Paige

There was something about her gaze when she looked out of that window. It seemed as if she was lost, searching for something that could not be found. Her doctors often asked her what she was looking at? It wasn’t the view, of course. The hospital building was surrounded by more buildings, as boring as the hospital was. They did have a garden but it was on the other side. So what was she looking at?

She didn’t know what to tell them so she just smiled and they smiled back in amusement. She was just a curiosity, another piece of puzzle they were trying to solve.

They called her Jane Doe. For a while, she  had thought that’s what her name was. There was still a flicker of hope back then. If people knew her name, maybe they knew where she came from. But all hope was lost when Jane Doe no. 2 was brought in. Like her, she too had no memory of who she was.

So she decided, she wouldn’t let them call her Jane anymore. She may not remember it but she was a real person and not just an object of interest. She requested all her doctors to call her Paige instead. She had heard that name on the news one day. It sounded like Page, and that’s how she felt these days, torn and separated from a book that was her life.

Paige often wondered why she was in the hospital or who was even paying for her? But the staff always told her that all her bills are taken care of and she need not worry about it. She was confused but she didn’t ask many questions. Maybe that was  how the world  outside functioned. How could she know? She didn’t remember a thing.

But as time passed, Paige started asking questions. She may have lost her memory but somehow it started to dawn on her. The world outside was not so nice and people didn’t just pay for each other

They told her that there are non profit organizations for people like her, people who are found in car crashes with no memory of who they were. Paige wanted to believe them but her mind was protesting . She could sense that something wasn’t  right.Jane Doe no 2 was already gone. Her family had found her.

Paige wondered where her family was. She must have existed in the world outside sometime, for someone. Why wasn’t anyone looking for her?. She looked outside the window, hoping to find a proof of her existence. Instead, her gaze always wandered to the cars that rushed through the road on either side . The buildings like her were always still but the cars, they  kept moving.