Blink of an eye

Awake

Catherine

My body felt so heavy when I woke up. Almost like a car had hit me. My head kept spinning even though I had kept my eyes closed this far. I opened another eye and nothing strange happened so I opened my other eye too. I was in a strange room which I didn't recognise at first. A hospital room?

I tried to remember what had happened and slowly some images came to my mind. I had been walking down the street to get to the river path. I remember hearing running steps behind me and when I turned around something hit me hard. I didn't have time to realize what had hit me. A man? I remember seeing another man a little further from me. He had the darkest eyes I've ever seen and I couldn't do anything else than stare at his deep eyes. The next moment I felt my head crushing against the brick wall next to me and after that everything went black. Who were the men? What were they doing there?

I looked around the room. It was a standard hospital room with white walls and just a couple of furniture in it. I moved my hands slowly and when nothing felt broken, I pushed myself to the sitting position. My head was pounding but otherwise everything seemed to be okay. Just my luck. Everything could have been finished this time but no.

Suddenly a nurse walked into my room when I tried to get out of the bed to get into the bathroom.

"You are awake! How are you feeling? Maybe you shouldn't stay up yet." She said.

I tried to shake my head as an answer but it didn't feel very good. "I'm alright." I replied to her and finally put the weight on my feet.

The nurse rushed next to me and took my arm into her hands. She helped me to the bathroom and I closed the door. I walked next to the sink and watched myself from the mirror. My hair was a mess and I had a wound on my left temple. It had stitches on it so it would probably leave a scar on my face. Oh well, just one more thing I didn't like about myself.

The nurse helped me back to bed while asking more questions about my wellbeing. It felt like a small lifetime to me. Suddenly I realized that the nurse had left the room and it was silent again. I thought about closing my eyes just for a second but soon I fell asleep. I don't know how long I had been sleeping before a low voice called my name and I opened my eyes again. A handsome doctor was standing next to my bed while going through some notes. He lifted his gaze back to me and smiled.

"Hi, my name is doctor Hilton. I was just checking your MRI results. You are lucky that the impact didn't cause more than a mild concussion and that nasty cut on your face. You should take it easy for a few days but otherwise you can leave whenever you feel ready to go. I'd recommend staying with someone who can check you a few times during the first night, just in case. " The Doctor said and he was getting ready to leave for the next patient.

I knew I wouldn't spend the night with anyone because there was simply no one to spend it with. I was still a bit confused but managed to ask the one thing that had been on my mind. "I know that you are in a hurry but may I ask, do you happen to know what happened to me?"

The Doctor turned around and smiled apologetically at me. "I'm sorry miss Winters. I don't have any further information about what happened to you before you were brought to the ER. You were unconscious and had a head injury while coming here. Luckily nothing more than what I mentioned earlier."

I frowned and looked at my hands. "How did I end up here?" I continued.

"A bypasser brought you here. Unfortunately I don't know more about your situation. I really need to continue my rounds now, miss Winters. I wish you a lovely day. Take care." Doctor Hilton said and walked out of my room.

If I was a so-called normal young woman, I might have flirted with the doctor and asked if he would spend the night with me. He was a good looking man, a great catch as they say. He didn't have a ring in his finger so he might still be free, waiting for the right one. Besides his handsome face he had a pretty perfect body. Muscles in all the right places. If only I was normal… I wanted to be normal, I really did.

I sighted and started to get ready to get out of the hospital. Feeling sorry for myself didn't help me at all. Most of the time I felt calm as I had accepted my fate a long time ago. This was my part in life.

My things were gathered fast as I rarely carried a lot of things with me. A phone and a purse were enough. I took my clothes out of the cabinet and noticed that they were damaged. Luckily it was Fall already so I had been wearing a jacket. Without it I might have had a problem as my shirt was cut off when I had been hooked on the machines in the ER…

I noticed that my necklace wasn't with my other stuff. I didn't own much jewelry but I often carried my parents wedding rings on a chain as a necklace - and now it was gone! I tried to convince myself that it was just materia which didn't matter much but I still felt sad. The rings were important to me. They were almost the only piece I had left from my parents.