In a silent, all-white room, a girl lay helplessly. Various medical devices were attached to her body, keeping her alive so her heartbeat would not stop.
Outside the room, a husband and wife stood behind the transparent glass. The woman could no longer hold back the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Dad, how is our daughter, Dad? She still hasn’t woken up after three months...” she sobbed mournfully, gazing from a distance at her tiny daughter’s body.
The man beside her gently rubbed his wife’s shoulder, trying to lend her strength even though his own chest felt tight. “I don’t know either, Mom. The doctor said it all depends on whether Lifa’s subconscious wants her to wake up or not. All we can do now is pray and hope our daughter regains consciousness soon.”
Meanwhile, inside the quiet room, the girl’s fingers began to move slowly. Her eyelids gradually opened, revealing eyes that were still hazy.
The girl—Quensya Alifa Xendar—woke with an excruciating headache, as if her head had been struck repeatedly with a blunt object. “Ughhh... Where am I? My head hurts so bad, arghh... Daddy, help...” she whispered faintly. Her throat was so dry it felt like it was burning. She desperately needed something to drink. Using what little strength she had left, Lifa tried to reach for the glass of water on the bedside table. However, the dizziness pounding through her made her consciousness waver. Her hand missed.
Crash!
The glass shattered into pieces across the floor. “Ugh, and now it fell, too!” she grumbled irritably.
Bang!
The bedroom door was suddenly shoved open from outside, startling Lifa. “Sweetheart! You’re finally awake! I thought I was going to lose you!” cried a middle-aged woman, who immediately ran over and hugged her tightly while sobbing hysterically.
“Sweetheart, does anything hurt? Talk to Dad,” added a neatly dressed man who came closer with an anxious expression.
Lifa knitted her brows deeply. She stared at the two adults in front of her with a strange, suspicious look. Who the hell are these two old people? One of them claims she’s my mom... Huh, my Mom is already a sweet potato, aka dead! And now this guy claims he’s my dad? My Dad isn’t nearly this handsome, Lifa thought in confusion.
Lifa pointed at her dry throat to signal that she needed water immediately. Once she had been given something to drink, she finally mustered the courage to speak. “Sorry, sir, ma’am... I think you’ve got the wrong room. I don’t know you,” Lifa said as softly and cautiously as possible. She understood that she was weak, so she didn’t have the energy to pick a fight.
The woman was startled and shook her head in disbelief. “Sweetheart, this is your mom, and this is your dad. You don’t remember us?” she asked, pointing to herself and her husband.
Lifa grew even more bewildered. They must be stressed out or something. They’re giving me the creeps, she muttered inwardly. “Sorry, sir, ma’am. Please don’t pretend to be my parents. My Mom is dead, while my Dad is overseas. I still clearly remember what my parents look like, and they’re not you two,” Lifa insisted, trying to clarify the situation so these strangers would leave quickly. But before they could respond, an excruciating pain suddenly struck Lifa’s head.
“Arghhh! It hurts!”
Fragments of unfamiliar, blurry memories forcibly pushed their way into her mind. Lifa screamed in pain while clutching her head tightly.
Seeing this, her mother panicked. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?! Where does it hurt? Tell Mom!”
“Dad! Call the doctor quickly, Dad! Our daughter’s in pain!” her mother shouted frantically. Her father immediately pressed the emergency button beside the hospital bed.
“Arghhh! My head hurts so much!” Lifa gripped her hair even tighter. Her vision slowly darkened until her body went limp and she lost consciousness again.
Not long afterward, a doctor and a nurse arrived and immediately conducted a thorough examination of Lifa. “How is she, Doctor? My daughter suddenly fainted after complaining that her head hurt. She didn’t recognize us either. Is my daughter all right?” her mother fired off anxiously.
The doctor slowly sighed, then smiled reassuringly. “Please stay calm, sir, ma’am. Your daughter is all right. She was merely shocked when her old memories forced their way back in. And yes, the patient is suffering from amnesia as a result of the impact to her head.”
“Amnesia, Doctor?”
“That’s right, but it’s only temporary. Little by little, her memories will naturally return. My advice is not to force her to remember, because that could have fatal consequences for her mental condition,” the doctor explained at length as he handed them a prescription.
“Thank goodness... Thank you so much, Doctor.”
The two parents breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that their daughter had no serious physical injuries, though sadness still weighed on them because she had forgotten her own identity and family. After the doctor left, Lifa’s mother gazed at her pale face, overwhelmed by guilt.
“What are we going to do, Dad? She’s forgotten everything... I should never have been so busy with work. I should have just taken care of Lifa,” she whispered regretfully. She remembered how Lifa had been neglected all this time, ignored by her older sister and older brother because of a childhood incident that had left Lifa isolated in her own home.
While Lifa’s physical body lay comatose in the hospital, her soul had awakened somewhere utterly unfamiliar. The place was cool and comfortable, with a breathtaking natural landscape stretching as far as the eye could see.
“Wow, where is this? Have I made it to heaven? Heaven isn’t so bad after all. I can relax here for a while before looking for Mom,” Lifa said casually. Without a care in the world, she lay down on the expanse of green grass, which felt as soft as wool.
Ahem!
Someone’s throat-clearing interrupted her peace. Lifa jumped in surprise and immediately sat upright.
“OH MY GOD, A DEMON DRAGON!” Lifa screamed hysterically when she saw a beautiful girl in a white dress floating a few inches above the ground directly in front of her.
The floating girl let out a soft giggle. “Hi, Lifa. Sorry for startling you, and... I’m not a demon. Let me introduce myself. My name is Queen Lifana Fernandez.”