As I stirred, the awful feeling my body was the first thing I noticed. My head was pounding, my mouth was dry, my eyes stung like I'd barely had any sleep. All of this reminded me of the first hangover I'd had as a teenager. I remember the mix of disappointment and worry on my parents faces as I awoke feeling my worst, a bucket close to my head so I could stay in my bed for as long as possible while my body rejected the alcohol I'd forced upon it in copious amounts. My mum checked in on me regularly, just to make sure I was handling the situation in a relatively calm way. Throughout the suffering, I told myself I would never get myself into that situation again. And I didn't. Yet somehow, right now, I felt worse than that day and I had no idea why.

My body felt heavy, like someone or something was laying on me, and as much as my brain was telling my hands to move up and rub my eyes, for some reason the action wasn't happening. I let out a strained sigh as I put all my effort into moving my arm, which felt like a dead weight. After it finally made it to my eyes and gave them a quick rub, they finally fluttered open and adjusted to the room I was in.

The white ceiling, the strip light, the faint smell of clinical cleaning products... I was thankful to have enough brain function to work out that I was in a hospital. What I couldn't seem to recall, though, was what the hell had happened to me to get me in this room. Panic filling my body, my eyes scanned the room, all seemingly clean and quiet until I saw the foot of my bed. A man appeared to be sleeping softly, his head rested in the crook of one arm whilst the other arm was stretched over to me with his hand over mine. My eyes widened at the sight and I sucked in a sharp breath as I pulled myself away from him. This seemed to alarm him and he woke up instantly, looking around to see if he needed to fight anyone. His eyes finally laid on me and he let out a comforting smile.

"You're awake!" He said, sounding overjoyed, which only made me more nervous. "How are you feeling?" He waited for my answer, but I couldn't answer him. My breath was caught in my throat, my eyes wide as I stared back at this man. It felt like my brain was scanning every document it had in storage to pinpoint who this person was, but it was coming up empty. This man clearly knew me - hell he was sleeping at my bedside with his hand in mine... but I had no idea who he was. I stammered, struggling to get the words out that I so desperately needed to say. Noticing my difficulty, he held a hand up to tell me not to push myself. "It's okay, Lex. Take your time, there's no rush. Please just rest. I'll go and get Aaron." He stood up quickly and rushed out of the room with a spring in his step. Panicked about the mention of another unfamiliar person, I pushed myself as far back as I could, pulling the blanket up to my shoulders. My brain was telling my legs to make a run for it, but they still felt dead. There was no way I'd be able to move as fast as I needed to. So for now, I was stuck. Very stuck.
A second man ran into the room with the first, and his face also seemed to light up at the sight of me. What did I do to all these men for them to be so happy that I woke up? Did I help them in some way? I am in a hospital bed, so whatever I did it must have been part of a pretty serious situation.

"Lex, thank God." The guy I guessed was Aaron ran over and started pressing buttons on the screens. The blood pressure cuff began to tighten, the pulse monitor lit up, the thermometer was placed in my ear all at the same time like an attack on every sense at once. "How are you feeling?" Looking at him working hard, I assumed he was the doctor so being honest wouldn't be too bad. Waiting for the machines to stop, I pulled myself as far back into the headboard as possible and answered carefully.

"My legs are dead." Short and simple, I'll ease into the fact I have no idea who either of them are. They seem so happy to know me, it feels odd to start with that. Aaron grabbed my blanket and tugged it away from my legs, exposing them to both men. My face went hot with embarrassment and my heart began to beat faster as the panic set in. What was he about to do? How can I stop it? He bent forward to touch my legs but I jumped away as best I could. He flinched at my sudden movement and withdrew, looked at me with a curious expression on his face. His face flashed with what I could have sworn was sadness at my actions.

"Lex, is everything okay?" Aaron asked carefully. With two pairs of eyes on me, I grabbed the blanket and covered my body again. Their faces felt intense and impatient, waiting for me to explain my sudden reaction. I didn't know what to do to make this any better, so I swallowed my fear and blurted out what was bothering me.

"I'm really sorry, but I don't recognise either of you." I let out a shaky breath. "From your reactions, I guess you know me but I just can't recall anything about you." The man who was sleeping at the edge of my bed sucked in a sharp breath and glanced over to Aaron with concern all over his face. Aaron shrugged very slightly and shook his head.

"That's okay, Lex. Your body has been through a huge trauma. I will need to call in the wider medical team for some testing. But we will sort this out. Please don't panic, or worry."

The words were supposed to be comforting, but in this time, where these people were so invested in my health yet I had no idea who they were, I felt anything other than comfort. What on earth was I involved in?