Close Your Eyes, Remember Me (TBF Book 1)

Lucia

A piercingly bright light dragged Lucia from her cloudy slumber with little warning, her hands and feet jolting as though she had just fallen into the bed she found herself in from a great height.

Hands released her eyelids and pulled away the small torch that had been shone into her face, she followed them to the face of Dr Farris, albeit a blurry version of his face. His expression was as grim as she felt, a fat pulse of pain thrumming through her head, throat burning and her eyes stinging.

Elijah and Sariyah were hovering behind him, their eyes darting between her face and the doctors.

"Lucia!" Sariyah gasped, "Honey, what happened?!"

Lucia brought a heavy arm up to rub at her face and groaned, her mouth tasted like sewage and her head was pounding.

"My eyes hurt." She mumbled.

"Fair amount of burst blood vessels, my dear," Dr Farris offered in explanation, "you were vomiting rather violently when Nurse Julie found you apparently."

"Yeah, I remember... some of that..." Her words were muffled under her hands rubbing at her face in an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the pressure under the puffy skin, "I put my head over the bed so I wouldn't choke, I didn't think I'd be able to stay conscious." she dropped her hands to her sides and sighed tiredly, letting her head loll back against the pillows and her eyelids drop to half-mast.

"Smart young lady." Dr Farris nodded and stuck a thermometer under her tongue. "I'm sure it was most likely a trivial stomach upset but to be on the safe side I took a variety of blood samples while you were asleep - you don't mind, do you?"

Lucia shook her head weakly. Dr Farris stared into her eyes for a moment too long and a realisation struck her: he knew. She gave him her most subtle look of gratitude for staying quiet, her mind was still boggled with so much new information, she didn't have the energy to discuss her attempted poisoning. As long as he was on the case she knew she was safe to rest.

"We also cleaned you up, fresh clothes and bedding and all that," He took the thermometer back and examined it, "well, our kind Julie did. I mostly poked and prodded at you, gave you a couple of injections - standard routine"

His expression denoted that the injections were not standard routine but Lucia assumed they were an aid to her recovery from the bitter solution that had been squeezed into her. Best to play along and say as little as possible, she decided.

"Thank you, doctor." She answered quietly, her voice rasping slightly.

"Yes, well, this seems normal enough. For now make sure to sip plenty of water, stay warm and don't eat anything too enjoyable - I recommend dry toast."

"Thank you." She repeated.

He packed his bag and left with a nod to the worried pair waiting to the side.

"Lucia, what happened?" Sariyah asked again, dropping in beside her on the bed and taking her hand gently, "You gave us such a fright!"

Lucia looked between them, her brain struggling to fuse together the two versions of them she had in her mind, pre-fall and post-fall. She was fairly certain she had it all back now, all of her memories from before Alyssa threw her down the stairs, trying to correlate them with her memories since waking up in Dr Farris' clinic though... that would take a lot of time and thinking. She needed to work out where she stood with them now, with the situation of Alyssa, with the engagement. There was a lot to compartmentalise and sort through.

"I'm quite tired," She said quietly, "would you mind if I had a nap before we start talking about it? And maybe brush my teeth?"

"Of course, sweetheart." Elijah agreed, offering his arm to her, "I'll help you to the bathroom."