"I'm sorry if I don't remember you, Doctor Gears. I guess this bump on my head is worse than I thought." Karma smiled shyly and settled against the pillow.
She was so happy to be laughing and talking with Rea again. Especially without him looking upset like he was earlier. She was so pleased that she didn't care her head pounded or that she didn't have all her memories. Soon her past would come back to her.
"It's fine that you don't remember me," Gears mumbled in a sarcastic tone. "My name's just Gears. As I said, I'm the doctor on this water base. I'm aware of your memory issues."
Gears sat at the end of the bed. His smile was wobbly. The expression wasn't sincere. Karma could tell. She didn't know why she thought he sounded irritated, but she was sure he was annoyed at her. Karma would have to ask Rea about her relationship with Gears once they were alone together.
When she didn't respond to his second introduction, Gears stood, pushing his glasses up his nose. He gave Rea a pointed look.
"I think I'm interrupting your catching-up session. I feel like a third wheel. I'm going. I'm tired. It's late."
"Gears, don't go. You gotta help me." Rea quickly rose and put his hand out to stop the doctor from exiting.
Rea's voice had a demanding edge to it. Was he still worried about her health? Maybe he didn't want the doctor to go because he didn't think she was healing. When she took stock of her whole body, she didn't feel that bad. She didn't know how she'd gotten hurt in the first place, but after some rest, it would come back. She wasn't going to worry about her memory loss right now.
Karma ran her hands under the blanket and over the bandage that covered the front of her leg. Her thigh didn't hurt, and even her headache was abating. Whatever had happened must've been minor. Other than the patch covering her eye and the cut in her mouth, she was relaxed. The muscles in her shoulders unwound like she'd been stressed for a decade and was finally getting a vacation.
As soon as Gears pushed past Rea, both men went to what must be the exit into the hall. Karma spotted the bathroom. She decided to get out of bed while Rea and Gears talked. She looked down at the chilly concrete to see if she had shoes. Her feet ached from the cold, and she considered abandoning the idea of leaving the warm blanket. She wrapped the thin cloth around her body tightly, knotting the fabric between her breasts.
Distracted by the chill, she located Rea's enormous green slippers near the front of the bed. She reached to slip them on.
Karma grasped them, and then suddenly, she was jerked abruptly by her arm.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rea looked at her like she was a thief about to steal his most precious possession. His hold was brutal. His entire hand wrapped around her upper arm.
As his body crowded hers, his chest pressed against her breasts. Her nipples hardened at the contact. Karma reacted to him like she always did. Their sexual chemistry hadn't changed. It didn't matter how much time passed.
She tried to twist away. His grip felt like his hand would turn her bones to dust. Rea was so aggressive, so angry. Even with his harsh movements, her body yearned for him. Her blood heated. Why was it, no matter the situation, she always wanted him? Some things didn't change, even if they were older.
"I was going to put on your slippers. I have to use the bathroom… maybe clean up?" Her voice quivered.
Karma wished she didn't have this bump on her head and that she could put together what was wrong between them. She'd always cared for Rea. That hadn't changed no matter how old she was. Maybe he didn't like her the same way any longer? What would she do if she found out they were no longer together?
That couldn't be the case. They had to still be a couple because she wasn't the kind of girl to be naked in a man's bed unless they had some type of commitment to each other. Also, Karma could tell Rea was still attracted to her. He'd never been able to hide the way his eyes hungrily roamed her skin.
"Oh." He let go.
Clutching the blanket, she moved around him toward the bathroom.
"I've weapons under my bed. I thought she was reaching for those," Rea muttered to Gears, who stood near the door.
Her back to Rea, she paused with her hand on the bathroom door. She frowned. She didn't even know how to shoot a gun. Why would he think that?
For now, she decided to push all of her worries out of her head. She could figure out everything once she was feeling clean and refreshed.
Karma entered the dingy bathroom. Once there, she went around the room in a trance as she used the toilet and brushed her teeth with his toothbrush. She hunted for a hairbrush through the shabby cabinets and browsed some of the things on the shelves. He had the same toothpaste, the same deodorant, and the same soap. His bathroom was clean but tattered. This room had the same cement floor in front of a rusted sink she remembered from her youth.
Things here were so identical that, if it weren't for the fact she was taller, Karma would've thought no time had passed since the last night she could remember being with him. She remembered the last time they had sex, but then it was blank. She tried in vain to remember how she'd hurt her head, but after a short period, she gave up.
In the last cabinet she opened, Karma found a mirror. Slowly she eased the patch off her eye. While looking at the purple-and-blue bruises on the side of her face, she squinted at her reflection. Her eyes scanned her face. She realized she wasn't as old as she had originally thought. Karma felt eighty, but she guessed that she was in her twenties. Holding the mirror closer, she studied her nose, chin, and a handful of faded scars on her neck. It was evident she'd had work done to her face, but she couldn't come up with why.
She couldn't let go of the mirror. Karma was positive she had a different nose. It was smaller. She turned her head one way, then the other, and knew her chin was different as well. Because she'd never been vain, plastic surgery seemed out of character.
Maybe it was best she put the mirror away. None of this mattered. Who cared if she'd had plastic surgery and lost weight? She was still her. She would have to ask Rea why she made all these changes later. Karma would ask when she was feeling better.
Once she put the mirror back, she expected panic to envelop her. When it didn't come, she considered how odd that was. A huge part of her kept saying that even if she knew nothing about her life, it was all fine as long as she was with Rea. As she started to loosen her ponytail, she reminded herself that Rea had always cared for her. He loved her. He would help her until she healed. No reason to freak out.
After slowly brushing out all the tangles, Karma made up her mind that the one thing that would make her feel better would be a shower. First a shower, then she could talk to Rea about her memory loss. When they were younger, they talked and figured things out as a pair. If she could get cleaned up and spend some time with him, everything would feel normal again.
Her fingers unknotted the threadbare blanket. Karma stripped herself of her bra and underwear. She stepped into the small tiled area next to the toilet, over the cement blocks that divided it from the rest of the room. Carefully, she pulled the brittle, short white shower curtain as far as the plastic rings would go.
The plastic divider barely covered the space to separate the shower from the rest of the bathroom. She adjusted the curtain. Bending over slightly, careful of her injuries and the bandage on her thigh, she turned the lever to hot.
She stepped in front of the water but jumped out of the spray coming at her with ice-cold velocity. She fiddled with the handles until the water turned to a tepid cascade.
Wetting her hair, she groped for soap and began to wash her scalp gently.
"What're you doing?" Rea's deep baritone voice made her jump. She screamed and clutched the curtain she'd painstakingly straightened.
"You scared me." Karma laughed.
It was a silly question to ask her what she was doing. Wasn't it obvious? She giggled. Did Rea come in to check if she was well? The idea he would worry about her made her heart do a flip-flop in her chest. It was wonderful to have someone care about her as he did.
"I'm showering, silly. Do you want to join me?" Smiling carefully so as to not disrupt the cut in her mouth, Karma pushed the shower divider away from her body. She saw his eyes widen as a slight exhale slipped past his lips.
Whatever the state of their relationship, she could tell his attraction to her hadn't changed. Karma thanked God for that. She stood and let him drink in the sight of her naked wet flesh.
"I don't think…." Rea stammered, but he didn't move.