October 22, 2011
I woke up under the stark white glare of fluorescent lights. I blinked owlishly, squinting at the sudden brightness. I was in a bed, but it didn't feel like a familiar one. I turned my head to check my surroundings. Pale grey walls. A chair sitting in the far left corner, unoccupied. To my right was a large, grey, blockish machine with tubes and wires running out of it. Connected, I realized to me. A hospital. I was in a hospital. I must have made it out of the cave somehow. I tried to remember what had happened. I remembered up to the point where the crystal went berserk, but everything beyond that was blank. Before I could dwell on that, however, I needed to get out of here.
As if called by my thoughts, the door on my right opened and a short woman, a nurse, walked in. She looked over at me and smiled. "Oh good," she said, "You're awake. How are you feeling?"
I hesitated for a second before replying, "A little tired, to be honest."
She smiled again. "Well, that's only to be expected." She said, "You'd lost quite a bit of blood by the time you got here. Don't worry; we'll get you something to eat. Once you're feeling better we can call your parents." The nurse left the room. She came back a few minutes later with a tray of food and a doctor. Before I could eat the doctor had to give me a full checkup and asked me for my parent's names. Once all that was finished, I ate my dinner and went back to sleep.
I woke up maybe half an hour later to the sound of the doctor talking to someone. I could vaguely hear words from the other side of the door. "Mr. and Mrs. Doran, thank you so much for coming. We picked up Jonathan last night. He's had a little blood loss, but I'm sure you'll be happy…" He was talking to my parents. How on Earth was I going to explain all of this to them? Normally I would have just told them about it all, but some inner instinct told me that I shouldn't reveal everything, particularly the giant glowing rock. Before I could decide anything, the door opened, and in walked the doctor, closely followed by my mom and dad. "…he fell back asleep not long ago," The doctor was saying, "but he should be up…" he turned toward me. "…right now, I guess."
My mom smiled warmly at me, walking over to the side of the bed and sitting down, rubbing the top of my head affectionately. "How are doing, Jon?" she said, her face betraying a flicker of concern. "Are you feeling alright?"
I nodded my head, smiling sheepishly. "I feel fine now." I replied.
"Well that's a relief." She said. "So what happened? The doctor told us that they found you unconscious by the highway."
"Yes," interjected the doctor, "I'd like to know that as well. You'd lost quite a bit of blood when you got here, but I didn't find any cuts on you." He looked at me curiously.
I hesitated for a second before replying. "I-I'm not sure what happened." I said, "I remember that I had decided to go home because it was getting dark… and then the ground started shaking… and I think something might've hit me on the head." I finished lamely.
"I suppose that's possible," said the doctor, "Amnesia could be a side effect to a blow to the head… but I'm not so sure…" Inexplicably, I heard a low, high pitched buzzing at the edge of my hearing, and the doctor seemed to do a double take, like someone had pressed the reset button. His mouthed opened and closed without sound for a few seconds before he seemed to come out of a trance. He looked confused. "I-I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" He said.
"Um, something about head injuries?" I said, perplexed by his sudden memory loss.
"Ah, yes, amnesia." He replied, suddenly sure of himself, "You'll probably need to stay home for a couple of days just to make sure you're alright, but I couldn't find anything else wrong in my examination." He turned to my parents. "Are you ready to take him home?"
My parents looked puzzled by the doctor's behavior, but hesitantly they replied that, yes, they were ready to bring me home. The doctor made arrangements for my care for the next few days, but within the hour I was wheeled out and headed home. I returned to school two days later, and aside from a few people with questions and sympathy, the entire incident had died down by the end of the week. It probably would have stayed in my memories as well, if weren't for a Saturday morning that next November…
A/N: …*peeks warily around the corner* Um… I'm back? *ducks back as several random objects are thrown at him* Okay, okay! I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages, but I kind of lost interest in Chronicle for a while. That, combined with a severe grounding not to long ago left me without a computer for quite some time. But worry not! I have a ton of stuff written on this story; it's simply a matter of typing it all up. Anyway, I'm writing this story like journal entries, so these first few chapters aren't all that long, but the next chapter will definitely be longer.
