Her POV

Anxiety rippled through my body at the arrival of the two Detectives. I became startlingly aware of my unsuitable attire, covered only by a thin piece of white and blue dotted fabric, a hospital gown that did little to cover up my modesty. I pushed myself into a more upright position in the bed whilst simultaneously gathering the bed sheets around myself to reduce the exposure of my body, also taking a moment to cringe at the fact that I hadn't been coherent enough earlier to notice how bare I was and that the breathtaking boy that had been here earlier had surely noticed the unflattering robe and all of the skin it revealed.

I averted my gaze to my hands, absentmindedly twiddling my fingers, noticing the lack of nail polish, I guess I wasn't a girly girl then... All I could do was guess, make assumptions about my likes and dislikes, about food preferences and movies I enjoyed. What questions did the Detectives have for me and how could I possibly answer them?

The taller of the two men, Detective Barden cleared his throat dragging my attention back to the matter at hand. Barden looked to be in his early thirty's, his dark navy suit was fitted and clearly very expensive. His posture was impeccable, this was clearly a man who took great pride in and was very confident of his appearance. His expression gave away no clues as to why they were here, the perfect picture of professionalism.  He began to speak, his voice a deep, rich baritone.

"Now Miss, We have spoken with your Doctor who has informed us of his suspected diagnosis, despite this we feel it would be beneficial for us to speak with you so please try to answer any questions you can. We must assure you that you are not in any trouble.." He paused "Yet."

Now it was his partners turn to talk. A foot shorter that Barden he was the less intimidating of the two. His greying hair was neatly combed back onto the crown of his head. Day old stubble littered his cheeks, small wrinkles lined the sides of his eyes. At a guess I would say this man was in his late fifty's. He held a similar professional expression upon his oval face but his eyes were much kinder. Despite not knowing this man I felt instantly at ease around him.

"Due to the situation we will be talking a less traditional approach to this, firstly we will show you some pictures and I need you to tell us if any of these trigger any memories or even incite any emotions within you. Following that we will read some names to you and I want you to again tell me if these trigger anything. Finally we have some difficult news to share with you but I really must insist that you focus on these questions first okay?" His voice was gentle, as though he was speaking with a young child. He carefully enunciated each word, taking a small pause after each sentence as if attempting to gage my reaction.

I nodded whilst informing him that I would do my best in answering his questions though I was sure I wouldn't be much help as I really could recall nothing prior to waking up in this hospital bed.

Detective Barden moved around to my left side, moving the table directly between us. Carroll handed him a file which he opened spreading an array of pictures onto the table. Each held a different image.  He informed me that I was to take some time in appraising these images before I was to speak. I considered each image carefully but the only thing I felt was confusion.

Most of the images were of the inside of a trunk of a car, the trunk contained weapons, but these didn't appear to be ordinary weapons they looked ancient. Small daggers, engraved with strange patterns, shining jewels set into their handles. Several guns, all of varying sizes not like the guns you see in movies, no these guns were unique, rather than being entirely composed of metal, the grips of them were wooden, each carved with expertise, similar markings etched upon them as with the daggers. A long sword of silver was photographed several times, it was streamline and elegant like nothing I had ever seen before. Another of the images was of two long black duffel bags, unzipped, each spilling with bundles of cash, notes of every colour organised into neat piles bound together. 

I was engrossed in the images, trying to decipher what their relevance was to me but whilst these photos intrigued me I felt no personal attachment to them nor did they incite any particularly strong emotionally response within me other than confusion and perhaps a few ounces of curiosity. I took a few more moments reviewing them before I turned my gaze to Detective Carroll, I felt more comfortable addressing him than Barden whom had been expectantly looming over me the entire time, telling him that I was very sorry but I simply could not help them and that nothing had triggered in my mind.

Barden had very obnoxiously exhaled at my revelation and hurriedly snatched the images back gathering them into the file.  Carroll had nodded, smiled slightly then scribbled a few notes into a little black notepad that he had unearthed from the inner lining of his tweed suit blazer.

The older detective opened his mouth to speak, I assumed to read out the names he had mentioned earlier but Barden beat him to it.

"Karen Jefferson, Samantha Peters, Simone Langley, Olivia Simmons, Harriett Stanford, Bethany Walsh." He reeled off the names, his tone more agitated than when he had introduced the duo earlier. 

"Any of this ringing a bell, Miss?"  His voice appeared to hold an element of accusation. 

These names, the images, everything, it all meant nothing to me. 

Did they not understand, this morning I had woken up after god knows how long, in a strange place, filled with people I did not know, for goodness sake I didn't even know my own name let alone who these people were.

Frustration filled mt body, anger bubbling in my chest. 

"I don't know, I don't have any answers for you, I don't know these names, the pictures you showed me are crazy, I woke up today and it feels like its the first day of my entire existence! How do you expect me to answer any of your questions when I can't even answer my own?"

I was yelling now, throwing my arms above my head as though I was an upset toddler. I continued my rant.

"Not to mention that no one has even bothered to tell me how I ended up here or why you're reading me a bunch of random names when you haven't even tried to help me to discover what mine is! WHO AM I, HOW DID I GET HERE? You say you're detectives, surely you know who I am? Surely you've done some.. some I don't know... DETECTING?!" 

Both of the detectives were now staring at me absolutely dumbfounded, both of their mouths slightly agape. 

It was Detective Carroll that managed to gather his thoughts after my outburst first.

"Okay, I understand, we will leave the questions for now, I think its time we told you what happened. Now I have some news for you that may be difficult to process, particularly due to the issues relating to your memory but we must tell you nonetheless." Once again he spoke as if speaking to a child, as if speaking to someone so fragile that they could snap any moment.

Maybe I was that fragile, for was that not my second outburst of the day, though I actually deemed my reactions quite appropriate considering the circumstances. In fact I would say I had been dealing with this ordeal incredibly well.

Detective Barden had gone uncharacteristically quiet and taken himself off to the far corner of the room, clearly uncomfortable at the news they had been sent to deliver. 

Carroll looked directly into my eyes,sympathy smeared across his wrinkled features.

"You have been the victim of a horrific car accident, we are unsure at present of what caused the incident but you were sitting in the passenger side of the vehicle as it impacted with the crash barriers, ejecting you from the seat through the windscreen, you were discovered by another driver who stopped to assist. He called for emergency services and they arrived minutes later, you're heart stopped beating for several minutes but by some miracle you were eventually brought back and thankfully six days later here you are..." 

Although I absorbed the information he was giving me I felt oddly removed from the situation, it felt as though he was talking about someone else, I couldn't imagine myself even being in this situation. Just as I thought this the medication was beginning to wear off and my body ached again making the scenario sound a little more believable.

Wait, hadn't he said I was in the passenger side?

Who had been with me? 

Surely they would know who I was!

I barely noticed that Detective Carroll was still talking...

"...now unfortunately I'm so sorry to tell you that they just simply weren't as lucky as you and had already passed away when the paramedics arrived, I offer you my greatest condolences, I know it must be so hard for you to understand given your current situation." 

I looked up at him, my expression blank, blinking a few times before opening my mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry who are you talking about, I... I missed what you said. Could you please repeat it?" I managed to stutter out, surely he had been talking about the driver of the vehicle but I had been so busy trying to process all of the information he was dumping onto me I had completely missed what he had said. 

"Dear, your mother, It was your mother in the car with you."

My mother...

I knew I should have just burst into tears or curled up into a ball and silently tried to absorb everything that he had just said. But instead I kept my voice level, meeting his gaze and asked him a question.

"What was her name?" 

He looked at me, taken a back for a moment, I realised I had not had the emotional response he had been expecting.

Detective Barden finally spoke again and in a very even tone, all hints off accusation having left his voice.

"To be quite honest with you, we have no idea of her name, or yours either for that matter. There is no record of either of you, no ID, well at least no genuine ID... In fact I-"

He was cut off as a man barged into the room throwing the door open, his hair windswept his face panic stricken, holding a small box.

"Martin what are you doing here?" Both Detectives asked in perfect synchronisation. 

"You are both to leave immediately, a direct order from the top, from the Deputy Assistant Commissioner himself. He personally attended the station and demanded you withdraw all questioning and return for a briefing he himself will be delivering." The man looked flustered as he recited back the information. 

Both detectives turned to each other, looks of absolute shock plastered upon their faces, Carroll was the first to leave the room, he turned to me briefly giving me his regards and thanking me for my time. Barden turned to follow him barely glancing in my direction but just as he reached the doorway he turned, stood up a little straighter and began to speak.

"You better not be messing with us girl. You might have the whole hospital and to my astonishment the commissioner fooled into thinking you have amnesia but you don't have me under this illusion of yours and I intend to find out what you're hiding with this little act." And with that he abruptly turned on his heel, exiting the room.

The man who had just entered the room approached my bedside, placing the box he had been carrying onto the table next to me and informed me that I was to open it only when he left  before also exiting the room, leaving me sat in a state of complete bewilderment at what had just happened. 

As soon as the door was shut I grabbed the box, tearing the lid off and peered inside.

Inside the box was a large brown sealed envelope. It was not addressed to anyone in particular it simply had two words written in an elegant cursive.

'OPEN ALONE.'

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