•••

Even with Cliff's statement of having a lot to catch up on, he still kept dodging almost all of my questions. 

"Why won't you tell me?" I shot him the best pout and puppy dog eyes I could muster. "I don't want to die of shock once I'm out of here, you know."

He merely sighed. "You've got to recover first, OK? I don't want to dump three years of information on you just yet."

"But what if--"

"Have you eaten?"

That immediately shut me up. "No, actually. I don't know when's the last time I did."

Cliff rolled his eyes as he stood up. "They've been feeding you glucose, of course. It's common knowledge." He yawned before stretching. "I'll go ask the doctors if it's OK for you to eat now. What would you like?"

"Pizza," I said without a second thought. "Meat deluxe, to be specific. And fries--"

"I meant hospital food." He interrupted.

My mood soured at the thought of not eating pizza. "I don't know . . ."

He shook his head. "Alright. I'll ask what's on the menu. But I can bring you juice in the meantime."

I nodded and watched him as he exited the room. My hands immediately grabbed the phone once he was out. I tried unlocking it with random number combinations but all of them turned out to be wrong. I didn't expect anything less, now that I was aware I had amnesia and wasn't in some freak science experiment.

It all felt too strange. Some things had already made sense but forgetting three years of my life was just too peculiar. I didn't feel as though I was in 2017 yet, and that prospect made more questions pop up and run through my mind.

How did I get to own these things?

My finger swiped the status bar of the phone and I saw numerous missed calls, text messages and voice mails. I itched to open them but with the blank fog clouding my mind, it would not be possible.

Sighing, I thought of the last phonecall I'd received.

Dylan. Who was he? His voice had a certain boyish charm that was mostly attributed to popular jocks in my high school.

Hold on a second. Was I still in high school?!

Panic seized my heart. Three years had gone by. I was eighteen now instead of fifteen. I was basically an adult.

But before my haywire thoughts could even get to conclude that I'd already graduated high school, I calmed a bit knowing that I was about to start my senior year. From what my forgetful brain could recall before waking up, I was a freshman when fifteen. The calm feeling didn't last long though because it just proved that there was no single memory of me finishing my freshman year, being a sophomore and junior. It was depressing, especially now that I felt as though I'd closed my eyes and time just flew by.

I sighed. The doctor did say it was only temporary. I hoped to god that he was telling the truth.

Sitting up, I was about to ring for the nurse when, coincidentally, she opened the door.

"Hey," I beamed at Katherine. "Are you psychic 'cause I was just about to ring for you."

She smiled back, letting out a laugh in the process. "No. Good timing, I guess." Katherine came over to my bed. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm OK. Just hungry. My brother went to ask if it's fine to eat pizza right now."

She nodded. "Yeah, sure. Food from outside is totally fine. But hospital food is mostly recommended, though I don't think you're in dire need of certain nutrients at the moment."

I couldn't help but squeal in excitement. "Could you tell my brother that?"

"Mmhm," she nodded. "I came here to tell you that your friends are waiting outside to see you."

My heart dropped. "What?"

"Your friends are wait--"

"I heard you the first time but you said friends," I told her. "As in, plural. With an 's'?"

The look that Katherine threw at me was nothing short of confused. "Yeah. Why?"

I gulped hard, swallowing my words of 'I only have one friend' and instead, I asked. "H-How many are they?"

"Three."

I found myself nodding absent mindedly. Only three. That wasn't so bad, was it? I mean, over a span of three years, Clark and I managed to snag ourselves two extra friends, right?

I let out a deep breath, feeling happy that Clark had finally come with two people that I probably did not know or was yet to know-again-and keep me company. My mind became curious. Who were they? What were their names? Had I ever seen them before? How did I become friends with them?

Like a huge bang, Dylan's name and voice that I had heard earlier came into my mind. Although he'd called me Dee and I'd denied that name, he talked as though we were well acquainted, given what name he'd said and how confident he sounded when talking. He said he'd come to visit me later in the evening.

I glanced at the wall clock in the room.

3:30 p.m

It was too early to be evening, but I didn't mind the early visit. My brain had finally concluded that whoever had to be waiting outside to see me were three good friends of mine. Clark, probably Dylan and one other person I was yet to know.

"OK, I guess," I told Katherine, making an effort to stand up from the bed. "Can you tell them to give me five minutes?"

She nodded. "I will." Katherine gave me a concerned look. "I've already informed them that you're amnesiac--"

"It's alright," I waved her off. "I can handle it. I think I'll be fine with them."

"You sure?" she asked, to which I nodded. "Just ring for me in case of anything."

"I will," I said as she helped me get up. I made my way towards the bathroom, not forgetting to take the toothbrush that I had spotted in the maroon handbag. It surely had to be mine.

My hands hovered over the different products of makeup. I mean, they could only be in that bag if I use them, right? A part of me wanted to experiment with the products, but I just felt scared that I'd end up looking like a clown. I didn't know how to do makeup. OK, yeah well, maybe I did but I didn't quite remember how.

And I didn't want my three friends to come in and find me looking so . . . different without makeup. Maybe they'd been accustomed to my face filled with makeup. Maybe.

In the end, I walked away from the handbag. Fuck it. Clark had seen me without makeup numerous times so it didn't matter. If Dylan and the other friend who I was yet to know had never seen me without makeup, well, tough luck. Today would be their lucky day.

I closed the door of the bathroom behind me and went towards the compartment built next to the mirror. With it being a private wing, I wasn't the least surprised to find medicated soaps and tubes of toothpaste and-oh, would you look at that; brand new toothbrushes sealed.

I hastily brushed my teeth and splashed my face with water twice. Looking back at my reflection, it still felt weird knowing I was blonde and that my teeth were braceless and that my skin was smooth and void of freckles.

I shook my head, hearing low murmurs on the other side of the bathroom door.

My friends were waiting for me.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. "Clark, you won't belie--"

I froze in my tracks.

Two male figures were standing by the door.

And one figure was seated comfortably at the side of my bed.

I scanned their faces, dazed.

Clark wasn't there.

I only knew two of them. One of the male figures was dark skinned and afro haired. With the dazzling smile that he was shooting towards my direction, I couldn't be mistaken.

It was Jac. My crush.

The other male was unrecognizable. I'd never seen him or his golden blond hair before. Or maybe I had but . . . whatever.

My eyes dragged towards the last person I'd expected to see.

Valerie Hawthorne.

•••

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