The Story of Alexandra

Jade paced the waiting room, trying to remain awake. Hoshi had told her one of them had to try to stay up all night, or they’d miss the chance to see Jane Doe. She had let Jade sleep a few hours, before she woke her up. She’d been drifting off and was so tired…
The door opened and out stepped a doctor. It was male, worrying Jade.
“Your friend is stable. She has severe memory loss, however. We are doing some blood tests to identify her. Keep in mind, her language is mixed between what is possibly Italian and English. She may not be American.”
“She doesn’t look Italian…” The girl kind of looked Roman, though. Well…sort of.
“That’s what she speaks.” He said. “No matter her race or language, she obviously doesn’t have any money; she didn’t even know what a dollar was. We found gold and silver coin in her pouch; that’s probably why the people stabbed her.”
“Robbers?”
“Yes.”
Jade sighed. “Can we see her? I was taught Italian.”
That’s how I’m so good at Latin….
“She’s asleep right now. You can go in to be there when she wakes, but please don’t disturb her. And you need to get some sleep yourself.”
Jade nodded. The doctor turned and left. She turned and woke Hoshi.
“Wha…?”
“She made it. Apparently, she speaks mixed English. They think she’s foreign.”
“Oh…she made it…” Hoshi yawned.
“I got permission from my mom to stay here all night. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep?”
She sighed. “Leo didn’t stay. He said he had to work tomorrow.”
“You mean today, right?”
Hoshi’s eyes stretched wide. “What? It’s already morning?”
“Three o’clock in the morning.”
Her jaw dropped. Then she smiled. “It’s a four hour drive from here to our school. There’s no way I’m getting home, preparing for school and not being at least an hour late. Father will understand me missing a day or so. I’ll just grab my books and study here.”
“Good idea.”
Hoshi whipped out her phone and sent a message to her father.
“We can go in to keep an eye on her, but…”
“She’s asleep anyway?”
Jade nodded.
“You go in. My phone will wake her up, and I’m too tired to put it on vibrate.”
Jade smiled sympathetically at her and went very quietly into the room.
In far corner lay a frail, bandaged girl. Her face was gauzed, her shoulder in a cast and her waist tightly wrapped. On the table was a strange pouch, and against the wall was a staff with what looked like words running up and down in a spiral. Jade noticed for the first time how smooth her face was. In the light of the monitors, she could see the girl’s hair was white.
No. She must be blond.
It was, after all, still very dark. Even with the full moon coming in and the light from the machines, she couldn’t see very well. She saw only the details highlighted by the light. Blond hair highlighted would appear white if it was very, very light.
She has very fine hair…
And surprisingly, it was short. It was cut close to the skull, and left messy. She had no real bangs, either. Really, it seemed to be a hairstyle of practicality, as if she had no time to even wash or brush it. The lay of it screamed “I don’t have time for longer hair”.
Yawning, Jade took a seat on a chair near the bed. She was dozing when Hoshi opened the door and quietly sat on the couch-like chair near the window, on the other side of the bed. After that…Jade wasn’t sure what happened; she was too busy examining her abruptly amazing eyelids.

Bright sunlight and the sound of the door opening woke Jade with a start. Hoshi stood at the side of the bed, talking quietly. The girl was awake. Her eye was a deep, dark ocean blue. The confusion, sorrow and pain were evident on her face. Hoshi had food in her hand, but the girl wouldn’t eat.
Her hair is white! It wasn’t the lack of light! And with her eyes…is she an albino?
“Non.” She refused. “Non. I don’t cupio eat.”
non? cupio?
That’s Latin, isn’t it?
Jade sat up. She saw what it was and sighed. It was mashed potatoes.
“Here.”
She picked up the tray and cut up the meat given to Jane Doe. She made sure it was bite sized. Then she scooted the tray over and had Hoshi step back. The girl hesitated, and then picked up a piece of meat with her hands. She ate without touching the fork or spoon. Then she grabbed the napkin and whipped off her hands and face.
“Gratie.”
Jade nodded.
That’s definitely Latin.
“Those are useful.” She pointed to the fork.
The girl shook her head. Jade wondered how much she had understood.
“meus English non good.”
“What?” Hoshi looked at Jade.
“Her English isn’t very good. She must be from an older province in Rome. She’s speaking Roman Latin, like they did in Cesar’s day.”
“Cesar?!” The girl looked around wildly, reaching for something at her waist.
So she’s used to fighting. That would explain the hair cut.
“There’s no cesar. Don’t worry.” She spoke in Latin to make things easier for the girl.
She blinked, looking surprised. “You speak Latin?”
“Yes. I was taught every language, and since Latin founded half of them, it was the first one I learned – other than English, which I learned as a baby.”
Beaming, the girl grabbed my elbow and pulled me into her gently, putting our arms against each other’s chest.
“Sora Rome!”
“What?” Hoshi asked.
Pulling away with red cheeks, she translated their conversation.
“Sister of Rome?”
“Apparently. I hope she doesn’t think I fight…”
“Fight?”
“Yes. The way she reached for her waist says she’s used to having a weapon there. But she didn’t come with one….”
“Maybe it was taken from her. Nobody uses gold and silver currency here, so the dagger would have done them more good.” Hoshi advised.
“Or the gun.”
“Gun?” Her inquiry proved Hoshi right.
“Alright; the girl speaks Latin, uses gold and silver coins for money and fights with knives…”
She’s a fucking blast into the past. And we’re not even sure of her name…
The door opened. Jane Doe flinched away. Looking over, Jade saw the doctor. He approached, but stopped when the girl began to edge toward the window.
“Could I speak to Jade? I’ll need to talk with both of you, but she needs somebody to stay with her.”
Curious, Jade followed him out.
“I don’t want to scare you two, and especially not frighten her, but there was an odd mixture in her blood. We believe she is very ill in the first place.”
Jade’s heart dropped to the floor.
“And there are no medical records on this girl. She has no name, no home and no social security number.
I follow my prior theory that she is alien. In fact, those men may have smuggled her here. This means that she’s very ill, in a place she doesn’t know anything about and around people she can’t communicate properly with. We believe the illness is genetic and progressive. Right now, what she needs are friends. We can’t release her unless she has a home.”
“I don’t think she does. I mean, she doesn’t remember her name. Even if she lives somewhere in America, or even North Carolina, she wouldn’t remember.”
“That’s another reason she needs friends. See, the hospital can’t give her a home. It can’t even treat her once she’s not in an emergency situation. She needs somewhere to stay.”
Jade nodded. “My mother has medical knowledge. Do you at least know for sure how old she is?”
“Not exactly, but it’s clear she’s over eighteen.”
“Alright. I’ll talk to my mother later. For now, I’ll let Hoshi here the news.” She paused a moment. “Oh…is the disease fatal?”
He sighed. “We’re not sure. She’s not got a disease we understand yet. It looks like a genetic mutation that slowly progressing in stressful situations. That’s one reason why I don’t want her to be alone; she’s very stressed anytime you two aren’t around. And no men are allowed to enter that room.”
“No men?”
“Except me, of course, and I’ll avoid getting too close. Since we don’t know much about this illness, we’re not sure what will happen if she’s pushed too hard. We don’t even know how long she will live.” He looked at his charts. “Thankfully, it doesn’t affect her immune system, however. And everything else looks fine, other than last night’s trauma.”
“How’d you figure out that it affects her during stress?”
“We took samples from her before the surgery and after it, because we thought the blood had been contaminated. When we realized the same anomaly was just dormant, we looked closer at the first. That’s when we realized the mutation became active during stress.”
“What happens?”
He shook his head. “A gene we’ve never seen in all our carriers pops up. It raises blood pressure, heightens senses and produces a massive body of adrenaline. All of that is normal…just not the amount she produces. The blood pressure alone could give her a heart attack. Her senses become more powerful than a most animals; that’s not even possible. It would drive a person stressed mad. Then there’s the adrenaline. There’s enough produced to keep a human awake and enraged for a week.”
“Enraged?”
“Yes. In large quantities, adrenaline will enrage an animal, including people.”
“So…don’t stress her out. I got it.”
Jade went in to fetch Hoshi. Jade was staring out the window, her face sad. She now gripped the coin pouch and the staff. There were tears running down her cheek.
“What happened?”
Hoshi was watching her, looking confused. “I don’t know. She closed her eyes and I went to the bathroom and heard her shout something that sounded like a name. I came out and she was crying and holding her money bag. She begged for her staff until I gave it to her.”
“Hyroshi…” The girl whispered.
“I’ll talk to her. The doctor needs a word with you.”
She nodded and slowly turned away. When Jade heard the door open and shut very quietly, she approached Jane Doe gently.
“Are you alright?”
She jumped, staring at me. Then she nodded slightly. “I just miss him…”
“Him?”
“Hyroshi. He was…” She paused and shook her head. “All I remember is his name, and that we were close. But…I don’t think he was human.” Her voice was soft and melodious.
So she loves animals. That would explain the beach.
“Was he a dog?” She switched to Latin.
She shook her head.
“No. He…he flew. He was very large, and very colorful.”
Large and colorful…an eagle perhaps?
“Describe Hyroshi for me.”
She thought and shook her head. “I can’t recall much.”
“If you try, maybe you’ll remember more. We need to know as much as we can about you.”
She closed her eyes and scowled, obviously focusing.
“He was…golden…no…bronze, almost brown.” She was quiet. “Feathered wings…talons…” Then she opened them, shaking her head. “I’m sorry…it’s so hard…”
“That’s fine. I think I know enough. You must have had a very close bond to a bird called a Golden Eagle.”
She looked confused.
“Here.”
She pulled out her cell phone and zipped onto the internet. Searching Google, she found a soaring Golden Eagle.
The girl smiled. “That’s beautiful.”
“Here’s one up close.”
She pulled up a picture showing one posed on a glove.
The girl took the phone and looked closely. “So…Hyroshi…” Jade noticed her look at the wings. “That does look familiar…”
“Good. We’ll take you to an Avery when you’re healed enough.”
“Really?” A smile whipped away the look of despair, and to Jade her entire aura seemed to transform. She couldn’t help but smile back.
“Of course.”
Jade let her keep hold of the cell until it vibrated. The girl screamed, dropping it.
“It’s alright.” She picked up the phone. “It’s for communication.”
This girl doesn’t remember anything, does she?
“So it vibrates?”
“It can sing, too, but I told it to be quiet so we don’t ruin people’s day.”
She looked amazed. “It’s alive?”
Jade sighed. “Uh…you could say that. There are electronic pulses through it…”
There was the puzzled look on her face again.
“Never mind.” She looked at the message.
Mom -
She can stay as long as she needs too.
“Oh, and you’ll be staying with me and my mom. She’s a nurse.”
“A what?”
“She knows enough about medicine to take care of your wounds.”
“A healer?”
“Sure.”
Jade asked when it was alright for Jane Doe to come over.
“Oh…and…my name is Alexandra.”