This is a continuation of the last story. There are some details I'm still working out. The basic ideas are there for me, though, and there are some story points I have in mind.
I almost faint again after he says that, but he catches me in his surprisingly strong arms and slowly lays me back on the bed. I look up at him as if seeing him for the first time again, unsure of what he had meant. He must see how afraid I am, because he looks concerned.
"I expect some memory loss is to be . . . expected . . . after so long of a slumber as you have endured. We shall remove the rest of your bandages and see about reintroducing you to the world, my dear." He reaches under the bed again and returns with a needle. "Please do not be afraid," he assures me, "I mean you no harm." Something in my gut urges me to trust this stranger I only just met. I let him approach the bed with the needle. He injects a small shot into my arm. "This should refresh your parched throat and aching stomach, as well as enhance your equilibrium." I do feel refreshed as the shot takes effect. The good doctor then tells me to stand up, if I can.
After I'm able to stand, he grabs one end of a bandage and starts twisting it away from my body. As he does so, I revolve around in circles; this motion makes the removal somewhat easier. Almost dancing around in circles, the bandages were slowly coming off. "Yes, there we are," he quips, "I should dare believe you would have enjoyed this game as a little girl." I wonder at his sanity still, and my own for a moment, as I had no memory of any childhood as a girl.
As we finish unwrapping the bandages, I feel lighter. I stop twisting and I stand naked and disoriented before my benefactor. As I look down on myself, my form is not as I remember it: I appear to be a young girl.
As I swoon as much from exhaustion as shock, the doctor grabs a robe and catches me in one motion. He consoles me as he wraps me in the warm cloth.
"There, there, my dear. I should dare say this is the first time you have had a chance to stand on your own in quite some time. Come this way and warm yourself." He leads me to a room to the left of where I had lain, a room I realize he entered from when I woke up. There are ceramic cups scattered across a small table and a roaring fire next to some wooden chairs. The furnishings are nice enough, but this room doesn't look like a room in the same building as the room we just came from.
"Sit next to the fire," he gently recommends. I do like he says and sit down on one of the wooden chairs covered in a hand-sewn seat cover. My doctor rushes to the table and quickly pours a drink from a jug he retrieves from underneath the table. "Here, drink. It will warm you up some." I am hardly of any mind to refuse his assistance, although a smarter person might have refused a drink from a stranger. Still, I couldn't help trusting this kind old man, though in my memories, I had never met him before the last several frantic minutes.
The cup is not hot to the touch. As I drink it quickly, thinking it will be cold, it becomes hotter on the way down. I shudder slightly at the change in temperature of the drink, and my new friend barely suppresses a guffaw.
"Ha! Yes, it quite a strong drink to one unaccustomed to the kick. Not the strongest I have, mind you, but it will wake you up." I look at him with a confused look and he suddenly seems embarrassed. He frowns and then goes over to the right corner from where we had entered. He takes an old blanket covering off the wall, revealing a metal wall behind it. He pushes a button and a refrigerator opens. He takes out a little bit of food and puts it on a plate for me.
"This is not much, but it will suffice to feed you for now." I don't recognize the food, but it looks like fruit. I give them a try by his recommendation and they actually taste pretty good. I eat quietly as he watches.
"There's a girl," he says, as I finish the plate. I didn't realize how hungry I had been until he offered me food. I'm still not used to being referred to with a feminine pronoun, but I can't object as I look like a girl.
"As I said," he continued, there is some expectation of memory loss. I notice you are . . . disoriented . . . and that is okay. You have been asleep for a long time. I will offer you what assistance I can to restore your memories and learn what you may have forgotten. I have a library in the basement," he looks at a rug not far from where I'm sitting, "and these books will serve you well in your merger back into society." I still trust him, but I am increasingly confused.
"You should clean-up and prepare for the first of your lessons, though I will mercifully start slow."
He directs me to a small enclosed space not far from the table. It was a metal box that I hadn't noticed that reached the ceiling. The door creaked open revealing a rusty floor and walls. There were some openings in the ceiling.
"Not the most ideal conditions, but adequate none-the-less." He frowns again as he looks into my silent face. "Well, yes, I suppose you desire some privacy. I will leave you to it." The look on his face is so sad, but I don't have time to worry about him because I'm dealing with my own tenuous grasp on reality at the moment. I step inside the box and remove my robe, discreetly placing it outside the door. If I hadn't been shocked before, I am now, as I see my naked body. I decide to try to adapt and trust my "father" for guidance, if that's who he thinks he is.
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