Delilah was left alone in what was presumably her room, her own private ward. She looked at the ceiling above her. Plain, white and boring. Not much to look at. It's amazing how when one sense is bored out of its mind, another sense can go into a state of heightened alert. That's how Delilah heard a soft murmuring come from outside the door. She crept out of her bed and slowly moved towards the door. She heard voices but they were still too quiet to distinguish any words. Delilah looked around the room and found a glass of water on the coffee table. She chucked the water on the tulips by her bed then treaded lightly back towards the door. Pressing the glass against the door and her ear against the glass, she could now make out the conversation. It remained a mystery where Del had learnt that trick. Perhaps in a movie or something, who knew? The voices were instantly recognisable as the two men she'd just been speaking with.

"There's still time to put her on the evening schedule you know," muttered Tony.

"Oh, give her a break. She's only just got here. We'll put her on the morning rota, so she has some time to get her bearings. I still can't work out how much she remembers."

"Well, she didn't seem to know her own name Burt. Perhaps she's a hollow."

"I've told you before to stop calling them that. Anyway, let's be off. I want to get to the canteen before they're all let out." The voices grew quieter as Del herd footsteps on a hard floor outside. She could still make out Tony's shoes squeaking. Irksome.

"When do you think she'll realise what this place really is?"

"She's seems pretty smart. I reckon she'll know by the end of the day." Burt's voice grew so faint that Del could no longer register it. There was only silence now. Del moved away from the door and started to venture around her room. The great big wardrobe looked particularly inviting so she threw the doors of it open. Del gave a little sigh. Hung up on cheap plastic hangers were a series of hoodies, jeans and dresses. Nothing particularly exciting stood there. All the items were one solid block of colour hung up in a coordinated fashion making it look like a rainbow. She examined some of the hoodies: they really were just a single colour. There were no patterns, no logos, no brands. Not that Del could remember any brands but still. Basic didn't define it. She picked up a red hoodie, even the hoodie's strings were red. On the wardrobe's floor were several pairs of shoes. They still were all just solitary colours.

Delilah started to notice a foul stench in the room that even her flowers couldn't mask. It didn't take her long to find the origin of the smell: herself. She paid a bit of attention to what she was wearing: a torn dark grey t-shirt and a pair of blue denim jeans that looked like they'd been put through a sawmill. She needed to change. Rummaging through the drawers next to the wardrobe, she still wasn't greeted by anything other than red t-shirts and a blue tracksuit. There was a pair of yellow jeans that she just knew were never going to see the light of day. Weighing up her options, she decided to chuck on a black hoodie and a pair of blue jeans. It was not the day for a dress.

Next, Delilah went over to the bathroom. She wasn't surprised that the walls, albeit a different shade, were also painted blue. There was a shower, a toilet and a sink. Pretty standard stuff. No bath though, she would have liked a bath about now. There was a small circular mirror which Del found herself staring through. She reckoned it was a mirror, but it could have been a hole between this room and next door for all Delilah knew. She didn't recognise the stranger staring back at her. The mysterious woman with dark wavy hair that splashed over her eyes had no smile on her face. The eyes beneath the hair were an olive green and her lips were rather thin. She was above average in height but couldn't be considered tall. Patches of dirt encircled her face, but she didn't know how they got there. A frown grew on the face of the woman as Del stared at her. The hair needed sorting out. After she had managed to find a hairband in one of the drawers, she promptly tied her hair right back. Del still grimaced at what she saw. So, this was her, huh?

A sense of panic mounted in Del's stomach, and her breathing grew more erratic. Why couldn't she remember who she was? She hoped that this was just a momentary lapse like that confused moment you get after waking from a nightmare. She hoped that in a moment one of her friends (if she had them) would walk in and explain that this was all a joke. She'd laugh it off and her memories would slowly drip back to her. Nothing specific had come to her yet. Perhaps it never would.

"No," Del sounded firmly out loud. Panicking wasn't going to bring her memories back. She sat down on the bathroom floor and took a moment to calm down her breathing. Del was patient, the memories would come back to her. In the meantime, she would just have to wait. Eager for some distraction, she went over to look at the rest of the room. On one of the walls, she noticed something she'd missed. A purple poster made from card was taped against the blue wall. The poster was very plain (matching the wardrobe's contents nicely) and was just some white writing reading: Keep calm and get three ticks. Del was confused. Isn't the aim in hospital to avoid being bitten by ticks? Nothing in her new life had made sense so far.

Del was a hit by a wave of tiredness so she laid back on her bed. The white ceiling looked back at her. She looked to her side to admire the tulips. They were blue too because of course they were. Thinking of it, it was a bit strange that she recognised they were tulips at all. So, she could identify which flowers are which but still had no recollection of her family and friends.

"Thanks God," she muttered to herself. If there was a God, he was nowhere near this place. Was she religious? She didn't know whether she believed in a God or not. Why would God let her come here? "Tip one," she told herself, "When you can't remember anything about your previous life or where in the fricking world you are, it's probably best that you lay off with the existential thoughts for a bit, Del." She picked up the key card and started flicking it around in her hand. On the key card there was a picture of what must be her. The woman in the picture had much tidier hair that waved gently down to her shoulders. She looked happy in the picture, a big beaming grin painting her face. Del tried imitating that grin again now but it felt like a betrayal to her heart's true emotions. There was no dirt on this woman's face. She thought maybe of washing her face, but it was doing her a favour by hiding who she truly was. If she couldn't see her true self, then other people shouldn't get to either right?

There wasn't much else of interest on the card. There was just her name -Delilah Cherie- and underneath was written: Gamus Institution 494/ Nightshade Village. Whatever a Gamus institution was, there sure as hell was a lot of them. Nightshade? Another plant. "Brilliant Del, do you want to remember who your parents are while you're at it," Del sighed to herself.

She looked back at the bedside table when she noticed a dark glimmer out of the corner of her eye. On further inspection she noticed a red mark staining the otherwise bright wall. That was the unavoidable issue with having light blue walls: red stands out really clear against it. Del sat up and pressed her hand against the dark crimson patch streaking down from the window. Blood. Fairly old judging by how dry it was. They ought to clear that sort of thing up given that this was a hospital.

If this was a hospital.

She laid back down in bed and pulled out the tablet she had been given. Pressing gently on the screen with her index finger, she was met by large white letters saying: Welcome Delilah Cherie. The letters faded away to reveal a rather unimpressive home screen. It just consisted of four coloured squares each with a simple icon on. In the top left was a red square with what looked like a clock and a calendar. That was to tell her the time presumably. Useful given that this seemed to be the only tablet in existence to not tell you on the home screen. The top right was a yellow square with an orange jigsaw piece: games probably. The bottom left was green with a miniature television screen and the bottom right was blue with a pencil and an envelope. Del didn't care enough to probe the tablet any further. She wanted to know more about this place, how she got here and who she was. A calendar and a jigsaw puzzle were going to be of very little help here. Del thought back to what Burt had said.

"Most useful possession, my ass," she laughed to herself. Besides Delilah thought it likely she'd have plenty of time to use the tablet later. Right now, she needed answers and she wasn't going to get anymore stuck in this room.

Del stood up and looked out of the window facing the outside world. Some might have called the sight beautiful. A luscious field with glowing green grass that Del could practically smell from here. Tall trees dotted around that stretched up into the blue heavens. There were little, elegant black and blue birds sat on the branches probably tweeting a merry tune without a trouble in the world. The field sloped up slightly to form a small mound in the centre where flowers of all colours blossomed. No weeds in sight. Yesterday Del would have found this place beautiful. Today it was just a field.

What interested her more was her view of the building she was currently residing in. From what she could make out, this hospital was very large, and fairly tall. It was a modern looking metallic structure. The facility was mostly a dark purple with some white segments surrounding the various windows. Probably the windows of the other patient's rooms. There were a lot of windows so that meant a lot of patients. Del wondered if they each had their own private ward like her. How many people were here with her in Nightshade Village? That's what the deep purple reminded her of. Purple like the deadly nightshade.

"Enough with the flowers Del," she groaned to herself. "Maybe I used to be a florist, I must have had some sort of job, right? Before I ended up in this place." Given that the outside was only adding to her confusion she decided to shut the blinds and walk away from the window. She strolled over to the metal door and tried the handle. Locked. What kind of a hospital locks their patients in? Maybe, they thought she was insane, that she was too much of a risk to be let free.

Del's room began to feel increasingly claustrophobic. The blue walls pressed in on her, this tiny place was now her entire existence, all that she could remember. She needed to leave, to find someone to yell at or to find someone to yell at her. Yes, that would be good. They'd yell and she'd snap out of this nonsense. They'd tell her who she was, and the memories would flood back and fill her mind with warmth. There was a loud clicking noise and the door was pushed open with a creak. On the other side stood a woman whose mind was filled with ice.

Anita Macarthur exuberated an air of entitlement from her tightly pulled back greying hair to her black designer leather boots. There are some people who can make you smile on the worst days, well here stood a woman who can poison your mind at its best. She went by many pseudonyms here: the dream crusher, evil incarnate, the wolf but nearly everyone just called her Madame Dynamite. Most people lived to say as few words to her as possible. They best had too because when she spoke it was with a singsong, condescending, passive aggressive tone that drove you out of your damn mind! That cursed singsong voice, like that of a child, juxtaposed her frail features. She was apparently only in her forties, but the job had aged her, and she looked more like 62. There was fair competition, but most people held her as the single worst person in Gamus Institution 494. Of course, Del knew nothing about Madame Dynamite at this point but in a few days she'd be cursing her name under her breath just like all the others.

"Mrs. Cherie, yes?" said Anita bluntly with a feeble attempt to sound friendly. Del nodded her head slowly. "Has the cat got your tongue missy? On second thoughts maybe the cat got your whole face. Ever heard of a wash. My team can only do so much you know, do them the favour of looking slightly presentable," feeling it best to ignore the woman's remarks Del instead remained polite.

"I'm sorry, I'll wash right away. Uh- not to be rude but who are you?"

"Oh, you're sorry, that's brilliant. Great another one with the personality of a dishcloth, you make my job ninety times harder you know. How on Earth am I going to make people like you?" Del just gave a simple wry smile while internally imagining this woman in violent scenarios. "My dear, I know speaking doesn't come naturally to all of us but I'm sure if you try you can just about hold a simple conversation."

"I'm sorry, it's just I'm a bit..." Del was interrupted

"Apologise again and I'll see to it that you don't receive food for at least the next three days. Understood?" Anita gave a short but loud giggle like a hyena.

"Understood," stated Del through gritted teeth. "You didn't answer who you are."

"Where are my manners?The name is Anita Macarthur, MBE. You shall call me Mrs. Macarthur at alltimes. I'm sure you have an awful lot of questions at present but I'm just hereto show you to the canteen. Oh, but I'll tell you the two things I tell everybody.No, you are not dead but yes, this is hell. Shall we," Anita gesturedtowards the door and so she and Del walked out of the room together towards hernew life at Nightshade Village.