Chapter 3 DISSOCIATIVE AMNESIA

May opened her eyes with a start and immediately sat up! As soon as she did, a splitting headache assaulted her and she passed out falling back on the bed as if she had never woken up.

A nurse who had just entered to place fruits on the table saw the whole thing and stood frozen for a full ten seconds before realizing what had happened. Because of her lack of experience, she thought it smart to call for the Doctor and so she hurried out.

It wasn't long before May woke up again. This time though, she was more cautious. Instead of sitting up, she took her time staring at the ceiling for a while.

"Hello" a warm voice entered her ears startling her and she turned to the sound to find a middle aged woman with a kind expression on her face looking down at her and smiling. May couldn't tell why but her mind screamed at her not to smile back or get close to this person. She didn't know what it was she was afraid of but she wasn't afraid of the woman... it was something else but she couldn't tell what that something was causing her to just start in caution and confusion.

"I am doctor Mera. Blink if you can here me" the doctor spoke again and May's eyes became clear.

Why blink? She wondered but she did it anyway.

"Can you talk?" Doctor Mera asked and May replied with a slow nod. As she did, she could feel that dull pain in her head again so she raised her hand wanting to touch it but Doctor Mera took her hand and gently put it back down. Cautiously, May struggled to remove her hand from the Doctor's grip and as if understanding her intentions, the Doctor released her hand and held up two fingers before her.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked.

"Two" May replied, her pupils switching from the fingers to the Doctor's face.

"Can you follow my fingers?" Doctor Mera asked again and now holding up a single finger, she moved it slowly from left to right and May following her instructions followed the movement with her eyes.

"Does this make you uncomfortable?" Mera asked.

"No"

"Alright, can you tell me your name?"

For a while May was silent and then she muttered, "Name?"

"Yes, my name is Mera, what's yours?" Doctor Mera asked again patiently.

May didn't reply her, her pupils roving back and forth through the ceiling as she thought.

"Name. What's my name?" she asked turning back to the Doctor as if for answers but as she thought about this issue, the dull ache slowly increasing into a sharp pain. Her face contorted in pain and she groaned deeply, opening her mouth to scream but she must have forgotten to as no sound came out from her.

"Hey hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me your name, we'll figure it out another time. It's okay, look at at me." Doctor Mera tapped her cheeks and tried to calm her. Eventually the pain stopped as May stopped wondering what her name was.

"You suffered a serious head injury and although it didn't directly cause any harm to your brain, the process may have been traumatic so you lost some of your memories to protect yourself from the pain. It's called dissociative amnesia. There is a very high chance that it will all come back to you and during this time I will do my best to help you through it. Can you understand what I am saying?"

"Yes ... thank you" May replied, for a moment she was going to nod but immediately rejected that idea afterwards.

The words of the warn doctor for no reason put her on edge. When the Doctor said she would help her through her condition, all of a sudden, she had an ominous feeling. Fortunately, she managed to push that aside and instead focus on the problem the doctor said she had. Although she had lost her memory, it wasn't in her nature to reject help especially when she couldn't do anything without it.

"Alright, I'll just do a checkup on your wound. You have been unconscious for a year and thankfully your wounds have been healing quite nicely. It's mostly gone, the pain you are feelings is from the recovered cells and the metal as your body adapts to them, the pain will go away. During this time you'll need to be careful of any stressful situations to avoid any pressure build up from affecting your wound or your brain. We will keep you here for a while longer just to reduce the chances of an accident and to access exactly how much damage was done." Doctor Mera explained as she rose from the seat beside May's bed.

"Hold on one second" she said and walked out of the room. Just a few seconds later she returned and with her two female and one male nurses.

"These are Cecilia, Ruth and Jason. Thy are third year residents and they will be taking care of you. Is it okay for them to stay while I check your wounds?" she asked.

"Yeah" May replied feeling a little glum that she couldn't nod. She didn't want to talk.

Three days later. May sat by the edge of the bed eating while Jason and Ruth sat in another corner of the room behind her playing a card game. Normally they would get very busy and sitting down for a few minutes would be impossible but May was a very special patient.

In grey pants and shirt, May looked very beautiful even though she was still bald. They shaved her head completely to gain unrestricted access to the entry would of the bullet and because of the delay in getting treatment, the rough handling by the men who were going to busy her, and even the move from Vharlad, she was in a pretty bad shape when she arrived here.

Half way through her meal, there was a gentle knock and the door opened to reveal Doctor Mera who smiled warmly at May.

"Hello, feeling better today?" Doctor Mera asked and May nodded feeling thankful that the Doctor had stopped asking her questions that required her to talk. She could nod now, the pain was very minimal. She didn't like to talk and fortunately, Doctor Mera noticed that early and adapted.

"There are some people who would like to see you. They were the ones who brought you here." Doctor Mera said cautiously half expecting May to refuse. In their short time together, she began to see May as an antisocial person and she genuinely wasn't far from the truth.

"Can I bring them in?" she asked.

May's eyes brightened unusually, she had always seemed distant and uninterested but this time she raised her head from her food in interest. Most of it was out of gratitude but an even greater part was curiousity to know who she was. She wanted to find out why she felt scared of Doctor Mera's warmth and kindness and why getting close to any of the residents taking care of her seemed like a bad idea every time she tried.

"Yes please" she replied politely this time instead of simply nodding like she used to do.

Doctor Mera was surprised and her face blossomed into a smile as she headed to the door and opened it.

A moment later, Prince Ash walked in and with him two other people. A cream colored haired girl, and a gangster themes male about the same age as Prince Ash.

May tilted her head at the strangers and tried to smile but her face couldn't make the expression.

"Hello" she greeted instead to acknowledge them since her face seemed to be frozen in dullness.