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The last few hours felt like days. Time was going so slow and my head didn't stop. It just kept throbbing with pain, and when I got up, I could feel the room spinning, when I slept, it got worse. The pillow was low, almost as if there wasn't a pillow there at all.
There wasn't even a clock to tell the time. You didn't actually know how much time you spent in your room. And not knowing what time it was, made time go so slow, slow enough to make you go insane. I looked over to the crayons in the table and then I looked away. I had run out of things to draw.
I had even folded the paper and had made origamis. But all this work was never going to get appreciated or seen. Which questioned me, why was I even doing this? None of it was helping my memory come back, it was all blurry and unclear. I wish I remembered my name. I wish I remembered people. I hated that feeling when I saw a familiar face and wasn't able to identify it.
The wails coming from other patients were driving me to the nuthouse. Oh wait, I was already in a nuthouse. It was a full moon, the worst night there could possibly be. In fact, on a full moon, the patients were ten times crazier, that is where the word "lunatic" came from. Luna as in moon.
I just wanted it to be lunch time so I could go and see everyone again. I wanted to find out why that man was staring at me all the time. I wanted to know why Andy was always sad. I wanted Ryan to give me answers. I must have waited long enough because I could hear humming in the hallway. For some reason it sounded like Andy, and when the humming finally got closer, I could see Andy's face in the small window. I was surprised at how I identified his voice. I had only known him for two days. Or was it more than two days?
"Hello Sarah." He chirped, unlocking the door, standing there.
I waited for him, why was he putting me in handcuffs?
"Come on Sarah, I don't need to assist you do I?" He said.
I slowly got up, the feeling of walking without any supervision felt strange, like truanting school or something. I had the chance to make a run for it, exit those gates and run away forever, but no. This would affect Andy, for giving me his trust. I had to respect it.
I walked towards him, his eyes watching my every move, his lips pursed. I walked out the door and waited for him to lock it. My feet were cold, so was the floor, that clash made them feel numb. Not to mention the dress I was wearing, it provided no warmth at all, just a cloth, covering my body. Pants were taken from the patient's because some tried to hang them selves with it, same went with long sleeves. Wait.
How did I know that? My memory probably dated back to two days ago. How did I know any of this at all? This was nurse information, how could I have known it? Was I remembering things? Was it because Andy was beside my side? The tattoo. His favourite tattoo, I somehow knew it. And I had to see it, this was my chance.
"Can I ask you something?" I said. It was worth a shot.
"Uh, yeah, shoot." He replied, turning his head to me.
"Can I see your skull tattoo?" I asked.
"My skull tattoo?" He said, a look of confusion taking over his face.
"Yeah the one on your ribs. Your favourite?" I said.
His face lighted up, as if he had found the cure for cancer or something.
"Yeah sure." He said, pulling up his shirt.
And there it was, the skull tattoo. I was right. He watched me like I was some Guinea pig he was testing for one of his science experiments.
"H-how did you know this was my favourite?" He said.
I let my fingertips gain contact with the inked skin. I slowly traced over it, trying to gain some kind of memory. But this wasn't like the bruises on my neck. This had a bigger impact. Voices inside my head, flashing, it was all too much for my head. My vision flickered, my head felt like someone had hit it with a baseball bat. Andy held me up, trying to find out what was wrong with me.
"Sarah?" He said.
I couldn't gain my vision back, but I still heard Andy's voice echo in my head. Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah. No. It didn't feel right. Not Sarah. The pain didn't stop.
He was quiet for a second.
"Mia?" He said.
And that was it. The word Mia echoed through my head, killing off the voices and the flashing vision. It felt right. That was my name. Mia.