16A/N: Hey guys. Just wanted to apologize for taking so long to finally update. I wasn't sure I was happy with where this story was going, so I decided to take a break from it. But I got some wonderful feedback from murderprotocol, and it encouraged me to write more. However I didn't do it right away. I wanted to read some more stories and figure out what it was that drew me to those stories, and then try to make mine better. Then I just got caught up in reading and forgot to write! So again, I apologize for the delay. And I'd like to thank those few people who have recently added Living Again to their Story Alerts/Favorites. It really did give me the courage and desire to continue.
So as always please read and review. I really love the positive feedback, and constructive criticism. I'll try to update a little sooner than 5 months this time ;)
I studied his face, but found only sincerity there. Then I smiled. Maybe I'd be able to use this newly found power. He had been so eager last night to fulfill my request. I wondered what else I could ask of him.
Chapter 5
That morning, was quite different than the others, but in a good way. It also set a new precedent for the following days. Matt had gone to the cafeteria and brought back some breakfast for me, and we ate together in silence. Afterwards, while he went and made his rounds and did whatever doctors do, I'd turn on the television. Usually I ended up watching Ellen. Every time, I would stare at the show so carefully, looking for any hints or clues to jog my memory as to who I was or where I was from. And everyday I'd be disappointed when nothing did.
Around noon, a nurse would often come in, although hesitantly at first, and ask what I'd like for lunch. The first day this happened, the nurse stood at the doorway and repeated what the specials of the day were to me. A few days later though, she ventured closer and would often comment on the guests that Ellen had on that day. By the end of the week, Alice, the petite nurse, would sneak in and watch Ellen with me for about a half hour, before leaving to place my lunch order, and take care of her other patients.
The afternoons were my favourite though. Matt would bring my lunch order, as well as something for himself, and while we ate we'd either watch more TV together, or sometimes he'd tell me stories about himself. He told me about his younger sister Christina, and how his mother had been always trying to make her into a proper young lady, by making her take piano and ballet lessons. But Christina had her own agenda. She loved to play sports with her older brother and his friends. One of her main beliefs was, there was no point to being outside if you weren't going to get dirty. I liked the way she thought.
After lunch, I'd often venture out of my room, under the careful scrutiny of Matt. He thought I was still too weak and should remain resting. I thought I'd been in that bed long enough. My muscles were frail from being under-used, so at the beginning the walks weren't very long. I was lucky to make it down the hallway outside my room, and back again. Although the trip back was tiring, I forced my legs to carry me – not wanting to let Matt know he was right! I collapsed back in my bed, and almost instantly fell back asleep. However, by the end of that week I was wandering around the whole floor, up and down the hallways, under the horrible fluorescent lights. In no time at all though I was lost in the endless corridors, and Matt had to show me the way back to my room. But I'd made it around by myself.
Dinners varied. Sometimes Matt would be able to stay with me, but other times he'd have meetings that he had to attend. But afterwards, in the evenings Matt would bring a board game for us to play. We played Sorry, Monopoly, Life and Yahtzee. He hadn't spent the night, since the day he'd fallen asleep in the chair, but that was okay. I knew he'd be returning in the morning.
After about a week of this routine, it abruptly changed. Alice brought my breakfast in that morning. I looked up at her with a surprised expression.
"Dr. Harper has a meeting this morning, so he asked if I'd bring you something to eat. When his meeting is done, I'll bring you to his office. He wants to talk to you." Alice helped me get set up to eat breakfast, and winked as she retreated out the door.
"I'll be back in a bit."
I started to eat my breakfast of cereal – looked like Rice Krispies – and toast as I wondered why on earth Matt would want to talk to me in his office. I hadn't even seen his office before! He'd always come to my room before. Maybe it was bad news. Perhaps they'd discovered who I was and that I had no remaining family, and was really all alone! I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind. It would do me no good to dwell on them now. I'd find out soon enough.
Almost as though she'd been watching me, the moment I was done eating and pushing the tray away from me, Alice walked back in. She took the tray and set it just outside the door for someone to pick up later.
"If you're all set, I'll take you to Dr. Harper now," she said.
I stood up from the bed, and shook my head. "I just want to brush my teeth and freshen up first."
I hurried into the bathroom and cleaned myself up as best as I could, brushed my teeth and my hair, and then ran back out to Alice.
"Can't keep him waiting forever!" I quipped. Alice smiled and she led the way through the hospital in silence. She waved to a few of the patients as she led me threw endless corridors, into an elevator which went up one level, and then down one more hallway. As we walked I noticed that most of the patients were male in their early twenties to late thirties. I think I only saw two female patients. How odd.
We came to a stop in front of a closed door, and Alice reached out to knock on it. We heard a "come in" from behind the door, so Alice turned the handle and opened the door for me. Matt was sitting in front of a large window that was almost the length of the office. The room was filled with bookshelves and filing cabinets, and a great big desk piled high with papers and a small laptop on the corner of it. Matt waved us in with a smile, but as I walked forward I felt oddly nervous; a sort of sense of déjà vu. Alice remained behind at the door.
"I have a few more patients to look in on, so if it's okay I'll leave her in your care Dr. Harper."
"Of course. Go make sure that Edward takes his antibiotics today. Or else he'll never heal up! Here Alexia, have a seat." Matt had stood up and walked around his desk to pull out a cozy leather chair for me to sit in. He waited till I was comfortably sat, before returning to his seat. He gave me a warm smile.
"Don't worry," he began. "I'm just waiting for one more person to arrive, and then . . . well there are a few things we need to discuss, now that you're feeling better."
Just as I was thinking I couldn't be more confused, and wondering who on earth could this other person be, there was another knock on the door. The door opened two seconds later and an older man wearing a military uniform walked through. It startled me to feel such hate and fear for this man, who'd only just walked through the door. While I debated whether to run or not, I was reminded of a time not so long ago.
I was standing alone in a room. I knew that just outside the doors stood two armed guards, blocking my escape. The room was set up with a bed for the patient, a stool for a doctor to sit on, and a counter filled with vials of injectable drugs, bandaging materials, scalpels, and other medical instruments.
The door opened and in walked the two guards, led by a doctor. I'd seen him almost every day now for the two months, and the mere thought of him brought a shiver to my spine now. This man was pure evil. He looked up at me as he spoke.
"These small doses that I've been giving you of the this drug, don't seem to be having the effect we'd hoped. Today we're going to try something a little different." He nodded to the two guards who instantly took a hold of me and forced me back onto the table. The doctor put on a pair of latex gloves, and grabbed one of the scalpel blades. I looked at him in horror.
"No. No! No no no no! Don't do this to me!" I screamed.
"See originally I was just going to give the larger dose intramuscularly. But then I heard that you tried spit at one of the guards yesterday. That can't go unpunished. Hold her."
The guards tightened their grip on me, as I struggled to break free, but it was no use. The doctor made an incision along the inside of my wrist, deep enough to just nick the vein. I yelled in pain and tried to lunge at him, but my attempts were useless. He watched my expression of horror as he emptied more than double the dose I'd been previously receiving, right into my vein. He wrapped my wrist in gauze and bandages afterwards, all the while watching me for my reaction. It didn't take long for me to feel nauseous and faint. The guards hauled me off the bed when the bandage was set, and dragged me back to my cell.
I looked down at my wrist and saw the scar. I ran a finger along it as the man stepped further into the room. As he came towards me I flinched and curled up as far back in my seat as possible. Aiming a puzzled look at Matt though, he stepped away.
"Alexia, this is Colonel Mark Sampson. He's here to discuss a few things with you and I." Matt gave me a funny look as he spoke, and again walked around his desk and laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. It was as if he knew I wanted to flee. I nodded to the colonel, not trusting my voice, as I worked hard to steady my breathing.
"I'm glad to see that you're feeling better now Alexia. When I last saw you, you were on death's doorway. Thanks to Dr. Harper here, you're clearly on the mend." I nodded once more, and believing I wouldn't run, Matt moved to sit on the edge of his desk, while the colonel took a seat across from mine. The two men exchanged a glance before the colonel continued.
" I've come to talk to you today about a few things Alexia. First off, it's time you found out that we're currently on a secret military base. Very few people know how to actually get here, but this is where any wounded soldiers come to receive medical treatment, and where they can recuperate after any surgery. Matt, has been working here for a few years now, and is one of our finest doctors. We were lucky that he was with us when we found you."
"How did you find me, sir?"
"The local police had received an anonymous phone call from someone claiming to have heard multiple gunshots in the area. Some of my men were in the middle of a training operation nearby, when the police called us with the news. We rushed over there, to find a grisly discovery. Unfortunately, we still don't have any clues as to who could have done this, or what they are ultimately after. This is where we are hoping that you will be able to help us."
I could feel Matt's eyes watching me as I absorbed all this news. When he spoke I turned to look at him. He lightly took my arm, and pointed at some of the scars as he spoke.
"Alex – I know you're having a difficult time remembering your past, and what happened to you. But you're our best chance at finding out who's behind this and making them pay. These scars, while some of them look like they may have been inflicted simply to cause pain, other marks, like this one, look like multiple injection sites. They were drugging you, wherever you were. When we first brought you here, you'd lost so much blood, that your life was in critical condition. I didn't think to take anymore of your blood for tests later. Instead we put more back into you."
Matt gently released my arm and looked over to the colonel for some sort of confirmation.
"By understanding what they were giving to you and doing to you, we hope that we can find these bastards before they hurt other people. I want to help you try to remember things, but not so fast that it frightens you either. If I could find out medically what happened, I won't have to push you quite so hard. Alexia, I want to run some more medical tests, non-invasive I promise. But I won't do it unless I have your cooperation. I think you've been through enough already. I think you trust me though."
The colonel picked up where Matt left off. "Matt says you're healthy enough to not have to remain in the hospital though. We can get you situated in one of the semi-private houses, with a female roommate. That way you'd only have to come here for a pre-scheduled test. You won't have to stay in the hospital bed anymore. So what do you say? Will you allow Matt to run a few tests and help jog your memory to help everyone out."
They were giving me a choice, though in my eyes I didn't think it was much of one. Refuse and know that there may be others who will go through whatever tortures I had just escaped. Or agree and allow myself to be a human guinea pig again, but hopefully other lives will be spared. I took a deep, steadying breath before I answered.
"I want to help. Do whatever you have to do to me. I'll live wherever you want me to."
"Alexia, it won't be like last time." He has no idea what last time was like, I thought. But Matt continued. "If you ever feel uncomfortable with anything, or if anything causes you any sort of pain, you only have to tell me and we'll stop."
The colonel looked like he wanted Matt to do whatever would get answers, but Matt was only looking at me. It was hard not to trust him.
"Okay. I trust you Matt." He smiled and winked at me as the colonel stood up.
"Good. We appreciate your cooperation Alexia. Now that this is all settled, I'll let Matt help move your belong," the colonel stopped short remembering that I didn't have any belongings with me. "Well he can help you get all moved in and settled. You've got the cabin set up, right Matt?"
"Yes sir. Alice's last roommate left last week, and so there is an empty bed with her. I thought it would work nicely since the girls already know each other."
Colonel Sampson nodded. "Fine. Sounds like you've got it all under control, so I'll be off. I'm sure I'll see you again soon Alexia. Take care. Matt, we'll speak tomorrow." He strode to the door and left.
It was as if a weight had been lifted off my chest. Suddenly it was easier to breathe and I didn't feel the terror coursing through my body anymore. Matt picked up on this tiny detail, but guessed incorrectly at the reason I'd been nervous.
"Colonel Sampson is a good guy. A bit gruff, slightly rough exterior, but inside he's a decent man. He wouldn't force you to do anything you didn't want Alex."
"Sure," I replied. "So I'm moving in with Alice. Are you sure she won't mind?"
"Not in the least. She was excited to get a new roommate again. She probably ran to clean up the place after her morning rounds were over today. Come on. We'll walk back to your room and grab your toothbrush before heading over to the cabin."
Taking my hand with his, he led me back through the twisting corridors and back to my room. We easily, and very quickly retrieved my hairbrush and toothbrush. Matt took my hand again and led me outside of the hospital and down a street.
There weren't any cars on the road. Looking closer it barely constituted a street. It was more of a path. But lined along both sides of the path were rows of cabins. You could even see that there were other paths that were interconnected and made up a small community.
"I'm located just over there." Matt pointed one row over to a cabin located fairly close to the hospital. However we continued a little further down this path until we reached a cabin that looked identical to all the others. The exception being it had a #23 on it. Matt knocked once and almost immediately Alice opened the door and gestured for us to come in. Her excitement and exuberance threw me off a little and I leaned a little closer to Matt as if for protection. He smiled at me as he put an arm around my shoulders.
"I've brought you a new roommate Alice. Now you be gently with this one. No breaking her."
Moving a little slower towards me this time, Alice said, "Don't worry. I'll take really good care of her. You're just a quick call away if anything happens. Go on; get out of here. I'll help her get settled. I know you've got surgery booked later today."
"Yeah you're right." Matt looked at me as he continued. "How about tomorrow morning I come pick you up from here around 8am. That way we can go over to the hospital, run a simple blood test, and then I can show you around the rest of this place. Sound good?"
"Sounds good. See you tomorrow Matt." I grinned shyly at him as I thought about how much I'd miss him tonight.
He reached out and ruffled my hair right before dropping a soft kiss on my forehead.
"Bye Alexia."
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