Chapter 179: WOKE UP
In a hospital room with white walls and all kinds of medical equipment, at the center was a bed, and a man lay in it with several tubes attached to his body and a big bandage on the head.
Abruptly, the patient’s eyes opened as his pupils dilated. Looking around the hospital room as a frown crept on his face, he shifted it to the tubes on his hand and his bare muscles chest.
Lifting his hands that had the IV needle attached to his vein, he removed the tubes from his body and used the other hand to remove the IV needle with a force that led to his hand bleeding profusely.
As he was about to sit up on the bed, he held his bandaged head with pain and discomfort etched on his face. He stared at the room again with so much unfamiliarity and wondered what he was doing there.
Ignoring his bleeding hands, he attempted to stand up from the bed before another pang of headache hit him and as if he was going back into the past, he recalled everything that happened and the reason he was in the hospital was that he had been shot in the head.
With raging eyes, Ethan stood up from the bed and ignored the other pang of headache that hit him. He tried to walk to the door but somehow, his steps were slow. As he continued to try to reach the door, the blood that dripped from his hand dropped and stained the white tiles of the room.
Finally reaching the door, Ethan reached for the knob and turned it. He found himself in an unknown hallway but after a few seconds, he realized that he was in Michael’s hospital.
Despite his throbbing head, only one person was in Ethan’s mind and that was Erika. Leaving the room, he walked to the elevator that was further away from where he was.
Upon getting to the elevator, it suddenly dinged and the doors opened. Felix, Cassandra, and Michael walked out of the elevator while discussing a few things before they saw Ethan, whose face had already paled due to the amount of blood he’d already lost.
"Ethan!" Cassandra gasped in shock as she rushed to hug her brother. "Thank God you’re awake."
"Wait...who are you?" he asked Cassandra as he stared at her with a look of unfamiliarity, making the girl feel loss for words.
She created a distance between them and glanced at Michael and Felix. The two of them were not completely surprise because they had expected this to happen. But they also wished it hadn’t happened.
"Ethan, let’s go back to your room now," said Michael, getting Ethan’s attention towards him.
They had waited for him to question about Michael’s identity but surprisingly, he didn’t.
They had all been shocked to Ethan awake but to see him in the hallway and not in his hospital room, it was obvious that he was heading somewhere.
Quickly, they assisted him and walked back to the room as he protested.
"Erika has been kidnapped," he repeated until they arrived inside the room.
Gently, they placed him back on the bed and Michael quickly called the neurologist doctor to come examine Ethan.
"We know that, but you just woke up and the only thing that came to your mind was to make your health even worse than it already was?" scolded Felix with a big frown on his face.
Confused, Ethan asked, "What do you mean?"
Both Felix and Cassandra glanced at each other, not knowing how to break the news to him. Thankfully, Michael arrived with the doctor just in time.
"Good day, Mr Anderson. I’m doctor Dave, the doctor who performed your brain surgery," the doctor introduced himself. "It’s a good thing you are awake now. How are you feeling?" he asked.
Ethan touched his pounding head before he replied, "I have a terrible headache. Whenever I talk, I feel like my head had suddenly turned heavy."
Dave nodded in understanding.
"What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up?" Dave asked him.
Turning impatient, Ethan was about to snap at Dave but Felix held him back.
"This is important," said Felix.
Releasing a sigh, Ethan decided to cooperate. He was quite curious as to why they were acting like this.
"The last thing I remember is...." he drawled, trying to squeeze out his last memory. He had forgotten what he remembered just a few minutes ago when he woke up. "I can’t remember," he mumbled in disbelief. "I did remember awhile ago but I can’t seem to remember anymore," he added.
"I suspected this will happen, Mr Anderson," said Dave.
"Why is that?" Ethan asked.
The room suddenly drowned in silence before Dave mustered the courage to speak,
" You’d been shot in the head," he announced, his words leaving Ethan stunned.
’Shot’ Ethan repeated in his mind. He tried harder to remember that scene that nothing familiar came to him. His memories were blurred and he couldn’t see things clearly.
"Do you remember that girl?" Dave asked Ethan, pointing at Cassandra, who had already started shedding some tears due to the thought that Ethan might have an amnesia.
Ethan stared at Cassandra for a few seconds before he shook his head and asked,
"Who is she?"
"That’s your sister, Ethan?" Felix replied.
Confused, Ethan asked, "I have a sister?"
"Yes you do, Ethan," said Felix. "But I don’t understand something, if you don’t remember Cassandra, how do you remember both me and Michael?" he asked the doctor.
"I am assuming that Mr Anderson has a selective amnesia but I can’t say until we have conducted elaborate tests," the doctor replied. "Mr Anderson, I know that no one has told you this yet but you have been shot in the head," he dropped the bomb.
Ethan’s mouth hung open in shock.
"While conducting the surgery, we found out that the bullet had been shot in your hippocampus, where your memories had been stored. It’s a miracle to be alive with a bullet in the head and can still remember some of your memories, Mr Anderson. But until we conduct more tests, you will have to stay in the room and recover."
