I opened my eyes. Light filtered in, so softly, with the sounds of birds in flight and waves crashing on the shore. Such familiar sounds. My thoughts drifted to Jax. I stretched out my arms with a happy yawn, wanting so much to just be with Jackson.
Ugh! I felt the tug on my arm and saw I had IVs in it and I was in a hospital bed. What the heck? I took a breath, remembering I was always the logical one, so I would just find out what was going on. Right. No problem with that I should think.
A tall and muscular girl came in and, without looking at me, began to work my feet upward and downward 10 times each. I watched her move from the feet to bending my knees. She’s doing physical therapy on me. Sharon, a close aunt who I called mom, was a physical therapist, so I knew what this girl was doing. I looked down at myself. I noticed how skinny I was, and there was not much muscle tissue to work with.
I remember Sharon going to the hospital to do therapy on people who could not get out of bed or were in commas for very long. She had taught me it was the only way to keep joints lubricated, and helped with bone and muscle tissue. Logically, I must have been bedridden for a longer time than we thought. I couldn’t stand the thought of someone working on me and not even bothering to look at me to see if I was alive andkicking. I couldn’t endure it anymore.
I would make her notice me! Sure enough, when I moved my leg and moaned, the P.T. let out a little scream, her eyes widened, and she ran off down a hallway in terror. She had not even looked up at me before she ran out. I watched her run off and wondered what she would have done if I had yelled,”BOO!” She probably would’ve had a heart attack. My luck, with her muscular build, she would have brought out some kung fu moves and I would have to be in the hospital for injuries incurred that way.
I thought it was strange that she never looked up at me. Not even once. She acted like she had done this routinely. As my thoughts were racing around in my brain, I began to think that Ty, who I thought of as a brother, had put me on the MTV series called”Punked” that Ashton Kutcher had started. The MTV show portrayed pranks on people and was very popular.
Ty was radical enough to put me through this. It did not make sense though. How would he know when I would wake? It would have been a good stunt for the old TV show, Candid Camera. I would have laughed at that. It was comical, that is if I had been watching it on TV on someone else! Not so funny when I was the one being pranked.
Yeah. It would not surprise me at all if he would’ve done that Punked show on MTV to me, if he could. Then again, that show was mainly for celebrities. That was not me. There was not a trace of evidence to support that thought. What then?
There was a big red button that read,”nurse,” so I thought to myself, all righty then. I pushed the button and an alarm went off that jolted me to sit up, wide-eyed and scared enough to jump to the ceiling or under the bed, if one can fit under a hospital bed. I was always reading and watching scary stuff, so this panic setting caught my imagination.
I had a great imagination. Ty and I both used our imagination to the maximum. Maybe too much since some people did not get our brand of humor. It may have been slightly different from most people. Not normal. As Igor said, “Abbie Normal.” That was me. It was a label also used on Sharon when she was young.
This was becoming scary, like The Twilight Zone or something. Right before I started to cry out, a tall, lanky guy came at turbo speed around the door so his shoes slid on the floor to slow his turn down.
I had to laugh when I got a real look at him coming en route to me. It was like he was more scared than I was. Long straight hair that was pulled severely back in a pony tail, and large glasses that made his big eyes seem even larger. He was trying to get in front of me so fast, he came close to landing on his back. He had to do that balancing on one foot thing that contorted his back into a crescent shape. Awkward.
His crooked smile said, “You’re finally awake! Finally!” Then he cleared his throat and asked “How are you? How do you feel? Do you need anything? We are all going to throw a party to see your eyes fully opened. Is this light too bright in here?”
Too bright? He’s got to be kidding. The light was so soft, if my eyes had not been accustomed to it, I would not be able to see down to my toes. I used to be legally blind without my contacts. With my eyes, now at 15/20 with the RK surgery that was done a long time ago, I still could still see extremely good. Even in this low light.
I came back to the doctor in front of me. What? I thought he acted like I should know him and where I was. What was up with that? I controlled myself and just politely asked where I was and if I could use the phone. He gazed at me like he did not hear my request.
“You........” His voice scratched out and then stopped. He just kept staring at me like an alien was going to burst forth from my rib cage anytime now! I started wondering what this guy would do if I yelled” BOO” at him. Another heart attack? Inquiring minds wanted to know I thought. I felt a strange prickling feeling coming up my spine all the way to my head. It was enough to get my attention and stop thinking about aliens anyway.
I suspected I had been in some kind of accident and that is why I was not remembering things. The doctor should understand my feelings then. I looked around and noticed the extreme pristine look of the room, except for the two large square pictures hanging on the walls. Flowers, very colorful and vibrant. I immediately loved the pictures, and remembered how I had loved gardening, especially flowers.
“I’m Cynthia Anderson, are you the doctor in charge?”
Again, he just stared at me. “I’m Keith, your doctor and friend. Do you remember me at all? What is the last thing you do remember?”
All right, things needed to be cleared up. “I am sorry, but I don’t remember you. I do so want to talk to someone I know well, but first please tell me why I am in this bed! What happened to me? Was I in an accident?”
His glance slowly went towards the floor and stayed there for a couple of minutes. Looking back at me, he said professionally, “You have been in a coma for three years. You underwent a procedure that should have made you sleep for maybe a week or so, maybe even longer since your cancer was spread throughout your entire body, but we did not think you would go comatose, and for such an extended time.”
“You have to remain calm,” he continued. “The things I have to tell you have to remain secret to ensure you’ll be okay. You have to listen to everything I say and do what I ask you to do. As long as no one knows that you are still alive, everything will be fine. Everyone you knew, believes you are dead. It has to stay that way. I’m sorry. I really am. Things were set in motion that could be dangerous to many people involved with your staying alive and keeping your health. You could be used as a guinea pig by the government to see why you came out of the coma and was no longer sick and terminal.
You would not use any other method, although many doctors tried to make you take cancer treatments which could have killed you but you were familiar with too many forms of treatment. A family gene trait. There was so much money involved in every aspect of cancer. This procedure was an enormous leap. All my patients I helped cure, were now in danger of this. We may have to get you out of the United States, if they have an idea I used this procedure on you.
“It may come back to you, but I need to tell you what you must follow to the letter. Do you remember when you got sick?”
” Sick?” I figured it was probably an accident that put me here. I felt fine. What kind of danger could my health risk others’ lives? Did he say everyone thinks that I’m dead? None of this made sense to me.
“I will remain calm as long as I get some answers. Please tell me as quickly as you can.”
Dr. Keith nodded and said, “Okay. I’m going to keep this very simple at first so that you can know what we are up against.
“Three years ago, you became very ill. You had stage IV cancer in your lymph system and it involved some brain tissue. That is why you’re having trouble remembering. We won’t know the extent of the damage done until several tests have been run.
“Do you remember Sharon? She is your aunt but you call her ‘Mom.’ " I nodded yes. He continued saying how they came up with a formula and procedure to try to cure you. "The procedure was one that we had worked on in college and I had been using in research studies for the last 15 years. It has been successful in 97% of the patients that I used it on.
The government recently shut my research down since it was so successful. I had so few patients for a long time, no one took notice of me. They were so afraid of the baby boomers, and those born behind them, who could deplete all Social Security money anyway, since they were living longer and keeping their health.
“This cure would most definitely cause a population explosion worldwide. It was almost a curse to have such a great cure for so many terrible diseases,” he remarked. His gaze went to the floor again. My mind was at the speed of a zipline ride by then, also called the death slide. Propelled by gravity to shoot you downward, from the top to the bottom of the incline cable, and usually made of stainless steel. It was becoming a very popular activity for the people who like adrenaline rushes like bungee jumping. Yeah, I loved to zipline, and admirably knew how fast you could go.
“It was mind-blowing to think about in those terms. Food and staples, and mostly everything, would be in such demand. Research would have to be at warp speed to try to figure out how to handle so many people.”
I thought about Disneyland’s model of an underwater home for those in the future who wanted to expand housing areas. I loved that idea, and I was only six years old then. Yeah, underwater, since 70% of earth was water, or to outer space, or both. I had even thought then how cool it would be to have the moving ocean as your “paint” on the walls. I really loved that idea. Unfortunately, the money needed to produce results on either of these were staggering. Yet, it had to be done.
I remembered with no effort, a history professor that had told the class that if a cure for something came up, another terrible disease would appear to keep the population number down. Something bad would have to happen, even war. That made me wonder, and more hesitant. I wondered if history would repeat itself again.
He talked of what he thought the Black Plague was, and small pox, polio, and many other diseases that researchers had found a cure for. Now, that so many terminal illnesses were getting cured or they had found a vaccine for, HIV and AIDS entered the scene. Many other diseases are making a reappearance now that vaccines had not been given after so many years of no instances of this illness anywhere. The CDC had kept vaccines though. We did learn from history to be prepared if we could.
Keith continued,“You are the one that asked for this procedure to be used on you to see if you could be cured. It was really your only hope. Your dad built this facility for you to recuperate. Everything here is designed to help you recover. You have your own therapists for all systems, such as physical therapy or keeping your lungs able to completely fill with air. There were so many things to consider when you went comatose. We kept all systems in good working order.
” We have been giving you this physical therapy hoping you would come out of your coma and still be strong enough to walk quickly. You know who took charge of that don’t you? Sharon was on top of the entire arrangement. She thought of everything. We have everything available here to get you back on your feet, walking and regaining your strength and health quickly. Your father paid for everything.
“It’s important that you either have to forget your past life, or live it as a different person. You have not aged since you went into a coma. Your hair is much longer, and for some reason your eyes have changed color. They are violet, like Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes. This was a good thing. There may be people you would want to try to be close to again, such as family, and they would have to view you as a relative of Cyndi’s.
” Are you understanding what I am saying to you? We will go over this again many times so don’t worry if you don’t get it at first.”
” I don’t understand. I mean, I understand what you are saying, I just don’t understand why. Let me repeat it back to you. I was terminal and you tried a research procedure on me to see if it would cure me. You are not supposed to be using this procedure anymore, so I have to start my life all over as a different person.… This was just peachy. It was so intense and improbable for me to just simply accept it.”
” Wait Cyndi. Okay, let me go over it again. No problem, I do understand that it would be hard for you to comprehend. We were hoping you would remember getting sick and going to sleep. None of us comprehended how long you would go comatose. This was a shock to all of us. No other patient I worked on in all those years went into a deep coma. So, it was unexpected, and we had to scramble to meet your six week deadline.
Do you remember what your living will stated? You went into quite a detail on what you wanted done once six weeks were up. Pull the plug and don’t waste any more money! You had even alluded to the thought of how you wanted to be cremated soon after death. You believed too much money was spent when a person’s soul was no longer there.
“Three years ago you became terminally ill and decided to use a procedure that your aunt and myself developed, to try to cure you. I have been using it in research studies for terminally ill patients for 15 years now. It has been very successful. The government had pulled my research away because of the success rate. It’s all politics. Lobbyists from pharmaceutical companies and many other affluent areas were trying to keep this off the market. They did this for the many reasons we discussed earlier, do you remember us talking about that?”
“ Yes, I can remember but it seems blurry like I may forget. Man, I hope I can get all this down and totally understand it.”
Keith nodded and continued,“In order for us to use this procedure on you, we had to tell everyone that you had died. This was done within six weeks and many of your friends and family were deeply upset that we allowed the cremation to happen. We told them that you wanted to be cremated immediately following death. Since you had that in writing, in your living will, we hoped maybe they would understand it more. The only thing that greatly upset them was that they did not get to see you before you died and were cremated.
“So, please try hard to understand that you will have to start all over with a new name, because no one knows about this. If you want to, you can go back to Oklahoma to your own house and even see friends and family that you had before, as long as you use a different name and background. I cannot express the importance of this, with so many people who cared for you and knew the risk, and what would happen if the government found out about you.
” This will sound extremely strange, but your mother and father, a couple of years after they had married, put aside some of their sperm and eggs. This was to develop a fetus, in a laboratory, for a friend who could not have children on her own. I know they did not have time to tell you about this, you were too young before they were in that accident. I promise you that this actually did happen. The girl who developed from this fetus, did not want to know who her biological parents were. I am not aware of any other children.
"This was one way we thought of that allowed you to look very much like your old self, with just minor differences, and rejoin your family. The small family you had left and loads of friends would embrace Cyndi’s sister.
"This girl was born by another, but still was your sister, not half sister or anything else. Your real sister. Until she wished to know you and this family, we cannot mention her to anyone. You could take that place of being your own sister, and we would explain to everyone how this was made possible. "Only your dad and Jessica knew about this besides myself. We will tell everyone that he and Jess were the ones to find out about Cyndi’s sister. Your best friend, now your sister, the remarkable hacker Jessica, did find out about your sister but knew it was impossible to know her until the girl decided to accept it. That is, if she ever did decide to know her biological family. Jess knows you were still alive, after hacking into our files. Jess probably had already told Ty about Cyndi’s real sister. There was no telling who else she told, she was just so delighted to have found her.
“The family will still be astonished when they soon meet you as your sister. As will everyone. At the same time, I know they would embrace you as family and be happy about it. There would be no problem with that part.
” I don’t know if you would want to do it this way or not, and we will leave it completely up to you. Keep in mind, it has been three years, and everyone thinks you’re dead. It’s almost like a witness protection program. You have all new papers such as Social Security and driver’s license. Now your last name will be Roberts. Jess will have a sister that is just like Cyndi was to her. Your personality and almost everything should remain intact, but we shall see for sure after the tests.
“ You know, if you had not gone into the comatose state, you would have been able to resume your old life. Of coarse this was what we were all hoping for. I heard the name “Abbie Normal” name floating around again, just like I heard many times about Sharon. Guess you both loved that movie, Young Frankenstein. It’s a classic, and laughing out loud hilarious, he said. You and Ty, also, were always quoting lines from that and other movies you had seen.
“ First, we are going to do tests on your memory and on your physical ability. Then your rehabilitation will begin soon. Physical therapy and getting used to your new name and background will be the foremost concern. I really do not think this is going to be a real long process. I really hope you understand now. Once you do understand, I believe you will have no problem with all systems ready to go.
“I tell you what. I’m going to give you a few minutes to think, and then we can chat about all your questions. So take your time, and really try to be calm.”
Breathe. Keep breathing Cyndi, I said to myself. Something’s way off and you will figure it out like you always do. I kept seeing tiny sparkles of golden light that surrounded my vision every time I blinked my eyes. Just danced around my peripheral vision as far as it could go. It was just enough to make me wonder if I was just dreaming or hallucinating. I did feel quite strange. Then again who wouldn’t, waking up to what I had just undergone?
I gave myself a little time to think. Just think. I thought I remembered everything. My family, Sharon, Ty, Skyler, and Jess, my best friend. Of course, there was always Jax.
Jax was the most loving and beautiful guy in the entire world. He was the guy that I had just decided to marry. The love of my life, forever mine. I had even started calling him my Jackson or my Jax, and he had loved me doing so. He had wanted me to think of him as mine, since he thought of me as only his.
I also remembered my house in Oklahoma too, of course. How could one forget such a wonderfully surreal place! My house was almost bizarre in the things it enfolded, made just for me. Nobody else in Oklahoma City, maybe even the entire world that I had heard of, had their own dolphin, but I did!
The house and salt water lake was complete with the pinkest sand I ever knew was possible. It had been brought in from one of the islands in the Bahamas, and the unusual colored sand was thought to have healing powers. The entire backyard of five acres was cocooned with a see-through dome that kept the place a mean temperature of 76 degrees. All of this made it possible for Flipper to exist here. Yes, indeed, my own dolphin! Mr. Roberts had found a rescue dolphin and knew I would love him, and take care of him. I had seen the reruns of the TV series about Flipper the dolphin, so I felt the name was a natural.
All of this came from Jessica’s dad, who thought of me as another daughter. Her dad had so much money to burn. It was impossible for me, who knew the family considerably well, to fathom how much money Mr. Roberts had at his disposal. How in the world could I forget the incredible life I had? I relayed this to Dr. Keith and again asked for a phone.