Chapter 2

   I wake up to a sound that shouldn't have existed; laughter. Someone is laughing in another room. Wait! Something else is different. I'm lying on a soft bed not the cold bed of a floor. Why am I on a bed and why is someone laughing? Have I been rescued while I was sleeping? Is this some form of a trick?

Maybe my previous night was just a nightmare that felt a little too real. If that's true, though, why can I still not remember anything? I examine myself and find no injuries. Thank goodness!

I open my eyes, slowly, to check out my surroundings. The room has light pink walls and a window beside the bed with frilly white curtains. I don't recognize any of it. When I try to say something, nothing comes out. Frustrated, I lay back in bed for a few minutes.

The rising headache, however, has me crawling out of bed and walking to the bathroom on  the other side of the room.  I search the medicine cabinet, for the pain reliever, and find it easier to swallow the water.

The bathroom is as neutral as you can get. It has white walls, a small sink, and a closed in shower. I really want a shower but that would need to come later. I stare at myself in the mirror, for what felt like hours, and try to remember something. I want to remember anything; my age, name, where I am. I can not.

  Remembering the laughter, I decide to explore the house. As quietly as possible, I walk towards the hallway. I peek around the door before I carefully step outside of the room. I follow the hall towards the left and, just before I turn the corner, something heavy lands on my shoulder. Before I can scream of fright, he speaks.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty! I began to worry that you would never wake up! Want something to eat?"

I turn around to look at the stranger that seems to know me. My breath freezes in my throat. He is absolutely beautiful! His smile is so charming and, the way he is smiling at me, has my heart fluttering. He has deep green eyes and brown hair that is the color of milk chocolate.

The creases in his face make him look as though he laughs a lot. He seems to be around my age. Right now, his eyes seem to be staring at me and waiting for an answer. I nod and lock my eyes with his. They are so easy to get lost in and my heart locks up when I realize that I don't remember anything about this beautiful man standing in front of me.

He frowns a little as he notices my hesitancy. I allow him to grab my arm and guide me to the dining room table.  He smiles a bright smile that locks me in place with it's beauty and tells me that he'll be right back. He darts in to the kitchen as I sit and listen to him shuffle around. I hear dishes being moved around, machines being turned on, and he's humming to himself.

That brings a smile to my face even while I am wondering if I should make a run for it. If I run, I won't find answers so I decide that I need to stay. There is something familiar about this man, I just can't put my finger on it. He looks relieved, that I hadn't run, when he returns with plates of food in his arms. I smile tentatively, in appreciation, and begin to eat.

The food is delicious! I look up and notice that he is staring at me with amusement dancing in his eyes. He smiles when he notices me looking. He must think that I am crazy, stuffing food in my mouth like I haven't eaten in months.

I blush a bright red when I realize that I had eaten everything in less than a minute. He doesn't say anything, just sits and chuckles to himself.  I stand up to remove the dishes from the table but his hand on my arm stops me. He frowns as I flinch away from him, nearly falling back into my chair. He just shakes his head a little sadly, before he speaks.

"You are a guest in my home. There is no need for you to do that. Please, sit back down." He smiles, sadly, and explains. "It has been a while since I've had any guests."

Unsure of myself, and my situation, I slowly sit back down. When he smiles at me again, my face reddens and I start to feel hot. I attempt to tell him thanks but nothing comes out. The butterflies in my stomach seem to be laughing at my discomfort.

"It's okay." He takes a deep breath. "Let me explain." I nod, waiting. "My name is Derek. I found you wandering around lost." He pauses, looks at me for a second. "You scared me at first. You were walking around looking zombified." He looked to gauge my reaction but I had none.

"When I pulled over, you acted as if you didn't notice me. So I got out and asked if I could help." He paused and took a deep breath, visibly swallowing, before he continued. "You still acted as though you couldn't tell I was standing there. I almost got back into my truck but I wanted, no, needed to make sure that you would be alright. So, after a few minutes of watching you wander around aimlessly, I got out of my truck and guided you into the passenger seat."

He trails off and chuckles to himself, lightly, startling me. I can't remember any of it. I try to look into the deepest part of my mind but nothing is registering.

I can't remember just like my name, age, birthday, where I am, or even where I live. It's just like my nightmare but in a better setting. I look at him, wave my hands around the room, and point to myself. I hope he understands that I am asking how I got here. I smile when he smiles and asks me the question.

"How did you get here?" I nod. "Well, the only time that you showed any signs of life was when I drove up to the hospital. I wanted to get you checked out but, as soon as I pulled up to the hospital, you tried to unbuckle yourself.  You still had that farway look in your eye and I thought that maybe you were scared of me.

I continued to pull up to the entrance and you tried to open the door with a horrified look at the hospital." He hesitated a moment, looking down at the table. "I did the only thing I could think of. I brought you here, to my parents home. You fell asleep on the way here and have been asleep for over 24 hours." He looked at me and smiled then. "Do you like it?" He gestured around to the house.

I nod my head and smile gratefully. I hope he knew how grateful I am that he took care of me. I think, if the shoes were reversed, I probably would have taken him to a hospital or police station and dropped him off.  Or maybe even just had someone come and pick him up. I would've assumed for him to have been crazy. I'm really grateful that he seems to be nice. He stands up, and heads to the kitchen, to clean up our mess and I take the opportunity to explore outside.