Scars

 

Chapter 2: An Empty Head

 

"--degree temperature. The human body certainly was not designed to hold that much heat." The instant I picked up that voice, there was a stinging sensation in my ear that raised to a high pitched whine. Whoever spoke had no qualms of doing so directly into the ear of a sleeping person.

Someone talked loud enough to wake me up or it simply was time for me to wake, either way I was awake now. My head hurt when I tried to open my eyes, so I kept them closed. Whatever was being talked about, I listened in on.

"The coulomb, that is what we call the charge, is how much electricity is traveling in a second carrying one amp. To give you an idea... Ever touched an electric fence? The kind that keeps cattle from roaming around?" Masculine with a smooth, rich, and calm voice. There was an accent to it that made me think Scotsman. ’I'm going to gamble that this was a doctor speaking or some specialist.’

"A long time ago." There was some emotion in this voice. Feminine too. ’Maybe it was one of the female twins I saw?’

"Good, now remember how that felt. That's a little over a hundredth of an amp. Your daughter experienced fifty-thousand amps. It is very rare to survive this." Struck by lightning, like I had thought.

’Wait... Daughter?’

Light be damned, my eyes flew open and I looked around. I saw an elderly man, but he stood upright and had a hale and hearty appearance. Shoulders were broad, his chest even, face squared and eyes sparkled, and his hair was short, but rich, full, and grey. Damn was he tall. Either that or the woman across from him was short. Either way, it was like that saying, “Age is just a number,” and he was the prime example.

In front of him was the older woman. Just like the younger, who's found me first and lap I laid in on the car ride here. She's beautiful. She had black long hair that spilled down her shoulders and disappeared behind her hourglass figure. I raised my gaze from the swell of her motherly hips, seeing the fashionable black office dress she wore to fit absolutely snug around her incredible figure. My eyes almost bugged out see how well rounded her bosom was. Either she had on a push-up bra or gravity was being defied. The black hair and dress had given her a nice frame for her clear and pearly pinkish-white skin. The woman's face was the kind that someone could look at for hours. A pair of gorgeous and sparkling crystal blue eyes mesmerized me. ’Is she, or was, a career model?’

She walked quickly to my side and leaned down to me. I closed my eyes when I felt her lips press on my forehead. There was a funny feeling there. I felt the impression of her lips, but not the actual texture of the moist kiss upon my skin. Out of curiosity, I lifted a hand up and touched the side of my forehead carefully. I didn't want to accidentally brush her away.

There was something there that felt like linen. ’Bandages? Is my head wrapped up?’ I lifted the tips of my fingers up and felt the feathery soft hair on my head. I guessed around my forehead and maybe the back was bandaged. ’What about my face?’ As I was about to drop my hand down to feel my cheek, my hand was taken away.

A slightly muffled, but clearly sweet and honeyed voice, whispered in my hair as those lips continued to soothe and calm me with kisses. "Honey, everything will be alright. You have some scars, but Doctor McLeighis said they would disappear in a few months." ’Scars that disappear?’ I guessed that was good news.

"Lichtenberg Figures regularly vanish before the end of the year." ’A Lichen-what?’ I'd just kept my fingers crossed and hoped he'd be right about whatever scars I got would fade away.

I felt the woman pull away from me and I opened my eyes to watch the curtain of black hair lift what shade it offered me. Blinking, I turned to squint at the pair speaking with each other again.

"When can we take Kim home?" ’Kim? Was that me?’ That didn't sound right. Neither had me being called daughter. I stopped paying attention to them for the moment so I could focus on my own thoughts.

’Who was I? Jas? Kas? Chaz? Chase!’ My name was Chase. ’What about my last name? Williams? Wollem?’ No, it was closer to Wilhelm or something with Will in it. I would have to settle with Chase Will for now. That told me I'd been a guy and that something both terribly wrong and weird happened. ’Maybe if I can remember what I used to do?’

I recalled playing games. A lot of games. Different variety of games like shooters, fighters, turn-based, role-play, side-scroll, and any that would take time and effort to get my mind off of my life. ’What was my life?’ I only remembered the inside of my room. My mother would offer me food and drink, I'd leave the room to use the bathroom one way or another, and visit a therapi-- ’Did I have a mental problem?’

A Shut in. I isolated myself from the world. ’Why did I do that? What was my problem with the world? Did something happen that made me withdraw from it? Think! What would a guy, who lived with his mother and played video games all day, give cause to hide in his room all the time?’

Where was the father in all of this? The man of the house? That couldn't be me. There was no way a pathetic excuse of a man would be the one responsible -- ’Why did I think of myself that way? Who put that in my head?’

My dad did. He left us and laughed in my face when I told him I would take care of Mom. It was when I still had school. Every time I failed at something, his laughter popped in my head to remind me how much he found it funny. Like he knew I'd fail...

"--Ssshh, it is going to be okay." I popped my eyes open and saw the black curtain again. A warm hand was resting against my cheek, brushing away the tears streaming down my face, but most of all was the top of her impressive bosom muffling my sobbing. The sight was definitely something to enjoy, but it felt odd. Normally being smothered in the breasts of a hot lady would stir me crazy. Instead, I felt comforted.

Then again, I was in no condition to feel anything sexual and probably need more comfort than anything. From the little bit I heard, it sounded like I had survived the impossible and may have won the lottery for not having a permanent scar from the ordeal. I still was disturbed by who they thought I was. Not to mention, I don't know this woman or the others that helped me. To add onto that matter, ’Why was I in that house to begin with?’

Okay. I managed saying “Ouch” before. I could talk... ’What the Hell am I waiting for?’

"Ha-- Ho-- Who ah-- Woo--" ’Fuck, am I stuttering?’ Biting down on my lower lip, I concentrated. Slow and steady, Morgan Freeman-style. "Who are you?" For a moment, I remained perfectly stunned by the sound of my voice. That was definitely a girl's voice.

"Kim?" That warm hand smoothed away any remaining tears and cupped my cheek in a way that felt loving. The woman pulled away enough for me to see a face filled with a familiar worry, like she had that night. A very deep worry that turned away from looking at me to face Doc.

The doctor came down to kneel, leveling with me, and asked me a simple question. "Kim, do you know where you are?"

That was easy. I faced him for a moment to answer, "Hospital." Then I returned to see if the woman who held and warmed my cheek was okay. I still wanted to know who she was.

"Do you know which hospital? What city this is?" I remained silent for a second. ’Should I guess this one?’ I could say the hospital that came to mind. 

"Waynesboro Hospital?" Looking back at him, I could tell that was the wrong answer. "Richensburg Hospital?" His eyes narrowed. "Fairfield Hospital?" I stopped guessing and gently shook my head.

"Would you please tell me your name?" They were calling me Kim. With my voice sounding like a girl, I'd be going out on a limb and guessing I was a girl here. No idea how or why. I knew I wasn't originally a girl, but I felt afraid of telling him that. ’What if they thought I was crazy?’

"Kim." Maybe I was shooting myself in the foot or saving myself from a future lobotomy. I don't know. It was a name that they thought I was.

"Can you give me your full name? How about your mother." He indicated the woman above me with a gesture of his nod towards her. That wasn't my mother. I could recall Mom. My mom was nowhere near this attractive, even though I knew Mom was beautiful to me, it wasn't with a sexual allure like this woman's. "Kim?"

I watched the woman stare down at me. It didn't take very long for me to know why she was just looking. She was fighting back her own tears. The longer she looked down at me without responding to the doctor, the greater difficulty it was for her to keep those flood-gates in check. This wasn't something I wanted to see. I didn't want to be the cause of pain.

’Should I lay here and do nothing? Wait for them to give me the answer and watch this woman break?’ She was being called my mother and I already heard them talk of me as if I was her daughter. Now, with that belief, I'd be a daughter who didn't know either of our names. I had already made it clear I didn't know who she was when I asked.

’Am I really going to say and do nothing? Would I be the absent man of the house again?’ I was not going to break another mother's heart.

For a brief second, I broke away from her hand on my cheek to rise up. I grabbed and embraced her around her waist, pulling myself tightly to her. I thought about how often I wanted to do this with my own mother, to hold and comfort her, smile and say, "Everything will be okay."

...I couldn’t believe I just said that out loud.

I held her and looked at the doctor. There was no need for me to see the woman I held if she was okay. The trembling in her arms as she returned the hug was enough to tell me she was emotional right now. Whether she believed herself or me that everything would be okay was up for debate. I knew something was wrong with who I was, but maybe nothing was the matter with who I am now. It would take time for me to figure things out, that's all.

After a few minutes like this, I was told who I and who this woman, my current mother, was. Our last names were Ondine. My mother's name was Ashley, but a lot of her friends, if not everyone, called her Shelly. Her maiden name was Rhodes before she married Gregory Ondine. I had two older siblings, an elder sister, Brittany, and older brother, Greg.

From what I understood, Shelly pretty much owned an entire office building and vaguely stated she worked in partnership with some banks. I was okay with that. Sounded so far like we were well off with the first parent. ’I mean, she owns a whole office building and is a partner with banks! How awesome is that?’ Other than fame, she made it sound like the fortune was firmly had.

As for Gregory, he sounded like he was even higher in the food chain. Being a vice president in a company that revolved around synthetic technology sounded like a sweet position. She didn't clarify what kind of synthetics he worked on, but again, I didn't push for more details. It had me wondering why the home I had apparently been carried out of seemed so normal for a wealthy family like this. I was in a bad shape, so maybe I didn't notice what all had really been in there. ’Who knows, maybe we are in a rich neighborhood instead of an awesome mansion?’

Brittany owned a store and was trying to rise herself up from nothing with this venture. She was apparently into fashion, but I had no idea what kind if it was a specific category. It did make me wonder how old she was and why someone who owned a store didn't have a place of her own.

That brought us down to Greg, the middle child, who was in the senior end of high-school. When she spoke about him, I was kinda confused because she described my brother in more detail rather than the person who was supposed to be my father. After a moment trying to tell the two apart, I was more lost than with less information. Shelly compared Greg to Gregory, just like how Brittany was a younger version of her. Only, it sounded like Greg was more of a responsible man than the father. I learned that the man who carried me out of the house and drove to the hospital was this Greg, the brother. Made me wonder who declared themselves the man of the house. That kinda threw me into a loop. ’Where was this father-O-mine?’

As if she could read my thoughts, I got my answer.

"He's busy, placing work above all else, so he can one day be on top of everything." Shelly explained this with a tone that didn't sound like she approved. I supposed she wasn't happy about him not being around when he might have been needed. ’Like, if his little girl here happened to have kicked the bucket?’

Oh God, I don't want to think of myself as a little girl. ’Actually, am I little? How old am I if my brother happened to be a Senior in school? Am I in high-school?’

"How old am I?" My mother looked at me for a second and then ruffled the soft hair on my head.

"Old enough." That -- that didn't answer my question.

"I mean, do I go to the same school as Greg?"

"Yeah, Galehall High." ’What kind of name was that!? Galehall? That wasn't the name of the city, right?’

"Galehall?" She nodded, but at that time the doctor interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but I'd like to have a few more questions of my own before I go." Both of us cringed, with my mother nodding and backing away, and me awaiting whatever was coming. "Do you feel any pain? If so, from a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest, how much?"

I thought about it for a moment. When I concentrated on what was hurting me, it was strange. It only hurt when I thought about it. The moment my mind wandered, it was gone. With this in mind, I held up and showed him a single digit. "One."

"Really?" I nodded. I wasn't in the kind of agony I had been when brought here. That was another thing I wanted to ask.

"How long have I been here?" Dr. McLeighis pursed his lips at me. I didn't like that expression. Knitting my brows, I asked again. "How long?"

"Honey, it has been a month." ’A month?’ I looked from her, back to the Doc, and to her again.

"Was I in a coma?" She nodded, but smiled down at me.

"It was much shorter than they expected."

"Far shorter than it should've been." Coming from the doctor, that made me wonder exactly what he meant by that.

"What do you mean?"

"You survived, which is unique on its own. Yes, there have been a number of survivors of lightning strikes, but you took the full force of the lightning. There was no exit. You absorbed the entire bolt, which is impossible, but your proof it happened." I tried to process this, but it didn't really make sense.

"I don't understand how lightning works or how I'm proof something like -- what you said, could happen. I mean, you're telling me I had a ball of lightning in my tummy and I pretty much ate it, or something?" He shook his head and tapped at his own temple.

"You were struck in the head and the evidence shows that the electricity entered, but never traveled. I can't explain it." He shrugged at me. "This is not a professional opinion, but more a fantastic one. If you want an idea what it was like, imagine the strike going in and being swallowed up into a bottomless pit."

"Did you just imply I have an empty head?" I heard my mother stifle a laugh and I glared up at her.

"To be honest, that should have been the result of this. If your head did absorb that high of a temperature, let alone the amps... let's just say you shouldn't be alive. You're an unexplained miracle." In other words, I defied science and it didn't make the medical community comfortable. Well then, I was not going to add onto that I believed I was once a shut-in guy who lived with a single mother. That would probably goad a white coated knowitall to flip a table and Hulk out or something.

I smiled and kept quiet from here on.

The conversations that were had was now exclusively between Shelly and the Doc. I took the opportunity to rest a little longer and thought about my situation. Wealthy parents, a big sister who was going for independence, and a big brother that filled in those big shoes that were left vacant in the house. ’What about me? Who was I in all of this? The youngest, I knew that much, but what did I make of myself before landing in this body?’

That thought troubled me. ’What happened to the daughter that originally was in this body?’ I gulped, thinking I knew the answer. She was dead. I somehow took over. Whoever she was, that wasn't who this happened to be now. I felt really bad thinking about that. Already, I was thinking of how Shelly would feel if I could make her understand that.

Wait -- it was possible that she still lived. ’What if she was in my old body? Could we have switched places? Did lightning strike me and somehow the arc transferred us across states?’ That shouldn't be possible, but I was crossing my fingers that, in this case, it was. All I had to do was search for my home phone number and give myself a call.

For now, I had to wait until I was given an opportunity...