"...Yes. They said she just went out of control...no, I'll keep it in mind... Will do, yes, thank you."
I rolled over and groaned, moving my arm to pull the needles out again. That was when I felt the leather binding my wrist to the bed.
My eyes snapped open, all grogginess gone. I moved my legs, they were tied down too. I thrashed and flailed on the bed, desperately trying to move.
"Hey, hey, whoa! Whoa, calm down!" I felt a hand clamp down on my shoulder and I eventually stopped. I lolled my head away from the stranger, staring blankly out the window.
"Where am I?" I mumbled through dry lips, my voice hoarse.
"You're in a hospital."
"...Hospital?"
"Yeah. You were half drowned and were very sick when I found you. The doctors will make you better."
I turned my head to look at him. He wasn't much taller than I was. His hair was frizzy and white under the hat he had and his skin was wrinkled. He was an elder.
"My name is Harvey Matthews. Can you tell me your name?"
"Solstice."
"Hmph. Well, Solstice, any way you could contact you're folks?"
"What?"
"Y'know, you're family. Can you call a parent or relative?"
"What are...parents?"
Harvey looked perplexed at this point as he took off his hat and scratched his head.
"C'mon kid. What are you, like sixteen? Parents. The people who raise you and love you and watch out for you. How do you not know about parents?"
I blinked a couple times and shrugged.
Harvey reached down at the foot of my bed an pulled out a clipboard.
"Alright...let's see you're condition...Altitude sickness...Amnesia...Acute sinusitis... Ah! Postconcussive syndrome. That explains it."
"My...condition?" I ask.
"Yeah, er, the type of sickness you have..." Harvey says absentmindedly, his eyes glued on the clipboard.
I flopped back onto the pillows and sigh; tugging at the leather bindings.
"Can you at least get these off me?"
Harvey starts and looks over at me in surprise. Then he walked over to me as if approaching a viper. "I don't know, kiddo. You went wild when you woke up the first time and I don't want that to happen again."
I rolled my eyes. "Look, I couldn't even stand up last time, so I don't think I'll be much of a threat. But I need to move around a little bit, this isn't fair to anyone."
Harvey edges closer until his hands rest on the bars where the leather is tied. "You promise you'll behave?"
"I promise."
Harvey unclips the leather and I sit up, rubbing my wrists which have red marks where I was tied.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
