“Fractured bones, internal organ failure and severe malnutrition… who could’ve done this to a 14 year old girl?!”
Where… am I…? Who’s this old man? He looks like if the E = mc² guy brushed his hair back and wore nerdy glasses.
“Doctor Elliot! I’ve done a clean search through the registries like you’ve asked…”
Who’s this ginger kid now? Ugh… so noisy… I just wanna sleep a bit longer…
“Lemme guess, the results came up blank.”
The younger colleague with freckles and a head of messy red hair nodded in silence and turned away, as if ashamed by his own incompetency.
“You did good Fred, no need to beat yourself over it. I guess our only lead now is with this young miss.” The Einstein-look-alike, who I presumed to be Dr. Elliot, heaved a long and exasperated sigh.
“If only we were a minute sooner, we could’ve saved the other one as well.” Fred finally spoke out his mind, under the immense guilt he must have felt for losing a patient.
“We are not gods of this world and there are no miracles. We are doctors that work our damn hardest to save as many as we can! But sometimes we can’t save them all.”
“I… understand…” Fred knew that what the older, more experienced doctor had said was nothing short of the truth. And that if he were to continue working in this industry he was bound to see more lives being lost. But he couldn’t help but feel it weighing on his conscience, especially since it’s only been his first week on the job.
Well… that was awkward… I was thinking I’d let them know I was awake, but now I can’t find a way to cut into this conversation…
“If you’re awake then stop pretending to be asleep, those are some very active brain waves for someone that’s still in a coma.” As expected of a senior doctor, always keeping track on a patient’s condition.
Wait no, how do I communicate with people again? 6 years of living secluded from society and now I’ve forgotten how human interactions work…
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“Maybe she’s still recovering from the shock.” Fred chimed in, taking notice that I finally had my eyes open, “Hello, my name is Fred, and I’m a nurse of the Vermilion Central Hospital, can you tell me who you are?”
“I…I don’t remember…” My unusually high pitched voice surprised me once again, reminding me that I wasn’t who I was anymore. But thanks to my quick thinking, I managed to stop myself from revealing my old name back on Earth.
Since I haven’t been in this Pokemon-infested universe for that long, it’s better for me to keep my identity a secret for now. I will need to gather information first before doing anything reckless, especially knowing that there are dangerous organizations out there that thrive on human-trafficking.
“Well, it’s not uncommon for patients to suffer short-term amnesia from shock, especially considering what you’ve been through.” Dr. Elliot said as he flipped through a few pages of my examination reports. “Close proximity Voltorb explosion to the chest, liver and kidney failure from hypothermia, and malnutrition from fasting for an unknown amount of days.”
“Honestly it’s nothing short of a miracle that we were able to bring you back to health.” Fred exclaimed with a tone of surprise.
“Ahem.” Dr. Elliot cleared his throat at the remark made by his younger, naive colleague, “miracles are simply fairy tales of a children’s book, what we have done here was medical and Pokemon sciences.”
“Blissey~”
As if on cue, a ball of pink and white poked its head through the curtains. It was the same creature that carried me away on stretchers after I passed out.
“This gal has been nursing you whenever me and Dr. Elliot isn’t around.” Fred said with a warm smile, “she’s just as happy as we are to see that you’re doing well.”
“It might be the first time you’ve seen a Pokemon like this since they’re pretty rare in the wild, but this right here is…”
“Blissey, the happiness Pokemon, it’s said to be compassionate enough to heal wild Pokemon that are injured, right?” I blurted out without thinking.
“That’s right! Wow I’m surprised you know so much, you must’ve been top of your class huh?” Fred looked at me with sparkling eyes, I knew I definitely said too much.
“At least we can deduct that the memory loss doesn’t extend to everything.” Dr. Elliot said as he began taking notes down. “Now I know this might be difficult for you, young miss, but soon there will be police officers here to ask you some questions regarding this… incident.”
“Of course you don’t have to push yourself if it’s too hard to remember!” Fred assured me from the sidelines, but all he got was an annoyed look from the doctor.
“Ahem. While I understand this whole thing must’ve been very hard for you, I do have to inform you that this isn’t the first case of apparent child trafficking. The police are doing all they can to look into the issue but…” Dr. Elliot paused as he rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, “the investigation has been at a halt due to a lack of evidence."
Child-trafficking… So there were others like me. And that other kid who must’ve been on the same ship… I guess he didn’t make it…
“Rest well for now, they won’t be coming in for questions until later tomorrow.” The senior doctor said as he started taking his leave, alongside his colleagues. “Fred here will run some final checks on you tonight, if everything’s good to go then I can have you discharged by Thursday.”
“T-Thank-” I didn’t get a chance to give out my gratitude before Dr. Elliot and his work force left the room. I was never good at expressing myself back then, I guess that never changed.
The hospital room became quiet and empty once more, much like how my little condo felt back on Earth. I slapped both hands on my cheeks to confirm that this wasn’t just a dream. The pain was real and vivid, just like the abuse I received back on S.S. Anne.
Tears began streaming down my cheeks and before I knew it I started bawling my eyes out. The pent-up unease and fear this body had felt all came gushing out at that moment.
Somewhere amidst all the crying were my own tears.
Tears of regret, disdain, and a silent vow to never be pushed around again.