A Fugue State

She could feel her thumb rubbing against her fingers.

Her eyes slowly opened to reveal an unfamiliar ceiling. It was tiled with LED lights. To her right was a machine making a constant beeping noise every few seconds, next to a bag labelled ‘saline’ and a second bag containing a blue liquid. In her arm next to it was an IV, and a heartbeat monitor was hanging on one of her fingers.

A hospital. How had she gotten to the hospital?

There was a young male nurse in the room with her, who’d noticed her waking up. “Miss Riley. Good morning. How are you?”

Riley. Her eyes narrowed at the name.

The nurse pulled out a small light and instructed her to follow the light with her eyes. “Do you know your name? Do you know where you are?”

‘Riley’ did as she was told, looking around after the light as the nurse moved it. “…No.”

----

The doctors called it a ‘fugue state’.

They’d found her in a car crash an hour away. No wallet, no driver’s license, no cell phone. Not even a car registration; that had burned up in the crash. The only way they’d been able to identify her was because they had her medical records on file.

Her full name, they told her, was Jordan Riley. Then they gave her a mirror.

She recognized the face she saw. Her short brown hair wasn’t flattering under the sterile lights. Her soft cheeks were still there but there was a medical dressing taped to her right cheek.

“You’re lucky that was the worst of it,” one of the doctors said. “The car you were in was a complete mess when the police arrived. Ordinarily we’d keep you under observation, but we’ve spoken to your family and they’ve asked for you to be released to their custody.”

Her family? Her stomach dropped. Maybe she was hungry.

“Your grandmother is waiting for you to be released. She’s asked that you maintain your current medical regimen until such time that you’re fully healed.” The doctor handed her a bag. “One of these every morning and evening until you feel better should do it. Whatever you do, don't miss a dose.”

Jordan looked at the bag. There was a slip of paper attached to it, a receipt for something called ‘Lethenine’.

----

Jordan’s clothes had apparently been torn to shreds in the car crash, so there weren’t any personal effects for her to wear.

They sent her out into the waiting room wearing a hoodie with ‘Green Pines Central’ on it and sweatpants showing the same running along the legs.

The waiting room was almost empty. No patients waiting for their appointments, barely any secretaries at their post to check people in. The only person sitting down was an older woman with curled white hair, her conservative sundress matched her hair but had pastel sunflowers running across it.

Her intense golden eyes shone through her beady glasses. “Jordan! I haven’t seen you in so long!” The woman grinned widely. ‘Grandma’ threw her hands around Jordan and embraced her in a big hug. Jordan hugged back on reflex.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll make sure you come back, good as new.”

-----

Grandma Riley was helping bring Jordan back up to speed as they drove away.

Green Pines was a gated community in the larger town of Bolloron, which her father had just been elected mayor of. It was obviously the nicest part of the town, according to Grandma. The rest of the town would do well to learn by its example.

Jordan looked out the pickup truck window to see what she meant. There were some restaurants in this community and every table had someone sitting at it. Everyone had a smile on their face. Their clothes were brightly colored – everything was vivid and bright. The leaves on the trees, the paint on the other cars….

The pickup screeched to a stop at a crosswalk. Grandma Riley’s hand slammed into the car horn, blaring at the man in the road.

Jordan looked up and saw a man in dirty and disheveled clothes. They lacked a lot of the color that everyone else had.

Grandma kept blasting the horn at the man in the street until he scarpered to the other side of the road. “The police need to do something about men like that,” she muttered.

Did they? Jordan watched the man shuffle down the sidewalk, glancing over his shoulder at their pickup as it sped away. “He looks like like he needs help.”

“He looks like he needs to pull himself up by his own bootstraps,” Grandma growled. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. “It’s ok. Your head’s still a bit full of mess from that car crash.”

Something about that smile was deeply offsetting to Jordan. It reminded her of something.

----

The pickup truck eventually came to a halt in the driveway of a house Jordan could feel was familiar. A two-story blue house with a picket fence and a swing in the front, planted amongst countless others almost identical to it but for the color. The lawn was immaculately green and trimmed without a blade of grass growing too high.

Jordan got out of the car and could smell an apple pie cooling on the windowsill. She remembered that recipe. Grandma always browned the butter a little too long.

Grandma Riles stuck her head out of the driver’s side window. “I’m afraid I can’t stay, dear. Your father has a big meeting today with the town council and it’s all hands on deck.” She tossed Jordan an orange key. “I think you can find your way back to your old room easy enough. See you later!”

The pickup truck backed up and started its way back down the street. That left Jordan alone in the driveway, looking at the front door with the orange key in hand.

She started towards the front door before she noticed something in the yard that wasn’t in the yard of the other houses. There was a campaign sign there. It was green with a yellow border and text.

Vote the FELP Ticket!
Riley – Mayor
Smythe – Deputy Mayor