Chapter 4

Chapter Four

 

            I’m now waiting in an incredibly small room with a steel door that won’t open unless someone unlocks it from the outside. So, not only did I have to wait in the previous waiting area for three hours, but now I’m forced to wait in this tight room for God knows how long! The only thing I see in this room is those two white, wooden chairs, parallel to each other. I don’t know if I had claustrophobia before, but being stuffed in this tiny room, I sure do have it now. I’m one step closer to freaking out.

            I hear a bolt turn through the door and it opens. Dr. Peters slowly enters the room. She stares at me for about five seconds as the door shuts behind her. She walks over to one of the chairs and sits down. She nods to the chair in front of her.

            When I take a seat, I remember looking up into the rear-view mirror and seeing her in the back seat of that car.

            “You were in the car.” I say, “The one I crashed. The one you caused me to crash.”

            She nods, embracing the fact that I remember who she is. “Yes.”

            “That’s all you have to say? Yes.”

            “Mhm. You’re not lying. I was in the car. I was there waiting for your owner to bring you out. I was going to ride here with you, ask you a few questions, and what not. But I did not cause you to crash it. You crashed it yourself.”

            “Whatever.” I shake my head in disbelief. If she hadn’t spoken when I thought no one else was in there, I wouldn’t have crashed.

“Now, I’m going to ask a couple questions before we begin the examination.”

“Okay.”

“Have you had any dreams since your arrival?”

“No.”

“Besides the heart trouble yesterday, have you experienced any pain?”

“Yes, I’ve had some migraines�"but that’s only because of your white painted walls combined with bright lights.”

“Okay.” She nods. “Before we begin, I should let you know you’ll be given a medicine.”

“Why?”

“It’s called ‘RBPI-24’. It’s to speed the process of the healing in your brain. So, if you were to gain your memory back today, you’d gain around about seventy-five percent of what you would have started to gain over a course of days, maybe months. Sometimes it can even take years. Also, if you show progress in memory gain, I’ll prescribe some medication to keep the process moving. But if you don’t, there’s nothing we can do. This will be a twenty-four hour process.” She stands up and fixes her skirt. “A nurse will be in here shortly to inject the medicine.” The door opens up and she exits the room.

Honestly, I’m having an even worse feeling about this now, way more than I did earlier. Though, I’m also conflicted because I want my memory back. If I get my memory back, everything will make sense and I’ll know what’s really going on.  My memory could also help me escape, which is why I need this. I think I can cooperate for 24 hours in order to remember everything.

The nurse walks in with a needle in her hand. It’s fast and simple. She injects the RBPI-24 into my arm and walks out. The needle did hurt when it went through my skin, though. I’m not sure how long it will take for it to enter my system, but I’m sure it won’t be long.

 

Hour 1: My heart is accelerating. I feel like my heart is going to beat its way outside my chest. I can barely breathe. I feel like my life is about to end, literally. Am I having an anxiety attack?

“Help me!” I scream as I bang on the steel door.

Pacing around the room, I continue to scream for help. Why won’t they come help me? I know something’s wrong! This isn’t normal.

Eventually, I stop and slowly slide down to the floor. I push my hair out of my face. All I can do right now is cry. Is all this a side effect?

Hour 4: Something’s covering my face! I can’t see what it is. It’s like it’s invisible. It’s suffocating me. I’m trying so hard to inhale but cant. I’m moving my hands all over my face trying to remove this invisible thing. I can’t even find it. It’s like it’s not even there.

I can’t get any words out. I’m trying so hard. I just want this to stop. A tear slides down my cheek. Why won’t this stop? It’s excruciating.

Hour 9: I feel like the room is spinning. There’s a sharp pain in the back my head. The pain keeps spreading. My whole head is throbbing in pain. The pain is so bad it’s unbearable.

I grab my head and scream. At this point I know their not going to come help me. I just can’t help but scream because of the pain.

“Make it stop!” I yell. 

Hour 15: Right now I’m standing against the wall. I feel somewhat relief. Maybe I should go sit down in one of those chairs other there. I’m getting really tired.

I go to move away from the wall, but I can’t. I can’t move anything. I feel like something strapped me down to the wall. All I can do now is stand here and wait for this to be over.

I lean my head against the wall and let the tears flow.

I begin count. “One�"two�"three…” I will just count until this is over.

Hour 20: I wake up on the floor. I hear ringing in my ear and it’s strong. I grab my ears and cry out. I squeeze my eyes shut hoping I’ll just fall back to sleep and forget what’s happening.

Hour 24: I hope all of this is almost over. I don’t think I can handle any more of this.

I look down at my hands; they’re bruised. It must’ve happened when I was beating on the door earlier. They’re kind of sore. I stretch and massage my hands.

I push off the ground to stand up. I decide to walk around a bit to gather my thoughts, but as I take my third step, it feels like my heart stops. I fall to the ground holding my heart. I’m trying to gasp in some air as I see everything begin to slowly fade away.

 

            I’m slowly opening my eyes. I’m staring at the legs of a chair. My face is on this very cold floor. I don’t feel anything anymore. I think the medicine has finally worn off.

            I use the chair to help me up off the ground. I sit in the chair. Is that it?

            “Is that it!” I scream as I stand up. I didn’t even remember anything! I went through that torture for absolutely nothing! Not one single memory came back to me!

“Is that it?” I whisper. I pick up a chair and throw it at the wall. “I know you can hear me!”

The door opens and Dr. Peters walks in.

“Natalie, your examination has ended. Thank you for your cooperation.” she smiles.

“Cooperation,” I walk towards her and get in her face. “I went through that for absolutely nothing! I remembered absolutely nothing! And all you have to say is thanks for my cooperation?”

She turns to face the nurses who followed her in here. “Please escort to her room.”

The nurses grab my arms and begin to walk me out of the room. I stop in front of the door and look at Dr. Peters.

“You’re a coward.” I say.

She shrugs. “I think we can agree to disagree, Natalie.”

The nurses pull me forward and continue to walk me down the hallway lined with examination rooms.

When we reach the waiting area I see Lucas. He stands up and smiles at me. He’s had an examination before. How do I know this? Apparently everyone has to go through it. What I can’t put my finger on is the fact he didn’t even warn me about what was going to happen.

“How did it go?” He asks. “I thought I’d just wait for you just in case you�"”

“Just in case what?” I interrupt.

“Well�"”

“Don’t even lie. You knew I was going to go through that! Why didn’t you warn me?”

“Natalie,” he places his hands on my shoulders.

“No, don’t touch me!” I shout. “I can’t trust anyone!” The nurse pulls me back and pushes me towards the doors.

I thought Lucas would’ve at least apologized, but no. He just stood there staring at ground, looking like he actually felt ashamed of himself. If there’s no one I can trust then figuring out a way out of here is going to be close to impossible. I at least have to try. I don’t even care if I die trying at this point.

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[JBoone]

This is getting good. Keep it up. I am hooked.