Cause a Scene Like You're Supposed To

Katherine Murphy woke up to an unfamiliar room. She rolled over slowly, wiping her eyes, and slightly sitting up. She couldn’t tell you where she was if she tried… and she sure as hell tried. The bed she was sitting on was covered in blue sheets that covered her whole body. The walls were plain white, with only little decals stenciled as close to the floor as you could get. There was a small lamp on a stand to the right of her, spreading a fair amount of light throughout the room.

And to her left…there was a heart monitor.

How the hell did she end up in a hospital?

Gradually, she noticed her heart monitor going up and down faster and faster. But as soon as she could muster up the courage to use that brain of hers and think about what got her here, a nurse barged in the door. She smiled. Katherine frowned in response.

“How are you feeling?”

Katherine opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when her search for words ended with none. It was such a simple question, How are you feeling? was, but for some reason, she had no idea how to respond. She didn’t know what to feel at that very moment.

When Katherine didn’t respond, the nurse just smiled sweetly again, preparing her a cup of water, and handing it towards her. Katherine took it without a moment of hesitancy, and poured it through her chapped lips. She licked them, sticking the cup on the counter next to her when she was finished with it.

“How does your head feel?”

Katherine hated these kinds of questions. No matter what she said, she looked like an idiot. Why couldn’t she ask her a simple yes or no question? ”Does your head hurt?” “Yes.” would have been so much easier. But instead, she had to take the other root.

“Uh… it… hurts,” Katherine said softly, closing her eyes as a wince of pain erupted through her skull. Why did she have to mention that? Katherine would have been way too preoccupied with the confusion to notice it if she hadn’t.

The nurse merely nodded, filling Katherine’s cup up again with water, handing the patient a pill of some sort. Katherine swallowed it whole, waiting a few seconds before she realized that it was going to take more than those few seconds to work, which made her grown inwardly. Even worse, the nurse’s stare was starting to make her feel uneasy.

“Would you mind telling me what I’m here for?” Katherine asked, gaining her voice and composure back. She was frustrated. She was irritated. She was confused. She didn’t understand.

The nurse stepped closer to her, grabbing a clipboard from a random light blue-colored drawer within the room. Katherine knew that she couldn’t possibly memorize exactly what each patient went through, but for some reason, the fact that she had to read off a clipboard to see what happened to her made her even more frustrated. Katherine cooperated, though, waiting patiently for the nurse to tell her a story that she was unaware of.

“Well,” the nurse started, flipping pages in the clipboard, “It seems that you fainted… most likely because of a panic attack, but no one can be sure. You seemed to of hit your head pretty hard when you fell, and might be experiencing some memory loss,” she paused, before opening her mouth to speak again.

“What are you talking about?” Katherine asked, cutting her off, confusion written all throughout her features. She remembered things. She knew things. She knew this was a hospital. She knew that lady was a nurse. She knew what all the furniture items were called. She couldn’t possibly be experiencing memory loss. She felt the same as she always had.

Wait, what did she used to feel like?

She didn’t even know.

“Well, memory loss does often occur when you hit your head as hard as you did. It’s selective, though. You could remember the most insignificant thing, and yet, not remember the most important. Or you could remember it the opposite way around. You’re lucky you didn’t suffer any other injuries from the fall,” the nurse stated, smiling. Somehow, Katherine didn’t feel lucky. She couldn’t stand the way the nurse was smiling at her, as if this whole situation was happy. It wasn’t happy. She could stop now; Katherine would enjoy her frowning a hell of a lot more. “It’d be best if you heard the actual story of how this happened from friends, so maybe it can tap into your memory. Other things should start tapping in, with their help, as well. Give it a month or so, and you’ll be good as new,” the nurse continued, smiling again. “Are you okay with letting a few visitors in? There’s quite a few people in the waiting room who’d love to see that you’re awake.” Katherine nodded. “I’ll send them in a few at a time, okay?” she nodded again. The nurse turned, walking out the door, closing it behind her. Katherine sighed, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples, waiting for the door to swing open again.

When it did, she opened her eyes, just to see three girls standing before her. They walked over to her slowly, as if they were afraid of how she was going to react, or rather, afraid of how she wouldn’t react. Katherine knew she failed whatever test they were giving her, because they suddenly frowned.

They stared at her silently, and she stared right back at them. Two were around her age; they were beautiful to say the least, with long brown hair and pools of sad, brown eyes. The other was younger; she was the only one who looked genuinely excited to see her. Katherine smiled softly at this, and even though she didn’t really know who they were, they felt like home.