Chapter One

The morning light crawled into her room. Sleepily, she laid in her dreamy haze wondering about that thing she had always been wondering about these few days. Pushing back the covers, she felt the cool breeze caress her skin, rousing her into wakefulness. Opening her eyes, it landed on the old clock that hung above her dresser.

"Oh gosh am getting late for work" she practically screamed at herself, rushing to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

~~~

Patricia and Nne, entered the Emergency room, where the teenage boy laid.

His eye lids slowly tore apart, his eyes accommodating the brightness that illuminated the white room, using his eye to scan the room, his pupils more dilated than usual.

Patricia smiled “you are in the hospital you had an accident” saving him from the stress of pouring out the questions probably running through his head.

The teenager wore a mask of worry on his face. Patricia and Nne both shared a gaze, worried about the boy’s silence, and looks.

“You don’t recall what happened to you?” Patricia said, now facing the boy

The boy just laid there, his eyes never blinked for a second, arousing questions in the minds of the nurses. Was he dumb or deaf? Or was he having communication problems?

“What year are we in?” Patricia enquired from the boy, “what is your name?” Patricia figured that will be an easier question to ask.

But to Patricia’s greatest surprise, the boy gave them an expressionless gaze, as he laid still on the bed silent. Patricia became a bit scared, yet curious to find out what exactly was going on.

“How old are you?” Nne asked

The boy laid there, moping at the nurses.

“The kid can’t say his name; you think he’ll be able to say his age?” Patricia shrugged “Can I see you outside?” Patricia faced Nne, “we’ll be back soon” she told the boy, as she walked towards the door.

Nne followed Patricia. The boy just laid on the bed, straight-faced on the bed. His eyeballs still scanning his environment.

“What is wrong with him?” Nne enquired from Patricia, as she closed the door behind her.

“I can’t certainly say anything for now, but it does look like an amnesia, but of course, we’ll have to inform the doctor, perform some test, and I think a CT scan to be certain” Patricia was grave in her response,

“what if we checked his school bag, we could find something, that might help us Identify him, maybe in his books”

“great idea, check it his bag, while I inform Doctor Dave, right away, so we can figure the next step of action” then she walked away, leaving Nne.

In twenty minutes, Patricia went back to the Emergency room, to see the boy, after seeing the doctor. Nne was standing beside him.

“any luck?” Nne shook her head, “but I was able I see his school ID card” Nne handed the ID card to Patricia.

Patricia collected the ID eagerly, she looked at its “Mike Christopher” then she looked at Nne “did you find any other thing?

Nne shook her head, with disappointment written all over her face.

“I’ll take it from here” Patricia picked a chair, and sat beside the boy. “We’re going to play a small game, in form of a test” Patricia held the teenager’s hand “is that ok?”

The boy simply nodded his head.

“Ok fine” Patricia pulled a chair, that was close by, and sat down. She dipped her hands in her pocket, and pulled out four cards, with different figures and placed them on the bed, for the teenager to see, the first card had a yellow triangle, the second had two blue squares, the third had three red circles, and the fourth card had four green diamonds. Then she pulls out a set of cards, from its park, and spread them on the table, beside the teenager’s bed.

The boy looked at the cards, then back at Patricia, he had a brown pupil.

“You’ll compare these cards…” pointing the set of cards spread on the table, “to the four on the bed, and sort them into rows” Patricia grinned at the boy, “do you understand?”

For the first time, the boy responds to Patricia’s questions, with a slight nod.

“Ok, it’s good we are on the same page. So now you can start” Patricia gestured to the cards on the table.

The boy started sorting the cards out, leaving Patricia in awe, as he sorted the cards accordingly, he placed the cards in rows according to their colors. He continued sorting the cards according to their colors, and in six minutes, he was through. Then he rested back on the bed, and smirked at Patricia.

Patricia cleared her throat, “that was fast” she smiled “thank you”, she stood up and arranged the cards, inserting them back into its park. “Have a rest, I’ll be back later” she patted him on the arm, as she heads for the door.

“Did I pass the test?” the boy said, uttering a word for the first time.

  “He speaks!” Patricia had mixed feelings about the boy speaking. But one thing she knew for sure, is that there was a little ray of light, at the end of the dark tunnel.

Dave the doctor on duty, swiveled his chair, as he went through the MacBook that sat on his desk. His white coat was hanged behind his chair. As a light but quick knock came in on the door.

“Come in, the door is open,” Dave beckoned.

Patricia walked into the office. “Good day once again, sir,” Patricia smiled and she closed the door behind her.

“Patricia what brings you here again?” His eyes remained on the MacBook

“Sir the teenage boy was finally able to talk, after I performed a test on him” Patricia smiled

Doctor Dave was stone-faced, “what test?”

“Sir I performed the, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test” Patricia still grinning, and expecting an accolade.

“And you did not think to run it by me? Before making such crucial calls,”

“I’m very sorry sir, I just…”

Before Patricia finished talking, “keep your flimsy explanation to yourself,” he was stern, “you don’t just go administering tests to my patients, stick to your role as a nurse”

“he is also my patient, sir” Patricia abruptly responded “I care for my patients too, I’ll go an extra mile to see they get well,”

“you should seek my consent, before making such decisions, regarding patients,”

“I’m sorry doc, I don’t have to, I also seek the well-being of my patients, I won’t try something that would harm them,” Patricia kept eye contact with Dave. “I checked on amnesia on the internet, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test has been tested, and it worked in most cases

“you are not even sorry” Dave gave a scowl. “take me to him right away” Dave walked towards the door.

The teenage boy laid down in on his bed, still having an expressionless gaze on his face. The door flung open, as Dave and Patricia walked in. Dave walked up to the boy.

“how are you feeling” Dave inquired from the boy, as he checked his pupils.

The boy stared at Dave, as he kept mute. Dave looked back at Patricia who elevated her eyes from the boy, to look at Dave.

“I thought you said he talked” Dave inquired

“yes, sir he did, right before I came to your office”

“then why isn’t he now?”

“I don’t…” Patricia was about to respond when they heard some noise from outside.

Patricia and Dave both shared a gaze, as they hurried to see where the noise came.

“where is my son? His school directed me to this hospital” a young man, in his mid-30s, was agitated.

“sir please calm…” nurse Nne tried to calm him down

“Nne I will take it from here” nurse Patricia tapped Nne at the back, “good day sir, please calm down, so we know how to help you”

“I was told by son’s school that he is in this hospital”

“ok please what is your name”

“my name is Morris”

 “ok Mr. Morris, what is your son’s name?”

“Christopher, Christopher Mike is his name”

“ok sir, he is here”

“thankfully, can I see him now?” Morris cracked a smile, for the first time.

“not yet, but you will soon, please come with me” Patricia turns to face Dave “can we meet in your office?”

Dave’s face was expressionless, he turns, and walks away, Patricia and Morris follow him.

Getting into Dave’s office,

“have a seat sir” Patricia gestured to a chair.

Morris sat down, Dave walked to his seat, and sat down.

“your son was brought here some hours ago, he was involved in an accident, he’s alive, but doesn’t seem to remember anything” Patricia stood, looking down at Morris

“he lost his memory? For how long will it be for?” Morris had a bit of anxiety in his voice.

“we don’t know anything for sure” Patricia smirked, "

“How long will it take?” Morris raised his voice

“please calm down sir, we are on it”

 “It’s my son’s life that is at stake here, and you expect me to calm down?”

Dave banged his fist on the desk, “can you shut up so we can do our work?”

Silence covered the whole room.

“sorry I reacted that way, but the more you keep arguing here, the longer time you waste, so you have to trust us to do our job”

“I’m sorry, I’m just worried” Morris mouthed

“we understand, but like doctor Dave said, you have to let us do our job”

“alright fine”

“I’ll go see him now, doctor Dave and I were with him before you came, so we’ll go and finish up, so we can ascertain what the problem is” Patricia turned to look at Dave “are you still interested in seeing him?

“yes, sure” Dave drummed his fingers atop his desk.

“let’s go then” Patricia tapped Morris on the shoulder, “you can also come with us, you might help bring out some words from his mouth”

“we don’t have the best father and son relationship, I doubt if my face will bring memory whatsoever to him, he hates me”

Patricia widens her eye “why?”

Moses tilted his head, to look at Patricia, “I don’t this now is the appropriate time to say that”

“you are right, sorry for prying”.