Darkthorn’s Blog

The girl woke up. She looked around, for some reason unable to move her neck. She let her eyes roam around the room, wondering at the clean white expanse of the space. Suddenly, all the events leading up to this moment rushed back. Her thoughts went first to poor Sal. They wouldn’t know what had happened to her! Not that her useless father would care, but Sal would be worried. She tried to remember if she had had her wallet.

There was movement next to her, and a face swam into view. The girl couldn’t focus properly. The face wasn’t a familiar one. She realised why it was disembodied, the figure was wearing a white coat that blended exactly with the background. The girl thought about the first thing she could say. On TV, it was “where am I?” or, depending on the extent of the character’s brain damage “who am I?” She knew both of these answers, but hold on; someone was speaking to her first.

“You’ve been in an accident and you’re in the children’s hospital. You were badly hurt, and in a coma. Do you know who you are?”

The girl attempted to swallow and frantically tried to recall if she had been carrying any ID. She decided no, there wasn’t any. Her mother’s name rolled off her tongue, a fresh reminder of why she deserved to be here.

“I am Anna.”