A Tiger's Love--An Excerpt

The light hurt his eyes.

They fluttered open and then closed again as the piercing brightness seemed to cut straight into his head, sending the headache thumping from just a minor nuisance to an all encompassing pain. He groaned, trying to lift his hand to cover his eyes. A sharp pain in his arm stopped him and he managed to squint open his eyes, seeing the tubes taped down to his arm.

A machine next to him kept track of his heart rate, the bleeps almost comforting. Another machine kept track of his blood oxygen and still a third regulated the amount of liquid that was being fed into the tube in his arm.

He was in a hospital. But why? He tried to remember what happened but everything seemed so blank.

“Oh, you’re awake,” a soft, very feminine voice said next to him.

He turned his head, staring at the Angel who stood next to his bed. She was blonde, her hair long and naturally curly. Her big blue eyes dominated a small heart shaped face. She had delicate features, a tiny tip tilted nose and lush pink lips that seemed made to be kissed. He could see a book on the chair behind her and wondered if she’d been sitting with him long. “W-what h-happened?” he asked, his voice a hoarse croak.

“You don’t remember?” the girl asked. “You were in an accident. I found you wandering in the dark on the side of the road. You were bleeding and incoherent. I got you to the hospital.” She reached down and took his hand. “Let me get the doctor.”

She patted his hand gently then left the room, leaving behind her the fresh smell of gardenias to tease his senses.

He closed his eyes, enjoying the fragrance, feeling as if it were taunting him with a memory he just couldn’t seem to reach. He heard the door to the room open again and he opened his eyes, staring at the short, heavyset woman who took his wrist in her hand. “So you’re back with us finally. It’s about time. I couldn’t understand how any red blooded American boy could resist this little girl but you’ve managed for an entire week.”

“A w-week? I’ve b-been here a week?” He stared at the short woman in her nurse’s scrubs, a sense of horror and disbelief flooding him. “I c-can’t stay. I have to…to…”

The blonde angel came up on the other side of the bed. “Shh. You won’t do yourself any good if you get up and rip out your stitches or pass out and hit your head again.” She stroked his bare arm unconsciously.

He settled back into the pillow under his head, staring up at her. “W-who are you? Do we know each other?”

His angel glanced over at the nurse. “You don’t know who you are?”

He shook his head, groaning as the movement caused his headache to flare even brighter. “It’s like a brick wall.” He glanced up at his angel. “You don’t know me?”

“No,” she said softly, still stroking his arm. “I’d never seen you before the night I found you on the side of the road.”

“She managed to keep you calm when you were delirious,” a male voice said from the doorway.

The nurse handed the doctor his chart after she finished writing his vitals in it. “I’m Dr. Anthony Bernard, I’ve been on your case since your were brought into Emergency last week. So how are you feeling today?”

“I can’t remember anything,” he said, a touch of panic making his voice a bit shriller then it had been. “I can’t even remember my name. Is that normal?”

The doctor cocked his head. “You had a pretty nasty head injury. Some amnesia wouldn’t be abnormal. Just relax, don’t try to force anything. It’ll come back in time.”

“In time? Doctor, how would you like not knowing who you are or where you belong?” He tried to sit up in bed but his pretty blonde angel moved quickly to his side. She stroked her hand over his face until he turned toward her, reaching up and grabbing her hand to hold in his.

“Listen to the doctor. He’s one of the best,” she leaned down to whisper near his ear.

“I’m going to send you down for an MRI. I’ll know more after I get a chance to look at those pictures.” Dr. Bernard lifted the sheet that covered him, reaching for the hospital gown and lifting it just enough to see the bandages that covered his ribs. “I’m going to have the nurse change your bandages but you seem to be healing well. Keep this up and we’ll be able to release you by the end of the week.”

He nodded, bringing his free hand up to his forehead as the headache seemed to grow. Release him to go where? He couldn’t help but wonder. He could feel something behind the pain but he wasn’t sure what it was. It was as if he needed to get through the pain, to reach the other side of it and everything would be there, his identity, what happened to him, why he felt so strange, everything.

His eyes flickered and the pain receded. He opened his eyes, staring at his angel then at the nurse who was feeding something in a syringe into the tube that went into his arm. “W-what?” he stuttered faintly.

“Something for the pain, you’ll sleep for a while,” she said.

His head swiveled on the pillow, a low moan coming from between his lips. “No,” he growled, a sudden pain in his back, like the shifting of bones accompanying his rage. But then, as the medication took affect, the bones shifted back and he fought to keep his eyes open.

“Shh, Jamie,” his angel said. “Just let it work.” She stroked his hair that wasn’t covered by bandages, her hand gentle.

His eyes popped back open as he heard her call him a name. “J-Jamie?” he whispered.

“You don’t look like a John Doe,” she said with a shrug. “I had to call you something.”

“W-who are you?” he asked even as he lost the fight with consciousness. Her name echoed in his head as the darkness flooded him. “Tessa.”