I expected the doctor to give me more bad news, but to my surprise her voice suddenly brightened. “Actually, I think the answer to that question just walked through the door.”
A moment later, a familiar figure stepped into the room.
“Hey, you ready to go?”
Brody Stark had visited me several times since I woke up. Each visit was more awkward than the last.
What was I supposed to say to this stranger that had literally pulled me out of the mud?
Yet, at the same time, the sight of him also brought me a sense of security. He was the first thing I saw when I woke up. Maybe people with amnesia were similar to baby birds, and I’d imprinted on the first thing I saw, but some instinct inside me said that I could trust him. Everything else around me felt foreign and hostile, but this large redheaded man was an island of safety.
Oh, wait. He’d asked me a question.
What was it?
I’d been too busy staring at him and completely forgot what he said.
“Um… sorry. What?”
Rather than get upset, he simply laughed and repeated himself.
“Are you ready to go. I brought you some clothes since yours were destroyed. I hope they fit.”
“Clothes?”
I really wasn’t doing much to break the parrot imagery as I continued to repeat everything that was said to me. There was so much I wanted to say, so many questions I wanted to ask, yet the words wouldn’t come.
“Oh.” Blue-green eyes stared at me, wide with concern. “Have they not told you yet?”
This finally gave me a question I could actually ask, but before I managed to say anything, the doctor spoke up instead.
“I was just getting to that. Mister Ellis, since your injuries are otherwise fine, you’ll be discharged from the hospital soon. The authorities are still trying to identify you, so in the meantime Mister Stark here has offered to let you stay with him.”
Offered?
The doctor said that as though I had any other choice.
I gave some vague words of agreement, and before I knew it, I’d been discharged from the hospital and shuffled off into an unfamiliar truck.
Brody sat behind the wheel, keeping his gaze on the road as he explained that he didn’t live in Rynkirk, but in the next town over called Emberwood, so we would have a little bit of a drive to reach his home. His words washed over me like waves smoothing over an already clear beach, barely creating a ripple. I was completely detached from my body, as though I werefloating a few feet above myself and watching everything from a third person perspective. It was all meaningless. I couldn’t even drum up the energy to feel nervous.
My heart was as blank as my head.
Without memories or emotions, did I even count as a person, or was I just a doll pretending to be human?
A sudden touch against my arm jolted me out of my thoughts. We were stopped at a red light, and Brody had placed a hand on my shoulder, but when I flinched, he immediately withdrew back to his side of the truck.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sure this is all very overwhelming. You just seemed upset.”
“I’m not upset,” I shook my head. “I’m not… well, I’m not anything really. I don’t know. Everything feels so distant. I should be grateful that you’re taking me in. Iamgrateful. I just… don’t know what to say.”
The light turned green, but the car didn’t budge as Brody continued looking at me instead.
“You don’t have to say anything. Hell, it was my crew that dropped a tree on you. I should be the one apologizing. Letting you stay with me is the least I can do.”
The person in the car behind us pressed on their horn, holding it down so the blaring sound rang out through the otherwise empty intersection.
I jumped and covered my ears against the noise, but Brody just sighed and gestured into his rearview mirror.