Into darkness...
From Create Your Own Story
Beep...beep...beep...beep...
You wake up, hearing a steady series of beeps like in a clichéd hospital scene on a TV show where one of the main characters wakes up after a serious accident. You look around and see that you are indeed in a hospital, lying on a bed. You try to remember what happened. But not only can you not remember that, you can't even remember who you are. You try to move your arms and legs. Your arms work fine, but you can't move your legs at all. You can't even feel them.
A nurse pokes her head in and her eyes widen in surprise. "Doctor, she's awake!" she cries.
The doctors inform you that you have been in a coma for three weeks, and that you have been paralyzed from the waist down. Over the next few weeks, they try various tactics to try to help you remember who you are, but nothing works. You spend many a night lying awake in your bed, trying to remember. One night, you discover something strange hidden in your mouth. It seems to be a pill of some sort. The nurses have given you so many pills, always sternly watching to make sure you take all of them. You throw this one out the open window.
During the day, you spend the time reading, watching TV, and getting used to your new wheelchair. Since no one knows your name, you pick one for yourself. You read an article about Queen Rania of Jordan in a magazine. She looks kind of like you. You choose the name Rania.
Eventually, you are released from the hospital and taken to a refugee camp in Lebanon. You hate life at the camp, thinking of it as not much different from a prison.
One day, an aid worker visiting the camp notices how different you are from the other refugees. You talk with him for a long time. He offers you a job with his organization and you accept. The organization is headquartered in Washington DC and your new friend arranges for an American work visa for you. You speak perfect English. You must have gotten an excellent English education in Syria when you were younger.
In Washington, you sit in the passenger seat of your friend's car as he drives you to your new home. Even though you've never been here before, everything seems oddly familiar. You notice one building that somehow particularly draws your attention and ask him what it is. He informs you that it is the headquarters of the CIA.
You lean back in your seat, wondering if you're ever going to remember who you really are.
THE END
