Who: Maybe my name is Edward, How dare you call me Rachel & Giada Dorny
What: The unconscious ones wake up! Sorta.
Where: Mungo's
When: Now!
Upon being prompted for what she remembered of the last nine days, all she felt compelled to answer with was that "the sun is much too bright in this drab room--honestly, who do you think wants to be woken at seven in the morning? Are you all so blind it doesn't affect--" "She," of course, being Rachel Englewood--at least, that was what the Healers had told her. It was the most unfortunate thing, that upon waking, she remembered little to nothing about who she was, what her lot in life was, or even her name. Most fortunately, however, was the fact that people were indeed able to recognize her, largely due to the fact that she apparently used to work in this very establishment.
"That is ridiculous on both counts," she informed a Healer with a very disgusted look. "First, I can assure that I am most certainly not a Rachel. I may not be able to tell you what it truly should be, but I am quite certain the people I descend from would not stand for something so common. Secondly, I promise you I would not be caught dead working, let alone in such a place as a hospital. As if my standard of living is so poor that I have to work--don't make me laugh!"
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's view), it did not seem as though her personality, or rather, her sense of self-entitlement, had been lost in the shuffle. And really, when facing the prospect of complete and total amnesia, what more would one want to ask for?
The staff had left her in peace, mostly for the sake of their collective sanity, when this girl (begrudgingly, she will allow us to refer to her by her supposed name) saw for the first time a second bed in the corner of her room. It would be useless wondering how it had escaped her notice until that moment, but "Rachel" would claim that the nurse was unbelievably obtuse, and had therefore taken all her attention, as she was obtuse in every way.
Craning her had as much as her position and pain-threshold would allow (beginning to understand that there perhaps was a reason she was being held prisoner here, though Rachel had been counting ceiling tiles rather than pay attention to her diagnosis), she found the curtains cut off her view of the other bed's pillow, and thus, the face of her fellow occupant. The lumps in the quilts, of course, were arranged such that it was quite clear a person was underneath the covers.
Rachel found this to be insulting. As if it weren't bad enough that the entire staff insisted on calling her ridiculous names, they also had to undermine her privilege to privacy by sticking some mangled body in here.
Well, she wasn't standing for that sort of nonsense. It was alarming enough to wake up and remember nothing, but to be so blatantly disrespected, in such a way that--the nerve.
"You!" she called out in as authoritative a voice as she could manage. "You, there! Lump in the corner. I demand that you wake up at once!"
Its response (nothing) left something to be desired. She searched for items in easy reach with which to accompany her yells. Settling upon a peach that came with her lunch tray (and that was another thing! How was it that these people got away with serving the most vile substances as food?), she launched it at the bed in the corner, snapping "Wake up!"
Edward woke with a start, gasping out loudly as his eyes snapped open wide. For a few blurry seconds, all he could do was blink and breath heavily, unaware of everything else around him. What was--- Where--- Was he--- oy. Stop--- brain--- a painful throb erupted, followed with his mind going completely blank. Edward leaned back again, his eyes fluttering shut. Sleep was about to overcome him again.
That was, until something came flying out of no where, accompanied by-- s-- s--- yell? Loud, too loud--
Jolting back up, it only took a second for him to zone in on the thing that had hit his shoulder. His hand inched toward the object, taking a while for his fingers to wrap around it fully. His--- fingers felt like they hadn't been used in years. Edward looked down at object perplexed, finding he had no idea what it was he was holding. Was this... suppose to be here? What was it? Should he be touching it at all or---
Edward jerked back violently as something else went hurtling toward him, falling directly into his lap. It was a-- a-- wait, he knew this, it was at the tip of his tongue... he strained for a few moments, dropping one object for the other for inspection. S--- s--- slipper! This was a slipper! A slipper! While his mind felt exhausted (actually, everything was starting to feel like that) from the strain, Edward felt a strange sense of pride for remembering. A slipper! He knew what this was!
Wait. What was a slipper doing falling out of the sky? The--- the--- the thing that was above your head, but not the sky it was--- white the--- too frustrated, Edward stopped trying to think of the word he was looking for. He should focus on--- ow, it actually hurt to, his head was hurting, but--- Edward held on firmly to the slipper, as if it would give him answers. What--- what---
"---- Rachel?" Absolutely no idea where that had came from, but it'd seemed right. That voice sounded familiar, very familiar, and the name sounded familiar once he said out loud but--- Edward's forehead gave another nasty pang, and his hands went to his face to apply pressure. What was going on? Who-- Rachel? He-- he knew her?
Yes! Yes--- as soon as her face popped into view, a flood of warmth filled him. Rachel! Rachel! Rachel--- he couldn't remember her last name. Just as quickly as it had come, the warm feeling that had previously engulfed him vanished. That--- wait--- did she--- know? Edward looked at her, more confused than ever, barely registering what she was saying to him.
"That is not my name!" she said heatedly, sitting up straighter and whacking the mattress by slapping her hand down emphatically. "I don't care what those--Healers are telling you, it's not my name, and I refused to be called by it."
After her bout of yelling, however, she looked at the man in the other bed curiously. His face struck a chord within her, but she couldn't say why, exactly. Rachel supposed he looked familiar, but she hadn't proved reliable when it came to things like memory, evidently. But she very much felt like she knew him. Well, that was an even greater travesty, then! Surely a man whom she regarded as such a close friend would know that a girl like herself demanded privacy when recuperating from something that was undeniably terrible and life-altering. Oh, but what was his name, what was his name? It started with a C, did it not?
"You shouldn't even be here," Rachel said after a few moments, as if remembering she was supposed to be terribly upset with him. "This is my room, and they had the nerve to try and tamper with my right to a private room. Well, I'm sorry, I simply won't stand for it. You'll just have to clear out."
As an afterthought, however, she added, "Sorry, but what is your name? I can't remember it."
For the second time, Edward jolted back where he sat. Where--- what was--- why--- "Rach--el?" he repeated again in a small tone, much more childlike. But--- Healers? His head moved around slowly. Is that were he was? A h---- h--- he knew this--- hospital! Yes! That's where they were, everything had no color and---
Why was he in a hospital?
That realization brought his head pain to a whole knew level, as well as his increased chest pain. What had--- o-- o--- happen? Happened. This was Rachel, he knew it, because he knew her, he--- school! School! Their--- school! She was--- Edward pressed his palm harder against his forehead and closed his eyes. One step at a time, his head hurting like this probably was not a good thing.
This was Rachel. They were in a hospital. And his head hurt.
It was a place to start.
"I---" he started, his brow furrowing deeply as Rachel spoke again. Why--- oy, oy she was talking so loudly, his head was splitting couldn't she just--- stop? Stop. Please stop. Edward had absolutely no idea what she was going on about--- how was he to get up from here and move? To where?
His name. Oh, he really should know this. No, no, of course he did, he knew who he was, and where he lived! It was basic information, everyone knew that so--- "Edward!" he exclaimed suddenly, sitting up to look at her better. "My name is Edward," he nodded, despite how much shaking his head hurt. "And you're Rachel." Edward dared to lift his hand a point at her. "We're----" This was starting to get--- OY! "--- friends."
Her eyebrows shot up upon hearing this, though her expression said she did not find this idea altogether disagreeable, "That's awfully forward of you," Rachel remarked in a politely shocked tone, eying him rather primly. "And for the last time, I insist to you that my name is not Rachel, so it wold greatly behoove you to not address me as such."
Looking around the room with a disinterested expression, she found herself wondering why, just because hospitals were depressing by nature, since many of the people who came to them died in them, and death, disease, and discourse ran rampantly within their walls, they felt they had to look so drap. Surely people would feel more inclined to get better if there was color in their rooms? Some nice plants to look at, pictures on the wall--a better view out the window.
"Well, they save I've been in here for an extraordinarily long time. Something about getting a nasty knock to the head, or something. I have half a mind not to believe them, but I suppose they have no reason to be lying. What are you in here for, anyway, Edward?"
"I----"
His brow furrowed deeply, and for the first time, Edward's hands curled to grasp onto the cloth next to him. How did he know--- why would he--- she was very annoying! E---e--- very much! How should he--- he didn't--- she woke him up! Did it--- did it look like--- he knew-- anything? What kind of---
Edward stopped, buckling over where he sat as his entire head began to throb. It took a few moments, but eventually his ears stopped feeling like they were preparing to push his brain out of his head. Despite how he had previously felt about this--- girl sitting next to him, now he wasn't so sure: why would he ever be friends with that?
"You woke me up!" he exclaimed randomly, more than fed up. "I don't know if--- I was--- awake before! Or-- " Edward stopped, his face feeling hot now that he was still annoyed with her. Tears began to form in his eyes as his head began to pound even harder by the second. Obviously, feeling aggravated did not help his state but she i--- i--- angered him so much! It was--- was---
"I don't know anything!" he yelled, pushing his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to maybe stop hearing her voice. Edward doubled over again, getting his face as close as he could to his knees.
Giada Dorny let out a shriek from the doorway of the hospital room. Probably against all hospital etiquette, but it simply could not be contained! Both her friends were awake!
Every day since the earthquake had been absolute torture, first with her brother, then to hear about Morty's dad, and then to find out that---Rachel had...and Edward! They were missing? It was like---her worst nightmare, it honestly was. All of her friends and family suffering it...she could barely handle it. Graeme was being the perfect supportive husband, but he just didn't---they were Ravenclaws, they were---! They were different, you couldn't just tell a Ravenclaw that things would be okay! A Ravenclaw knew better! Giada, even if she had hexed herself, could not have possibly stopped her mind from reaching the most outlandish conclusions to her friends injuries, so while she nodded and let Graeme think that his sophomoric attempts at consoling were enough, Giada kept her madness over it all to herself.
That shriek could not be contained after all of the mental torture she'd been going through, and Giada shut the door (releasing all the birthday balloons she'd had in her hands for Rachel!) behind her before a nurse could come in and scold her.
"RACHEL!" she let out loudly, bounding onto the bed to wrap her arms tightly around her best friend's shoulders. The tears struck immediately, and somewhere in the back of her mind Giada realized she shouldn't be holding a person who had been injured so badly, so tightly. She let go, but only to pull back far enough to get a good look at her friend's...very put off expression. Maybe she'd hugged her too hard? Giada sniffled and wiped away some of her tears before reaching forward to adjust a bit of Rachel's hair that was out of place.
She turned for a second to send a wave toward Edward, who---er---well he didn't look so good. Giada turned back to Rachel, a grimace on her face, "When did you wake up?"
With a beseeching look at the flustered blonde who had just entered their room (and interrupted a conversation that was quite possibly going somewhere, though Rachel said nothing), she heaved as heavy a sigh as her oddly-tender ribs allowed, and said, "For the last time, I'm not a Rachel! I don't know who came up with this poppycock of an idea, but I'd like a word with him."
Her gaze flickered between Edward and the newcomer, suddenly remembering that she asked a question most urgently. "Well, I can't say for certain, but I've been up oh--I don't know, fifteen minutes, or so? This one," Rachel jerked her head ever-so-slightly in Edward's direction with a slightly disparaging look, "has only been awake for a few minutes. And he hasn't been particularly helpful, either."
Satisfied that she'd answered this girl's question, she now felt entitled to ask one of her own. "I'm sorry, but--who are you? And, forgive me, darling, but hospital lighting does nothing for your complexion. One might say you look just a touch pallid."
It was starting to get extremely painful to stay awake.
He wasn't even going to try to remember this new person's name. She looked very familiar, yes, just like--- Rachel, but Edward felt the same strange feeling of her name being just beyond him when he focused on her for those few seconds. It hurt too much to ponder longer, so he simply stopped, despite the fact that he had brought his head back up to look at her.
This was--- was--- he--- suddenly, Edward felt his eyes begin to droop drastically, an intense wave of exhaustion hitting him. Sleep, sleep--- sleep good. Away from this angering girl that hurt his--- him. And--- this other one he had no idea about, but probably was equally as---- as--- the same.
"You---" Edward slurred as he jerkily lay back onto his billows. His eyes were closed, but for some reason his mouth kept on moving, forming unspoken words until eventually a few came out. "Mean----" The longer he kept his eyes closed, the less throbbing came from his forehead. "Sto---" Even before he could finish his sentence, the man slipped back into his previous state of unconsciousness without a last thought.
Giada's excited (but worried!) expression turned into one of near-terror. And firstly, not because of the realization that Rachel's memory had been altered in the accidents. No, no. Giada had the terrible displeasure of having a flashback to their fifth year, where Rachel had made it a point to tell her that the bow in her hair did absolutely nothing for her and made her look something like a rag doll gone through the wash too many times, in front of Derek Dobbs.
"Oh---oh no," she let out shakily, sitting back. Rachel didn't know her name! Rachel didn't know who she was? She was certainly acting like---Rachel. Old Rachel, but a very distinctly old-Rachel like version and...and this was not good. There were so many different reasons to be upset right now, that Giada couldn't figure out what was making her cry. Edward was passed out again behind them, Rachel didn't remember her name or her own, and now she was behaving like the terror (sorry! Sorry Rachel!) that Giada had to deal with for their entire friendship until recently.
Okay, she loved Rachel, but even Giada couldn't deny that her friend had a bit of a mean streak!
Giada bit her lip and stood up quickly, to avoid another Rachel back-handed insult----and to hurry and get a healer!
"Okay! You---you stay right there, and I'll be...back!" She unconsciously patted down her hair, hoping it wasn't a mess. She turned and stiffened. This was---not what she had been expecting at all.
She sighed, waving the girl who still had not introduced herself off. Rachel heaved a Upon noticing the flood of balloons now dancing along the ceiling, pink and purple tails tangling amongst themselves, birthday wishes emblazoned across the rubbery sides.
"Are these for me?" Rachel called, craning her head to try and peer outside of their room and into the hallway. "Are you aware that it it's not my birthday? If anything, these should read "get well soon"! IF THERE'S A CAKE WITH THE WRONG NAME ON IT, I SHALL BE QUITE DISPLEASED, YOU KNOW."
