Chapter 67: Earth?
"You seem mostly fine," a man in white lab coat, who had identified himself as the doctor, said as he pointed a torch in Adrian’s pupils, causing them to shrink.
"How do you feel?" He then stood up straight, as he turned off the torch, handed it to the nurse and took a pad.
"Like none of this is real," Adrian muttered in response.
"That’s not strange," the doctor nodded as he scribbled something down, "especially considering that you’ve been in a coma for three months."
"Huh?" Adrian asked, a bit confused.
He had somehow woken up in a hospital back on Earth whilst.....what was he doing again?
"Ah, it might take a while for your memories to sort themselves," the doctor said, "but you were hit by a truck and immediately rushed to the hospital and even though you were out of danger, you had slipped into a coma."
That’s right, he finally recalled his last memory.
He remembered dressing for work after basically spending days re-reading his favorite manhwa, only for him to sleepily walk into the streets thinking it’s the sidewalk and the next thing he felt was pain, before backing out.
"I see," Adrian nodded before looking up at the doctor, "about the bills."
"You don’t have to worry about that," the doctor said, "the truck driver was kind enough to cover most of it, and the rest was from your insurance."
"How convenient," he muttered mostly to himself.
"Indeed," the doctor replied with a small smile before flipping the page on his pad, "now, I’ll need you to answer a few basic questions. Just to assess your cognitive state."
Adrian gave a slight nod.
"Name?"
"Adrian Williams," Adrian calmly answered.
"Age?"
"Twenty-three."
"Occupation?"
"Office worker."
"Do you remember the accident?"
"Yeah," Adrian replied, frowning slightly, "I was crossing the street when I felt something slam into me and then it just went black."
"Good," the doctor said, seemingly satisfied, "that level of recall is normal."
"So am I free to go?" Adrian asked.
If there was one place he didn’t like, it was hospitals. He hated the smell of disinfectant that was ever present in the air.
"Given that you look completely fine right now," the doctor answered, "you should be discharged after I review your brain scan and a couple of other reports."
The doctor then handed the writing pad to the nurse before adding, "though I’d advise you not to try too hard to recall any forgotten detail as that would just put more stress on your brain."
"I understand," Adrian nodded and watched the doctor leaving before laying back on the bed and looking at the white ceiling above him.
He had a nagging feeling that he had forgotten something important, but just couldn’t figure out what.
***
It took a few hours, but Adrian finally stepped out the hospital building only to be immediately hit by the midday sounds of the city.
For some reason, they seemed a lot louder than he recalled, but he just blamed it on his three months coma.
With a sigh, he lifted his hand and a second later, a taxi stopped in front of him and he immediately entered.
"Where to?" the driver asked the moment he got in.
"West District, Maple Apartments," Adrian answered, and the driver immediately nodded,
"Got it."
With that, the car drove away from the hospital’s building, joining the traffic, and Adrian just leaned back on his seat, looking outside the window.
The city passed by, and everything looked exactly the same as he remembered, but there was still a nagging feeling he couldn’t ignore.
"Why does it feel like I’ve been gone longer than three months?" he muttered.
Whilst lost in thoughts, he didn’t even realize that his eyes were getting heavier and a second later, he had fallen asleep.
***
"Hey, we’re here."
Adrian slowly opened his eyes as a voice interrupted his sleep, causing him to look towards the driver who was looking back at him.
"Right," Adrian muttered as he paid the fare, stepped out of the taxi, and looked up.
Maple Apartments.
A familiar and slightly worn building stood before him.
He walked towards the entrance and climbed up a set of small stairs before stopping just at the door as he felt a pair of eyes on him.
Slowly, he turned around, only to notice that there was no one there....well, almost no one,
Standing just across the street and looking directly at him was,
"A black cat?" Adrian muttered as he looked at the cat.
Its fur was a lot darker than expected, almost as if all the light towards it was being absorbed.
"Strange," he said as the cat suddenly disappeared the moment a car passed by.
Adrian then walked into the building and towards the elevator, tapping the button that led to his floor.
Since he apartment was actually his, there was no landlord to try and rent it out to another tenant even if he had been in coma for a year.
The elevator door let out a ding as it opened the moment it reached his floor, allowing him to walk out.
Adrian walked forward for a while only to freeze as he noticed a woman with a head full of white hair struggling to open her door.
For some reason, he felt as if he had seen a similar colored haired somewhere, but as far as he could recall, he hadn’t interacted with enough foreigners or old people for that to make sense.
Still, he remained frozen as he looked at the hair.
But through her struggles, the wig that wasn’t properly placed on her head slid off, causing her to chuckle which snapped him out of his frozen state.
Adrian’s expression return to it neutral self as he watched the woman finally open her door despite all the stuff in her hands before walking in, pulling the wig with her feet before closing the door.
"What the hell is happening to you Adrian?" He muttered before he continued towards his apartment door, fishing out the key and opening it the moment he reached it.
"I guess I’m back."