Who Am I?

I opened my eyes slowly. I didn’t feel good. I saw a white hospital room with a sink and some shelves. Many, many papers and loud scans too. And a girl in a nurse’s outfit. She had brown hair and sea – foam green eyes. She really looked quite young. Might’ve been just out of college or something. Maybe 20 or so. She was filling a glass with water at the sink when she turned around and looked at me. 

“You’re awake! Hey! I’m Laura, what’s your name?” The girl said, smiling. 

“I’m-,” I pause, “I d-don’t remember.” I said wide – eyed. “Who am I? Where am I? What’s going on!?”

“Are you okay?” Laura asked, very concerned. 

“I don’t know.” I said with zero confidence. 

“Okay, well, for starters, you’re in LA. And in a hospital. I’m a nurse here. I was coming to check in on you. Looks like you have a diagnosis of amnesia. I have to tell the doctor about this!” Laura exclaimed as she rushed out of the room, leaving the door open for me to see some signs. One pointed down the hall that I was in and read, BURN SECTOR. I started to realize things as I pushed away the fluffy, white sheets and looked down at my body. I was in a white hospital gown with light blue spots. I slowly pulled my sleeves up and, sure enough, there were burns of all different colors. I was a disco ball. 

“How did-” I was about to say to myself when Laura rushed back into the room with someone behind her. He looks much older and more experienced than Laura. A man with blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a doctor’s uniform enters. Instead of friendly chit – chat like Laura he gets straight to the point, probably because he was worried about me. 

“What is your name?” He asked me quickly. 

“Um, I’m not sure. I-” I started, but he quickly interrupted. 

“Do you know where you are?” He inquired. 

“A hospital in LA. Laura told me.” I said quickly before he could interrupt. 

“Oh. Can you remember anything about how you got here?” He asked. 

“No.” I said. 

“This is serious,” He says, “We’ll have to do a brain scan to see the damage.”

“You’re going to be okay. Looks like that fire did a number on you.” Laura said, “The good news is we’re going to find out what’s wrong and we’ll find some background info on you.” 

“I have to set up the scan. This might take a while. Give her some food. She needs to eat.” He said calmly. 

“Of course.” Laura responds. And with that, the doctor leaves the room. “That’s Dr. Gancio, one of the doctors for burn patients.”

“So I was burned huh? How long have I been here?” I asked. 

“Two days. We’ve been treating your burns. They’re getting better.” Laura said as she opened the door. ”I’m gonna grab some food for you. Be back in a minute.” Laura said as she left. Once again, I was alone. I tried to get out of the bed to find that I was extremely exhausted and thin. I hadn’t eaten anything. I was glad Laura was bringing food. I slowly hobbled my way out of the room and used the signs to find the nearest bathroom. The bathroom had a mirror, so I looked and found out what I looked like. I was probably a teenager, maybe 16, with long, curly, black hair down to my elbows and dark brown eyes. I went back to my room to lie down. A few minutes later, Laura came back to my room with a tray of food. 

“Here, eat this.” She said as she gave me the tray. 

“Thanks, I was really hungry.” I said as I looked at the food. There was a bowl of tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, and some chips. 

“Eat slowly. Your stomach’s probably the size of a chestnut fight now. You haven’t eaten.”

I was a little hesitant at first because, well, hospital food, but it actually wasn’t half bad. I ate it all in one gulp. Laura took the tray back to the cafeteria. 

“Thanks for taking care of me.” I said gratefully. 

“No problem. You’re one of my best patients. Not rowdy at all.” She said, we laughed. We talked for a little while until Dr. Gancio came back. 

“I’ve got the scan setup. We should be good. Let’s go,” he said. Laura helps me get up and we go to the scan room. Long story short, Dr. Gancio scans my brain and tells me the results. 

“Looks like that fire did something odd. Your brain is literally fried. You can recover your memories, but it will be a slow process and it has to be triggered by something. Something you’ve seen or heard before or something like that.” Dr. Gancio said. 

“So I’m stuck until I find something that triggers my memory?!” I exclaimed worriedly. 

“Pretty much. I’m sorry.” Laura said sadly. I sighed and lay down on the bed. “If you want, we can send you to therapy. It might help you recover your memories faster.” Laura suggested hopefully. 

“Okay, if you think it’ll help.”

“Totally! Now it’s late. You should get some rest. I’ll make a call and tell the therapist you’ll be coming in tomorrow.”

“Okay. Goodnight.” I said. 

“Goodnight.” Laura said, she turned off the lights. Dr. Gancio and Laura left. 

The next morning, I woke up to find Laura already shuffling about the room with lotions and products in her hands, probably for my burns, with her brown hair flowing behind her. 

“Morning.” I said. She jumped, a little startled. 

“Morning. Big day today! You’re gonna see a therapist today! You got Dr. Travers. She’s super nice and she said she is available at around 11:00. It’s 9:00 right now so you have time.” She said happily. 

“Alright.” I said. 

“Here, breakfast. Don’t eat too fast though cause your stomach’s still pretty small.” 

“Yup.” I said, zoning out her comment, “Give me a minute. I’m going to the bathroom.” I said as I left the room. I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I looked at myself and realized I was quite dirty. I went back to the room and sat down. 

“Laura, could you help me take a shower.” I asked. 

“Oh, of course.” She said as she led me to the shower and helped me. It was a bit awkward at first, but Laura wasn’t awkward at all. She was very kind and gentle about it. If Laura wasn’t awkward, I wasn’t awkward. Plus, she probably does this a lot as a nurse. We went back afterwards and I ate my breakfast. There were waffles, maple syrup and hot french toast. I ate it, and then Laura took the tray. 

“Alright. I gotta apply some lotion on your burns so they get better.” Laura said as she took out some lotion. 

“Thanks again.” I said as I rolled up my sleeves. I was a lot more comfortable with Laura now. She wasn’t going to judge me or anything. She was here to take care of me. 

“Hold still.” She said as she started applying. She applied the lotion and then I felt a lot better. 

“How long have you been a nurse?” I asked, trying to make conversation. 

“Actually, not a long time. I’m new. Been here, probably a few months,” she said. 

“Could’ve fooled me.” I said. We laugh. 

“We should be heading to Dr. Travers’ office soon.” Laura said as she helped me up. We went to her office and she was sitting down on a blue bean bag. She had short, black hair, blue eyes, and a red beret. 

“I have to go right now, but just come back to your room when you’re done, okay.” Laura said. 

“Okay.” I said as she left, leaving me with Dr. Travers. 

“Please sit.” She said warmly. I sat on the green bean bag across from her. “So, you have amnesia?”

“Yes.” I said sadly. 

“How are you feeling?” She inquired. 

“Not great. Apparently, it’ll take a while to recover my memory.” I said. 

“Well, what about your time at the hospital? Good? Bad? Any nice people you’ve met.” She asked. 

“Well, Laura has been incredibly kind to me and I’m so grateful.” I said. 

“She is very lovely.” She agreed. We talked for a little while more about my experiences and emotions. She is so sweet and down to Earth. 

“Well, you should get going now. This was a great talk. Come back tomorrow.” She said kindly. 

“Yup!” I said as I left. I went back to my room and found a newspaper on the table and, of course, Laura shuffling about as usual. 

“Hey, how’d it go!” She said as I entered. 

“She was super nice and she said you were lovely.” I said. She giggled. 

“I thought you might want to know what’s been going on since you’ve been here, so I picked a newspaper for you.” She said as I picked it up. 

“Thanks.” I said, smiling. 

“Also, good news! I found some info on who you are. Take a look! Your name is Rose.” Laura said, handing me a file. “I gotta go report your burn progress to Dr. Gancio. I’ll be right back.” 

“Okay.” I said quickly, flipping through the file. I needed to know who I was and what happened to me. Looking through the file, I found out that my full name was Rose Blois and I was an orphan. The people at the orphanage I was at claimed, they didn’t know me. (What caring people) I had very few belongings and very little money. I put the file down and took a look at the newspaper. The article on the front cover was about a stolen necklace. A stolen . . . necklace?

“Hey, I’m back! I brought lunch!” Laura said cheerfully. 

“A stolen necklace. A necklace with a solid gold chain. The charm is in the shape of a cat with exactly 53 black diamonds on it. The most valuable substance on Earth. Found in the core of the Earth. Regular diamonds are nothing in comparison to these. The necklace is the most expensive piece of jewelry in the world and it is only one of its kind,” I said. 

“I see you’ve read the article.” Laura said. 

“No, I only read the title.” I said wide – eyed. 

“What? How do you know all this information then?” Laura asked. 

“I don’t know. I saw the picture and something clicked. Like deja vu.” I responded. 

“Maybe the necklace has something to do with your memories!” Laura said hopeful, “What else can you remember?” Laura asked. 

“I was running. I think I was chasing someone. I went into a forest and there was a warm glow. Very warm. Hot, in fact, too hot. And then . . . and then . . . nothing.” I said quietly. 

“Hey, it’s okay. You remembered something! That’s amazing! You’re making a quick recovery.” Laura said, trying to cheer me up. 

“I guess so.” I said smiling. 

“Lunchtime! Make sure to eat slowly cause-” Laura started before I interrupted her. 

“Because my stomach is still small. Yeah, yeah.” I said jokingly. 

“Hey! I’m just trying to save you from losing your lunch, literally.” She said as we laughed. The rest of the day went by normally and I went to sleep. 

The next morning, Laura woke me up and gave me breakfast. I showered and Laura applied lotion to my burns. 

“You’ve gotta see Dr. Travers again today. You know where she is right?”

“Yeah, why?” I inquired curiously. 

“Well, I have some stuff to take care of so I can’t take you there today.” Laura explains. 

“Oh. That’s fine.” I said smiling. I left the room and headed to Dr. Travers’ room. On the way, I accidentally bumped into someone. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry.” I said apologetically. 

The man looked up at me, “You’re alive?! Ugh! I should’ve expected this from you.” He said annoyed. The man was maybe 25, with light – brown hair and eyes.  

“Um, I’m sorry, do I know you?” I inquired curiously. What did he mean, You’re alive. Of course I’m alive! 

“Oh. Amnesia, I see.” He grinned with an evil look in his eye. “Like taking candy from a baby. Sorry, carry on.” He said as he walked away. That was odd but I tried not to think about it too much and went to Dr. Travers’ office for therapy. We talked for a little while about my memories and I went back to my room. 

“Hey! How are you doing?” Laura asked, “Any new memories today?” I trusted Laura and I felt like I could tell her anything, so I started telling her about the man. 

“No, but I bumped into a man on my way to Dr. Travers’ office and he-” I stopped. Memories came flooding back to me when I thought about that man. At the orphanage . . . he stole my necklace. I ran and ran to catch him. He was fast. I didn’t care about the people at the orphanage. They didn’t love me. I ran and he . . . started the fire in the forest. I couldn’t escape. He tried to kill me. In my head I could feel the heat of the fire as I remembered . . . how much I hate him.