Chapter One - Dreamless Sleep

I woke up in a large white room.  I would have assumed it to be a hospital room except for the fact it only had one door and no window.  Next to me there was a single table with a piece of paper on it, noticing there was no beeping machine there I knew it was not a hospital.    I looked down at myself; I wore black jeans and a long blue tee-shirt that went down to mid-thigh.  When I wiggled up the pillows I knew I was wearing a bra as well.  I only noticed how weak I felt when I attempted to pick up the small paper and my arm fell half way there.  I stared for a long moment at my arm and realized that it was slightly numb, along with the rest of my body. 
         Suddenly, as if realizing the numbness was a trigger, pins and needles shot up my legs and into the rest of my body.  I let out a short groan and waited for the sensation to go away.  Finally, it did.  Once I could safely feel my arms I reached for the note.  Success. 
         Still lying down, I held the note above my head and read it:


         Dear patient.


Patient?  Was that me?  Oh, it must really be a hospital.  If it really was a hospital though, it was an odd one.  With no windows, for some strange reason, that really bugged me.  I continued to read:


         It seems you have finally woken up, I will be there shortly.


         There was no signature to say who the note was from.  I set the note on my lap and leaned back onto the pillows behind me; they were quite comfortable.  I began to mull over how they could be so wonderful when the door opened and a woman poked her head in, her hair was a blazing blue and styled in a punk manner.  It was short in the back from what I could tell, and grew long in the front but parted so that she could see what was in front of her.  It was like a reverse mullet.  Large pointed ears stuck out near the back of her head, angled so that they obviously came from the sides of her head.
         “Knock knock!” She said cheerfully and walked into the room.  She straightened her back so I could see her full height.  She was tall.  By my estimate, she must have reached a good 6’6”.  She carried a clip board and had a white lab coat on.  Doctor?  I guessed.
         “Well,” she said, causing me to look back at her face, “you’ve been asleep for quite some time; 6 whole months!”  I had been asleep?  For six months?  Why had I been asleep for so long?  My confusion must have shown on my face because the doctor, or who I thought was a doctor, looked at me worriedly.
         “Do you remember what happened Sapphire?  We couldn’t find out why you were asleep for so long…we began to lose hope.”  She questioned me as if I would know the answer.  She was very wrong if that was what she thought.
         “I don’t know…Was…was I in some kind of accident?”  I began to think about the last thing I could remember, but only small flashes of places and strangers came to me.  Nothing seemed very threatening.  A tall apartment building, people laughing, nothing pointed to bad.  The tall woman did not seem very happy with my answer and grimaced.
         “We were hoping you would tell us that.  But it doesn’t matter right now.  I’m sure it will come back to you.”  She smiled at me to reveal razor-sharp teeth, and two small tusks on either side of her jaw.  I noticed that when she stopped smiling the tusks stuck out just a little bit, showing only the tips.
         “What is it?” She asked.  I did not answer and just kept staring, trying to form words to explain that she looked like a monster to me.  But a really cool looking monster.  She looked like she had just come out of a fairy tale or a video game.  I looked over her one more time, this time looking for strange details like blue hair and tusks.  That was when I saw her skin colour.  She was very pale, but her skin had the tiniest hint of green to it.
         She noticed the direction of my gaze and looked down at her hand.  She looked back at me, my eyes now looking at her face and its odd colouring.
         “What are you?” I whispered more to myself than to her, but with her ears, she heard me.  Seeing that I insulted her I said, “Er, who are you?”  I gave a nervous laugh.
         “I’m Dr. —”
         “Looove,” came a very deep, male voice from the hallway.  The doctor was still looking at me when her eyes narrowed into slits and a low growl of annoyance came from deep within her throat.  I looked over to the door to see a man standing there, staring at the doctor with a huge grin on his face.
         He looked to be a little older than the doctor, late twenties perhaps?  He had tusks just like the doctor, but a lot bigger.  His hair was a dark green and it reminded me of the way an ocean could look green at times.  He took a step in, still looking at the doctor who was still looking at me, and I could see his hair was tussled and went down to the middle of his back.  Two braids came down from behind his ears, which were large as well, and went down his chest.  His skin had the same green tint to it, and he was freakishly tall, I guessed he must be at least 6’10, maybe taller.  If his hair was blue, I would have guessed that he and the doctor were related, but it was obvious by their facial features that they could not have even been cousins.
         “I’m Kamaria, but you can just call me Kami for short okay Sapphire?”  She put a smile on her face and began scribbling onto her clip board.
         “Okay, but why do you keep calling me Sapphire?  Is that my name?”  How could I have forgotten my name?  Somehow, I did.
         “Not exactly, you were found with no ID except a sapphire necklace in the shape of a lizard and what you were wearing.  It was that or lizard-girl.  I thought Sapphire would be more appropriate.”  I reached up to my neck to feel for a necklace, but did not find one.
         “I’ll get the necklace for you in a minute if you like,” Kami said, noticing my hand.  I just nodded in agreement.
         “And we can call me Jall!”  The grinning man said as he stuck a hand in the air to put our attention back on him.
         “Go away Jall,” Kami said, “I’m with a patient if you didn’t notice.” Her scribbling began to get harder and I noticed she never looked down at what she was writing.
         “Oh, she doesn’t mind my being here!  Do you…uh…” he looked at me, waiting for me to tell him my name.  Kami’s pen went through her clip board and I could feel my eyes practically bulge out of my head.
         “Sapph…Sapphire,” I said quickly, “I guess I don’t—” Kami gave me a look that said she would do something very bad if I allowed him to stay, so I finished my sentence with, “I mind.  I very mind.  You should leave now.  Fast.”  His grin finally left his face and was replaced with a small grimace.
         “Fine then.  If that’s how it is.  I’ll be in the waiting room.”  And with a quick step, he was out of the room.  I tore my eyes away from the door just in time to see Kami let out a sigh of relief. 
         She walked over to my bedside and placed her now broken clip board down on the table, the pen still going through.  She looked like she had something to tell me, but could not decide if it was the right thing to do or not.
         “The man that found you and brought you here, Sapphire,” she began, “has been coming in every week asking about your condition.  Because we didn’t know if he was your family or not, we legally couldn’t tell him.  He’s in the waiting room right now.  Did you…want to see him?”
         I thought for a moment.  The man that found me was in the waiting room.  Right down the hall, and he wanted to see me.  I guess he did technically save my life, but the idea of him being the one to put me asleep for so long kept creeping into my mind.
         “If you’re here, I mean, he’s here, I guess I could see him…What’s his name?”  My voice came out quieter than I had intended it to.
         Kami gave me a strange look, and then said his name was Donny Pynch.  I said the name over and over again in my head, but it never started to sound familiar.
         “I’ll say he can come in then,” Kami said as she left the room.  I sat there thinking of what could have happened to me.  I did not come up with anything at all.  Then I started thinking about what Donny Pynch was like.  He could not be all bad, I thought, he did bring me to the…hospital?  Well, he brought me somewhere to get help at least.  I was curious as to how old he was as well.  Was he my age?  Wait.  How old was I? 
         I looked down at my hands and they did not have any wrinkles.  My nails were not painted, but then again I had been asleep for half a year.  I thought back to the people that I last remembered.  They looked like they would be about 16 or 17?  I just assumed I was that age when Kami came back in.
         “Mr. Pynch, this is Sapphire, the girl you found,” she said gesturing to me.  I looked to the door but did not see anyone.  I looked to Kami and mouthed, where is he?
         She looked to the door and waved her hand, signalling for Donny Pynch to come in.  He reluctantly did.
         Donny Pynch was a very average man, or he seemed so to me.  His eyes were brown, along with his hair.  Not too dark, not too light, just in the middle.  He wore a dark blue suit that looked like it was tailored especially for him.  He held his hat in his hands and looked like he was going to faint soon or be sick.  I hoped it was not the latter.  The longer he stood there, the harder he seemed to grip his hat.  I could not help but notice he wore a wedding ring on his finger.          
         I glanced at Kami for an explanation for his nervousness, but she simply shrugged her shoulders.  It was actually kind of funny seeing them stand next to each other.  He appeared so much smaller than her 6’6”, though he was probably tall for a man himself.
         “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, the clearness of his voice surprised me because it did not fit with his tense posture; “I was so worried when they kept saying you hadn’t woken up.  We all were.”
         “Um, we..?” I asked
         “Oh, my wife and kids.  I found you and when they found out about your…condition, they were as worried as I was.”  He cleared his throat and glanced into the hallway.
         “I see, well, thank you.  For helping me I mean,” I really did not know what to say.  This man had been here every week to check up on me, even though they would not let him see me and we were total strangers.  I think I really owed him one, or maybe a million.
         “Do you remember anything,” he began, “from when I found you?  You were still awake, for a short while at least.”
         “No, sorry,” was all I could say.  He looked rather disappointed with my response, and I felt bad that I could not offer more information.  I hoped my memory would come back to me eventually.  I really wanted to know what happened, it was a strange feeling to be missing a part of your memory.  He looked to the doorway again.
         “My youngest is here, would you mind seeing her?  She was…with me when I brought you here.” He paused for a moment, thinking, “She actually was the one who pointed you out…”
         “Sure, of course!”  I tried not to sound too fake in my agreement.  I gave a small smile towards him and then glanced at Kami.  She was looking into the hallway with a look that said she was even more uncomfortable than I felt.
         Donny Pynch walked into the hallway and returned with a small girl, about the age of eight I guessed.  Her hair was a bright shade of blonde and she wore a blue sundress with sandals, I noticed her eyes were a startling shade of blue; it went well with the dress.  She was in front of her father, grabbing onto his pant leg as if she were about to fall off the face of the earth if she were to let go.  She did not even seem to notice me at first and I soon realized why; she was staring at Kami with a look of pure fear in her beautiful blue eyes.  I wondered why I did not react like that…?
         Kami looked down at the small girl and tried to smile.  It came out like she was just showing her teeth and tusks.  Donny Pynch’s daughter buried her face into her fathers pant leg.
         “I’ll just…step into the hall,” Doctor said as she turned to me, “call if you need anything okay?”
         “Okay.” She gave one last look at the girl before leaving.  When she got into the hallway I heard a woman apologizing to Kami about a certain someone’s behaviour. 
         I looked down at the little girl and gave her a smile.
         “Hello,” I said, trying not to scare her, and suddenly I was very aware that I had not had a shower in six months, “what’s your name?”  She looked up at me, obviously more at ease knowing Kami was gone.
         “My name’s Kay lee, but most people call me Kay,” she replied as she loosened her death grip on her fathers pants.  Donny Pynch gave her a small nudge, signalling that it was okay to approach me.  Kay walked up beside my bed, her eyes never leaving me.
         “Uh, thanks for finding me,” it was lame, but I really did not know what else to say to and eight year old.
         “You’re welcome,” she said cheerfully and gave me a wide smile, “where’s your mommy and daddy?  Why aren’t they here with you since you woke up?  Why were you sleeping for so long?  Why—“
         Her father cut her off.
         “I’m sure her parents are in the building, I doubt they would go too far, right Sapphire?”  The look in his eyes was telling me to lie to Kay, to tell her I knew who my parents were and that they were in the building taking care of me.
         “Yes!  They just went out for a break, they’ve been here for a while, with me.  In here.”  I noticed that when I was lying, I talked kind of funny.  I guessed I was not a very good liar.
         Kay looked up at me and began asking more questions that I just did not have the answers to.
         “Uh-huh sweetie,” said Donny, “I think Sapphire is a little tired at the moment, why don’t you go wait with Mommy and your brothers?”  Kay looked at her father for a long moment and then left the room after a very loud goodbye and a wave.  The second she was out of the room, Kami came back in with something in her hand; a necklace.
         “This is the necklace you were brought in with, Sapphire,” Kami walked next to the bed and handed the jewellery to me gently.  As she did, I saw her nails were very short, I had expected them to be claws.
         I look down at the necklace, my necklace.  It was silver and in the shape of a lizard with tiny sapphires decorating it.  I could not seem to take my eyes away from the tiny object.
         “Sapphire,” I heard a woman’s voice whisper my name and I quickly looked around the room.
         “What is it?” Donny asked.
         “Um, nothing, it’s nothing, just hearing things,” I said quickly, hoping to make him not worry about me more.
         I blinked.  Kami gave me a concerned look and began writing down onto a clipboard.  I looked next to me for the one she had originally damaged and it was gone; the one in her hands now was new.
         “Wha…how…guh?” Was all I could manage to say, along with a lot of pointing to her and the table beside me.  She ignored my monosyllabic sounds and frantic hand motions.
         “Okay then!  Here’s the fun part.  I’m going to just go through your information, like you name, blood type, and so on.  But there’s just one thing first,” she looked to Donny who reassured her with a nod, “would you like Donny Pynch to be your legal guardian?  Until we find your closest blood relative that is.”
         “What would it mean if he is my legal guardian?” I asked the question merely so I could have time to think.  Millions of schemes went through my head about if he was evil or not.
         “Well, you would live with him and his family for one.  When you go to school he would sign all your papers, pay for your medical bills—“ Donny cut her off.  Kami did not look impressed that he would interrupt her.
         “Please say yes Sapphire,” he pleaded, “you really need a place to stay, and Kay would love to have you at home; she’s always wanted a sister.”
         “Well, okay then…I guess,” I said.  What choice did I really have?  I did not know where I was, I had no memory or known family.  I was in limbo, but hopefully not forever.
         “Are you sure Sapphire?” Kami asked, concerned.
         “Yeah it’s fine,” I replied even though I did not really know if it was fine.
         “Alright then.  Now, let’s start telling you who you are…or who you sort of are,” Kami gave me an encouraging smile.
         I blinked and when I opened my eyes there were two chairs at the end of my bed.  I had to stop blinking.  I felt my mouth open but before I could make a sound Kami was already telling me about…well, me.
         “Your name, well, new name, is Sapphire Pynch.  Blood type is A positive.  Age is 17.  Hair colour is auburn and eye colour is brown,” I did not like how average I sounded, “right now you have a spell on you that allows you to not need to eat, drink or bathe and we can take it off if you like,” I shook my head with wide eyes, I wanted to keep the spell, “and that’s all we know about you.”  This surprised Donny.
         “That’s all you know?” he asked.
         “Sadly, yes.  Nobody recognizes her around here, all we could really get was her blood type.”
         “Well then, I guess we’ll just have to help you remember who you are, eh Sapphire?” he looked at me with a smile and I could not help but smile back at the thought of remembering.
         Just then, Kay bounded into the room followed by a blonde woman, whom I assumed was her mother.
         “Yay!  You’re staying with us Fire,” she called me Fire, I thought that was cute, “I have a big sister finally, better than those two,” she pouted and pointed into the hall, right before her mother began to scold her for coming in.  I looked to the door to see two boys come in.  They looked about my age, 17 supposedly, and they seemed to be twins.  Their hair and eyes were just like their fathers, a very average colour of brown but with a streak of blue or pink through it. Somehow they made it look really good.  They had high cheek bones and each wore their hair like they just got out of bed; it worked for them.  They wore loose jeans and baggy tee-shirts.  Each had an expression on their face that said they wanted to be anywhere but here; it made me feel a little insulted and guilty.
         “Boys, why don’t you be polite for a change and introduce yourselves?” their mother said in a disapproving tone.  The boys sighed the unison.
         “I’m Gin.” Said the boy on the right, with a streak of pink through his hair.
         “And I’m Tonic.” Said the other, with a streak of blue through his hair.
         “Like…the drink?” I questioned.
         “No, those aren’t their names,” their mother said angrily, “it’s—“
         “We chose our names, that’s what they are now!” The boy with blue in his hair, Tonic, sounded agitated when he spoke.  I imagined him and his mother must have had this conversation many times.
         “Sapphire,” said the boy with pink in his hair, Gin, “it suits you, very cute.”  He smiled at me in a way that said ‘I have no interest in dating you at all and we should be friends’.
         “I like Kay’s idea better.  Fire.  Sounds stronger.”  Tonic looked at his brother and Gin only nodded with a smile.  I found it very easy to tell who the sensitive one was and who the tough one was.
         “Well,” Kami cut in before the Pynch family could say anything else, “let’s get your things packed and…oh right.  You’re wearing all your things.  Well, let’s sign you out then!”  She handed her clipboard and a pen to Donny and he signed it.
         “Free to go then,” he said, “I think we should take you shopping though, for clothes I mean.  But that can be done later, let’s just get you home first.”  And with that said, the Pynch family was heading out the door with me staring after, trying to register what was going on around me.