A Bouquet of Blue Blossoms

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining bright, and the air was warm, yet crisp, the grass underfoot still damp with morning dew.

“Hey, look over there!” A feminine voice chimed from my side, and I swung my gaze to where a thin finger pointed. There, I spotted the source of her excitement; a bunch of tiny blue flowers growing upon the bank of the river we walked alongside.

“They’re pretty,” I agreed with a grin, and without a second thought I leaned down over the steep embankment and stretched out my hand to gather the delicate bundle.

“Careful!” The voice worriedly insisted as I strained harder, the flowers just ever-so-slightly out of my reach. This close to the water, I could see the white froth churned up by the fierce current, and briefly wondered how those flowers had not yet been swept away, or how they could even grow there in the first place.

“I got it,” I assured her, but was immediately proven wrong as the muddy soil beneath my foot gave way, and I tumbled forward into the raging river. I went under and floundered for air, resurfacing for a brief moment, just long enough to take one last look at my companion.

Only to find that I could not make out her face at all.

Calling out, her name was silent upon my lips.

Who was she, anyway? And how did we get here?

I futilely stretched out a hand towards her while the current pulled me away, gasping for breath as the wicked undertow pulled me back down, and cast me into darkness.

Inky black stretched out infinitely in every direction, and I floated alone in an endless abyss for what felt like an eternity, as everything that I was or ever had been was gradually washed away by the tide.

It would not be much longer until there was nothing left of me at all. I should have been scared, terrified even, but the darkness was strangely comforting. There were no thoughts here, no emotions, no pesky worries or distractions.

Here, I could sleep peacefully…forever.

Hey! That familiar voice cried faintly, coming from somewhere out beyond the dark curtain that enveloped me.

I ignored it, instead drifting deeper into oblivion’s cold embrace, to continue my subsumption into the void. I would disappear, like the last embers of a dying flame 

Or so I thought, but the voice was insistent.

Wake up, TK! It urged, strong enough this time to pierce through the veil of evernight, bringing along with it a blinding light that returned me to my senses.

A pain shortly followed that wracked my entire being like a bolt of white-hot lightning. It was hardly a welcoming sensation, and my first instinct was the retreat from it once again. But despite the pain, there was something about the voice itself that drew me towards that harsh light. It was more than just comforting; somehow, it filled me with a sense of belonging, and I knew that wherever that voice was, was where I needed to be.

I willed my consciousness forward, clawing at the tar that clung to me and tried to pull me back down, to keep me bound to this place, and finally managed to break free.

Slowly, I forced my eyes to open.

The beige blinds of the large picture window beside where I lay were pulled wide open, and the light of the setting sun streamed into the white-walled room, filling it with an auburn radiance. However, the very first thing that my eyes focused on was the bouquet of tiny blue flowers within a simple vase standing proudly upon a tray table beneath the window frame.

I groaned weakly, greeted by nothing else but pain. My body ached, my head throbbed, and the bright overhead lights brought tears to my sleep-crusted eyes. I spent several moments blinking rapidly, my sight transfixed upon those flowers, which I found to be strangely comforting in a way that I could never hope to explain. Soon enough the pain lost its initial intensity, and I shifted my gaze away in an attempt to get my bearings.

This is a hospital room, I determined, noticing the burnished medical equipment and IV rack standing just slightly over my right shoulder. What happened? I can’t remember a thing. I winced as the sensation of a spike being driven into my skull made the world spin, and when I tried to raise a hand to my aching head, I realized that I was holding something.

Looking down, I noticed a slender, pale hand resting limply atop my own, and followed it to my left, where a petite young woman slouched into a cushioned armchair, breathing softly in sleep. It seemed that I had disturbed her rest when I tried to move my hand, and her eyelids fluttered for a moment before she yawned and stretched languorously, rubbing a fist over her bright blue eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out of them.

From my point of view, with my own eyes still having not fully adjusted to the lighting, I was given the impression of a hazy halo framing the strawberry-blonde tresses that spilled down onto her shoulders. Is she some kind of angel? I wondered, suddenly worried about how close to death I might have come.

Yet, as I continued to study her, I determined that an angel would likely not be wearing the plaid skirt and blue blazer of a schoolgirl, complete with white stockings rising to above the knee. The red ribbon she wore around her neck had been pulled loose, the top-most button of her white shirt undone. I was clear that she had made herself as comfortable as possible, considering the fact that she was napping in a hospital chair.

It was then that she finally noticed I was staring at her with a dumbfounded look on my face, and her still sleep-dopey expression immediately brightened as she exclaimed, “TK! You’re awake!”

I had no time to respond whatsoever as she pounced on top of me, squeezing me as tightly as she could. An involuntary croak of pain leaked from my throat as the aches I felt all over were suddenly intensified, and she recoiled, a look of genuine concern painting her tiny face. “Sorry, sorry! I guess you’re probably pretty sore, huh?”

“Uh, yeah…” I said slowly as I tried to make sense of everything that was happening. But the more I tried to think, the more my head felt like it might explode, and the less thinking actually happened. It seemed that trying to process my situation was only making it worse. Raising a hand to my temple and digging in with a thumb, I asked, “What happened? Why am I here, and why does everything hurt?”

“Hit by a truck,” a man’s deep and booming voice answered from the doorway before the girl could respond, and I winced at the sudden intrusion. Turning towards the source, I found a tall, thin man wearing a long white lab coat standing there, looking over his thick-rimmed glasses to review some notes on the clipboard he was holding.

Slightly behind him stood a woman who looked to be in her late twenties, wearing dark blue scrubs. Her black ponytail bobbed as she half-bowed to the girl at my side, murmuring, “Sorry, I noticed he was awake and called Doctor Kurou. I didn’t think he’d drop everything and rush over here right away.”

The man barked a raucous laugh and pushed his glasses back up onto his long nose with a finger before running a hand through his spiky black hair. “Of course I’d come running. Mr. Miura here is my favorite patient, after all; one who never complains!” He laughed again, walking over to stand beside my bed, while the nurse followed him, palming her face with a hand.

To me, he said, in a more serious tone, “That said, be sure to count your blessings, kid. Most people would’ve woken up in a fantasy world after an accident like that, but you got off with nothing but a few scrapes and bruises. And a bit of head trauma, I suppose. How are you feeling?”

I considered his question for a moment, trying to process what he had told me. “I feel like I got hit by a truck,” I answered simply, and the man roared in laughter.

“You still have a sense of humor, kid! That’s a good sign.”

“TK!” The girl at my side rebuked, tears starting to well up in her eyes, “This is serious, you know! I…I thought I’d lost you. I was so worried, we all were! I don’t know what I would’ve done if…if…” She shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes, and quickly changed her line of thinking. “No, none of that matters, now. I’m just so glad that you’re finally awake!”

“I am being serious,” I mumbled back, “Everything hurts, and my head is killing me. And, I’m really confused, too…” I trailed off as I realized with a shock what was bothering me more than anything else.

“Hmm, well that’s to be expected. We’ll see what we can do to help with that, shortly. Got anything else to report?” the doctor mused, jotting down some notes in his clipboard. Noticing my wide-eyed expression, his pen stopped moving, and he asked, “What, you see a ghost or something? Just take it slow, alright? You were in a coma for the last two weeks, so there’s no need to rush.”

“TK, what’s up? You’re really pale,” the girl added.

I stared at her for a few moments, opening and closing my mouth while I struggled to find the right words to explain what was going on. Hesitantly, I met her gaze and said, “Sorry, but…who are you, again? And for that matter…who am I?”