Memory of Her

ONE

Before New Year's Eve....

I could never forget the first day I met him; it was the first day of spring, and he had been the first thing I saw, in my new life.

My eyes had fluttered open, and he had a metal clipboard in his hand that was covering his face. He had been muttering to himself as he was taking down notes. My vision was blurred, and my head was pounding as if I had just woken up from one of my great all night benders. The ones I used to perform with my girlfriends in our first year of college. I reached out to him and noticed an IV through my hand. Did I overdo it at another party? I opened my mouth to speak when I finally realized there was a tube lodged down my throat.

"Holy shit, she's awake," he whispers as he finally looked away from his clipboard as the monitors around me start to pick up their tempo as I try to dislodge the tubing from my mouth. "Don't do that!" he lunges towards me to stop me from doing any more damage to myself. I notice the name "Park" accompanied by a picture of him on an ID badge hanging from his white coat before he runs out of the room.

After twenty minutes of watching doctors flip through charts and nurses removing a handful of tubes I had been hooked up to, I was finally able to speak. "How much did I have to drink?" I jokingly asked, "The last time I had my stomach pumped, I could swear there wasn't all of-"

"You didn't have your stomach pumped ma'am," interrupted one of the doctors, who had an ID badge hanging from his waist that read Goldberg, as a look of concern comes over his face.

I let out a nervous laugh, "Well that sure is a relief," I started to say.

"Do you know what your name is?" interrupted Doctor Park, "What day it is?"

            What was my name? What kind of outrageous question had he just asked me? "My name is Zoë Michaels?" I narrow my eyes at the two doctors, "Is this a joke? Did Jessie put you up to this? She's so ridic-"

"Zoë, what day is it?"

            What day was it? "Sunday?"

"Sunday, the what?" he asked, and the entire room fell silent waiting for my answer.

"October...9th...2011," I finally answered as my eyes drifted away from Doctor Park's stare to the windows that were behind one of the nurses. There stood a beautiful tree right outside my window that was blossoming pink for the first time. I could feel my brain aching as it tried to piece together why a tree would be blossoming in the middle of fall but it couldn't find a possible answer, "But it's not October, is it?"

As Doctor Park turns to Doctor Goldberg, the nurses filed out of the room as if they knew they were no longer needed. The two doctors exchange a hush-toned conversation for what felt like hours as I sat there trying to piece together all memories I had until one of them finally spoke up.

"Ms. Michaels, my name is Doctor James Goldberg. I'm the head of neurology here at Mount Sinai Hospital," he explained then turned to Doctor Park, "This is Doctor Aaron Park, he and I have been covering your case ever since you were brought in. Dr. Park is going to take over and ask you a few questions while I step out and have one of the nurses try to contact your family." Dr. Goldberg then turns and leaves the room.

As I sink back into the bed, my eyes fixate on the crisscross pattern of the fluorescent lights above me, trying to remember anything before being admitted. Dr. Park rolls over a chair next to my bed, "If there are any questions that you're having trouble answering, feel free to stop me," he explains with a smile as he flips through some papers in my chart, "Are you ready?"