achromatopsia

02: regaining consciousness

What I just described actually happened in a matter of about twenty seconds or less. But for me it felt longer than that.

Because damn, it hurt.

The pain was so excruciating that I wasn't even sure if I had only imagined the short gap of seeing colour. 

Probably. Because the chances were so low...

But then again everything that I could think about right now was the sharp ache in my head. Whatever hit me surely must have been ten hundred pounds heavy.

I groaned loudly and moved my hand to my throbbing forehead. I quickly pulled my hand back when it touched a soft and ice cold... bag or something?

I opened my eyes widely all of a sudden and sat straight up feeling immediate regret because everything started spinning.

I was gently pushed back down on the soft mattress of what seemed to be a patient couch. I let out another groan of pain and decided to close my eyes again.

I had no clue where I was and how I ended up there. And why the hell my head felt like it was going to explode any second now.

I sucked in a deep breath in attempt to breathe the pain away. But it didn't work.

"Miss, how are you feeling?", a tender female voice sounded next to me and I felt someone put a noose around my arm with swift and cautious fingers.

"I-", my voice was hoarse and cracked as soon as I wanted to say something.

I was totally dehydrated. I cleared my throat and tried speaking again. I wasn't a crybaby who wasn't able to get over a little headache and a sore throat.

"I feel like an elephant performed a tap dance on my head", I answered the woman's question.

That's just how I was, never losing my silly humor even in serious and frightening scenarios, just like Tom Holland's spiderman in hairy situations. Maybe that was why he was one of my favourite characters in the MCU.

When I was still in therapy my psychiatrist told me it was my way of coping with difficult and awkward situations. Whatever helps him sleep at night, I think I'm a damn funny person.

A light chuckle was heard from my right side as the noose tightened around my arm with a mechanical hum.

"Your blood pressure is 125 over 83. Still a little too high but better than before", she said after a while of the blood pressure gauge squeezing my arm. I could hear her smiling through her voice while speaking to me.

One of the few useful things my colour blindness had thought me, how to carefully listen to a person's voice pitch and tone to make up for the lack of colour in their eyes and on their facial expression. Many would be surprised how much of an impact they had on communication.

"Huh. That's good... I guess", I said chuckling awkwardly and cursed right after because, of course, the movement sent a dazzling sting through my head.

I winced and clenched my fist beside my body to endure the pain. As I lied there I sharpened all my other senses apart from seeing, which I honestly was quite used to.

And I could actually hear faint cheering in the background?

I squinted my eyes in confusion, or pain -or maybe both- and then decided to try opening them again.

This time luckily, it worked without the whole room starting to rotate.

I looked up and faced a plain white ceiling with two fluorescent light tubes at either side of the room, illuminating the small room in a pale light. That was all I could tell from my black and white vision.

"Miss, I know your head hurts a lot but you must sit up and drink some water", the woman beside me announced and I could hear her opening a water bottle with a crack.

I slightly turned my head to the side and saw a young woman, yet definitely older than me, striding towards me while inserting a straw into a small plastic water bottle.

The woman was gorgeous. She had long silky hair which she had tied up in a pony tail so they wouldn't bug her while working. Her heart-shaped face was so dainty that it almost seemed angelic.

Suddenly I felt very ugly.

She gave me a sweet smile and stood next to me, holding out the bottle to me.

"I'll help you sit up, okay?", she offered and all I could do was nod in response.

I propped myself up on my forearms, ignoring the scary fact that my vision went completely black for a second.

She hooked her arm around my body and supported me while she quickly adjusted the headboard of the chaise so I could lean against it in a comfortable sitting position.

By the time I reclined I was breathing heavily and my forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

What was happening? Did I get a concussion?

She handed me the water bottle and I accepted it with both hands, hoping to hide my trembling.

I took the straw between my lips and avidly sipped on the water. The cool liquid ran down my dry throat and I instantly felt a tad better.

I set down the bottle, resting my forearms on my lap to catch my breath.

Suddenly I heard loud cheers roaring from the left side of the room and a series of loud explosions.

I flinched and looked terrified at the woman next to me while she went through a few papers, not even looking up because of the noise.

"Don't worry, it's just the fireworks", she said smiling at me reassuringly.

Fireworks?

Instead of putting me at ease that statement caused even more headache. Why was I here again? I used every last brain cell and tried to remember what the hell happened to me, but it simply was as if a piece of my memory was missing for the incomplete puzzle of the whole picture.

"Ma'am, excuse me, but where are we again?", I asked, feeling kind of dumb to even ask something like that. It wasn't like I had drunk alcohol to oblivion or anything like that.

She moved her glance from the forms in her hands to me, sceptically cocking an eyebrow. She turned away from me and bent down to retrieve something from a medical bag.

She didn't answer my question and just leaned over me, placing her hand gently on my face to pull up my eyelid and shine a glaring light into my eyes with some kind of medical torch.

"We're at a concert. Do you not remember?", she asked frowning and regarded me with unreadable eyes.

What concert?

Then it hit me all at once.