A worried face stared into mine, startling me so much that I yelped in fright and almost fell out the other side of the bed I was in. My mind was thankfully, serenely quiet, containing no one but myself in it, as it should be. While I didn't understand what that worried face was saying for the moment, their supporting hand keeping me from falling out the bed was timely.
My ears felt strange. Sounds were dulled, muffled and strangely distant. Had they always been like this?
I rubbed my ears at the odd feeling.
While the mouth on the worried face open and shut, presumably talking, I tried to remember who they were. It felt like I ought to know who they were.
Since I couldn't hear or understand them, I looked around the room which was at once familiar and unfamiliar. I didn't know where I was or why I was here.
Eventually, the worried face went away, leaving me feeling blissful in the quiet.
Getting out of bed, I groaned. My legs, hips and lower back felt sore. The sort of sore usually felt a few days after a big workout. A fading soreness and stiffness. I also felt like I'd been beaten up a while ago. Like I had bruises.
Wandering around, I soon found a bathroom and toilet. There, I peeked under my clothes and found a variety of colourful bruises. After using the toilet, I was cleaning up, pulling up my trousers when a strong image flashed through my mind, smacking me in the face and felling me with how forceful it was.
I woke up on the cold toilet floor, feeling confused, unable to recall the strong memory at all. Not feeling too well, I suddenly had the strong urge to go home. I should go home. It felt like I hadn't been home in a long time.
Although I didn't know what was what or where I was, I had a gut feeling. I followed that gut feeling to pick up the card by the bed that was threaded on a ribbon. Shivering, I rubbed my arms.
Going by instinct, I let my feet take me to a staircase, where I made painful slow progress down the stairs, falling the last few steps when a whirl of dizziness assaulted me and I missed the step. Picking myself up off the floor, I carefully checked all my limbs were working and then resumed walking.
There were guards and big machine barrier things blocking the way out. I watched someone in front of me swipe their card, making one barrier open for them to walk through. I did the same.
One of the guards said something to me but being unable to hear him and also being unable to understand what he was saying, I just smiled and nodded. The guards just nodded back and I followed the other person out of the building into the rain.
The rain was cold. There were small, intermittent gusts of wind, making things even colder.
Home wasn't too far away, I was sure. Just around the corner or something. A little bit of rain never hurt anyone, I was sure. I'd be fine.
Stepping out, I walked in my bare feet. People and cars were rushing to get out of the rain. There was a blocked drain and a car driving too fast through that puddle splashed dirty water on my trousers, making me gasp. Good thing home was nearby.
Two older ladies hurried around me, chatting to each other as they did. I didn't know what they were talking around, but they looked almost as wet as I did.
I followed behind them, feeling unwell but determined to get home. All my bruises and joints felt cold and achy. My head felt heavy and off balance. I just wanted to find somewhere to sit or lie down.
Home was a lot further away than I had expected.
As I walked behind the two ladies, sounds began to slowly filter through my ears and gradually, I was able to make sense of them. There was the shushing swish of falling rain, the low growl of motors and movement of car tyres on wet ground. There was too, the low hum of traffic and occasional whistle or whoosh of frigid wind.
"I hate this kind of rainy weather," the uglier and slower of the two older women was grumbling. "It makes all my joints ache no end."
"Doesn't it just?" chirped the prettier older lady. She was wearing prettier and more elaborate clothing than her friend who was dressed in more wrinkled and plainer clothes. Both were spotted with the rain, whereas I was closer to drenched. "Especially my knees."
"Me too," complained the uglier woman. "My knees really ache."
"The bus stop is just ahead. My husband and family are there. They've got a thermos and some deep heat ointment that we can put on while waiting for the bus," said the prettier woman with a smile.
"Must be nice," the uglier woman scowled at nothing, "having family that cares enough to do things for you. My husband would never do that or even wait for me at the bus stop. He'd never carry my things. He's just a mean old bastard that expects me to slave away for him. What did I do to deserve such a hard life? Why did I choose him back then?"
The prettier woman glanced at her friend and closed her mouth for a moment. She pointed across the traffic lights at the corner of the other side of the road.
"Look," said the prettier woman. "There's a bit of shelter there. My husband has saved us a seat. There's quite a few people waiting for the bus, isn't there?"
"Must be the weather," said the uglier woman in a glum voice.
While she was talking another waiting stranger took one of the empty seats beside the prettier woman's husband, leaving only one seat free.
The walking man turned green and I almost tripped on my cold, numb feet on the road in front of the waiting cars. Perhaps I'd sit on the side of the bus stop for a moment to put my head down. I would only need a moment to rest. Just a moment.
All the seats under the shelter were taken. There was only the wooden border of the raised public flowerbed behind us still free because it was wet and still raining. Nevermind. I was already wet. I'd just sit there.
I almost staggered over to the wooden border of the flowerbed and sat down with a wobbly sigh, drawing my knees up to my chest and putting my head down on my knees.
Out the corner of my eye, I watched the pretty older woman's husband take her umbrella to fold it while she sat down on the only remaining seat. He put the umbrella aside and then he poured her a steaming mug of some drink. The prettier lady dug in her purse and found a tube of lotion which her husband helped her open and she rubbed the deep heat lotion into her knees with a sigh of relief. I could smell it. The wintergreen from the lotion, not her relief.
On the other hand, behind her, standing at the edge of the shelter and behind the prettier woman because there was no more bench space, the uglier woman was dripping what looked like hand sanitizer onto her knees and rubbing that in. At the same time, she grumbled loudly enough for the people around her to hear.
"Some people are so selfish. They never think of others. They keep all the good stuff and never offer it to their friends or show any gratefulness or kindness at all. They call themselves your friend but don't care for anyone's comfort except their own. What's the point in having plastic friends like these?"
The prettier woman had just handed her steaming cup to her husband, and had been turning around to offer the tube of deep heat to her friend when she heard the woman grumbling like that. The uglier woman was looking down and so didn't notice. Hesitating for a moment, the prettier woman had a complicated expression on her face. After a split second, she turned back around to face the road as if she hadn't heard anything and looked at her husband. He put an arm around her shoulders and patted her, giving her a half hug. He took the tube of lotion from her and put it back in her purse with decisiveness.
The prettier woman looked at him and sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. Meanwhile, the uglier woman continued her ugly and uncalled for rant, going from selfishness, self-pity, to couples showing off their love in public. Apparently, couples who showed off their love in public were indecent and unsightly, making everyone around them feel uncomfortable.
Someone touched me and I almost fell over in fright.
"Hey, are you ok?" the stranger asked, moving his umbrella to his other hand to reach out as if to touch me again. He hesitated when I pulled back away from him again. "You're drenched, pale and look sick. You're also missing your shoes. Your feet. They're bleeding."
"Fine," I stammered through my chattering teeth. "I'm-I'm-I'm fine. Just tired. Taking a break. I'll get going. Th-th-thanks."
The stranger with an umbrella held a hand out as if wanting to help me, but I ignored it and stood up. The world whirled and I staggered, hearing a few people gasp.
A hand gripped my elbow, steadying me.
"Thanks," I said, pulling away and not daring to look up at the people waiting under their umbrellas or under the bus stop shelter who were likely staring at me. I tried to stop swaying, but wasn't sure how well I was doing. I could hear some concerned murmurs. "It's alright. I'm fine. Thank you. My house is not far."
"I think you need to go to the doctor's," the stranger with the umbrella who had stabilised me said.
"I just need my bed," I tried to give a smile but the smile didn't seem right. It felt more like a grimace. I gave up and hurried away instead.
I crossed the road at a pedestrian crossing and turned the corner. After walking a while, my footsteps faltered and then stopped.
Where was I? This didn't look like any road or place that I knew. I had thought I knew where I was going but I obviously didn't.
There was a big building construction site and an empty piece of ground in the early stages of development. The building beside me was being renovated or something because of all the scaffolding around it. I felt like what I expected to see was missing, but what exactly was missing, I wasn't sure.
I frowned and rubbed my head and ears, feeling utterly confused. Where was this? Where had I been trying to go?
On the other end of this road, there were older buildings but they didn't look familiar. The shops seemed deserted and dingy with yellowed glass.
There were barely any cars or people on this road.
Rubbing my head and ears again, I sank down onto the ground, feeling too tired to think or do anything else right now. In fact, my vision was swimming with black spots wanting to swallow up the light.
A hand steadied me by the elbow again and helped me to lean against the wall of the building being renovated. A hand touched my forehead and I heard a sharp intake of breath. It was that kind stranger with the umbrella again. The umbrella was held over me and I heard the sound of a mobile phone dialling out.
I didn't manage to find out what happened next, because I must have passed out.