“Owwww” I groaned waking up. I tried to sit up. The room spun around me. “I don’t feel so well” I tried to say but it came out as “arhgh” and some other weird noises. It was hot in here. Burning. Not normal hot. “Mom? Dad?” A person in a white coat gently pushed me down. I fell asleep quickly later. “Honey? Ya there? Well, if ya can ‘ere me, my name’s Sue. If ya need anything just press the button with your left hand. ‘k? Well, I’m gonna leave now…” I pressed the button under my hand. “Yea?” I heard Sue ask as she came back in. “Mom. Dad.” I tried to say. I was answered in a silence. “When you feel better, we’ll tell you. We promise.” That woke me up. “What happened??!” I tried to make my voice demanding, but it came out as a whimper. I fainted or fell into a coma before she could answer. “Sweety? I’m the doctor. Dr. Seam? Well, I don’t know how to put this but… You’ve been burned. Quite badly.” I listened to this quietly. “Where is Mom and Dad.?” I asked quietly. “Hon, You’ve been burned on the face. And right arm. And your parents?.... They’re both… gone.” Dr. Seam said quietly. Before I could control it, tears started streaming down my face. “ Your parents? They died saving you. It was a heroic save. You really could have died to. Your parents (sigh) they were found with themselves covering you. I’m really sorry honey.” That made the tears come down quicker and faster. Stinging. “ow!” The tears swam down my face, making the tears sting my already burned face. I must have looked really bad then, with most of my face burned. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. I wanted my parents back. Now.
I woke up with hearing some nurses talking. I pretended that I was asleep. “Did you hear about that young pretty girl??” A soft low voice asked. “No! I haven’t! What happened???” said another higher voice, kind of husky. “Well, what I’ve heard is that- I moved my had trying to see them. The nurses saw me. “Oh, Hey honey! How ya feeling?” The husky voice asked as if nothing had happened. “Thirsty.” I said. “Ok, We’re going to go get you a soda and we’ll be right back, k?” I nodded. I remembered about my parents. I felt a huge unhappy weight come on my chest. I tried to look down. What was that? Soon, the 2 nurses came back. They handed me a cup with a long straw. They put the straw up to my mouth. I drank some. When I stopped sipping up soda, the nurse took away the cup. “ you hungry?” she asked. I shrugged. “I’ll bring in the breakfast tray ok?” I was really surprised. “Its morning?” I asked. “Yes. It is. Its about 11:00. You’ve been asleep for about 2 days. Don’t be surprised, the doctor didn’t want you to feel the pain so injected some medicine.” “Oh” I replied. “ Oh, and the therapist is coming soon to, your lucky, you got the really nice one.” I didn’t say anything, so she left. “Hey kiddo!” I heard a nice sweet voice with a strong scent of perfume. I opened my eyes. A woman in a white t-shirt and jeans walked towards me. “Hey! How you feeling? I’m Linda, your therapist. I’m going to help your burns.” I don’t remember much. When the doctors asked me some questions, the words didn’t make sense. They said something about amnesia. They tested me for it. I didn’t have it. The rest was just a blur. All I remember was pain, pain, parents, ex-parents, pain. It was awful. I got away from the hospital months later with a huge ugly mask on my face. I didn’t care. I stepped into the cab. It drove me to a place. The last place I had wanted to be back in. Yep, the Orphanage.