The Accident

From a prolonged darkness, my eyes opened to nothing but gray. I flickered between the walls and ceiling, dim fluorescent lights poorly illuminated the corners. My first instinct was to use my arms to lift me up, but I couldn't move.

I managed to gain minor movement in my neck and looked around the room. Plenty of technological machinery surrounded me, and I deduced that I was lying in a hospital bed. The only part of my body that was visible were my arms over the blanket; IVs in my bulging veins.

My own panic-stricken heavy breathing rose to my ears.
I thought, Wh-Why am I here? Wh-What happened to me?

My throat was choking up from swallowing constantly and breathing haphazardly. I took a deep inhale and drew my eyes to a closure. The atmosphere was cold with the air-conditioned breeze brushing my hair.

Can I remember what happened?
I tried to go through my memory, but there was nothing I could remember about anything. When I opened my eyes, I was no longer the only person in the room.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake," said a woman in scrubs. "I'll get the doctor right away, Vieira-san."

Finally? Doctor?

More nurses and orderlies entered through the door to my right. Nurses tended to the machines I was attached to and checked my medical status. The orderlies brought in a tea trolly.

The doctor walked in shortly after, tapping away on a tablet.
"Okay, what do we have here? Uh…I see."
He lifted his head and looked at me with downturned eyes.
"Chamaru-kun, what I'm about to tell you will be shocking, so I want you to prepare yourself. Take your time."

I furrowed my brow and dropped my eyes back to my veins. There was little purpose in overthinking, and my curiosity for answers only grew. Nevertheless, my heart felt like it had already fallen from my body.

I parted my lips to softly say, "I…am…ready."

No I wasn't.

"You and your family were involved in a car accident…four weeks ago. You were airlifted here immediately, where we feared for your brain and the damages it may have suffered. To limit the excruciating pain, we induced you into a coma to lessen any risks worsening with consciousness."

An aroma came from the tea trolly, and a memory had finally materialized.

➼ ➼ ➼

I was walking down a sidewalk of a neighborhood street with a woman, I assumed my mom, to my left. A vehicle pulled up a few meters ahead in front of a house, I recognized the make and model – it was my dad's car. My mom and I approached it and she sat in the front passenger door, I went to open the rear door.

I realized that I was holding an object in my hands. It was a cubic cardboard box with a logo of English letters and a cat – the name was too fuzzy to remember. My nose twitched as I tried to remember a delicious aroma, but I couldn't recall.

Then my memory became static, as if I was losing connection to it. I wasn't ready to let go of the only clue I had left.

Focusing hard, squeezing my eyes, I remembered rolling the window down and looking out at the house we were parked in front of. My eyes had met a figure on the other side of the windowsill, but through the yard's garden, they were nothing more than a silhouette.

The last clear image I had was the front part of the car wedged underneath a semi-truck's container chassis.

My memory came to an end.

➼ ➼ ➼

"Do you remember anything before the accident?" asked the doctor.

I slowly lowered my chin, gazing at my subconsciously twitching hand. I mustered all my strength to command my brain to lift it, but I could only get it an inch off the bed. I tried again, my stiff fingers wobbling as if I had frostbite, and I managed to somewhat curl all but one finger.

A nurse caught onto what I was pointing at, and brought over a singular yellow apple from the trolly. Another picked up a ceramic cup of tea.

"A-Apple… T-Tea…"

I knew what an apple was, I knew what tea was, I knew what cake was. I knew my identity and how to speak the language, but in terms of people, time, locations, and emotions…there was nothing I could remember. My life before those four weeks in a coma had vanished.

I hadn't known if I would ever get those memories back as I lived a differently new life for the next six and a half years.