A/N: Hello, sorry about the long time that I kept you all waiting *cringe*.
RandomlyWeirdHetaliaAndPJOfan: (that is one long username!) Hello! A new reader! And thank you! I really am flattered ;) I am very into Greek mythology, but I have been contemplating reading the Percy Jackson series, they do sound very good!
" Hey, man! The kid's wakin' up!" Someone shouted.
" Mate, we just called the ambulance. Reckon the kid will be hurt too bad from her head?"
" Are you kiddin' me? Her head is slathered in blood and you're askin' whether she'll be hurt?!" I peeled my eyes open, but instantly shut them again- it was too bright.
" Where am I?" I asked. " Who are you?"
" It's okay, kiddo, you'll be fine. Angel, how long's it gonna' take?"
" 'Bout a minute till them doctors get here. Don't try to move the kid, God knows what she'd gotten. Checked for concussion yet?" A resounding silence followed. The girl sighed. " Idiots." I heard footsteps journeying toward me. Someone was crouching in front of me, I could tell by the smell of minty breath. " Kay, I'm gonna open your eyes. You okay with that, kid?" She asked.
" As long as you do not cause me any eminent harm or damage. Might I request that you desist from calling me 'kid'?" I asked, my eyes still shut. There were several whistles and mocking exclamations.
" Ay! We just hit a posh kid!" A man exclaimed. " Whose kid are ya, the Queen's?" He asked, sarcastically. I felt someone pulling on my eyelid and my eyes were filled with an explosion of blue sky. I almost tried to force my eyes down, but the girl was pushing the lid up too insistently. She produced a slim, metallic devise and pushed a button before a blinding light issued from the end. In an instant, the light ceased. " Yeah, she's got concussion."
" Good thing you mentioned that, then, cos' the ambulance is coming." Someone replied, as the sound of a strange wailing noise started off in the distance. My eyelid was released and my eyes, already used to the light, blinked rapidly.
" Wow, that pupil's massive!" Someone exclaimed, their awe audible from their voice.
" Shut up, J." The girl, Angel, rolled her eyes. She had long, bleach blonde hair with dark roots, scraped back into a high ponytail with a neon pink scrunchy. Her eyes were heavily done in black eye makeup and she wore red lipstick. She was wearing denim dungarees that were cut a few inches past her hips and a pink t-shirt, a black, frayed leather jacket on top. Her feet were encased in neon orange trainers. The boys surrounding her were all of differing ethnicity. We were encased in towering dirt walls that I could place at about three meters high.
" Kid, we found you in this crater. Saw a shootin' star while we were drivin' and we decided to see what it was. Seemed you were the star." The man, or rather teenager, who said this, was wearing a bright blue shirt and a pair of jeans. He wore a red cap and his waving, dark brown hands that were attempting to make the point was punctuated by a single, thick silver ring on his index finger. He walked forward and helped me up. I held onto his larger hands and forced my wobbling legs to cooperate. " Careful, had to bandage you with my shirt." He gestured to his ripped hem and I lifted a hand in surprise, only to feel a single bandage across my forehead.
" Could you reiterate to me what, exactly, had happened?" I asked, politely. More of the boys started to whistle and waggle their eyebrows and I felt a twinge of annoyance before squashing it down.
" Sure thing- but we need to know your name first. Don't want your parents knocking about for you, now do we?" A boy who looked vaguely similar to 'Angel' said. I opened my mouth to speak, but no word came out.
Oh Gosh... I don't know my name...
" I- I-"
" Yeah?" Angel asked, softly. I swallowed.
" I do not know." I finally said, pitifully. The gang looked at me as if though I were mad.
" You don't know your name?" They all chorused, simultaneously.
" Ay, ay, ay, ay, don't make her scared." Someone cut in- a brunet with a Scottish accent. " She might have amnesia- not surprisin' since she was hit by a lump'a' space rock." My respect for the stranger had sky-rocketed at that moment. Everyone ceased from crowding around me when the strangest sound erupted from above us. We all looked up and I saw a white, large vehicle with a garishly painted stripe of chequered yellow and green across its middle. Two people hurriedly slammed the door shut and left it before bending to look down at the crater.
" Are you alright down there?" One of the men asked.
" Yes." I responded. One of the men gaped.
" Good grief, the amount of blood on your hair and clothes! Turn around." One of them ordered. Confused, I did as they asked. He gasped again, but this time his friend joined him. " Hang on, we'll get you out of there. Just stay put." A second later, a flexible ladder was thrown over the edge everybody paused.
" What are you lot doing, just standing around? Climb!" One of the men said whilst retrieving equipment from the back of the vehicle. A wheeled stretcher followed out of the back, bandages and medication on top of it. I grasped one of the higher rungs and started to climb the collapsible ladder, though my arms were shaking so badly that I felt as if though I were on the same place all along. Eventually, however, I'd gotten completely over the caldera of the crater. I leaned over and almost grimaced- if I'd fallen from the sky as the gang had initially believed then it must have been a pretty painful fall.
" Right, guys, you all up?" Angel asked. All of them mumbled their affirmative. Angel looked satisfied, but the moment I turned around to face the sun, the light dazzled me. I blinked twice, dizzy, and swayed on my knees.
" Hey, kid?-"
" She's fainting!"
•••
It was to a white ceiling and the distinct smell of ozone that I awoke to. A steady beeping noise reverberated around the room and a dull pain throbbed through my left arm. I looked down at my clothing and noted that I was still wearing the ragged grey uniform I awoke with. I pulled at it, the itchy material somewhat familiar yet burning on my skin. I noticed that, somewhere in the back of my mind, a distinct loathing for the clothes I wore pulsed throughout my body.
Why would I hate these clothes?
I extended my assessment to my left arm and panicked.
There is a needle in my arm!
I promptly screamed and tried to get the needle and tubing off my arm. A nurse ran inside the room, alarmed, but then caught sight of me trying to yank the tubes off my arm.
" No!" She shouted. She sprinted over to me and firmly covered the needle and plaster with a fleshy hand.
" What is this? What have you done?"
" Are you feral, girl?! That's an IV Drip, it's what's keeping you healthy! Don't touch it again, do you understand?" The nurse was breathing heavily, tightly curled blonde hair surrounding her reddish complexion. I bit back a retort.
" I apologise." I finally gritted out. She sat down next to me.
" Just don't do it again." She put her clipboard down on her lap and sat down next to me on a blue chair I hadn't noticed before. She folded her arms neatly above the paper with a pen on her hand. Something about her posture told me that she was about to talk 'business' with me. " Now that you're awake, I may as well give you back your results through our testing." I jolted- I wasn't aware that they had conducted tests on me whilst I was asleep- and sat as straight as I could.
" Tests?"
" Blood tests," The nurse replied, tapping the pen lightly against her clipboard- except the clipboard looked strange to me, as if though it should be polished oak instead of the garish pink material she was using.
What on earth was it made out of?
What was that strange vehicle that transported me here?
" I am Nurse Natalie, just to start it all off. We found out, due to the extremely low glucose levels in your blood, that you have a plethora of conditions. You are not only under and malnourished, by our standards, but you are also suffering from anaemia, a deficiency of vitamin D, dehydration, and- most importantly of all- Hypoglycaemia." The Nurse paused. " We figured out a link to all of these conditions, but it isn't a pretty one. I wouldn't ask you since you are an amnesiac, so instead of asking, I will tell you what the link is." Nurse Natalie took in a breath before looking me dead in the eyes.
" All of these conditions are linked by a long history of systematic abuse, neglect and deprivation of food and water. Your carers, essentially, have been starving you."
People do this to children?
Why?
" But... But I do not feel any pain from the supposed ailments you had listed." I protested. The Nurse looked surprised at me for a second.
" Your language..." She trailed off. " Anyhow, most of these are usually categorised through fatigue, aches and problems with concentrating. We believe that your carers may have hit you in the head, which explains the wound, with the intent of killing you but caused you amnesia instead. We also think that they may have deposited you in the comet crater to make it look like you fell in." I frowned.
" How do you know if that assumption is true?" I asked, confused.
" Because we have found several fragments of DNA all over your body. We have found many finger prints on your face, scalp and hands. But we have also found some hairs that don't match your own and quite a few fingerprints all over your clothes. This led us to believe that not one, but two people had done this to you and, therefore, must be parents."
Unwelcome shock filled me.
My parents did this to me?
" How do you know if my parents had inflicted any harm to me? How do you know if I even have parents?" I asked, not believing what the Nurse had said. She sighed.
" Two hairs were found. One was grey, and didn't match with your DNA. That meant that this person was probably a step mother-" I cut in to intervene, but Natalie raised her hand. I bit my lip to stop myself from shouting at her. " The other was extremely similar to your own- black, thick and wavy- but shorter. It was of the male variation. That was what leads us to the belief that your father and a possible second spouse were harming you."
Pain and shock filled me up from the inside, like liquid fire was racing inside of my veins and into my heart.
There it was... Undeniable proof.
I was fairly certain that if I was standing up then I would have collapsed to my knees at the time. Disbelief was warring with a brutal, cold truth that was being presented to me in the form of Nurse Natalie.
No...
I felt something trickle off my face.
" Oh dear, don't cry!" The Nurse fussed around me, passing me a white tissue from a strange contraption against the wall and saying words that meant nothing to me.
My parents would do this to me?
" Shhh." The Nurse placated my tears, but only fuelled the emotion that I was struggling to put a cork on. Incredulity, shock, pain and anger were all soon replaced with an emotion that I felt was familiar.
Cold hatred. Loathing.
How could they do this to me?
Was there a reason?
Or was it all for fun?
The ice spread through my body, quickly suffocating the fires of agony.
I hate you... I HATE YOU!
I was shaking with complete outrage, but the Nurse thought I was crying harder. She tried to hug me.
" Do. Not. Touch. Me." I hissed. The Nurse flinched away from me and, instead, sat in her chair. Once comfortable, she looked me in the eyes, as if though she knew what I was going through- as if though she empathised with me.
But then she detected the utter hatred.
She gaped at me, thinking it impossible for a child like myself to feel such an evil emotion.
Think again, Nurse, think again...
" Okay." She whispered, voice audibly terrified. At that moment, as if though someone was listening in, a man walked in with blue overalls- the same one that the nurse wore, but in royal blue- and grinned at me with perfect teeth, holding a black suitcase in his hands. I vaguely noted that the brunet doctor was attractive- for someone who was older. His hazel eyes smiled at me.
I immediately knew he was the Happy-Go-Lucky person in the room.
" Ah, you must be the amnesiac we'd heard about just now!" He exclaimed, swinging the suitcase in his hand with worrying force. I bit my lip as I looked up at the man, trying to appear as innocent as possible.
" Yes. She is." Nurse Natalie said, her voice tinted with slight suspicion. She stood up abruptly and left the room. The doctor raised his eyebrows.
" She's never like that unless she's pis- I mean, annoyed." He said, a cocky grin on his face. I fought the urge to raise an eyebrow. The doctor sighed and handed me a piece of paper. " These are the medicines you need to take to get yourself back into tip-top health. Oh," He paused, giving me a thoughtful look. He lifted the suitcase, brandishing the tattered container before me. " Did you know that this was found with you?" He asked.
Forget the innocent act.
I pounced on the black suitcase, my hands instinctively winding around the object as if though it were my mother.
" It has a name on it." The man looked smug, as if though I'd confirmed something he thought I'd done all along.
" Where is it?" I demanded. He rolled his eyes.
" The label, on the other side." I turned the suitcase around.
Three words, faintly familiar, were inscribed in beautiful, cursive font.
Tom Marvolo Riddle.
•••
It had been a week since I had been discharged from the hospital, most of the time of which was spent sedated on my bed. I had to make a 'full recovery', as the doctor put it, before I was allowed out of the sterile building I had been practically imprisoned in. I had no positive thoughts to keep me company- since I had no memories, as the gang and then the doctor said- but only the thought of leaving the hospital to keep me from dying of boredom.
" You will need to use a glucose meter to keep track of your blood sugar levels. They are quite low." The paediatrician, doctor Raminder, told me. The Indian was holding up a clunky piece of machinery. I grimaced- did I have to use that to keep track of my sugar levels?- but accepted the strange, off-white box. There was a sharp needle at one end and a green-grey display screen that told me the levels in digital numbers. " Below 70 is too low. 70 to 100 is normal. 100 to 140 is in the high-normal band, but if you exceed 140- which I highly doubt you will, judging by your lack of blood sugar- then that is too high and action will be needed." He told me. I nodded, shifting slightly on the blue bed.
" That is all?" I asked. The doctor got up from the chair and smiled at me.
" That's all. From now onwards, I am your personal paediatrician." I almost smiled- I found Raminder to be a lot more tolerable than the other doctor- and nodded. " You may need to book a place at the GP-" At my look of confusion, the doctor elaborated. " GP stands for General Practitioner," I nodded to show my understanding. " You can go there for minor concerns, such as a sore throat or a persistent cough. If they diagnose something serious, then you will be told to come here." I nodded.
" How will I be able to treat myself should my sugar levels be too low?" I asked. Doctor Raminder smiled.
" Ah, you're a curious one." I actually let myself smile at that one- I was indeed! " All you need to do is take something high in sugar, like a glass of orange juice, or, if they are too low, a chocolate bar. At the moment, your levels are at 68, just near normal. A glass of juice or a fruit can solve that. Remember, if you are trying to up your levels, always go for the healthier options unless they are dangerously low." I nodded, still grasping the handle of my suitcase in my right hand and the meter in my left. Raminder caught sight of the suitcase but didn't ask- and I already liked him even more for that.
" Goodbye, doctor. Thank you for having me." I said, sliding off the bed. The doctor smiled down at me.
" It's my pleasure. I hope I see you again, though not for anything serious!" I laughed.
" Do not worry, I will not get into any scrapes too soon." I turned and left the chuckling man, a slight smile on my face. The arrival of a new doctor had done me good. Seeing new faces seemed to alleviate my irritation at the place and my confusion had cleared up halfway between my one week stay in the hospital- of which I had later found out was called the Royal Hope Hospital of Surrey- and I had later apologised to the nurse and the previous doctor for my attitude. The nurse still looked rather shaken, but the doctor seemed to take it all in stride and forgave me as if though it were a brush off the shoulder. The man's patience amazed even myself.
" Hello, how can I help you?" A saccharine voice echoed from the reception. I looked up with a ready smile on my face.
" I arrived here about a week ago. I have hypoglycaemia." The blonde, aged receptionist looked me up on her- what was it again? Ah yes, computer- and made a noise of confirmation from behind the large machinery.
" Yep, you have amnesia, right?" She asked. I nodded, though a little more hesitantly.
" That would be me, yes. I am to be discharged." I responded. She smiled.
" Perfect. I just got an email from doctor Raminder. You can go, according to him you have a cab waiting outside for you. Your previous doctor- doctor Enfield- has gotten you a residence to stay at."
" Thank him for me."
" I will." I turned and left the receptionist, still holding my suitcase with my hip length, slightly greasy hair from the days of going unwashed swaying around my grey uniform.
I might not have my memories.
But I have the chance of starting all over again.
•••
Another of those peculiar vehicles was waiting for me outside. It was a shiny black colour and had the word 'TAXI' inscribed on an amber sign on top of it. The style of it felt vaguely familiar, but I decided not to ponder on it. It was a decent size, enough to hold around seven occupants, and had a grey interior. A man opened the door and got out before standing. I surveyed his appearance- very young, around 19 to 20 with pale skin and a shabby uniform, dark brown hair encompassing his face- before he opened the black door and gestured for me to get inside.
" Dun' worry 'bout the fare, doctor gave it to me." He said, his voice showing his boredom. I nodded before getting inside the vehicle. I sat down on the seat and found it peculiarly comfortable. I noticed a strange belt next to me made out of a tough but smooth material. The man closed the door before walking around the car and opening his own door in order to get in. He sat on his seat and put the belt on before pushing it into a small device with a red button on top that said 'eject'. I copied his movement and succeeded- the grey material went across my body like a sash and on top of my lap before the buckle end slipped inside of the box. The man turned his key and the car rumbled slightly, the sound of humming going straight through the car.
Something told me that it was an engine.
" Kay. So what's your name?" He asked. I shrugged, not really interested in conversation. After a few moments of silence, the man shrugged. " A'right, have it your own way then." The vehicle started moving slowly, moving out of the white painted box it had been stationary in, leaving the two other vehicles beside it alone. Fairly soon we were out of sight from the hospital and on par with other versions of the same vehicle I was travelling in- except the style I felt familiar with had diminished with their own design. Theirs were far more sleeker and streamlined. I swivelled around, taking in the view around me- it was the first time I'd been outside since I'd been found in that crater. The man in front fiddled with a few knobs directly in front of me and sound immediately came through unseen speakers.
" –the weather today should be rainy, throughout the day before clearing up with a sunny spell. Over to you, Carol."
" Thank you, Bill, and we are back to the headline we've had since the last week. To recap, a shooting star was seen throughout Europe and landed, surprisingly, in England, a few miles north of Surrey. A young girl who was proclaimed an amnesiac who was found in the centre is now recovering in Royal Hope Hospital. Several believe this to be proof of the fact that extra terrestrial life exists whereas others believe that she is an unfortunate girl who just so happened to be in the path of a meteor. It has been reported that she was discharged from the hospital just a few minutes ago. Here we are with some interviews with a few people who claim to be witnesses."
" Oh, I met her in the crater, I did," A familiar voice sounded. My stomach lurched.
It was Angel!
" She 'ad long, kinda' dry black hair. Hit her bum, it did. Pale skin, too, with big eyes. Tiny thing, she was. When I first saw her with the gang and my brother, we thought she was, what, eight! Think she's 'round 11, now, though. Way she spoke. Too posh for an eight year old."
" I was in the room next to her. She was funny!" Exclaimed a young, childish voice. I didn't recognise the owner of the voice. " She kept shouting at the doctor, but then it was sad because she was crying when she was sleeping. I don't think she knows. The doctor said not to tell her she was crying when she was asleep because she might get sad, too."
The child was right. I felt a deep sadness when she mentioned that.
I felt a tear on my face and, slightly confused, lifted my arm to wipe it off with a tiny sniffle.
Why was I crying?
Was it my conscience, yearning to be set free from the shell of my memoryless mind?
" You okay there?" The man asked. I sighed.
" Yes." I finally said. A few more moments of silence passed when the man took a turn.
" Nearly there." He said, moodily. I frowned, leaning toward the window to look. " Just one more turn..." I nodded. He stopped the car abruptly, just before he took the turn. Confused, I met his eyes in the mirror on the unusually thick window.
" What happened?" I asked. He shook his head, exiting the car. He opened my door.
" Just take a step out."
" Why?"
" Just do it. For your own good." I vaguely noticed that his usage of slang had decreased considerably. Frowning, I did as he told me. He reached into his side of the car and produced a notepad. " Your new name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. This is how you are to go to Hogwarts, all right?" I looked at him as if though he were insane.
" What on earth-"
" Just trust me. Okay? You'll get to know me. Though using street slang was killing me." He chuckled. Confusion ran through me, my mind into overdrive as it attempted to interpret what the insane man was telling me.
" I-"
" Hang on, someone's calling me." He lifted a hand. He searched through his pockets before giving up. " Damn it, I missed it. Okay, don't worry. But you must follow through with what I said, alright? Yeah?" I furrowed an eyebrow.
" Fine. Yes." I responded, reluctantly. He tore off the notepad.
1) Name is Tom Marvolo Riddle
2) Go to Hogwarts
3) Smile J
" Okay, back in the car." I complied, though hesitantly. I got in and put the belt on again, though with minimal fiddling, and waited for the man to get in. He sat on the seat and swung the door shut before igniting the engine again. " I know who you are and what you've gone through, but I'm not from here. Just to tell you," He manoeuvred the vehicle forward as he explained. " My name is Leonardo Abberth. This name might mean nothing to you, but it will in time." He chuckled. " How ironic. In time. We've both fallen through it, haven't we? Only for me, it's just a quick trip and you're stuck here forever..." He trailed off.
" Tell me who I am." I demanded. He pursed his lips.
" I can't."
" Just tell me-" He winded down the window.
" There's where you're going to live." He pointed out the dark building in the distance as we drove ever slower toward it. Fog surrounded the place, making it seem foreboding, though a perfectly normal neighbourhood branched off one end of it. A sign proudly proclaimed the name of the place 'Wisteria Walk, Surrey' but the closer we got to the dark, tall building, the sharper the words that crowned the rusted iron gates of the residence became.
I was struck with an instinctual but unknown fear the second my eyes laid on the sign; paralysing my body as if though I had ingested a poison.
Wools Orphanage.
A/N: And we're back to square one...
~ Annika