Pandemonium

Chapter 9

Blood... Screams... Sirens... A woman...

My eyes shot open. I took in deep breaths, trying to calm down. Dream, it was only a dream. A bit disoriented, I took in my surroundings. With white tiles and walls, the hospital room had a strong bleach stench. On the chair beside me, a nurse lied asleep. 'Raina', her nametag read. I peered down to see my nametag, 'Renda'.

Why would it say Renda? It should've been Arden. The hospital staff might've misplaced it.

Feeling the dryness in my throat, I gulped down the water from the bottle on the bedside table. Not used to drink this fast, I coughed; rousing Raina up from her slumber.

A few moments passed in silence. Both of us staring at each other, me in confusion while she, in what seemed like recognition.

"Are you, you know like um... You see... Do you know that um... like, you know..." she stumbled through her words, struggling to form a meaningful sentence. Finally, she took a deep breath and sat up straight in her chair, "Do you remember what happened?" There was uncertainty in her voice, almost like she was scared of my answer. She gulped, looking down at her fiddling hands she asked again, "Do you?"

"No" Her hands stopped fiddling. Frowning, she gazed at me, "Not even a single thing?" she asked.

With my eyes narrowed, I questioned, "But you know what happened, don't you?" She stilled, her gaze shifting to the floor. That meant yes. She knew what had happened, "Why don't you tell me?"

She glanced at me, with a dilemma. As if debating whether she should or not. Not being able to decide, she leaned forward with her elbows resting on her knees, and her face covered with her hands.

She didn't say a word and neither did I. The room felt dead, so silent that I could hear the clock ticking away with each breath she took to compose herself.

Glancing at me barely, she said, "Because you killed your last nurse when she told you the truth."

I looked at her with my eyebrows raised, trying to hold back the laughter that was begging to be let out. Scoffing, I said, "That was a good joke." Even if I didn't have any memory of what happened, I knew that I wasn't capable of killing an innocent. I would remember if I had murdered someone.

"It wasn't a joke! We all saw the body. I can show you where she is buried." She stood up, ready to prove her point.

"That just proves she died." I looked at her, blinking slowly, "Did you see me kill her, Raina?" I asked.

"Susan did!" She replied. She frowned and as if realizing something she sat down.

After a while, she asked, "Can you tell me what my name is?" I looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "Would you just answer my question?"

Complying to her demand, I answered, "Raina"

"You don't have the condition."

That didn't make any sense to me. "What condition?" I asked, totally perplexed.

"Your anagram related condition." I had no clue what she was talking about. Frowning, I looked at her as if asking her to elaborate.

She got the hint, "Right. Okay." She nodded her head and continued, "Let's start from the beginning..."

She told me everything, about Kathy, Josh, Emily, and Mike. How Susan and her brother, Axel drugged me when I found out that I wasn't crazy. She told me about the fire and solitary and that I knew who set Susan's office on fire.

With the restraints attached to my bed, it wasn't hard to believe that I was in a mental hospital. "How long was I asleep? How many times did I forget?"

"This is the third time. You've been asleep for a couple of days, almost a week." She stood up and walked closer to me. She showed me the syringe in her hand. "It'll knock you out for a few hours."

"If Susan finds me here with you awake, I'll be dead." She explained.

"Who was the nurse that I supposedly killed?"

"Sierra, her name was Sierra" She answered as she gave me the drug.

My sister Sierra? I couldn't remember her working here as a nurse. I couldn't remember anything except her face and name. Third time, this was the third time that I had lost my memories. Was she dead? Did I somehow forget that too? I had to know. I had to see the grave. I made an effort to get up but couldn't. Helpless, I gave in to the effect of the drug.

I could hear footsteps and the opening of a door. With my consciousness fading, I could only hear a few words.

"How's she?" I felt a familiar feeling of dread as I heard that voice. I knew that voice. Who was it?

"Still asleep" I barely registered Raina's words asI slipped into unconsciousness.