There's a floating sensation- almost like I am just laying on a cloud. I can hear things going on around me but don't understand. There seems to be a problem, a woman is crying and ordering people around. Someone is asking others to call an ambulance.

I fade out.

There's beeping, and whispered words that I cannot make out. A series of quiet voices that fade in and out. People come in and out of the room and still the beeping continues. I try to open my eyes but the throbbing in my head tells me that it is better here in my little cocoon.

I don't know how long passes before the quiet comes and I can tell there is no one here. I'm not sure if this soothes me or if the loneliness will swallow me whole. There is something telling me that it is safer here, wherever here is. The voices won't come in here, I can be here in this peaceful nothingness.

I slip again into the darkness.

The beeping returns and so do the voices but there is a push that makes me want to join them. I want to know who here keeps waking me and why they won't let me be in my peaceful space. I fight my eyelids trying to open them, it's bright, very bright and there are people all over the room. There's chairs all around me with various individuals of varying ages all sleeping, or reading, some look like they're messing around with little metal boxes.

My eyes shift to the right and there is a man with blond hair staring out the large window. I take a moment to take in his appearance. His hair is disheveled, he's in sweats and has one of those metal boxes in his hand. He seems upset, but I don't know why. Something tells me I should know, or I should want to know. He seems important the way he carries himself, but yet there is a slight set in his posture that makes him seem tense.

He looks at me and lets out a little sigh, "You had us worried there Ace. I always tell you to be careful when walking over flat surfaces." He lets out a laugh and moves over to one of the other chairs, gently shaking the woman awake. "Emily, she's awake."

Emily stirs, and then opens her eyes.

"Oh Richard, Richard! She's awake!", Emily cries shaking Richard's arm

"Finn go grab the doctor and try to find the others- let them know Ace is up." the blond man yelled. The commotion woke the other inhabitants of the room, a blond woman in a white sweater slowly shifted rubbing her eyes and then looking at me. She was very striking with the same green eyes as the other blond man. Her eyes darted to the blond man's and a smile crept to her face. Suddenly she lurched herself into my arms.

"Oh thank god you're alright! It was terrifying! Josh has the kids at the cafeteria with Colin and Steph. Oh I am so glad you're alright." She smiles at me and I find myself smiling back, lightly patting her back.

"Well! I hear that someone has decided to join us today! I am Doctor Mason, and am in charge of your care. How are you feeling, Miss Gilmore?", he's a tall man with reddish brown hair and green eyes.

"What happened?" I ask first

"Well my dear, it would seem you were hit by a car while hailing a cab. You took quite the spill. How does your head feel?" Dr. Mason asks as he pulls out his flashlight to inspect my eyes.

"Okay I guess, my head feels a little cloudy." He smiles and pats my leg, looking down at the cast he is touching.

"What is the last thing you remember, Miss. Gilmore?"

I study his face, I then glance around the room- "I don't know- I'm trying to remember but it- there's something. I'm sitting at my dinner, mom and I just told Grandpa and Grandma I was going to Yale. They wanted to call someone who's son didn't get into Brown? Is that right?"

"SHE'S AWAKE", a tan man with an Australian accent runs into the room, "Oh mother! It is so good to see you! We have missed you so much, Colin wouldn't let me have any fun and you would have at least pushed me around in a wheelchair." He perches himself at the end of my bed across from Dr. Mason

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" I ask, "Really I think you all have the wrong room, I don't know any of you. And I'm sorry but who is Ace?"

The blonde girl steps forward and places a hand on the railing of my bed- "Sweetheart, don't you remember us?"

"No, do we go to Chilton together? You were at the Puff ceremony right? Where we snuck into Headmaster Charleston's study?" She shakes her head no and takes a step back.

The doctor asks if I would like everyone to leave and I say no, I don't want to disappoint them but I really am confused. He runs a series of tests and then starts tapping on my legs. Starting at my knees and working down to my toes, but nothing happens. There is no reflex action, he squeezes my right thigh and asks what I feel. I tell him nothing. He sighs and writes down a few things on my chart.

"Well Rory it would seem we need to do a few tests." Dr. Mason says

"Tests on what? Why can't I remember?" I ask

"Yes, and on your nerve system. Rory it would seem that the impact of the car has left you paralyzed from the waist down. There is a chance that this could be a temporary nervous system issue, but without the tests we can't be sure."

"You mean I can't walk? I have to walk- graduation is in a couple weeks! And then I have Yale. I mean I can't roll around campus in a wheelchair! How am I supposed to be a journalist traveling the world, going to Tibet and Qatar in a wheelchair! Those are not wheelchair friendly countries! Oh Grandma, where is mom! We have our trip to Europe after graduation!" I start to cry, the room is spinning and the walls are closing in.

The blond boy perches himself next to me on the bed and puts his arm around me, it's meant to be a comforting gesture but is lost to the fact that I don't remember him. "It's going to be okay Ace. You're going to get through this."