When I woke up, the first thing I remember is pain. Hard, cold pain, channelling through my whole body. Pain like I'd never felt before, pain like nails had been jammed through both sides of my skin.
I opened my eyes.
All I could see was bright, shiny, white lights. Oh crap, I wasn't going to wake up in some random bathroom with chains round my feet, was I? I tried to lift my legs, but they refused to move, all I could do was wiggle my fingers a little. I tried to speak, to scream but no sound came out.
The lights around me began to turn into shapes. I found I was staring at a ceiling – a blurry, white ceiling. I managed to turn my head, ignoring the pain, sideways. I blinked, slightly, making out the blurs of two figures next to me.
"Miss Cameron? Miss Cameron, are you awake?"
My eyes started to adjust. I made out two women stood next to me, one fairly tall with shoulder length, straight, auburn hair, the other woman was smaller, and younger, her hair ash blonde.
I could see almost completely clearly now. I decided to chance speaking.
"Where… where am I?"
My voice came out wispy and quiet, almost inaudible.
The woman with the reddish hair spoke. "Claudine, you're in hospital, there was a car accident."
A car accident? I thought back. Then I remembered last night, and the end of year show and Lauren and those stupid heels. And I remembered falling. And black, and nothingness …
"I'm Angela, I'm a nurse here. This is Diana," she indicated "and Gareth, he's a doctor here."
There was a youngish man I hadn't notice at the opposite side of the room, I would have said about nineteen. His hair was brown and floppy and he had on a pair of glasses. Under different circumstances, I probably would have tried to flirt with him.
But under different circumstances.
"How did I …? Is Lauren okay?"
I suddenly remembered Lauren, I hadn't thought of the idea that she might have been hurt too, last night, and I was suddenly worried. Lauren.
I looked around at the three hospital staff. They were all silent, exchanging looks.
"What happened to her? Where is she?" "Sorry, nobody called Lauren's been in touch…"
"Oh, right." I said.
I was relieved that she was ok, though a little worried she hadn't tried to come and see me, or any of my other friends. Had everyone forgotten about me?
I sat up slightly, and then relaxed when I saw the flowers at the end of my bed. But seriously, I hadn't been expecting this, a virtual jungle of bunches of flowers, there must have been thirty, bride shades of yellow and purple and pink, all weaving into one rainbow. I breathed in, the scent was shocking.
I noticed there was a tube going into my left arm. I didn't like it, it made me feel like it was the tube looking after me and not me. I didn't want some tube in my arm.
"Would you like some water, Miss Cameron?" Diana, the younger nurse, asked.
"Yes, please," I replied. "Mineral water. Sparkling. With ice."
She nodded slowly, the trace of a smile on her lips for some reason. Ok, so I was being a little picky. Doesn't mean she has to smirk at me like that!
"So, do you remember exactly what happened?" Andrea, no, Angela, asked.
"I…" I thought about it. "I was with Lauren, and we were walking back from school," I remembered. "From the end of year show. And we were really drunk, and then… I fell."
I looked up. Gareth, the doctor guy, was stood next to her. They both looked confused.
"Claudine…"
I think he saw the look the nurse gave him.
"Miss Cameron," he corrected. "Can you tell me the date?"
"It's…" I racked my brain. We'd broken up from school yesterday. "It's July 20th!" I said, triumphant. "2008," I added.
They were looking at each other.
"What?"
Nobody spoke, they were still exchanging that same glance, looking alternatively from each other to me.
"Will somebody tell me what's going on?!" I raised my voice. I sort of wanted to get up, you know, to show anger and stuff but I wasn't exactly in a state to do so.
"Claudine, today is April 15th 2010."
What?
No. No, this was some kind of joke. It was not April 15th 2010. That was just not real.
I didn't say anything for a very, very long time. I wanted to yell at them that they were joking but I'd pieced together too many bits of information to realise it was probably true.
That was weird. What happened, how had I just lost two years of my life?
"Miss Cameron?"
"Could I… have a newspaper, please?" I said.
I wanted proof.
"Sure. Gareth?"
I had the feeling that this woman was in charge.
We sat in silence for a while, just waiting. I lifted my free arm to push up the pillows, so I didn't have to lean against the wall.
"Let me do that," Angela said. I returned her smile and let her.
Once she'd done it, I leant back against the pillows.
The door opened, and at the same time, Diana and Gareth came in. I took the water from her, taking a long sip gratefully. It didn't do much for my headache, but it helped. As I turned my head up, I saw they were all gathered around one thing in the corner. They split from their circle, all turning to face me.
"Ok, Miss Cameron, here's the paper from today and a copy of last weeks Hello! We also have something else. This might be a bit of a shock for you."
I let her hand me the magazine, confused. And then I gasped.
It looked about the same as it had, the normal setting of a cover, bubbles of writing everywhere and the date, April 10th 2010, written across the top.
One, huge picture filled the centre of the cover. I stared at the girl that filled it. She was beautiful, her eyes were big and brown and lined with glitter, and the shimmer of her lips was brought out by the glossiness of the magazine cover anyway. Her black hair fell in straight ripples, a little past her shoulders.
She was gorgeous. I didn't need to read the magazine, only see the cover, to know that she was a star.
She was me.