Prompt(s) Filled: 4. Waking Up Disoriented, 6. Proof of Life, Alt 3. Dazed and Confused


Doctor Maria Harper started that day like most others. She woke up, made breakfast, kissed her two girls on the head as she wished them a good day at school, and then headed out the door to work.

She'd been working in the ICU for a few weeks now, after a few of their staff had moved onto other hospitals and they needed someone to fill their space.

"Doctor Harper."

She looked over to see who was calling her.

"Doctor Wilson." She smiled as she headed over to the nurse's station, where the other doctor was stood filling out some paperwork. "Eventful night?"

"You can say that," the young doctor huffed tiredly.

"What happened? New admissions?"

"Just the one." She pulled out a clipboard from beneath the stack of paper she was writing on, and handed it over to Maria.

"Young male, involved in a car accident. He came in last night. Abrasions, three broken ribs, a broken arm, and a grade four concussion. He still hasn't woken up, so we don't know how serious the head injury is yet. We also don't know who he is or where he came from."

She turned to head towards the patient's room, and Maria followed. She read over the information in front of her, which confirmed everything the other woman had just said.

They passed by a couple rooms, until they reached the door to the patient's room.

"There's something else."

Maria looked up from the clipboard before she had a chance to read it all. There was something in the woman's voice that had all her alarm bells ringing.

"What is it?"

Doctor Wilson sent a look towards the door they were standing next to, hesitant to say whatever she was thinking.

"He also came in with a seriously infected wound that was several days old. He was honestly lucky he came in when he did."

Maria frowned, but didn't think that was so out of the ordinary. She had seen plenty of patients over the years who had come in with injuries they had ignored for way too long.

"Maybe he was on his way here when he got hit?" She suggested, but the other doctor shook her head.

"I don't think so."

There was something else she still wasn't telling her.

"The driver who hit him said he came out of nowhere, and the road they were on was surrounded by nothing but forests and mountains. He-" She seemed really troubled now, and Maria's concerns grew. "He is also covered in old wounds, some several weeks old, all over his body. Plus, he was malnourished and dehydrated. Not to mention that there was a storm last night, but he came in with just a shirt and shorts, which were filthy and in tatters. He was almost hypothermic."

Maria nodded as she took it all in, and a growing pit of dread grew in the depth of her stomach. She had ideas of what this could mean, but didn't want to jump to the worst scenarios just yet.

"Something's not right here," Doctor Wilson concluded.

Before Maria could say anything, a beeping came from the room they were just outside of.

The women took one look at each other, before they hurried through the door.

The man on the bed was rousing. Grumbles came from his lips as his limbs started to move.

"Sir?" Maria approached the side of his bed. "My name is Doctor Harper, can you open your eyes for me?"

The man continued to mumble, and he didn't seem to have heard her.

"Sir?" Maria leaned in closer, but then his eyes flew open.

They darted around, never landing on anything specific. One hand grasped onto the mattress, and he started to push himself up.

"Sir, you need to lay back down." She gently placed her hands on his shoulders to coax him back down against the pillows.

His arm wobbled, and he fell back down, but then he tried to swat her away.

"I-" His voice croaked, barely able to be heard. "I need…"

"What do you need?" Maria probed.

"F-" The man's eyes fluttered as he breathed heavily. "Got… gotta get…"

He panted, his chest heaving.

"Need… h-help…"

"You're in the hospital, Sir. You're safe," she said comfortingly. "Can you tell me your name?"

The man still seemed like he couldn't hear what she was saying. His unfocused eyes continued to glance around, jumping from one thing to another.

"Sir?" She tried again, but then abruptly an arm came flying towards her.

She had to take a step back to not get hit. He attempted to sit up again, this time even trying to use the arm in a cast.

When he put weight on the broken limb, he winced, but still attempted to get up.

"Sir, you can't get up." Doctor Wilson tried to step in. However, when she tried to touch him, his cast almost hit her in the face.

"No…" the man continued to mutter as he sat up.

He reached for the IV in his arm, but Doctor Wilson managed to step in fast enough to stop him. She pulled his arm back, even though he tried to wrench it from her grasp.

"No!" His voice was still raspy and didn't hold much volume. "I gotta-"

He didn't finish that sentence as he moved like he wanted to climb out of the bed.

"You need to calm down." Maria held his shoulder, firmer now as she pushed him back against the bed. "You are safe."

With his arms restrained, he tried to get his legs involved. They feebly kicked beneath the blanket, and although his movements were lacking any real strength, the doctors were worried he was going to injure himself further.

"Go and get the diazepam," Maria instructed the other doctor, who nodded and then hurried from the room.

With his other arm free again, he went back to trying to rip out the IV. Maria placed both her hands over his shoulders to keep him against the bed.

Doctor Wilson came back quickly, and handed the medicine to Maria. The younger doctor took over restraining the man, whilst she donned a pair of gloves, and drew the medicine out of the vial.

She injected it into the cannula, and waited for it to kick in.

"He… he…" the man muttered, the fight leaving him as he sank against the bed.

"Yes, we're here to help you," Maria comforted, assuming that was what he was trying to say.

"F-Fu…" His eyelids started to flutter, and he blinked like he was trying to keep them open. "Riv…"

He lost the fight, and the next time he blinked, his eyes didn't reopen. His whole body sagged, and the two women straightened as they took deep breaths.

Now that the man was relaxed, Maria took that moment to truly look him over.

He looked young, young enough to be her son. His cheeks were sunken, and his pale skin made all his bruises stand out and look harsher.

He was covered in bandages, some of which she had yet to read the cause of in the report, but she could imagine what kind of injuries lay underneath.

The skin that was left uncovered was scarred, some wounds still pink and yet to fade.

Whatever had happened to this young boy, it was not going to be short of awful.

"We should call the police," Doctor Wilson voiced what Maria was thinking.

She went to nod, but stopped herself as she moved her gaze back to his face.

Something about him seemed familiar. For a long moment, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but then it hit her.

She had seen his face before. Back then it was more muscular and partially hidden by the visor of a helmet, but she would never forget the face of the man who saved her family's life.

It had been the summer of last year. Whilst on vacation, they had decided to rent a boat for the day. They hadn't expected the storm to come and rip a hole in their boat, but what surprised them even more was the big green plane that broke through the thundering clouds.

A young man in yellow had come swinging from beneath the ship, and helped lift her family to safety.

They were met with warmth and blankets and towels, and then were taken back to the hotel they'd been staying at, with firm instructions to check the weather next time they went out to sea.

Maria knew she wouldn't forget the smile he beamed at her kids to let them know it was all going to be fine, especially not when that same smile had been all over the news lately.

She had seen the articles about how he had gone missing, and her heart ached for his family to find him, so they could be reunited, just like she was with her own.

The man she had met that day was so very different from the one before her. He had stood tall and brave on the deck of the sinking ship, clipping them all into harnesses one by one and never falling.

Now, he wouldn't even be able to stand on dry land without collapsing.

"Leave it to me," she eventually replied to the other woman.

She took one last look at the man, and then made her way out of the room.

She made her way past the nurse's station and towards a quieter section of the ward. This was not something she wanted to do with a bunch of prying eyes.

She pulled out her phone and typed in the well-known number.

It only rang for a couple of seconds before it was picked up.

"International Rescue, what's your emergency?"