Sorry the last chapter was so short, this one is much longer I promise lol. Thank you for the kind reviews so far :)
The first thing she sensed was a kind, concerned voice calling out but to whom she did not know.
"Ashley!... Ashley! If you can hear me, try to open your eyes"
Focusing on the voice, she could feel herself being dragged away from the darkness in her mind. Gradually, she regained feeling in her limbs, all stiff and heavy as if she had been asleep for a very long time.
Then suddenly, her eyelids flew open, only to be squeezed shut again as the bright light of the room temporarily blinded her.
"It's ok Ashley, your eyes will adjust" came the voice again, "Just take it slow ok".
She tried again, this time heeding the voices words, finding her eyes did adjusted quickly allowing her to look around. The room was small and white, she lay in a single bed which stood in the middle of the room with a small bedside table next to it that held a jug of water and a glass vase containing daffodils. On the other side of the bed was a monitor that beeped periodically, attached to which was a blood pressure cuff and pulse oximeter that were fixed to her right arm and hand. The whole environment was pristine and had a clinical smell that made her assume that she was in a hospital.
On the bed, next to her sat an ageing man in a pale blue shirt, navy tie and very large round glasses. The name tag around his neck said his name was Dr George Johnson. Behind him stood a large round middle-aged lady with wavy brown hair and a kind smile, dressed in a nurse's uniform. In her hands, she held a clip board on which she jotted down notes.
"There you see" the doctor said with a smile, "I told you your eyes would adjust".
"Where am I?" She asked as she struggled to sit up which was difficult considering how stiff she was. Her throat was dry making her voice sound hoarse and croaky. The nurse rushed forward to help, almost sending the poor doctor flying as she went, "You're in the hospital sweetheart" she told her as she re-arranged the pillows behind her to prop her up before pouring a glass of water and handing it to her. "You've been in a coma for quite some time". Gratefully accepting the water, she sipped it slowly, trying to process the information. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask. How did she get here? How long was she in a coma? How did she get into a coma? Why had they called her Ashely?
The confusion must have been clear on her face as the doctor stepped forward, "Before you start panicking Ashley, I can reassure you that everything is fine, you suffered a severe head injury a while ago but it's all healed now, we were just waiting for you to wake up"
"Why are you calling me that?" She demanded frowning starting to feel annoyed as well as confused, "What head injury? How long have I been here?".
At her response, the doctors face turned from one of reassurance to one of concern. Taking the clipboard from the nurse's hands he offered it to her. "Your name is Ashley Holloway, you've been here for the last three months", he paused, "What exactly can you remember?"
The clipboard held the usual monitoring charts that would be expected in a hospital, at the top of each chart was the name Ashley Holloway along with her weight, blood type and other medical information about her. There was even a picture of her fastened to the very top of the board. Only her date of birth was empty. At least that answered one of her questions.
As to what she could remember, no matter how hard she tried, Ashely just couldn't recall anything before waking up a few minutes ago. Her mind was a completely blank slate; and that scared her more than anything else so far.
"Nothing" she murmured, allowing the clipboard to fall into her lap with a muted thump. "I can't remember anything".
The doctor retook his seat on the bed next to her, pulling a small pen torch out of his pocket which he shone into her eyes for a few brief moments.
"I can't see anything that would cause concern" he stated putting the torch away again, "Your vitals are completely fine, you drank that water with no issues so I can't see anything wrong with your motor skills, and there is no problems with your speech". Another pause as he thought for a moment. "The human brain is a curious thing, I've seen individuals with worse injuries than you came with and they remember every detail but at the same time I've seen people with more minor injuries that have difficulties remembering anything. Sometimes repressing memories is the brains way of protecting you, especially if you have been through something traumatic".
"Will I ever get my memories back?" Ashley asked hopefully only to be disappointed when he shrugged.
"Its hard to tell, your memories could gradually come back on their own, or they could be triggered by something familiar whether that be a sound or smell or object anything really". Taking off his glasses he gave her a sombre look, the sort that said bad news was coming. "But I won't lie to you Ashley, some people in your position… never get their memories back".
The room was silent as Ashely took in the news. If she was honest loosing herself felt like she'd lost herself. She knew nothing about herself, did she have any family and friends? Where did she live? What sort of music or food did she like? She wanted to say she had never felt so bad in her life but she couldn't because she simply didn't know.
A loud ringing sound broke the silence making them all jump. Scrambling around in his pockets the Doctor pulled out a small pager which he glanced at for a split second before shoving it back. "I'm terribly sorry" he said quickly heading towards the door as if he was about to make a run for it "but I must dash, there is an emergency in downstairs, Jane will you stay with Ashley for a bit please?"
"Of course" said the nurse replied however he had already vanished out of the door.
Taking the clipboard Jane gently placed it in a metal container attached to the end of the bed before turning to Ashley "Is there anything I can get you?" she asked, "Something to eat, another pillow?"
Ashley shook her head, "No thank you".
"Well at least let me detach you from this infernal thing" Jane said motioning towards the monitor "It can get very annoying believe me". Ashley nodded and Jane immediately set about removing her from the machine.
"How did I get here?" Ashley wondered to herself not really expecting an answer so it was a complete shock when Jane sat down next to her with a sad expression on her face.
"There was a large fire in a block of flats three months ago" she said softly "Some teenagers who lived on the ground floor got drunk one night and thought it would be a good idea to let off some fireworks but it all went horribly wrong. The whole building went up in flames before collapsing. The emergency services pulled so many people out, you included, and many ended up here or in one of the other nearby hospitals". Jane sighed looking down at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. "Some suffered major burns, others with terrible injuries from falling debris like yourself, some poor souls didn't even make it". The poor woman looked like she was about to start crying but all Ashley could do was sit there, hanging onto every word she said.
"The council have been moving survivors into empty council flats around Gotham city so no doubt you will get moved into one of them".
Again, another silence as she let Ashley take in the information. It was a lot to take in all in one go with each revelation hitting her like a bombshell making it very difficult to think. Overall, it was beginning to make her head hurt. Jane seemed to realise this as well.
"I'm sorry" she said quickly, getting to her feet and composing herself, "I shouldn't have said anything, you've only just woken up… it's too much to take in… I'm sorry"
"No no!" Ashely hastily reassured her, "You've answered so many of my questions, questions I needed answering, thank you for that". Her words seemed to calm Jane who gave a small smile.
"Can you just answer one more question for me?" Ashely asked as a new question popped into her head.
"Of course"
"Has anyone come looking for me?". To her dismay Jane shook her head.
"I'm afraid not, we've tried asking around and the local emergency services have even tried to find any next of kin you may have but I'm afraid no one has come forward." She frowned "Which I found strange" she mumbled as if talking to herself.
"How so?" Ashley asked curiously.
"Well, it's very uncommon to find someone as pale as you" Jane explained, "You're so pale I'd swear you'd become invisible if it started snowing! So, you would have thought that someone would recognise you but no one did, not even the other survivors who lived in the same building as you! We even looked through the records for any sign of who you are and got nothing. No passport, birth certificate nothing! The only thing we know is your name which you gave to the paramedics before passing out. It's as if you never existed!"
Hope you enjoyed it, as I've said before I'm not 100% sure how this story is going to turn out, may not be seeing Joker for a bit and focus on Ashley or not I really have no plan. Don't forget to leave a review :)