CHAPTER 2: SWEET KARMA.

Talia's eyes opened to the incessant beeping; she groaned as her eyes came in contact with a plain white ceiling. Her eyes, which was slowly accommodating to the dim brightness of the room, roamed around as she took in where she was. Her eyes landed on the machine that was beeping continuously and she stared at the number of wires plugged into her body. Hospital? she thought...What am I doing here? The door clicked open and she turned to it and watched as a man dressed in a white lab coat walked in. He was staring at the file in his hands as he walked in. He raised his head and met Talia's eyes. “Wow! You're awake.” He smiled at her and Talia would have smiled back except she wasn't in the mood and she was still confused on how she got to the hospital. “I wasn't expecting you to be up so soon. It's not even two days yet.” “I’m Dr. Kendrick, how are you feeling?” She narrowed her eyes at him, “Shouldn’t you ask what my name is?” He glanced at the chart on his hands and looked back at her, “Your name is Talia, isn't it?” “And how exactly did you know?” She had to be very careful. One slight mistake and she could lose her freedom. “The man who brought you in said Talia is your name.” The doctor was starting to look nervous. This high schooler was staring at him like he was a pedophile or something when all he'd ever tried to do was wake her up, not that he needed to do much. “Man? What man?” The doctor looked at her again and dropped his file, “How much of yesterday do you remember?” Talia looked around and shrugged “Pretty much everything.” “Then you must remember how you had that head injury.” The doctor glanced at the bandage wrapped around her head. “Injury?” She touched her head and felt the bandage. “H-how...? Wh-where...?” “Don’t worry, I'm sure it's temporary but just to be sure, what do you think yesterday's date is?” “May 15th.” She spoke assuredly. The doctor smiled, “It’s okay, don't panic, but yesterday was May 16th and I'm guessing your head injury is the reason for this memory loss.” “But what happened to me? How did I forget a whole day?” Talia shrieked. It's crazy because the last thing she remembered was going to sleep and the waking up in this hospital. Although, for a minute there, her heart had jumped and she had thought she was back to that place. “We don't know much either. A good Samaritan brought you in, your body covered in your own blood.” The doctor moved closer to her and gestured she stay still. “The nurses assumed that you must have been in an accident but when they turned around to ask the man that brought you in, he was gone.” He concluded as he checked her body for injuries or anywhere that could cause her discomfort. “He just left?” Talia asked. “Yes, but he paid for your bills before he disappeared.” The doctor replied as he wrote something down on what appeared to be Talia's file. Talia closed her eyes and forced herself to recollect her memory. “Ah!” She held her head and groaned, “it hurts.” The doctor immediately laid her back on the bed. “You shouldn't force yourself to recollect anything. It could cause you to relapse into coma or give you severe headaches.” “Is it permanent?” Talia asked. “Not always. We've had cases of people who couldn't recollect their memories from a previous day or month or year after suffering a head injury.” Talia's eyes widened and the doctor quickly added, “Yours is just a day, and in most cases like yours, whatever happened in the last 24 hours is not always important.” She glared at the doctor, “How would I know if it's important or not if I don't remember it?” The doctor nodded, “True. But don't force it. You won't like the backlash.” “The man that brought me in, is there a way I can reach him?” Talia asked. “I'm sorry, that won't be possible. He didn't leave his contact details or his address.” “But how do I find him then?” Talia threw her arm over her eyes, “I'd like to thank him.” “I don't think he wants you to find him. If he wanted you to thank him, he would have at least dropped his number, right?” The doctor closed the file and smiled at Talia even though she wasn't staring at him. She sighed, “Right.” “You're good to go now. Just give it two hours or three and then you can get your drugs from the pharmacist before leaving.” “I don't have money for drugs. I'm sure I'm fine now.” She had to tell him now in order to avoid public humiliation. “He settled all your bills all you need to do is take care of yourself.” The doctor turned to leave, then he snapped his fingers as like he remembered something. “I suggest you ask your friends what happened to you, they might have something to tell you.” “Tsk! I doubt it.” She whispered to herself after the doctor left. She was a lone wolf, no family or friends and she liked it that way. What on earth had made her agree to date Carl anyway. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. When Talia got to her little basement apartment that day, her mind was swarmed with memories from May 15th. Her finding out that her bully Carl, didn't actually fall in love with her like she thought. She'd been too obsessed with romantic fantasies about bullies falling in love with the bullied, causing her to ignore all the red flags in her and Carl's relationship. She was just a bet to him. She sighed with relief knowing she hadn't agreed to have sex with him. Then the whole school would have known and she'd have to quit high school because she couldn't face the humiliation. She remembered his reaction when he lost the bet after she broke up with him. “You’ll regret the day you decided to cross me.” He had threatened. Talia sat up immediately, could Carl have been behind what happened to her? She laid back on her bed. Nah, he couldn't possibly be the reason she ended up in the hospital. He wouldn't want a bad record on his certificate, not when he was going to Yale. Talia thought of who the Samaritan might have been but quickly cleared her mind, she didn't want to have a backlash. It sounded scary. The next day at school, the murmurs and whispers about her went on like ever normal day, nothing out of the ordinary, except she didn't see Carl. He didn't come to see her during lunch or recess and for that whole week he wasn't in school, not until Friday when her teacher delivered the bad news to the students. Carl was found dead in an alleyway. Fear gripped her heart...and a strange relief ran down her spine. She would never wish bad on Carl but knowing he would never torment her again, would never hurt her again gave her such a relief. Guess Karma's truly a bitch to assholes.