33.

"She's awake!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at my pathetic state, eyes widening, and a collective gasp leaving their mouths together. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

They all rushed to my side, the doctors doing what they do, checking my vitals, blah, blah, blah.

A woman, who wasn't dressed in white like the others, came closer, her eyes watering up. I had no idea who she was, though she looked slightly familiar. I couldn't quite place where I had seen her before.

She continued staring at me, as if I were a ghost. Considering the fact that I was half-dead, I suppose it was appropriate enough.

A couple minutes later, after the doctors agreed that I wasn't in immediate danger of falling into a coma again, they removed my oxygen mask, and helped me sit up straight, with lots of groaning from my side.

"How are you feeling, dear?" The female doctor asked me kindly.

"Um, almost all my bones are broken, how do you suppose I would be feeling?" I replied, snarkily.

"I mean mentally," she responded patiently, not minding my slight rudeness, which made me feel slightly guilty and uncomfortable.

"Okay, I think?"

"Do you remember what happened prior to you getting into the accident?"

"Yes, I do. I fell down from a helicopter, and lost consciousness. That reminds me, was there a young man who was brought in with me? He was with me when he fell," I said.

Everyone exchanged looks, that I couldn't decipher.

"Sylvie, you didn't fall from a helicopter. Y-you jumped from our balcony," The lady, who wasn't a doctor, said, her voice cracking in between her sentence.

"And there was no one with you. You were brought in alone. Your condition was extremely critical, because you had fallen on your head, and had lost a lot of blood," Another doctor added.

I was horrified. I had jumped from a balcony? When did that happen? Why don't I remember any of it? And why did that woman, who weirdly knew my name, call it our balcony?

"Do you not remember any of it, my dear?" She asked, looking as if she was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Who are you?" I couldn't help asking.

The woman looked stunned, as if someone had slapped her on her face. The doctors exchanged another look.

"Do you not recognise her? She's your stepmother."

x x x