Slowly she materialized from the pool of nothingness called sleep.
The warmth of a blanket, the softness of a pillow, the position your body is currently in and far far away, a heartbeat.
But after that, emptiness, confusion; the dazed sort of panic that strikes when the familiar refuses to reveal itself at the appropriate moment.
She opened her eyes, only to have a bright flash of beige hammer down on her senses and forcing them shut again.
She cried out in pain.
"Easy now, Lia" a nearby voice said, "You musn't force it. Your eyes are very
sensitive to light right now".
After a russle it continued, "Don't be startled now. I'm putting a towel over your face to help you accomodate".
She felt a soft fabric brush over her face, and her nostrils filled with something very much like lavender.
"Now slowly try opening your eyes over the next few minutes."
"Please," the girl almost whimpered,
"Where am I ?" and then after a few tentative seconds, "Who am I?"
"Hush, all in good time," out of the darkness came nothing more.
Over the course of next few minutes, the girl's heavy breathing subsided, and coherent thought returned to her.
She opened her eyes to a dim beige aura that trickled though the cloth over her face. Physically she felt very much okay now, apart from a mild headache.
Carefully she lifted a corner of the towel and peeked out.
The voice she heard earlier appeared to be sitting next to the bed on a chair and was currently absorbed by balancing it on its rear legs.
"Are you a nurse ?" she asked. The girl to whom the voice belonged was wearing something resembling a nurses outfit and, strangely enough, on her head a hat that looked like a purple tophat.
The nurse lightly pushed off with her toes against the side of the bed and during what seemed to be a few seconds of perfect balance
looked up and said "Something like that."
Eager for answers the girl continued, "Where am I? This is a hospital, right ? What happened ?"
Slowly the other girl lowered the chair back on all fours.
"Yes, something like that". She raised herself from the chair and turned towards the faceend of the bed.
"I'm taking away the towel now, you'll be fine."
As the towel was being removed she heard the nurse say, "So you don't remember what happened ?".
The girl tried to concentrate on something, anything that happened before she ended up here. But there was nothing, a total blank.
Freed of the towel she looked around. A bed surrounded by white curtains on all sides, with a yellow light streaming in from above.
The nurse put aside the towel and sat herself sideways on the bed. She produced a pinpoint light from one of the pockets in her uniform. "I'm going to perform some tests now", she announced.
She covered up Lia's right eye with her hand and slowly waved the tiny lightin front of her.
"Follow the light"
"Very good", she said as she switched hands and covered up Lia's other eye, "Now try it again"
Lia flinched. "It hurts. The light, it hurts my eye a little" she said.
The light disappeared with a little click.
"It's okay" the nurse answered, "that was to be expected."
Lia looked at the nurse with a puzzled expression.
"anisocoria, or asymetric pupils."
She continued,"You were in accident, Lia. The cat already told us about something like this might have happened."
"Lia ?" she repeated.
"That's your real name"
Lia felt very scared and lonely for a moment. She looked down at her hands and saw them frantically clasping a rag doll. Confused she helt it up to the nurse. "What .."
"You carried that with you."
Lia felt tears welling up. "I just don't understand", she stammered, "I, I can't
remember anything. I'm scared."
She started to cry.
"It's okay" the nurse said in a soothing voice as she wiped away the tears from
Lia's left cheek. "You'll start to remember soon"
The bed made a little creak as the nurse bounced herself upright with a sense of urgency. "Oh my," she said as she looked at what appeared to be a plain wrist, "I really need to be off now."
"But", Lia objected.
Suddenly the nurse took off her hat. Holding it between thumb and index finger she briefly tapped its rim on the metal frame of the bed upon which it made a plop-like sound and reduced its height now looking like a normal hat.
Holding it up next to her face and looking at Lia she said, "This is my purse. It might prove helpful."
She put the now normal sized hat on Lia's head and disappeared through the curtains, briefly showing a glance of another wall of curtains behind it.
The girl curled up around her knees, hugged the ragdol tightly and started sobbing.