Chapter 2

**Amelia**


The doctor comes in with a look of shock on his face.

“I see my nurse was right. You have woken up.” He has a kind of accent that I can’t place, and he has long dark hair brushed over his shoulder.

I don’t want to assume but he looks Native American to me. Am I on a reserve? I don’t know too much about their culture, but I thought their tribes preferred to live together on reserves. Is that wrong to assume? I don’t want to offend anyone. I think I’ll keep these sorts of questions to myself for now.

“Yep, I’m awake. Can you tell me where I am?”

“You are in the Blackfeet Nation hospital.” He says with a friendly smile.

“How did I get here?” I ask glancing around the room one more time. “How long have I been here?”

He moves closer with his nurse not far behind. “You were found three weeks ago wandering around confused. You had a high fever and fell into a cognitive comatose state until now.”

What?

“Do you remember anything from before we found you?” he asks as he takes out a small flashlight. “I’m just going to take a quick look at your eyes.”

I try to think back as far as possible but so much is a blur. Obviously, I know how to talk and other information but basic facts about myself don’t exist anymore. Not even my name!

“I don’t know. I don’t remember anything!” I say in a panic. “I don’t remember my name!”

My heart starts to race, and I try to throw the blankets off myself.
“It’s alright. We will figure all that out later. For now, just try and breathe deep to help your heart calm. You have been through a lot and your body needs to adjust.” He says as he takes my hands and takes a few deep breaths with me.

I follow his lead and even though my heart still feels like it’s pounding I am feeling a lot calmer.

“Very good. Now, don’t worry about anything else but keeping yourself as calm as possible. We don’t want to stress your heart. We will try to help you remember as much as possible but until then you are welcome here.”

I nod and feel a sense of relief knowing I won’t be left to figure all of this out myself.

“Can I have some water?” I ask.

“Of course. Natalia.” The nurse walks over to the table a few feet away and pours me a cup of water.

When she hands it to me our hands touch and I feel an odd sense of familiarity. “Do I know you?” I ask her.

She smiles but shakes her head. “I would sit with you and talk to you sometimes, so you probably recognize my voice, but we didn’t know each other before you came here.”

I look her over but besides that momentary sense of familiarity, I don’t recognize her at all. She’s pretty and by the glances she is sharing with the doctor I would say they’re in some sort of relationship.

“Are you two married?” I ask without meaning to. “Crap! I’m sorry. I don’t know why I asked that.”

The doctor who has yet to tell me his name laughs. “I suppose we are not very good at hiding things, but yes we are.”

Natalia blushes and tries to avoid looking at him, but he smiles at her like she hung the moon. It’s sickly sweet and causes a weird ache in my chest. I rub at the spot in confusion but drop my hand when the doctor looks my way again. I don’t want him to think I’m having heart palpitations again.

“I’ll let you rest for now and then schedule you for a few tests to make sure there isn’t any residual effects outside of the memory loss. Okay?” The doctor asks. “Natalia, can you draw some blood and schedule a CT scan as well.”

Natalia the nurse nods.

“I’ll see you soon.” The doctor tells me.

“Okay.”

He gives Natalia a quick smile before turning and leaving the room.

“He really loves you.” I say once again without meaning to.

What’s with that?

Natalia laughs shyly. “I know. He tells me every day. Sometimes even more than once a day.”

She’s blushing again but doesn’t try to hide it quite as much. I can’t help but give her a knowing smile, although I don’t know anything like what she must be feeling. There’s this phantom emotion at seeing them but I can’t place it. Maybe I loved someone once and can’t remember. I guess the body knows even when the mind is lost.

“Are you having any headaches or soreness?” Natalia asks.

I shake my head. “No. Is that normal?”

“No one is exactly alike. Some feel muscle aches from staying in one position for too long. Others feel groggy and experience headaches, but there is nothing right or wrong about recovery. It may be too soon to know but once you start moving again you might feel more.” She explains.

Her eyes move over to the TV that looks to be playing a news reel.

“Another animal attack has hit on the coast of California. No other explanation can be given for the state of the body found earlier this morning. As far as the police have been able to learn, the man had been a tourist who went on a solo hike yesterday evening and did not return to hi hotel. The friends traveling with him say it is unusual for him not to let them know what he’s doing. They say he was aware of the dangers of hiking alone. This case is only one among many reports of animal attacks in the last year. Whatever animal out there attacking these hikers, they are not showing any signs of stopping. The police have closed the hiking trail until further notice.”

Natalia sighs and goes back to checking the machines I’m hooked up to.

“What state are we in?” I ask her.

“Montana. Do you remember ever coming here?”

“No. I can’t remember places I could have been to. There are vague images of building and stuff like that but I don’t know where they’re from.”

I hate not understanding what I’m seeing in my mind. It’s like images with blurry edges and the longer I try to make them out my head starts to hurt. I squeezer my eyes shut and rub them to try and ease the headache building.

“Is that headache starting?” Natalia asks.

“Yeah.” I admit with a sigh.

“Don’t try to force trying to remember. They will come with time, but Alo is right, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you would like.”
“Alo?”

“That’s my husband’s name.”

Interesting name. “Alo means spiritual guide, right?”

She looks at me with wide eyed shock. “Yes…h-how did you know that?”

“I don’t’ know. It’s like I know random things but not why.”

“I must say that it’s an impressive gift. Not many know the meanings of names and in our culture, it is a big factor when naming our children.”

“Do you have any children? Sorry is that too personal?”

“Not at all. Yes, we have a little girl name Elu.” She says with a soft smile and pride in her eyes. “She’s a year old now and stays home with Alo’s mother while wen work. She adores her.”

“Elu means beautiful right?”

She nods. “Very good.”

How do I know these name meanings? Did I study it in the life I can’t remember? Why would I study something like that? Is there some sort of career that involves studying names?

“Thank you for answering my questions. I can’t seem to filter my thoughts before they come out of my mouth.” I feel a deep sense of guilt.

“Don’t be. In this community almost everyone knows everything about everyone else. At least in this area of the reservation.” She says it with a wave of a hand and no hint of animosity.
“Okay, so everything looks good here. I’ll ask Alo about getting you some pain medicine for that headache. Here’s the TV controller if you want to browse the channels while you wait. It’s slow around here so everything should be done quickly.” She pats me on the leg and leaves the room.

The only sound around me is the TV now and it’s so low that you can barely hear it. I suddenly feel so alone and lost. How can I forget so much? Is there anyone wondering what happened to me? I guess if it’s been three weeks the answer to that would be no, but I had to have known someone. How did I go through life without having a single friend? If that was what my life was like before I came here, then I don’t think I want to remember.