Dog Ears

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Jade woke with a start. This blanket wasn't her own. These weren't her clothes. As she sat up, searching for sight without her glasses to aid her, Jade's head pounded. What was this? A hospital?

"Hey there, are you awake?" A nurse. Rose had told her about these. This was a hospital. "What's your name? Can you speak or are you too tired?"

"I can speak," Jade answered. "My name is Jade and I don't know where I am." Her voice came out raw and stumbling, not used to itself.

The nurse nodded. "Well Jade, you're currently in Apia, which is in Samoa. A crew of scientists found you unconscious on an island and brought you here. Miraculously, you're not injured. How did you end up like this? What happened?"

Jade began to tell the woman before her what she knew, finding the lilt of her speech again while she spoke. There wasn't anything condescending about this nurse nor the rest of the hospital staff, contrary to what Rose had said – though that may simply have been her internet friend's personality. Jade pulled all her memories into words, not breaking eye contact as she watched her story make it down on a clipboard and paper. She was on an exploration trip with Grandpa, rifles in hand, near the coast…Then what? When the nurse asked for elaboration on the rifles, Jade tasted something sour in her mouth, like they malfunctioned somehow. It was impossible, though; there was never any problem with the guns that could land her in a place for injured people. And nothing ached, so it couldn't be. Couldn't be. Right?

The days in the hospital went smoothly afterwards, but they were perplexing. There was no use in arguing for the right to go outside and not stay in bed, but even as the discord passed people were standing stunned and speechless whenever Jade came about. The gardener never considered herself the kind of person that could simply shut people up, but either way she swore that talking about the nice weather wasn't offensive. Even as it began to get clearer what kinds of situations would make people act that way, there was no truly stopping people from cutting their sentences midway. Sometimes weird kids would call her eyes creepy as she passed by to use the washroom. Was it really that uncommon to have green eyes?

It wouldn't have to be that way forever, though. Legal shenanigans decreed that Jade would be sent to live in the US mainland, after it was settled that she wasn't hurt, deceased or with some potential guardian that lived closer to the hospital in Apia. There was a boat sent to pick her up and everything, away from the nonverbal freak occurrences that peppered Jade's time in Samoa – but as she stood and looked up on a blue skies, white clouds day, something tugged in her thoughts. What if it wasn't just a bunch of freak occurrences?

Jade would just have to find out.