Voices... 

People near her were talking, but she couldn't understand what they were saying.

Her head pounded.

She tried to move, but her body would not listen.

"... apparently just drove off."

"Unbelievable. Who would do something like that?"

She tried again. Her fingers should not be this heavy. It was as if she was on the edge of sleep – her brain was awake, but her body had not noticed that yet. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a groan. The people around her fell silent.

"Did you guys hear that, or am I imagining things?"

That headache... What happened?

"Emily? Emily, are you awake, honey?"

Was that man talking to her?

She tried to move her hand to her head. Her body was finally realising that she had woken up.

A door opened and she heard footsteps. She tried to open her eyes, but it was hard – so much harder than it should've been. Like her eyelids were made of lead. 

"Is she waking up?" a girl asked.

"It seems like it," a woman's voice answered. "Give her a minute..."

She blinked her eyes and pushed her hand against her forehead in a desperate attempt to stop the pounding. Finally her body listened.

"Emily? How are you feeling?"

She opened her eyes and looked around. Three worried faces looked down on her: a man, a girl and a boy, all holding on to the rails on the side of her bed. Behind them stood a woman in a white uniform. She picked up a form from a little tray screwed to the back of the bed and smiled at her.

Turning her head, she glanced around the room. Where am I?

The walls were bright and bare except for a single, simple clock. Three plastic chairs were spread out across the room. Next to her bed stood a tall metal pole with several see-through bags hanging from it, wires and tubes on each of them. Those wires led down to the bed, underneath her sheets...

Her stomach flipped. This was a hospital bed. Why was she lying in a hospital bed?

"I'm glad to see you're back, dear," said the woman.

She swallowed the nausea down, while the woman in white clothes took a small flashlight from her pocket and shone it into her eyes. The light instantly sent another spike of pain through her skull. 

"Normal pupil reflexes. Can you sit up?"

She could. Arms wobbling, she pushed herself up from the bedsheets. She groaned from the effort it cost. Her head fell forward as if it was too heavy for her to carry. She shook it a few times and used her hands for support.

The woman wrote something down on her form. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, alright? All standard procedure after head trauma, nothing complicated."

Head trauma? That explained the pounding pain. She nodded.

"What's your name?" the woman asked, her eyes on the paper and pen at the ready.

She looked around, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together, to comprehend the situation she found herself in. The three people – the man, the girl and the boy – stared at her, all smiles, not a care in the world. Why were they looking at her like that? Why were they even here? 

She cleared her throat. "E-Emily..." she stuttered. "Right?"

Emily. That's the name she'd heard. That must've been about her.

The woman looked up with a frown. "And your last name, dear?"

Emily should know this. She was sure of that. She frowned and dug deep into her brain to find an answer. What was it again?    

"I don't know," she said softly.

The two teenagers shared confused glances. The man stared at her.

"How old are you?" the woman in white continued.

She should know this, too. The frown deepened and she thought so hard that it made her head hurt even more.

Age... Age... Age... Come on, Emily, it's a simple question!

She stared at her hands. "Uhm..."

The woman lowered her form and said, "One more question, dear. We're almost finished, alright? Where do you live?"

Emily felt tears sting behind her eyes and stared at her hands hoping nobody would see them. What was wrong with her?

The woman scribbled something on the paper and then put it back where it had come from. "I'm going to get the doctor," she said. "Don't worry. He'll be right there." She turned to face the man and said: "Mister Huntley, guys, could you come with me for a minute?"

To Emily's relief, the four unknown people all walked out the door. She didn't look up. She didn't want to see their disappointed faces. She quickly blinked the tears away and wiped her eyes. The doctor would be here soon. He could surely make her better. The pounding in her head hadn't stopped. She pressed her hand against it, as she waited.

Only a few minutes later, the door opened and a man came in. He looked too young to be a doctor. His ears were massive, not quite covered by his unruly black hair, and he had a twinkle in his eyes. "Good morning, Emily," he said with a smile so bright it almost lit up the room. It was a stark contrast to how Emily was feeling. The man stuffed his hands in the pockets of his white uniform as he stood over her bed. "Good to see you're awake. You've had quite a blow to your head. How are you feeling?"

Emily cleared her throat once more and muttered, "Headache..."

The doctor chuckled. "Yeah, I kind of expected that one. I'll get you some painkillers in a second. Are you feeling well enough to have a chat?"

Emily nodded. If he was going to fix her, it was worth a few more minutes of pain.

"Great. So, I heard you're having some problems with your memory, is that right?"

Emily nodded slowly. "Yeah... The things she asked me... I know I should know the answers, but I just can't remember."

The smile on his face was finally replaced by a thoughtful look. "Is it true that you can't remember your name?"

"Yes, I... I can't remember who I am."

It was painfully clear that this wasn't the answer the doctor had hoped for. He asked Emily a few more questions, but he soon became aware that she didn't have any memories left of before she just woke up in the hospital bed.

The rest of the day he made her do all kinds of tests, aiming to find out where Emily's memory-loss came from. He hoped that he could fix it, if he knew the cause. But he couldn't find anything. Of course she had some damage to her head and her brain, she'd been in quite the accident, after all. But the doctor couldn't find anything that he hadn't seen before, nothing that could explain complete amnesia.

At the end of the day, when it was already dark outside, the doctor came back into Emily's room. The man who had been there when she woke up, followed him inside. He looked pale, but he gave her an encouraging nod.

"Well, Emily, we've collected a lot of information today, and I'm happy to tell you that everything looks fine. The accident shouldn't leave any permanent damage." He sighed. "Unfortunately, this also means that I haven't been able to find out what has caused your memory-loss."

Emily stared at her hands in disappointment. They didn't have a clue why her memories had disappeared. So they couldn't fix it either.

"Listen," the doctor continued, "it is fairly normal to have some degree of amnesia after head trauma. The big difference is that it's usually no complete amnesia."

Emily nodded. She wasn't sure what the doctor meant exactly, but it clearly wasn't normal that she'd lost all her memories.

"Usually, the amnesia recedes spontaneously over time, as the brain heals. With you this process may take a little longer, but I still expect your memories to come back in time. I want to keep an eye on you, so I'd like to see you twice a week for the foreseeable future, alright? I've already planned an appointment for Friday with your dad."

Dad? So that man was her father. No wonder he had such a pale face, such bags under his eyes. Emily felt guilty for not even being able to recognise her own father. Even the greying hairs on his head seemed to stand up accusingly. But the man still gave her an encouraging smile. She sent him a timid smile back.

"Until then..." The doctor hesitated. "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I've heard stories before of patients with amnesia after head trauma. Apparently it helps to remind patients of their old memories. In other words, it could help to try and find out everything you can about your life before the accident. This could help reconnect the wires in your brain. I wish I could give you more advice, but for now this is all I've got. I suggest you try that."

Emily nodded. She wanted to know who she was anyway. The doctor didn't have to task her with finding out, as if it was homework.

"Good," said the doctor. "You can go home with your dad. I'll see you one Friday. Take your time before you go."

Emily glanced at her dad, nervous at the thought that she'd have to go home with a man she didn't even know. As the doctor walked out with one more polite nod, the man sat down on the little plastic chair next to her bed. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, rubbing his hands together.

"Uhm... So... I know you don't recognise me anymore, so I guess I'll introduce myself... My name is Eddy. Eddy Huntley. And I'm... Well, I'm your dad."

Poor guy, Emily thought. He seems even more uncomfortable than I am. She smiled at him and said, "Nice to meet you, Eddy... Uh, dad."

Her father chuckled. "Eddy is fine. You're not a child anymore, after all."

This piqued her interest. "About that... How old am I?"

"You turned 17 just last month," said Eddy. "Had a party and everything."

If only I could remember that. "And my surname is Huntley, too?" Emily had been wondering what the answers to the Nurse's questions had been all day. Her dad nodded and she continued, "Where do we live?"

"Not too far from here," Eddy said, gesturing towards the door of the room. "When you're ready to go, I can show you."

Emily nodded and stepped out of the bed. "You don't mind me asking all these questions, do you? I know it's weird..."

Eddy suddenly put his hand on her arm, making her flinch. "Of course I don't mind, honey," he said. "You're my daughter. I want you to get your memory back. Ask me as many questions as you need."