A/N: I forgot to mention that this may come off as ooc mainly with Bella because I'm giving her a personality. She's my boo, but I need more from her. Also, I don't own anything Twilight related. All mistakes/errors are mine. Thanks for the support I have received so far, and I hope to gather more. Please review, follow, kudos. It's all encouraging.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The low noise is coming from my right.
I feel something up my nostrils. There is also something cold and hard in my hand and it applies the tiniest amount of pressure, part of it brushing up and down the inside of my palm. It pauses the moment I groan and start to shift around.
My eyes blink open. Nothing is there. I swore there was a presence next to me, but nothing is in my hand. Is it strange that I still feel that presence here somewhere?
I look around the room. Where am I now? It looks like a medical center of sorts, but I haven't seen objects quite like the ones here. There are wires and tubes connected to strange machines. Even the bed I'm lying in is different than ones I've seen before. I look down at myself. The objects in my nose happen to be tubes and I can tell they help supply me with air. There's a needle attached to the back of my hand that is also connected to a tube that is attached to a bag hanging next to my bed.
I can hear things happening outside the door. Two voices are heard just behind it. They're muffled but still coherent enough for me to pick up on. I look towards the door and see a blonde male through the small window, but I can't see who he's talking to.
A rough voice says, "What can you tell me?"
"Not much due to the medical privacy laws, but I can tell you that we were able to stop the bleeding entirely and stitched up her wound as well as cleaned up the burns at her temples. Thankfully, whatever penetrated her didn't hit any organs."
"When can I talk to her?"
"I was just about to go in," the blonde man says, "Stay here. I'll let you know if she's in good enough shape to talk."
Suddenly, the door opens and in walks the blonde who smiles at me the moment we lock eyes.
"Ah. There you are." His feet hesitate a few steps in, and he looks at where the other side of the curtain is but continues on to me instantly after like it was nothing.
That was odd.
"I'm Dr. Cullen." He grabs a chart attached to the bottom end of the bed and starts talking softly down at me. "How are you feeling?"
That's a good question. I was too occupied with my surroundings to even think about myself. I take a moment to really check in on my body rather than anything else. I no longer have a headache nor am fighting against the cold. I'm in a thin gown and when I look underneath it, I can see only a large square of gauze taped to my stomach that covers the wound I remember having when I woke up the first time around. Thankfully, I must be on some kind of medication because the pain isn't intense.
"I feel way better than before." And I do. At least, physically. Mentally? Not at all.
"Good." He reaches for some white gloves before he takes the blanket on me and pulls it down to rest on my lap, gesturing to where I know I have a wound. "May I check on it?"
He's a stranger but this is his job. At least he asked me first.
I cautiously nod. The tape peeling back isn't pleasant, and I shiver as his insanely cold hands touch my heated skin through his gloves.
After looking at the wound, now held together by stitches, Dr. Cullen continues to question me.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
I shake my head.
"Can you tell me your name?"
My name? I tell him the only one that has been swimming around in my conscious mind since the woods.
"Mary Alice?"
The doctor laughs soft and short. "Are you telling me or asking me?"
I shrug sheepishly. That's a good question. Maybe he actually knows, knows me, and is simply testing my awareness.
"I guess it depends." I fiddle anxiously with my hands. "Do I know you?"
Dr. Cullen pauses. He looks at me, analyzing me with something unidentifiable in his eyes before he clears his throat. "I don't believe so. Do you know where you're from?"
I catch him glancing to the curtain separating my bed from the other. I look to it as well. In the moment of a blink, I feel the slightest rush of air and hear the door make a soft click. I then look to the door. The more time I spend awake brings in more time for my growing confusion.
"Mary Alice." Dr. Cullen tries to get my attention like nothing happened. "Do you know where you're from?"
Didn't he hear the click too?
I snap back into focus. "I wish I could."
Dr. Cullen puts the chart back down his brows furrowed with concern. "What can you tell me?"
"Only that I woke up in the woods and am now here."
He hums, nodding his head and coming up to check my temples. Oh, that's right. I had some form of damage to them, but I know they weren't bleeding earlier. They were only stinging.
"I'm going to order more tests to be done. I'm afraid you might be suffering from amnesia."
A sick sinking feeling appears within me, and I ask vulnerably, "Is it permanent?"
"I can't say for sure."
An even sicker feeling consumes the depths of my stomach. This can't be permanent. I need to know who I am. I need to remember me. What if the life I can't recall is one worth remembering? Then again, maybe my memory loss is a blessing, because what if my life was horrid?
Not letting me dwell on that, the doctor goes to open the door and tells the person he was talking to that it's okay to come inside. It's the man from before I had passed out in the rain.
"This is Chief Swan. He'll be asking you a few more questions. I'll be back to check on you soon. I have something urgent I need to attend to."
With that, the doctor turns on his feet and makes a hasty exit. It's as if our interaction has disturbed him on a level beyond a doctor dealing with a patient's problem. I don't know what to make of that, but something tells me that it would be in my best interest to find out. Or maybe it would be wiser of me to let it go.
The Chief clears his throat before he starts talking. "You gave me quite a scare out there. I'm glad I found you when I did. We'll have to thank the people who called it in."
I don't know what he expects me to say. Am I supposed to apologize? It isn't like I was out there on purpose. Besides, I'm the most scared person here. At least, he's aware of who he is.
He pulls a chair up to the bed, sitting down and grabbing a tiny notebook and a pen out of one of his coat pockets. "Can you tell me what happened when you woke up?"
I do tell him and the man sighs, unnecessarily verbalizing what we both already knew.
"It's not much to go on, but hopefully we can find out something and get you back to where you should be." He reaches out then hesitantly and awkwardly pats the back of my hand.
"What if where I was isn't where I should be?" I worry my bottom lip. I can tell they're chapped.
He stands up, putting the chair back. He frowns at this, running a hand across his mustache. "Then we'll figure that out too."
My smile is tiny but genuine. "Thank you."
He nods and begins to leave. "You take care."
Then I'm left to be alone once more.
I look around the room again to take in all of these items that should be familiar. I know some of these items… some of which are just modified from what I'm used to. I must have seriously injured my head if all I can recall are things outdated.
All of a sudden, something intense and scary happens. I gasp out of surprise. It's like I'm no longer in control of my body as it freezes, and my vision begins to blur around the edges. It's like reality is being swept away all around me.
I'm still in the hospital room and that presence from earlier is back.
Something cold and feather light brushes down my face, startling me bad enough to make me jump and my eyes fly open. I can't see much. It's dark aside from the very tiny amount of light coming from the hallway through the window of my room door. It just barely touches the clock on the wall, but I can just make out the time nine thirty and… and I see the outline of a figure next to my bed and the glow of rich honey orbs looking at me. I don't recall ever seeing a being with such eyes.
I open my mouth to talk or to scream or to do something, but nothing comes out and the figure standing before me swoops to press their forehead against mine. They talk for me instead.
"I've waited so long for you. I admit that I was beginning to think it wasn't possible… that you weren't possible. I'm so happy that you are."
Then what I'm seeing is gone and I'm back to seeing how things were before.
What… what was that? If I didn't know any better, I would say… but no that would be childish. Visions do not exist and those who thought they possessed such power were to be put in places under watchful eyes for what would probably be the rest of their lives.
I think the meds they have me on are getting to me a little too much.
Yet I spend the rest of the day counting down with the hands of the clock on the wall.
9:20
9:32
10:05
11:07
Then it starts to near midnight.
Still. Nothing happens. Nobody shows up.
I didn't have a vision. That was naïve and childish of me to think. It was merely my imagination playing tricks on me. A daydream perhaps.
