Reset

A clear view of the room and someone in there, she may not have been able to speak or move but she could see. Who was he? He wore a white lab coat. There was a hiss, a click and then a warm thick liquid encompassed her feet. It crept up to her shins, her thighs and then her body.

She recalled the fear of drowning as the fluid hit her chin, and that was the last Nora remembered.

All went black.

Her immediate thoughts after the memory were to get warm, get dressed and find out what was going on. It hurt to walk and her body was rigid, not only that, but her skin began to tighten from the liquid as it dried.

A step toward the bed and the monitor above the desk blinked and came on.

The picture was bad, it flickered and distorted.  A man in a lab coat stared at the camera.

“Good morning,” he said. “By now you have awakened. Please, for your health, as quickly as possible, relieve your bladder and wash any remaining residue from your skin and hair. You will find we have provided you with clothing. At this point, you are wondering what…”

The monitor shut down.

Her eyes widened. ‘What?’ she thought. ‘Wondering what?’

Nora was wondering a lot. However, just in case the fluid that covered her was indeed dangerous, she sought out the bathroom so she could wash.

It wasn’t the first white door, it was the second and Nora stepped inside and immediately followed her brief instructions of relieving herself and washing.

TWO – Coming to Senses

It took the lukewarm water of the shower to bring Nora to a more aware state. She was groggy and tired, her stomach wretched in hunger and she craved caffeine.

However, she wasn’t home. She just couldn’t go to her kitchen, pour a cup of coffee and start her day.

Nora had no clue where she was other than in a clinical style bathroom.

Very clinical, prepackaged toiletries perched on lid of the stainless steel commode

She was no longer cold when she left the bathroom, the temperature was average and she had to find clothes, see what was in the small room and get out. If she could.

Her room was a step above a cell, had she been taken prisoner? Apparently she had been drugged.

Think, Nora, think. She hit her fist to her head. What happened? Where were you?

Recall your life.

It was blank. It was absolutely, positively blank up until the point she was rolling down the hall.

Folded bedding set upon the mattress and next to it a clear bag of clothes. They had to be for her. Boots, drawstring pants and a long sleeve tee shirt, along with generic style undergarments.

She immediately ripped open the sealed bag and placed on every item, all the while speaking aloud; hoping the sound of her own voice would jar her memory.

But no real sounds emerged. Nora couldn’t speak.

She chanted in her mind what she knew, what she remembered.

My name is Nora Lane. Lane. Is it? She didn’t remember fully. The dream of a husband named Rick and two daughters… was it a dream? Was it a memory?

She just didn’t know. Nora closed her eyes tightly as if pinching them closed would cause clarity. It didn’t and she walked to the closet. More clothing, all the same, hung in there. There was a backpack on the floor, she opened it. It was empty.

Something clicked. At least a little.

Nora Lane. Yes. It is Lane. That’s it. I’m from… I’m from Akron Ohio.

The monitor above the desk was blank, yet the power was on. Outside her room door she could see a light, possibly a hall and Nora, not only in a mental search for who she was, sought out physically where she was and reached for that cell like door.

Unlocked.

It was her chance to venture out, find answers. She hoped.

She fought the foggy memory, trying to decipher how she ended up in that room. But all she could recall was the final few moments leading up to her black out.

That and the vivid dream she had just before she woke up choking.

The door slid, almost automatically into the wall with a hiss and she stepped out. Her legs weren’t strong, they felt rubbery, her eyes failed to focus fully and the painful knot of hunger grew.

The dream. A few slow steps and when she thought of it, the husband, the children, she was positive they were reality.

But why did she get a lump in her stomach at the thought of them?

Answers she didn’t have and she figured it would eventually all come to her. Just like the simple task of walking with ease would return.