Tandem

Raechel Harchey

"You're a heavy sleeper Miss Harchey. I was wondering if you were ever going to wake." A gentle male voice spoke out from the darkness.

"Where am I?" Raechel asked, her voice hoarse and scratchy. She fought to open her eyes. They felt as though they'd been stuck together with glue. She pried them open to see that she was lying on a hospital bed in the corner of a room, her head propped up on a cushion and a blanket draped over her. This wasn't the hospital room she'd been in before, this was somewhere else.

"You're in my office. One of my interns brought you here after your little tour of the cleaner's cupboard," the man chuckled to himself as

he arranged some paperwork on his desk. "I'm sure your next question will be 'who are you' and to answer that, I'm the seeper who performed your procedure."

"What's your name? I've never seen you before." Raechel ran her fingers over her face, the pain had subsided now, and her sight had returned to normal. The only thing that was different was the colours seemed to be brighter than before. They were so bright in fact, that she fought the urge to squint as she glanced around the room at the orange scatter cushions, red coffee table and yellow book cabinet. Even the dark grey of the window blind seemed to glow.

This place was a stark contrast to the room Raechel had first woken up in. This office, she assumed, belonged to the man and despite having a garish colour scheme, was a far more comfortable room to be in than the ward.

"My name is Zadicus Whelter. Tell me Raechel, how are you feeling?" He turned his head to face her.

"I'm fine," she croaked, pulling herself up into a sitting position. Her entire body ached in protest with the effort of raising herself into a comfortable position. Her head however was completely free of discomfort. "I feel much better than I expected actually."

"Well, I have a bit of a confession on that part. You have remained sedated for the past three days. Believe me, I didn't take the decision lightly but both I and my whole team felt it would be best if you remained under sedation to aid your recovery. My intern told me how distressed you were when she found you in the corridor and how reluctant you were to go back to your room. I could not have you risking further injury to yourself by making a hasty exit, so I had my team do what was necessary. Because we acted quickly and intervened when we did, you have recovered much quicker than expected. You will be back at home in no time."

"I've been asleep for three days?"

"That's correct, yes."

Raechel turned her head to look out the window. The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. The sun had risen and set three times and she had not been awake to see it.

"Raechel, do you currently have any pain at all in your head?"

"No, none whatsoever." She rubbed her forehead in disbelief that the crippling pain had vanished.

"Ok. Well in that case I want to help you get back out into the real world and resume your life as quickly as possible. Does that sound good?" He smiled. Raechel thought for a second that his face was familiar, but the idea left her as quickly as it had arrived. She was taken aback by how keen he was to discharge her. She assumed that she would be kept for longer than three days. They had seemed so protective and overbearing when she had first awoken that it seemed odd to simply leave without a full interrogation.

"Yes, it does. I'd like that very much."

"Does anyone know that you came here?"

"Yes, a few people," she lied, hoping he wouldn't notice the quiver in her voice.. "My friends were very supportive of me coming here."