Late afternoon. The Parents have not yet arrived, and the walls of my room are closing in on me. My head aches, partly because of the whack to my skull but also because of boredom. The only things in the room with any color, any evidence of the real world, are the photos on the bulletin board. Looking at them, though, only makes my temples throb more.
I place my hand on the phone and think about calling someone. But who, and what would I say? Hi, remember me? I don’t.
I need to get out. I take careful steps through the doorway and glance down the hall. The coast is clear. There’s a TV lounge at the end of the wing that’s always empty when I walk by on the way to rehab, so I shuffle my way over to it, one foot in front of another. Mighty fine walking for a little brain-dead girl.
But when I step into the lounge, a crowd is sitting on the couch. I freeze in the doorway. A girl with dark-purple hair and two nose rings looks up at me, then nods hello before turning back to the TV. I wonder how crazy it would look if I hightailed it back to my room. Nose Ring girl glances at me again; I must look like a deer caught in the headlights, because she gestures to the empty armchair in the corner.
I sit down quickly and turn toward the TV. Ridiculous, I know, but my heart is pounding. Not only did I lose my past, but it seems I lost all my social skills too.
Jeopardy! is on, and a lanky boy with a neck brace sitting next to Nose Ring girl mutters, “Alvin” in response to the square that says, Theodore, Simon & he formed the famous musical trio. The contestant says the same. Alex Trebek declares, “Yes, that’s correct for $200!” and the neck-brace guy high-fives a chubby boy next to him. Nose Ring girl rolls her eyes at me.
“Doorknob over here thinks he’s a genius,” she says. Brace guy flips her the finger before turning back to the TV. And on it goes. Brace guy answers questions, and sometimes he’s right. Chubby boy cheers him on; Nose Ring girl makes sarcastic comments. When the show is over, they all stand up and stretch.
“Well, that was a slice,” Nose Ring girl says to me. Then they are gone, and I am alone in the lounge, watching a woman squirt stain remover on her son’s soccer clothes. From her smile, it looks like it’s the most exciting part of her day. And sadly, being in this lounge was the best part of mine.