Handprints

Prologue

Twisting metal trapping their limbs, fire threatening to catch their clothes, hard asphalt pressed against their skin. Dee could hear a ringing in their ears, like a phone that no one would pick up.

Time seemed to slow to an almost non-existent crawl as Dee laid there on the road, injured and alone. Dee couldn't feel the pain, though they knew that there should be pain there. After all, how does one not feel pain when they're can see their own hand three feet away?

Time was meaningless, moments stretching out only to bunch together. They'd been laying in the street for lifetimes and then they were suddenly in a white room with blinding lights. There was people around Dee but they couldn't see them, could just hear the muffled sound of their voices as they moved around them.

Then someone's face was looming over them, blurred and indistinct. Dee could make out that their mouth was opening and closing, were they saying something? Before Dee could try to figure out what they were saying, everything faded to black.

When Dee woke up again, things were a bit less muddled but not by much. At least now they could see clearly. With that, Dee could also tell that they were in a hospital bed surrounded by various machines they couldn't name if their life depended on it.

Dee tried to push themself up but was quickly stopped by what must be a nurse. After all, there was no one to come visit them in a hospital. They were completely alone in the world.

"You need to stay in bed," the nurse advised, gently pushing them back into the hospital bed.

Dee didn't have much choice but to let themself be guided back to laying down, they were too weak and just that attempt at sitting up had left them dizzy and lightheaded.

"W-where am I?" they croaked out, throat dry as the pavement in the middle of a heatwave.
The nurse paused for a second before asking "what do you remember?"

Dee thought hard before answering "there was an accident, I was driving to work and then...something hit me?" the memory became disjointed after that, more like a nightmare then an actual memory.

The nurse nodded encouragingly "yes, you were in an accident. A truck hit your car from the side, you were lucky to make it out alive."

Dee furrowed their brow, only half listening to the nurse's explanation as the memories became clearer, sharper, more focused.

The nurse broke their concentration by clapping his hands together and standing up "I'll get your doctor in here. After all, I'm sure you have questions" and with that his left the room, closing the door behind him as he went.

Just like that, Dee was left alone to try to sort through the jagged memories that seemed too horrible to be true. All the while, feeling that something was horribly wrong.

It was barely a minute between the nurse leaving and someone knocking on the door before it opened. A young woman walked in, her dark hair pulled up into a bun was a stark contrast to the white lab coat she wore.

"Good Morning, I'm Dr. Harrison," she greeted the patient in the hospital bed.

"Good morning" Dee mumbled back, still distracted by their jumbled memories of the accident.

"How are you feeling today?"

It took Dee a second to figure out just how to articulate the best way to describe how they felt "confused," they finally settled on before admitting "I can't quite remember what happened."

"that's to be expected" Dr. Harrison tried to reassure them, pulling a chair up next to the hospital bed "you've experienced an incredible trauma both mentally and physically."

"Physically?" Dee didn't feel like they'd been practically injured, tired and sore sure but not seriously injured.

Dr. Harrison paused, before continuing in a softer tone "M-"

"Mx" Dee offered.

"Mx. Olayinka, I'm afraid to tell you that during the accident you're right arm was caught between the car and the road. Unfortunately, we were unable to repair the damage"

Dee hated the picture that was taking shape as the doctor spoke. no, that couldn't be, they couldn't have.

"I'm afraid we had to amputate the arm" Dr. Harrison continued, pushing on despite the way her patient was desperately trying to deny the truth of what it meant.

Dee hesitantly reached up with their left hand to push the blanket from their shoulders afraid to see just how much of their arm was missing.

The doctor started to say something but Dee couldn't hear her over the roar of blood in their ears as the blanket seemed to move down in slow motion. It was almost a relief when the answer was finally revealed once the blanket slipped past where Dee's elbow should have been. Past that point their arm was just simply gone. The point of severance was so clean that Dee almost couldn't believe that their arm was actually gone.

Dee only became aware that the doctor was still speaking just as she was finishing "I-I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Dr. Harrison gave them a sympathetic smile "I was just saying how we waited on outfitting you with a proper prosthetic till you woke up, after all the decision can be a very personal one."

Dee felt like their head was full of cotton, nothing the doctor was saying made any sense. Were they going to be a cyber? Was that what she was trying to say.

Dee felt like their entire world was falling apart, all over again.