Stormbringer

Chapter Two

The next few days passed in a blur. How many days had passed? Two? Three? I lost track of time, fading in and out of consciousness and dreams. My dreams were strange to me. Were they memories? Were they mere figments of my imagination? I didn't know.

Everything was confusing. I spent many of my waking hours thinking. Trying to piece together any tiny fragments of memory... but the confusion only increased. The doctors still had no real diagnosis about my amnesia.

"It's not uncommon with head trauma," they would all say. "Give it time, see if you start to remember anything." Yeah. Well, easy for them to say! They know who they are. They know who the people around them are! I have no freaking clue about anything! Someone could have told me I was born on the moon and I would not know with one hundred percent certainty that they were lying. No one had said that to me, and I think if they did it would be a lie, but still. I could never be sure about anything.

Miriam had been back every day. She was really, really starting to annoy me. She was always flouncing in here when I just wanted to rest and think. She was always so over-dramatic and it was exhausting to listen to her. I didn't trust her either. After seeing the video on her phone, I knew there was something she wasn't telling me. She kept contradicting herself with statements and actions she made, so I had no idea what to believe. Her visits were so exhausting that I always fall asleep before she even left my room.

"Raiden!"

I groaned quietly, the sound muffled by my pillow as I lay face-down, pretending to sleep. The curtains around the bed were thrown back and Miriam walked in.

"Aww, you aren't excited to see me?" Miriam pouted as I gave up on feigning sleep and rolled over to peer at her from the bed. I mumbled something incoherent but that answer did not seem to satisfy Miriam.

"I missed you!" Miriam said, heavily hinting that she wanted me to say it back. I did not oblige her wishes.

"You were here yesterday," I muttered.

"I know. But I still missed you! We used to be inseparable!" Miriam said. "We used to spend all day together every day! But now they only let me see you for a few hours a day! It's way too short!"

It's way too long, I thought. I decided I had better say something before she continued her complaining.

"I'm just happy I get to see you at all," I lied, really wishing she would just leave.

"I'm happy to see you too! But I want to go out and do things outside of this hospital! Hurry up and get better!" Miriam said. Inside my head, I was screaming. Do you think I WANT to be stuck in a hospital? Do you think I want to be trapped here listening to you? Nothing was good enough for Miriam.

"Your IV drip is almost empty!" Miriam said, noticing it suddenly, "Let me change it for you!"

She began to walk closer to the bed.

"Uh... I think that's something the nurses do..." I trailed off, not really having a good argument.

"Oh, nonsense. They have let me change it for you before. I want to take care of you!" Miriam said, planting a kiss that I was sure left lipstick smeared across my face. It felt violating. Like she was marking me as hers. She exited the curtain and then returned moments later with an IV bag.

A feeling of dread suddenly settled in my stomach. Where had she gotten that? I hadn't heard any doors open and close, she had barely been gone for five seconds... Something did not feel right.

"Wait... Miriam..." I tried desperately to think of something to stall her. "Um... I... I want to kiss you."

I hated myself even as I said it. Her eyes got bright and she practically tackled me. A small part of me died inside, but at least my distraction tactic had worked. Her kisses were almost painful in their intensity.

I managed to keep her there for several minutes, my self-loathing growing with each passing second. After a while, she pulled away and I let her go. She immediately went back to fixing the IV. Just then a door opened and a nurse walked through the curtain. She took one look at Miriam and her eyes narrowed.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"Changing the IV. The old one was empty," Miriam said, pointing to the empty bag as though it should be obvious.

"You don't work at this hospital. You don't have the authority to do that." The nurse replied.

"Well, the other nurse and the doctor said I could," Miriam said.

"Which ones?" she challenged. Miriam faltered for a moment before her smile returned.

"Oh, I don't remember their names..."

The nurse and Miriam's voices faded into a white noise of chatter as my mind drifted. A series of images flashed through my mind. My heartbeat quickened. My palms became sweaty and my whole body went cold. Miriam was now shouting at the nurse who was replying with equal intensity and anger.

"STOP!" I screamed. My head was throbbing. My thoughts were spinning. Everything was too confusing, too overwhelming.

"STOP!" I repeated, nearly hysterical. They both stopped and stared at me as I threw off the sheets and jumped out of bed. I was only wearing a hospital gown, but I didn't care. I grabbed the clothes that were on the chair and looked at them both. The next words that came out of my mouth left the room in deafening silence.

"We have to leave. If we stay here we are going to die."