hooked up to her arm and slowly injected her with a clear fluid. How had she gotten here? Was she in a car accident? Where was her mom? Her dad? Shouldn’t they be here? The flood of questions overwhelmed her making her head hurt more and she took a deep breath trying to recollect any shard of memory that might be useful. She remembered calling her mother, but the conversation and what happened after was an indecipherable blur.

Chelsea reached for the call button. Maybe the nurse could tell her what was going on. Before she could push the button there was a slight knock at her door and a nurse carrying a clipboard stepped in.

“Hello Ms. Logan, how are you feeling?” She was a younger woman with a cheery smile and pleasant blue eyes that hid behind square spectacles. She wore white scrubs with a name tag that was labeled Paradise Genetics Facility. Under it was her name. Chelsea stared at the name tag. Paradise Genetics Facility? She had never heard of it. And what was she doing there anyway?

“My name is Nancy and I will be taking care of you today,” she said walking up to Chelsea’s heart monitor.

“I’m fine I think” Chelsea said in a low voice struggling to sit up.

“Oh no sweetie you should lay down!” Nancy said coming to her aid and gently lowering her back into the bed. “The medicines will take a while to work their way out of your system. Until then you should stay lying down and drink plenty of water.

“What medicines?” Chelsea asked. “Where are my parents?” Nancy smiled at her as she wrote on her clipboard.

“They should be here soon. We called them as soon as you were admitted. You had a pretty nasty accident.” Chelsea searched the nurse’s face. Her smile was genuine, but her eyes were shifty as if she couldn’t look Chelsea in the eye. It made her nervous.

“What kind of accident exactly?” she asked trying to raise her head to see the clipboard.

“It’s time for your next dose of meds.” She said reaching into her pocket and pulling out a vial. Chelsea struggled to sit up. Nancy hadn’t answered her question and she was getting the feeling that something was very wrong here.

“What kind of accident was I in?” Chelsea’s gaze shot to the door. “And where is my mom and dad?”

There's something about the was her eyes start to shift, refusing to meet my gaze, the way she taps the heart monitor and starts to him that sets off my nerves. Something isn't right.

"I'm going to go get Dr. Geed" she says ignoring my question and walking towards the door. "I'll be right back"

"What happened to me!" I yell after Nancy. The door slamming shut behind her is my only answer. My heart starts to race as I fight down the panic that's rising in my chest. How the hell did I get here? Nothing Nurse Nancy said is adding up.

I must have been knocked out for hours. How could my parents not be here by now? And why was I at a genetics facility and not a hospital? Lost in my twisting thoughts I rub at a numb persistent pain in my arm I've had since I woke up. I look at it. It's black and blue as if I had an emergency allergy shot injected in my arm. I study it when a flash of memories hit me with so much force my head spins.