The Dragon King

Chapter Two

Riverton

His eyes slowly began to flutter open. He glanced around a small room, his blurry eyes beginning to clear. He felt something touch his hand causing him to look toward whatever it was.

Someone dressed in blue stood in his vision, but he couldn't make out who they were. When his eyes completely focused, he saw a young woman staring down at him. "It's good to see you awake," she said, her voice sounding tender. She pulled on something that was attached to his arm pulling some hair. Thankfully, it didn't hurt.

He closed his eyes as his head began to ache, and the world spun. "What happened?" he whispered.

"We were hoping you could tell us," came the woman's reply. "Two officers found you in the woods a couple weeks ago. You had a terrible concussion when they found you, and you've been in a coma for two weeks."

He furrowed his brow as he tried remembering what had taken place. As he searched for answers, he found that there was nothing there. Nothing that could give him a clue as to what could happen, but what scared him the most was he couldn't remember anything about himself either.

He looked up at the nurse with confusion and fright etched on his face. "I—I don't remember."

The nurse smiled and patted his arm. "That's alright. We don't need to know what happened. All that matters is that you're safe now."

As she turned to walk away, he pulled himself forward grabbing a hold of her wrist. She turned around startled. "No," he continued, shaking his head. "I mean, I don't remember anything. Not my name, who I am. My mind is just blank."

The nurse's gaze looked a little more alert. She turned back to face him fully as she pried his fingers from off her wrist. She gave him another smile, though he could tell that it was forced. "Alright. That's okay. We've seen this happen in coma patients. We'll help you try to regain your memory."

He sighed heavily as he relaxed back against the half-raised-bed. He watched as the nurse took off out of his small room in a hurry. Did he frighten her? He watched through the glass windows as she disappeared around a corner.

He looked up at the ceiling as a million questions raced through his mind. Where was he? What happened to him? Where was his family? But most importantly, who was he?

A quick knock sounded on the door, and he glanced that way. A woman dressed in a pink, knee length dress with black hair tied into a ponytail slipped inside. In her hand, she carried a small blue vase with one single pink rose inside.

"Sorry to bother you," she said gently. "The door was already opened, but I thought it would be polite to knock." She held up the vase in her hand. "I just came by to drop this off." She placed the small vase down a table that rested underneath the window.

He smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

She smiled and turned around heading back toward the door. "Am I just lucky to get flowers or is there a reason?" he asked, skeptically. Who was this lady? He couldn't help, but feel like for some reason she looked familiar. Maybe she was a part of his story that he had forgotten.

The woman turned back around, her smile brightened. "I'm a volunteer at this hospital. I deliver flowers to all the coma patients everyday. Some of them here don't have anyone. No one ever comes and visits them, but I want each one of them to know that they are not alone. It's wonderful seeing you awake."

He turned his head looking out the window to the his left at the several beds full of people who looked asleep. It was a frightful thing to see so many of them, and to hear that some had no family or friends to visit them. That's when he realized that he was one of those few.