"So, this is going to be your home until your parents turn up or you remember something." Derek said, opening the door to his apartment and beckoning for Matthew to follow him in. He took a few steps in and looked around.
"It looks like a nice place, Officer Derek Dawson." Matthew smiled.
"Please, call me Derek."
"Okay, Derek."
"Sit down; I want to talk to you." Derek said, collapsing into an old green sofa. Matthew sat next to him, and looked at his new guardian.
"What would you like to know?" The child said.
"Where do you live?" He had the notepad from earlier in his hand now, but a different pen.
"I am not sure. The first thing I remember is Darren, and his beard." Matthew decided that memory was a strange thing, and as he remembered Darren, it was almost as if he were living through the experience again.
"Excuse me, excuse me, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Right. We've got ourselves into a sticky situation haven't we?"
"I don't think I was here before then." Matthew suddenly frowned and this caught Derek off guard. He leant forward from where he was reclining.
"I don't understand what you are saying."
"Everything on this planet seems very new to me, as if it wasn't part of my life before." Matthew answered, and Derek wrote on his notepad.
Worse case of amnesia than previously anticipated.
Possible dissociation?
"Please may I go to bed? I am very tired."
"Sure" Derek said, leading him into the spare room which was to be Matthew's room for next however long he was here.
Matthew lay awake that night thinking about everything that had happened to him that day. Where was he, where had he come from and most importantly, who was he? He didn't have any recollection of anything before the crash; he didn't even remember being on the plane in the first place. Where had he been coming from? Where was he going? What was going to happen to him now? Derek seemed like a nice person, but he didn't know whether he was actually nice enough to be trusted. He felt very alone, and he was worried, but before he could think about which way to go, he fell asleep with a single tear in each eye.
What woke Matthew the next morning, was the sound of birds singing outside his bedroom window. He slid out of bed and went to the windows, peeking through the curtains at the small but neatly laid out garden that Derek owned. He didn't see any birds but he saw cars driving up the main road beyond the back fence of the garden. They were all different colours and Matthew found
that very exciting for some reason. He turned around to see the police officer standing in his doorway.
"Did you sleep well last night?" Matthew was asked.
"Yes, I did thank you." He replied, and left the windowsill to face Derek.
"What do you want for breakfast?" The adult asked. Matthew shrugged, and merely followed his guardian into the kitchen to eat whatever he was given.
"What is going to happen today?"
"Well today, I'm going to take you to see someone who might be able to help you remember who you are and where you came from."
