Chapter 54
BLAINE.
I’D OFTEN HEARD PEOPLE DESCRIBE THE VOID THEY EXPERIENCED AFTER A
TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE.
The stories didn’t do it justice, though. I don’t think anyone could accurately describe the peace and tranquility of just floating along in the darkness with no cares in the world.
The outside world seemed so out of reach it was hard to believe it actually existed. However, during the peace came periods of unease, the niggling sensation of wrongness. Somewhere in the back of your mind you knew this wasn’t really where you belonged, you knew this wasn’t really your reality, you knew you had to go back.
The voices helped. Sometimes they were muffled and sounded distant, like someone speaking from under a pile of blankets. Other times they were sharp and clear, pulling you back to your reality little by little. It was the familiar voices that helped the most. You’d hear them and know that there were people, loved ones even, waiting for you out there.
As for me, it was curiosity that made me fight against the current and swim up to the surface. There was one voice I’d heard constantly that was strange and familiar and comforting all at the same time. As soon as I opened my eyes I heard the soft gasp. My gaze, however, latched onto Jordan first.
He was staring at me in a way that made me slightly uncomfortable. My best friend wasn’t one to show emotion a lot, but when he did, they came off as very intense probably from the period of suppression. He stared at me with a mix of emotions.
Surprise and relief were paramount in his eyes. He grabbed hold of my hand and squeezed. Not one word was said yet, but we had always been able to understand each other without words.
I turned to look at the girl whom the gasp had come from. She was insanely pretty with brunette hair that had golden highlights and the prettiest blue-gray eyes I’d ever seen. I kept getting the feeling that I knew her somehow. Perhaps she was one of Jordan’s ‘acquaintances’.
I’d always wondered how he got all the hot girls flocking around him when he was such a dick, but I guess his looks made up for it. I felt I was the only one who could handle his abrasiveness. Apart from Lauren, of course, but then she’s known him as long as I have.
I smiled politely at the pretty girl even when my heart gave a strange tug. She opened her mouth to speak
“Blaine, oh thank heavens, you’re awake!” she said with too much familiarity for someone I didn’t even know. When I heard her voice my eyes narrowed; it was the same voice I’d been hearing while I was out.
Why was this stranger the one who’d been talking to me constantly? What was going on? However, overfamiliarity or not, I’ve always been the gentleman between me and Jordan so I kept a polite smile as I asked “Who are you?”
The girl and Jordan stiffened and I watched with concern as the smile dripped off her lips and the light died in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry. By your reaction I presume we’ve met but I meet a lot of people and I can’t recall where we met,” I said apologetically, surprising myself by how much I hated the confusion in her eyes and the fact that I’d put it there.
With a frown on her face, she reached over and started to push the button that called a nurse rapidly until one came in.
The nurse’s face lit up when she set eyes on me then frowned when the brunette said something to her in a harsh whisper. She left the room as quickly as she came in and my confusion heightened.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on here? You can’t seriously expect me to remember the face and name of everyone I’ve met, especially if the meeting was brief. There’s no need for all the drama” I said, trying to keep the annoyance I was starting to feel out of my voice.
They ignored me and Jordan placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. By the time the doctor entered, I’d started to get the sense that all wasn’t well. I couldn’t explain the agitation I was feeling and I could feel my heart rate rising.
“Good evening, Mr. Daniels. I’m Doctor Adams and we’re glad to have you back” he said in a business tone, reading something off the clipboard in his hand “I’m just Blaine, and what’s all the commotion about?” I asked.
He finished consulting the clipboard and came closer to me “Blaine, how much do you remember about how you got here?” he asked without answering my question.
I frowned; I hadn’t even thought about that.
“Not much” I replied.
“Can you tell us what you know?” he asked again and I adjusted until I was sitting up in the bed. I thought back to my last lucid moment before the darkness had claimed me as its own.
“I remember being in a lot of pain,” I answered carefully as bits and pieces started to come back to me. I remembered being tied up in an electric chair while some guy pressured me for classified information.
That’s where the excruciating pain had come from. I couldn’t tell him this though. Jordan and I always tried to keep the police out of our business as much as possible. “Your chats here say you were electrocuted. What about the events leading up to that? Anything?” the doctor prodded further.
I tried to think further back and a headache began to build at the base of my skull. I noticed the lady leaning forward as if waiting for my next answer, “I think I was taking a walk” I said, squinting like the picture would become any clearer or it would make the haze lift from my memory.
The lady slumped again and I caught the disappointment in her eyes before she turned away. I had the strange urge to comfort her, even though I didn’t know why she needed comfort.
“I see. Well, Blaine, it looks like you have partial amnesia due to the trauma you suffered” there was a quickly muffled sound from the lady “I believe it should clear up after some time, but if it doesn’t then perhaps your friends can fill in the details for you.
These things are mainly psychological, you see, so there’s not much we can do here” the doctor concluded.
That explained the sensation of missing something I’d been having. I tried to think back to all the events of the last few months and yet every one of the memories I had seemed to be missing something.
The headache was on in full force now and I closed my ear, hearing the doctor and nurse excuse themselves from the room. I suddenly remembered something and my eyes flew open and fixed on Jordan.
“My aunts” was all I said. They’d been staying with me for a few weeks now and would probably have had the police put out an APB for me at this point.
“They think you’re on a business trip to Hong Kong. You’re supposed to bring back souvenirs,” he answered and I relaxed again.
I knew I could always count on him to have my back. But as for the lady who was still staring at me with sorrow in her eyes, I would solve her mystery if it was the last thing I did.