Darkness

Chapter 3

Jared

My head throbs, my back is on fire, and I have no idea what's going on. It feels worse than the time I woke up hungover after my twenty first birthday party. My best friend Alan threw me a surprise party. Laynie and Anna weren't old enough to drink yet, so we celebrated with a few college buddies. We all woke up feeling like death and were in the middle of grocery store parking lot with homeless signs stapled to our stomachs. We never did remember what the hell happened the night before.

I try to open my eyes but they are so heavy I just keep falling back asleep. Around the third try, I finally get enough strength to open them just slightly. What I see around me surprises, and put me at ease at the same time. I'm in a damn hospital. No one around to ask why, but I can finally pin point the smell. When my mother died of breast cancer I was in the hospital with her every day until her last. Being only seventeen, I ended up skipping school quite a bit. I had to. I was the only one that visited her.

I lived with Alan and his family the rest of my senior year. By then my father had already moved to New York and practically wanted nothing to do with me. Once I turned eighteen I inherited her life insurance and was able to get my own place and go to college. A sudden burst of the door opening draws me from my past. A nurse walks in. She is looking at her chart and doesn't seem to see that I am awake. She is quite beautiful even though I can only see a portion of her face. She has dark red hair and stunning blue eyes. Strange, usually if you see someone with red hair, green eyes follow, not blue. I can see just a tad bit of freckles on her face around her nose. Although she is beautiful, she has nothing on my girlfriend.

Laynie and I have been dating since she was fifteen and I am pretty sure she is the one. I clear my throat trying to get her attention. She startles, looks at me and smiles.

"Hi, I'm nurse Candice. I'll be the one taking care of you" she says with a shy smile.

My confused stare must alert her to the question that comes out of her mouth.

"Do you know why you're in here?" she asks. I shrug my shoulders but the pain in doing so is severe. I grimace and she quickly walks over to my left side.

"Try and take it easy Mr. Cole." She says gently.

She picks up a cup of water that looks like a jug with a straw coming out of it and tells me to take small sips. I do so slowly. When I'm done she takes it away and sits on the bed closer to my feet. I feel a little uncomfortable with a woman so close to my junk, when I'm nearly naked, that isn't my girlfriend. I'm in one of those damn hospital gowns with the back open for crying out loud.

"Mr. Cole do you remember anything?" she asks softly.

I get ready to tell her what I last remember, when the door opens again. Nurse Candice jumps up immediately, looking down and a little unsure. My eyes focus on the man that walked in the room. His huge build looks like he should be on the 50-yard line playing for the Giants not looking at my chart with a lab coat. When he sees nurse Candice, his eyes narrow until he looks at me. Well, there is something going on there. Maybe she turned him down for a date. She is much too pretty for him, after all.

"Mr. Cole, your awake. My name is Dr. Toring." He states.

He says it with a flat tone. I look at him and clear my throat to ask him a question, but he puts his hand out to stop me. What is with everyone cutting me off?

"Mr. Cole, it is imperative that you try and rest your voice as much as possible. Your trachea was damaged during your beating and we had to rush you into surgery. You also had a broken rib and quite a few bumps and bruises. Frankly, your quite lucky to be alive. It will be a few days until you will be up and moving around, but you should ease off the talking for a while. We are still a little unsure of the amount of damage to your head so we are having a specialist fly in this week to take a look at our MRI scans on you."

My eyes widen at the realization that I'm here for something very serious. He mentioned a beating. Why in the hell would I pick a fight with someone that can make me feel this way. I don't even remember getting drunk. I am in a fair amount of pain, so deep down I knew it was something a little more serious than a drunken fall.

"Wh-what happened?" I ask. Dr. Toring rolls his eyes at my stubbornness.

My voice sounds like I gargled with a glass shard. Dr. Toring comes up to me and sits down on the other side of the bed that nurse Candace was on. He is as close to my junk as she was. Jesus. He looks down at my chart, then to me, making my unease hang in the air. Feels like hours pass when he finally speaks.

"Mr. Cole, you have Amnesia."

I blink hard getting ready to laugh, until I look at nurse Candice who still has a stern look on her face with her head down. This must be a joke.

"But I know who I am." I stare blankly.

Dr. Toring looks at me a little confused at first then jerks his head up, acknowledging my statement.

"Oh, no Mr. Cole, it's not what you see on the soap Operas and television series. Amnesia is a form of short term memory loss and that is currently what you have."

Again, I look at nurse Candice, almost hoping there will be a got you in there somewhere. Same look comes across her face but when she does look at me this time, I see sympathy. She moves forward and holds my hand.

"Jared, you were attacked in your home last night by three thugs. They tried to kill you. They almost succeeded. If it weren't for an appointment, you would have been." She states sadly.

I'm just about to ask her what the hell she is talking about, when the door opens again. Another nurse walks in, this one is young with brown curly hair and lots of glitter on her eyes.Her badge says Melissa. She speaks quietly with Dr. Toring and leaves. Dr. Toring gives Nurse Candice a weird look then nods his head. She does the same. Apparently having a silent conversation is better than telling me what the hell is going on. He heads for the door and opens it. Before stepping through he turns back to me.

"I have another patient that needs me, but nurse Candice is going to explain everything to you."

He then leaves. Just. Like. That. I look at nurse Candice wondering if I'm supposed to be in on this joke. She gives me a sad smile and continues where they left off.

"What do you last remember? Try to remember your throat is still very sensitive, so try to keep your answers short." She says with her palm up towards me.

Finally. Isn't that the question they are supposed to ask first? I clear my throat several times before I am able to speak.

"Ummm. I c-came home f-from work and was g-getting ready to order a p-pizza. Then c-call my girlfriend and see if she wanted to c-come over." f**k it hurts to speak.

In that thought I try to think of how I could have any amnesia. I may not remember what happened last night but I remember everything before. Candice looks at me and then holds my hand again. Like I'm some kind of child.

"Jared, where do you live?" she asks

What is with all these damn questions?

"Minneapolis. A-an apartment off Van Buren Street."

Damn my throat f*****g hurts. There is that damn sympathetic look again.

"Jared, you live in upstate New York."I look at her like she has grown 3 heads. "It's true Jared, you moved here a year ago, you are one of the most famous contractors in the city. You moved your girlfriend Laynie Contessa here with you and got married. She is your wife."

Is she f*****g serious? I moved to New York? Why? Laynie hates New York. She has bad memories of her childhood here, I wouldn't do that to her. She's my wife? I mean, I guess I can see that last one, I remember buying the ring and proposing to her, but nurse Candice is saying that was over a year ago?I always felt that she was the one, I just didn't know if she would be able to handle my darkness. She never did witness it. When I was around Laynie it never came out, so I never had to worry about it. Laynie was my light. But if she really is my wife, then, where is she? Surely my wife would be here in the room when I awoke? Unless something happened to her last night too?

"Laynie is okay Jared." Nurse Candice says somehow answering my unspoken question. "She suffered some bumps and bruises but nothing that won't heal. You however, will be in the hospital for a few days. We need to monitor everything, and the doctor will determine when you can be released."

"I-I W-want T-to see h-her" I tell her.

The pain is starting to become severe. Before she can answer. Dr. Toring walks back in again. My pain level has spiked since I have been up and I know my body is starting to shut down. Dr. Toring walks up to the opposite side of the bed that nurse Candice is on.

"Jared, there are some detectives that need to speak with you. I told them that you are in a fair amount of pain and that they would need to keep it short." he explains.

I give him a grateful nod. My head still spinning from the news of my amnesia.I really don't recall anything to do with the attack, but if it will get me closer to seeing Laynie then I will entertain them. Dr. Toring walks over to the door, opens it slightly and leans his head outside. He says something to someone on the other side of the door then opens it wide for two detectives to come in.

I can tell right away that they are cops. They are both wearing slacks and dress shirts. One is tall and slim and has a beard that looks like it gets trimmed by a weedwhacker. The other is tall as well, but round in every way possible. It looks like he made his shirt out of a shower curtain. There are little red circles everywhere on it. I would laugh at that out loud but I don't want them to think I'm insane and need to be in here longer than necessary. I need to get to Laynie. Why is she not here? If she is fine they would have brought her to me already, right?

"Mr. Cole?" The tall slim one says.

"I'm detective Andrews, we would like to ask you some questions. This is Detective Stephanson." He says pointing to the wide one beside him.

I nod in both their directions.

"y-yes of course, b-but can you make it quick I'm in a l-lot of pain" I explain.

Detective Andrews steps forward.

"Mr. Cole." He starts. I f*****g hate when people call me that. Reminds me of my father, and I am not him. "Your wife, Mrs. Cole, is here in the hospital, just in a different room on the opposite wing." He says, like I didn't already f*****g know that. God, my head hurts. My vision is getting blurry. I tell him as much and nurse Candice leaves to get me something for the pain.

"Mr. Cole your wife has some superficial damage to her face and body. She will be okay, but upon investigation, we detected some bruises and marks on her that are older than last night."

I look at him, then at detective Stephanson. I'm not sure what this means. Have the guys that attacked us been following her? I'm trying to wrap my brain around everything but it's too fuzzy. I just want to see her for myself.

"Mr. Cole do you know how your wife got those marks?" Andrews asks.

I can tell in his accusatory tone that he assumes I had something to do with them. I'm not stupid. I would never do something like that to Laynie.

"No, I do n-not. As I'm sure you guys found out, I l-lost a whole year of my life. I'm not sure what's going on, but when can I see Laynie?"

The detectives share a look, then both look to Dr. Toring. Stephanson drops his head with a loud sigh then leaves the room. Andrews comes closer to my bed pulling out a little notebook and pen from his shirt pocket. He writes something down on the pad then rips out the paper and places it on the nightstand next to me. I don't even glance at it. Even if I did grab it, I can't see much anymore. The pain is intense and I'm starting to fade. Nurse Candice walks in and starts setting up a bag with liquid onto the long pole attached to my IV. I feel the coldness of the liquid already pouring through.

"Jared that's my number. I want you to call me if something comes up or you remember something. Those men that came to your house last night aren't saying anything. Your wife says it was a break in, but they didn't take anything. Mrs. Wallace was coming by your penthouse to speak with your wife about her mother's estate when she heard your wife scream. She immediately called 9-1-1 and started banging on the door. Given your damage and your wife's testimony, we think those men were in your home a while. I don't think for one second this was a break in. I believe it was a personal vendetta against you. I just don't know why." Andrews adds.

He gives me one last look before nodding to Dr. Toring and heads towards the door. I'm speechless. I don't have any enemies. Never have. Why would these men come after me? And what did he mean about her mother's estate? Before I can ask him anything else or why he is saying everything in a tone that says he has my card he turns and says one last thing that I'm grateful for as I can feel the pain medicine doing its job.

"You wife is on her way to you now."

Darkness finds me