Page 22 of Midnight Between Us
“You’re in a clinic,” she continues.“I suppose you were in a car accident.I’m your attending physician.”
Attending.
Physician.
Is that why she won’t look me in the eye?
What kind of accident?
Where was I?A car ran over me?Because that’s exactly how I feel.As if something smashed me and ...fuck, everything hurts.
Though as I think about what happened to me the accident doesn’t sound true.I try to remember something.Anything.
A truck.A lake.Someone walking away ...her.
Was she there?
Did she try to kill me?
Or am I simply confusing dreams with whatever this is?
A knock at the door breaks the air between us.She glances over her shoulder, then back at me.
“The nurse is here to assist with extubation,” she explains, stepping closer.Her voice lowers, like it’s meant for me alone.“We’ll take the tube out shortly, but first, I need you to answer a few questions.”
For a split second, something twists in her eyes—grief honed into anger—before she shuts it away.
“Can you hear me?”she asks, calm but not soft.“Blink once for yes.”
I blink.
“Do you know your name?”
Of course, I do.Could she ask me something harder?Something that makes sense, or better yet, give me an explanation of why I’m here?Not some easy task like what my name is.What’s the point of this?
Except ...it isn’t easy.It isn’t anything.Suddenly, I’m not so sure who I am or what ...do I have a name?
My pulse jumps.The dream, the truck, the drowning—they’re still under my skin.I can taste rust in my mouth.I can hear her voice in the fog, screaming for me to wake up.She said a name.I remember her calling me ...why doesn’t she tell me?She knows, probably, she wants me to forget.
Stop.Focus on the question ...don’t think about anything else,I tell myself.I try to find the answer in my own head.It should be simple—my name—but it slips away before I can catch it.
She watches me closely.Doesn’t push.Just nods, like she already knows what I can’t say.
“Do you remember what happened?”
Woman, I don’t even remember who I am, and you want me to walk you through some story I can’t even imagine?
I blink slowly, dragging my eyes to hers.That’s when I see it.She’s scared, too.
“I need you to focus,” she says, her voice firmer now, as if she’s afraid I’ll slip away again.“Blink once for yes, twice for no.Do you understand?”
I blink once.
“Good.Let’s try again.Do you remember your name?”
I search.Nothing comes.Not even a syllable.Just static.I give up and simply blink twice.
She mutters, “Shit,” under her breath.Not cold.Not detached.Just ...almost even defeated.
