Prologue

…

"You can open your eyes now, Jess."

'Hello?'

"Jess, are you alright?"

'Who's there?'

"Hey Jess, you shouldn't be joking around right now"

'Where am I?'

"Jess? Oh god… You're bleeding!"

'It hurts'.

"Don't worry, Jess! I'll get you to safety! Just hang in there!"

'Cooper, please help.'

Chapter 1

'Cooper…'

"Where am I? Cooper… Who is that?"

Looking around the room, a few things stand out. The room is mostly white, and the morning sun is shining in through the windows.

I blink a little to try and focus more. To my right there's a small table with a vase of flowers in it, all roses. I'm not sure, how many there are, but I can count at least ten. Further away I could see a tv and the windows.

To my left there was a bowl of cold water, with a cloth submerged in it. After looking around a bit more I found nothing catching my eye. Now the question was. Where was I?

A little while afterwards the double doors open and an orange haired woman walks in. Guessing from her outfit she must've been a nurse. 'So I'm in a hospital.' She walked over next to me and sat down on a chair.

"Good morning Jessica. Did you sleep well?"

"I guess? I don't really remember if it was good or bad" 'Now that I think about it… I don't remember much of anything.'

"Don't worry sweetie, that's completely normal. My name is Laura and I am your specially assigned nurse. You don't remember much, because you've hit your head. So you're an amnesiac. Don't worry though, it's nothing life threatening. Now let's get you dressed"

'Memory loss? That explains the slight headache and the feeling of something missing. But who is Cooper?'

I try to step out of bed so I can get dressed, but when my legs touch the floor, I just fall. "Be careful sweetie. You shouldn't get out of bed. Here." She then helps me back up in the bed, into a sitting position, with my legs dangling like noodles over the edge. "I'm sorry, I forgot to mention, but you're paralysed from the waist down. You've been in that state for years, so I thought that you wouldn't have forgotten that."

'I'm amnesiac and handicapped? What a sorry state I'm in'

After a little while of struggling with getting clothed, we finally get everything in place. "Let me just check your pulse, then we'll be good to go. I'm sure you're hungry" she says with a big smile. I nod softly.

"Alright, everything's in order." She then leaves and quickly comes back with a wheel chair. "Put out your arms sweetie, I'll help you down" She takes me in her arms and put me down in the wheelchair. She then pushes me out into the hallway. It wasn't very different from my room. Just as blindingly white.

Looking around I notice, what seems to be a covered person, on a table with wheels. "What's wrong with the man over there?" I ask my nurse "Oh him? That's um… Billy! He has trouble sleeping, which the covers are used for. But, when he does sleep, he sleep walks and is very violent and that's what the straps are for.

'I guess that makes sense'

We pass through a few double doors into a big room. There's a few rows of tables lined up with chairs around them. A few of them are occupied by people. Some with limbs in casts, and some nothing seems to be anything wrong with.

"So sweetie, what would you like?" She asks me, while getting a tray next to us. There is a big assortment of food. From sausages to pancakes. "I'm not actually all too hungry, so I'd just like some fruit salad" I say to Laura. She nods and take a bowl of fruit salad onto the tray. She then walks over to one of the tables, places it and returns to me, and get me over to it.

Looking around I notice that a big group of people are surrounding, what seems to be a stage, in the corner. "What's going on over there?" I ask. "Oh that? That's Butch and his band. They come here every day and plays some songs. Coincidentally the room you're in, is the room where his fiancé passed away. So now he comes here to lament, much to the delight of the other patients. You probably noticed that vase in your room. That's also him. Close to the hospital there is a botanist, where he buys a single rose and leaves it in your room. Quite romantic."

They are really good. I wonder if I can get to talk to him later.

After I finish my salad, Laura helps me back into my room and hands me a glass of water and a pill "Here. You need to sleep now." No way am I skipping a chance of maybe talking to that singer. I take the pill in my mouth, but instead of swallowing it with the water, I hide it under my tongue.

I lay back and act as if I'm getting drowsy. After a little while Laura leaves. As I hear the doors shut, I open my eyes and spit the pill out the window. Now I shouldn't have to worry about that anymore. An hour passes with nothing happening. I'm just about to actually go to sleep, out of boredom, when the doors open. I quickly shut my eyes and act as if I'm sleeping. I squint around and see that the person in the room is not Laura.

"Butch?" I ask. He lets out a shocked noise and stares at me. "You shouldn't scare people like that! It's bad for the heart. I thought you were supposed to be asleep by now." I chuckled "I was. But your music was just so enchanting that I really wanted to talk to you. What's with the roses?" He looked around, as if not sure to stay, or to go. He decided on the former and sat down next to me.

"They were Susie's favourite flowers." We sat and talked for five minutes. Five became ten and ten became twenty. Before we noticed anything, we had been talking for an hour straight. He looked down at his wristwatch and exclaimed. "Oh damn! Sorry I've gotta go now. My dog needs to get walked or else he is gonna leave a little brown present for me!" I frown "Can't you stay just a little longer. It was really nice to have someone to talk to." He looks back at me from the door "Sorry. I'll come visit again tomorrow. See ya." I smile again "You'll owe me a song for that." He smiles and waves, and I wave back.