A Rush of Blood to the Head

Chapter 24

"..... complete lock-down. All personnel are requested to wait for further instructions"

A white light shone before him, hurting his eyes. He groggily shifted his head but winced in pain. His head throbbed. His whole body felt immobile, as if he had been asleep for ages. he found himself trying to figure out whether he was in a dream or not.

"Patient ID - 1237 please report to your nearest help-desk..."

He tried to open his eyes but couldn't because of the blinding light. He remained still for a few more seconds wondering where the strange announcement came from. Was it inside his head or was it something else? He couldn't decide. His head started hurting even more.

"... hospital is in complete lock-down. Patient ID - 1237 is reported to be missing."

He let out a small gasp when he realised where he was.

Hospital?

He tried to shift his arms but they seemed too heavy to move. As his eyes adjusted to the bright light, he opened them. This time he saw himself lying in a narrow bed at the centre of a very inconspicuous grey room. The curtains were drawn on what seemed to be a glass door. A bright lamp shone right above his head. A white sheet covered him and an IV drip was inserted in his left arm. He saw nothing else in the room except for a small painting of a flower pot hanging on one of the walls.

"Patient ID-1237..."

In the midst of the strange announcement, he heard the sound of a door being opened. Moments later, a silhouette of a tall, well built woman appeared in front of him. She had her hair tied in a ponytail and held something in her hands, possibly a notebook. The announcement continued.

"Patient ID - 1237, Chris Martin, please report to your nearest help-desk..."

Being startled to no ends, he gasped, audibly so.

CHRIS?!

At once Jonny sat up in his bed, ignoring the unbearable pain shooting through his head and his arms. He looked around at the clean grey room, realising that he was a patient at this particular hospital. He tried to remember how he got here but his mind was a surprising blank. He had no recollection of anything except for a few fragments of memories of possibly a few years ago. Confusion was an understatement.

"HEY!! WHAT THE HELL!! LIE DOWN!!", the woman yelled, "DON'T GET UP!"

Before Jonny could even respond he felt two powerful hands on his shoulders, pushing him down. In a second, he was down in his bed and the sheets were pulled over. He groaned.

"What?", he mumbled before trying to sit up again.

Much to his disappointment the woman held him down, not letting him move even for an instant.

"What... What's happening?", Jonny gasped.

"Calm down, Mr. Buckland. It's all right. You are in a hospital", the woman spoke authoritatively and soothingly at the same time, "You had a fainting spell due to excessive blood loss, but we pumped you full of fluids. You are okay now. Don't worry... But no sitting up. You need to lie down till the headache subsides"

Jonny resisted and groaned before the pain forced him to give up and lie still on his bed. He felt fairly disappointed at being overpowered by a woman but soon forgot all about realising how weak he himself was, and how well built and strong the woman seemed to be. He glanced up at her with tired eyes and saw that she had a stethoscope draped around her neck.

Nurse...

The woman looked carefully at the monitor and let out a sigh.

"Relax and lift your shirt up", she said.