Page 39 of Overstaying His Welcome

It was a fucking blood pressure cuff.

Why did I have a blood pressure cuff strapped to my arm?

Following the trail of cords, I saw that it was actually hooked up to a machine. Said machine looked like the kind you find in a hospital.

The more awake I became, the more I realized that's exactly where I was.

I was in a hospital bed with no memory of how I got here.

What was I doing?

How did I get hurt?

Before I could dig too deep into my thoughts, a man rounded the corner. He grinned once he saw me.

“Oh good! I see you finally came around. How are you feeling?”

I shook my head, then stopped as pain radiated through my skull.

“What happened?” I asked the doctor.

He grabbed the clipboard on the end of the bed and started flipping through it. With a click of his pen, he began making notes. He didn’t look up at me but was obviously waiting me out for some reason.

Once he was done, he placed it back down and stared at me solemnly.

“You know, I would love to be able to answer that for you, but we don't know. You were dumped outside the emergency room entrance and unfortunately, the camera feeds were glitching at that exact moment. I mean, how does that happen?” His voice was laced with sarcasm.

I could recognize it even if I didn't know him personally.

“Are you saying you don't know how I got here or what happened to me?”

His hands moved to his hips. “I can't say I know how you got here or what exactly happened, but I can tell you that you do have a pretty serious concussion, and you’ve been with us for forty-eight hours. No one has come looking for you, and you didn’t have any type of identification on you. The only thing was a piece of paper that was taped to your chest.”

I frowned because the fact that he didn't know who I was was bad, because I suddenly realized I didn't know who I was either.

I cleared my throat. That only made the dryness there worse.

The doctor handed me a cup of water from the table beside him. I took a sip through the small straw and licked my lips. Once I felt better, I spoke up again.

“You don't know who I am or anything?” I asked cautiously.

"No, sir, I'm afraid we don't know. We have you listed as the John Doe for now. Can you tell me your name?"

I tilted my head slightly. “I would have told you had I known.”

"I see,” he replied. “Then I guess we just need to keep an eye on you to make sure everything else is good to go. You had some bruising along your ribs and back. Whatever happened to you, you took a heavy beating.”

Flashes of memory moved through my mind. Shadowy figures and words I can't make sense of. I closed my eyes tight to fight against the assault. It was as if I was living again in real time.

But no, I wasn't.

I was in the hospital bed with a man, and neither of us knew who I was.

“No one has come looking for me?”

“Afraid not, though the police are interested in speaking with you if you have a moment.”

I raised a hand and waved it at him as if to say, "Why not?" They couldn't accuse me of anything, and it wasn't like I was going to lie to them.

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