Riverton

His eyes slowly began to flutter open. He glanced around a small room, his blurry eyes beginning to clear. He felt something touch his hand causing him to look toward whatever it was.

Someone dressed in blue stood in his vision, but he couldn't make out who they were. When his eyes completely focused, he saw a young woman staring down at him. "It's good to see you awake," she said, her voice sounding tender. She pulled on something that was attached to his arm pulling some hair. Thankfully, it didn't hurt.

He closed his eyes as his head began to ache, and the world spun. "What happened?" he whispered.

"We were hoping you could tell us," came the woman's reply. "Two officers found you in the woods a couple weeks ago. You had a terrible concussion when they found you, and you've been in a coma for two weeks."

He furrowed his brow as he tried remembering what had taken place. As he searched for answers, he found that there was nothing there. Nothing that could give him a clue as to what could happen, but what scared him the most was he couldn't remember anything about himself either.

He looked up at the nurse with confusion and fright etched on his face. "I—I don't remember."

The nurse smiled and patted his arm. "That's alright. We don't need to know what happened. All that matters is that you're safe now."

As she turned to walk away, he pulled himself forward grabbing a hold of her wrist. She turned around startled. "No," he continued, shaking his head. "I mean, I don't remember anything. Not my name, who I am. My mind is just blank."

The nurse's gaze looked a little more alert. She turned back to face him fully as she pried his fingers from off her wrist. She gave him another smile, though he could tell that it was forced. "Alright. That's okay. We've seen this happen in coma patients. We'll help you try to regain your memory."

He sighed heavily as he relaxed back against the half-raised-bed. He watched as the nurse took off out of his small room in a hurry. Did he frighten her? He watched through the glass windows as she disappeared around a corner.

He looked up at the ceiling as a million questions raced through his mind. Where was he? What happened to him? Where was his family? But most importantly, who was he?

A quick knock sounded on the door, and he glanced that way. A woman dressed in a pink, knee length dress with black hair tied into a ponytail slipped inside. In her hand, she carried a small blue vase with one single pink rose inside.

"Sorry to bother you," she said gently. "The door was already opened, but I thought it would be polite to knock." She held up the vase in her hand. "I just came by to drop this off." She placed the small vase down a table that rested underneath the window.

He smiled. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

She smiled and turned around heading back toward the door. "Am I just lucky to get flowers or is there a reason?" he asked, skeptically. Who was this lady? He couldn't help, but feel like for some reason she looked familiar. Maybe she was a part of his story that he had forgotten.

The woman turned back around, her smile brightened. "I'm a volunteer at this hospital. I deliver flowers to all the coma patients everyday. Some of them here don't have anyone. No one ever comes and visits them, but I want each one of them to know that they are not alone. It's wonderful seeing you awake."

He turned his head looking out the window to the his left at the several beds full of people who looked asleep. It was a frightful thing to see so many of them, and to hear that some had no family or friends to visit them. That's when he realized that he was one of those few.

He looked back up at the woman as she continued to stare at him. "I feel like I know you, but I can't place my finger on it." He chuckled uneasily. "I sorta lost my memory."

She laughed. "I've only seen you a few times. Most of those time, it was with your buddies under the bridge in the woods." She crossed her hands in front of her. "I like to take nature walks in the morning. Every now and then, I'd see you there. Your friends always fled, but for some reason, you'd stay. I got to talk to you for a couple minutes each time."

The smile that stuck to her face seemed to be contagious. He felt himself smiling as if something about what she was saying he could remember. Just bits and pieces, but the way she described it made him feel like he was right there witnessing it all over again.

She turned getting ready to step out the door.

"Wait!" he called out, sitting up straight. She halted, her hand resting on the doorpost. "What's my name?" He hoped she could answer. Had he ever told her during one of their talks? He hoped he had.

"Of course," she replied, her nose wrinkling up as her smile grew. "It's Levi." With that, she left the room finishing her deliveries.

***

Levi buttoned his blue plaid button-up shirt as another knock sounded on his door. It had been an eventful day already. Two visitors in one day. He looked up to see a middle-aged man step inside, leaning against the door. He had a small scar on his left cheek.

"Hello?" Levi gave him a puzzled look. Who was this man, and what did he want?

The man gave him a small nod of his head. "You almost ready to go?" he asked, his tone soft.

Levi glanced around thinking this had to be some kind of joke. "Go where?" He shrugged. "I was told by the nurse that I don't have any family." He lowered his voice as he gazed at the man. "You're not my dad... are you?"

The man laughed as he ran a hand through his bushy blonde hair. "No, no I'm not your dad." He stepped closer, and crossed his arms before glancing behind him. "Look, you don't look older than eighteen so if someone doesn't claim you then they're going to put you in the system, and, believe me, that's not somewhere you want to go."

"The system?" Levi asked, leaning forward. "Like, the foster system?"

The man nodded. "I told your doctor that you were coming to live with me until we could find your parents. As the officers told me, you just appeared out of nowhere in the woods. No I.D. or anything to tell them who you were."

Levi lowered his head as he thought. What in the world could he have possibly been doing? Why was he out in the woods late at night? That didn't make any sense. Though, he was having a hard time making sense of anything lately.

He looked up as the man gestured with his head for him to follow. "Come on. Grab your shoes. We're getting out of here."

Levi smiled as he slipped into some sneakers the hospitals "lost and found" had, and quickly tied them before taking off out of the room with the man. "Uh, so what's your name?"

"Daniel," the man replied, as the two walked past rows of coma patients. "You should remember. You planted a good punch in my cheek a couple weeks ago."

Levi shot his head toward Daniel as he winked down at him. "I did?" He didn't remember any of that. What was going on with him? Why would he just punch a man? "I'm sorry. I don't remember doing that."

Daniel waved him off. "It's nothing to worry about. You broke out of the hospital. You were probably hallucinating. Thought I was someone else."

Levi lowered his head as he blushed. "Yeah, I guess so."

Daniel walked so quickly past the patients, it was hard for Levi to keep up. As he skipped to catch up with his new friend, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

He stopped mid-stride and turned to the left to notice a young girl lying in one of the coma beds. The sun's rays that shone through the window beamed off her blonde hair. She looked so peaceful and beautiful in her unconscious state.

He slowed down, not caring if he lost Daniel, and slowly made his way over to this girl. He stood at her side and gazed down at her. He had never seen someone so beautiful in his life. Or maybe he had, and he just couldn't remember. A tiny hint of memory broke through in his mind. He knew he knew this girl, but couldn't place where from or who she was.

A body stood beside him as he continued to stare down at the girl. He knew it was Daniel. He didn't even have to look to know. "Who is she?" he asked. He knew it was a long shot asking, but maybe Daniel would know.

"She, my boy, is Jane Doe," Daniel replied.

Levi felt his heart sink. "So, no one knows her."

"No ones been able to identify her." Daniel cleared his throat. "This is a very small town, and hardly any crime happens here, but the one time I get caught up in a shooting, this girl gets in the way."

Levi turned to look at Daniel, his eyes wide. Daniel wouldn't even look at him. "You mean, she was shot?"

Daniel sighed heavily as he crossed his arms once more. "I did it. See, I'm one of the deputies at the sheriff's station, and I was trying to help stop these drug dealers." He shook his head. "They pulled guns on us. They fired first, and we fired back. This young lady came out of nowhere running in front of our bullets." He paused. "And one of mine sent her into a life threatening coma."

Levi looked back down at the girl in astonishment. "But she didn't look like someone who would do drugs so why was she hanging with drug dealers?"

"I guess she was in the wrong place wrong time," Daniel replied. His tone didn't sound very caring. "Though, some drug dealers look very innocent. You would never guess them to be one. But those are the ones you have to watch out for."

Levi felt a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. Let's go," Daniel said, softly with a slight pull.

Pain pricked Levi's heart as he stared at her. She was just like him. No one cared about her enough to even identify her. As he turned to leave, he noticed over on the small table that rested to the right of the bed a small blue vase with a single pink rose. He smiled knowing that the volunteer had been here too.

This girl wasn't alone. She may not have anybody who could tell them who she was, but that was the reason that woman stopped by, she said. To make sure that the coma patients never felt alone, and he knew that this Jane Doe would never truly be alone.