Chapter Text
Waking up was never easy. It wasn’t any easier with the head hurting, like after a night of headbanging. He opened his eyes, they felt heavy. He really wanted to go back to sleep, light blinded him as he tried to scan the room. And then he realized, he had no idea, where he was. Then came another realization, he had no idea how he got there. At last the worst hit him with full strength - he had no idea WHO he was.
The panic settled in, he looked around, searching for anything that could calm his panic. Then miraculously, a nurse appeared. Right after came in the doctor.
“Welcome back,” said the lady with a bright smile, he looked at her, but couldn’t find anything to smile about. She stepped back, the guy took her spot.
Doctor flashed more light into his eyes, what made him angry.
“Sir, do you know where you are?”
“Hospital, I assume,” he said grumpily. That he knew, one thing to be happy about.
“And do you know who you are?” asked doctor.
“Was hoping you could tell me that,” he answered.
The doctor turned to the nurse, she wrote something down and looked at him with pity in her eyes. He knew, that wasn’t a good sign.
“Do you have any recollection of what might’ve happened before you got here?” asked the nurse, trying to sound nice, but all he heard was more questions with no answers.
“No.” Answer so short and simple, yet heartbreaking.
He didn’t know who he was, medical staff didn’t know who he was. Did no one care? No one visited him? A Million questions ran through his mind on full speed. His breathing got heavier, everything went blurry. He knew they were talking about something, but he couldn’t hear them, all he heard was the noise of his own blood rushing through his veins, his heartbeat, every breath he struggled to get.
They gave him something, he calmed down and things went back to normal, as normal you could get in that kind of situation at least. Nurse wrote more things down, he didn’t want to know what it was.
“How long - How long was I…” Words weren’t coming to him. Asleep? He believed the right term would be in a coma, but that sounded terrifying.
“You were brought here Monday evening, it’s Friday morning now,” The doctor studied the monitor
“Three and a half days?” He asked, not wanting to believe it. Shouldn’t someone visit him in such a long time? Family? Friends? Someone from work?
“You are aware of weekdays and can count, that’s a good sign,” said the nurse, smiling fondly.
He didn’t feel proud. Next questions and exams touched down on his physical symptoms, they asked everything they could about every body part he has. Thankfully, he wasn’t missing any, although his left arm was broken. His senses worked well, except for a stuffed nose, but he got a new piece of information from all of that. When he came in he was soaking wet, smelling like sewer water (not a great first impression - he thought), the river brought him there or so they assumed, a fisherman found him on a shore. No one knew how long was he in the water, the only certain things were his broken arm, a big wound in the back of his head and his amnesia. Doctor Reynolds - he formally introduced himself, while looking into his ears, which was weird and first in his life (he assumed) - left, and the nurse was drawing his blood to do more tests.
“So, not a great morning you’re having?” The nurse asked, sticking a needle into him.
“Not so great,” He answered honestly.
“I have to upset you, but now, that you’re awake, we need to contact the police.”
“Did I do something?” He asked, scared of the answer.
“No, it’s to find out, who you are. Someone is looking for you out there, and of course, you might remember that, but we don’t know, how soon that’s going to happen, they will speed things up. In theory” She added.
He looked at her questioningly.
“It’s a small town, no one here is really doing much investigating. My husband tries, but with no resources, it’s shut down pretty quick. By the way, my name is Maggie. You can call me that, there aren’t many patients here, so it’s usually easier for me that way, anyway, what would you like me to call you?” She put the blood vial on the bedside table and dressed his wound.
He thought about anything that stuck with him, with an empty brain it wasn’t the easiest task.
“Unless you want to stick with ‘sir’, but I think you’re too young for that” Maggie added, when he remained silent.
Another thing he had no idea of - his age. Suddenly, something in his head whispered ‘Eddie’. Maggie picked up, as the look on his face changed.
“You remembered something?”
“Eddie,” He said.
“You think that’s your name?”
He shook his head. “No, doesn’t feel right. It came to me, but I don’t think it’s mine.”
“That might be your relative, maybe your brother? Or a friend? Always a good hint, might be useful later,” Maggie said, smiling. “Or maybe your name starts with a letter E, that sometimes happens, patients remember the letter or the familiar sound.”
“So it’s either a name, that starts with an E or a name that rhymes with ‘Eddie’? He raised his eyebrow, not liking any of those options.
“Perhaps,” Maggie stood up and took the vial. “You must be starving, let me bring you something to eat, no one thinks well on an empty stomach.”
“Thank you,” He smiled at her.
Maggie left and as the room got filled with silence, he started thinking again. Was there really no name, that suited him? Nothing that felt right? He tried to think of names starting with E and hated almost every single one, except Eddie, but that one wasn’t suited for him either. He hoped the meal could really help, at least brighten his mood a little.