James loved cookies more than anything. He had been drooling for the peanut butter cookie since yesterday, and the fact that his mom was currently making peanut butter cooking on a Saturday was enough to make him go crazy.
James had this unwitting love for cookies since he was little. His mom would bake cookies every Saturday and Sunday, so he couldn't wait for the day to come! It was in his later years that he realized that he preferred peanut butter cookies more than anything.
It was in late November, his father had just arrived to celebrate Thanksgiving. Mary had invited her parents and siblings to celebrate with her, and so the Smiths house became festive. This was one of the days James couldn't wait to come.
"Mom, what temperature should I set in the oven for the cookies to bake?" James shouted over the kitchen as he assisted his mom to prepare the Thanksgiving meals. Though he loved peanut butter cookies, he had never baked one before, not because he did not want to, but because he just preferred his mom's method of cooking, so why should he bother himself?
But today every year was a special day for him. At least that was what he thought.
His mother arrived at the kitchen and place the mixing bowls and spoons in the kitchen sink, then pressed the digits of the oven. "It should always be precisely 375 degrees, nothing more nothing less", she explained, smiling.
"Why 375 degrees? I could just set it at 374 or 376 degrees, and my cookie would be fine" he shrugged. "No honey, you don't want your beloved cookie to either be too soft or a charcoal, so…. 375 degrees", his mom chuckled as she explained, shaking her head.
"I do not agree with you at all. That tiny temperature changes do not change the end result of the cookie" James shot back, wearing an apron.
Are you helping your mom James Nicolas Smith or making life hard for her, don't be a silly boy" James father Andrew jokingly interjected as he came into the kitchen? "Ohh what's cooking?". He rubbed his palms together.
"I'll tell you when it's ready dear. You don't want to eat what we prepared for the guest. I'm about to finish cooking this peanut butter cookie. Please help me bring the bowl over there. Thanks!! Ohh James assist me in bringing the wine glasses I left in my room. It's been there since our wedding." His mom instructed as she took the tray containing the whole turkey and placed it in the oven. "Okay, mom." James nodded as he soon left the kitchen, faintly hearing the dialogue between his parent.
In his mom room, he was sorting out the drinking glasses in their tray. 'My mom said wine glasses, not tall glasses… alright I'll take this, uhm nope. yeah place this somewhere… and here." He silently mumbled as he kept separating the glasses from each other.
He never knew that this moment was about to take a drastic turn for the worse.
He was about to place the wine glasses in their respective trays when he heard a faint boom from below. "Mom, Dad?" he shouted, receiving no response. He then dropped the wine glass on the bed before rushing downstairs. However, what greeted him as soon as he went to the kitchen was a huge fire and an unconscious mom at the edge of the kitchen.
His father then ran into the kitchen as he attempted to drag Mary away from the raging inferno. "Mom!" James screamed as he tried to get into the fire to assist his dad. "No James! Please don't come any closer! Stay put! Stay put!"
For some reason, the fire alarm did not ring. He could not even fathom why a fire of this magnitude was burning in the kitchen. There was no flammable material stored there! He thought loudly as he desperately searched for the fire extinguisher in tears.
"JAMES! I SAID GET OUT OF….". That was the last thing James heard his father say before an ear-shattering explosion threw James off the kitchen and hit his head hard from the wall next to him, dropping unconscious.
"Initializing system resources…Initialize completed. Processing…
Collecting log data and storing them as mnemonic data format…
Error downloading resources… restarting…
Creating variables… booting up LPU… boot failed…
Running system diagnostics… running system diagnostics…
Error found… mnemonic data damaged… attempting repair…
Blood pressure low… increasing heartbeat rate… successful…
Conscious mind [brain] is not active… attempting boot…
Boot sequence successful. booting system peripherals…successful…
Testing system for full function… All working except resources from block 2257#
Set time for delayed boot… 86,400 seconds… time set…"
Setting memory permission, RWRW--...set permission successful...
Booting up.....
James woke up in a hospital. His head painfully throbbed as he tried and failed to move away from the light source. For a moment, he could not remember anything, only that whatever hit his head must have cracked his skull because the pain he was feeling was unbearable.
"He's awake, please call the doctor!" someone spoke loudly. Footsteps could be heard, then James vaguely saw someone's face getting closer to his. "Hmmh" he wanted the person to stop doing that, but he could not move. "James are you okay?" the person asked.
James wanted to stand up, but he could not move his limbs. He felt paralysed. "Please don't disturb the patient. Give him time to recover his strength. The trauma caused by the fire affected his brain badly. He might not be able to walk, talk, or even think anymore. All these are my best speculations. But one thing I'm certain is that he would have trouble remembering anything, even his name." The doctor explained.
James could hear someone sobbing. What happened to him? Why was he in a hospital? Why does his head hurt? Why is that woman sobbing? He could not answer these questions, except that he started to feel sleepy and fell unconscious again.
Error booting system sensors… collecting logs…
Collecting system info… successful…
Cerebellum partition [motor skill] corrupted… attempting repairs…
Body strength is at 12%... fatal score… attempting increase…successful
Check body strength score… 47%... manageable… attempting increase…
Check body strength score… 61%...okay…
Running full system scan… run completed… found 2 errors…
Fixing errors… fixing error failed… not fatal…
Creating a GUI environment for user's control… successful…
Booting up...…
James was able to sit up from the bed. He scanned his surroundings carefully. He could hear a beep sound from the monitor and a faint hiss from the life support machine. Then he stared at the frosted glass section of the door at his left. "Where am I?".
He could not explain what was going on with him. When he was unconscious, he began hearing echoes in his head, like a computer. He could not grasp what it said, something like errors found?
A few hours ago, he was paralyzed, and now he was fully healed, and the pain in his head was gone. It bothered him so much. He just wanted to know where the heck he was.
Soon though, a woman nurse came in with a tray containing some medicine and bandages, and when she saw James sitting up she froze. "Ohh, you're awake. Please hold on." She said with slight shock as she hastily ran out of the room, nearly tripping her shoes.
James wondered why she reacted like she saw a ghost. Then to answer his questions, a middle-aged woman, a doctor, and a girl that seemed older than him came to his bed. "Oh my god, he's awake", the middle-aged woman said shakily, covering her mouth in shock, the exact reaction of the nurse that came here a couple of seconds ago.
"What is happening here?" James asked in apprehension, changing the woman reaction from happiness to surprise. Then the female doctor came closer, held his face turning them left and right, then opening his eyelids wide and looking at his eyeballs.
"You don't remember anything?" the doctor asked. "Uhh no. No, I don't. Please who are you?" James requested.
"Oh, I'm doctor Gloria Christin by name, these are your relatives. They'll explain to you further. For now, I'll have to change your head bandage" she said, signalling the nurse to replace the bandage. Facing the people in the room she added "It is a big miracle that he's even awake, let alone able to sit up on his own. Even I cannot explain it at all, though he might have to stay here for at least one week to study his health for any changes, then he will be released to you alright."
James was really confused. What did the doctor mean when she said he was lucky to be awake? Did something serious happen to him? What the hell is going on here?