“Just nod your head if you can hear me.”

“Why are you talking to me as if I’m a fecking eejit?”

He stared at me. Then he began to laugh—a hearty, full-throated guffaw. I decided he must be the eejit, not me.

He looked over at the nurse, who stood on the other side of the bed. “Yes, I’d say she’s definitely awake, Nurse Mason.”

He turned serious as he took my hand. “Can you remember your name?”

I decided they were both eejits—himself and the nurse. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Of course I knew my name! I opened my mouth to tell him what it was, but stopped. Why could I not remember something as simple as that? In panic, I wracked my brain, but no answer came.

Dr. Taylor glanced over at the nurse, nodding his head. He turned back to me. “It’s all right,” he said gently. “You’ve been unconscious for a while, and you’ve suffered a terrible trauma. Your memory will come back in time.”

The doctor took my hand in his. “Do you remember how you got here?” His voice was soft and patient. “Take your time, now.”

My head began to throb. All the annoyance slipped away from me. I tried to squeeze a memory out of my brain, but it wouldn’t come. Tears of frustration stung my eyes. I looked up at Dr. Taylor, all my earlier confidence gone.

“I-I remember being in the water,” I said. “’Twas freezing. People were crying. But it might have all been a dream.”

A spike of fear cut through my body. Why couldn’t I remember? Had I lost my mind? Oh, sweet Jesus, had something awful happened to me? Had my mind been destroyed entirely? I stared up at the doctor, pleading in silence for him to tell me everything was all right. He squeezed my hand gently.

“Rest now,” he said. “The mind has a way of hiding bad memories away until you’re ready to cope with them.” He smiled, suddenly cheerful.

“The fact that you’ve woken up at all is a miracle. You’ve been unconscious ever since you arrived here, probably caused by the nasty blow on your head. You were also suffering from hypothermia. Don’t worry about anything else just now. Just sleep.”

After he left I lay thinking. The room was darkened, and I could see the nurse sitting in the shadows in the corner. Dr. Taylor had told me not to worry. But how could I not? I knew that what had happened had something to do with water—water had been filling my dreams. But what? And how had I arrived at this place? How long had I been here? How long had I been asleep? And who was I at all?