:: Chapter IV - A chess match ::

Chapter IV
A chess match

We were talking for almost two hours. Rianne showed me some pictures and asked about those behavioral questions. After I answered everything, she asked me to tell the story; everything, since I woke up on that beach till now. I knew it could take quite long; chiefly if I would mention the people who saved me. However I wouldn't talk about that, probably.

- The first thing that comes to my mind is that probably you have a hysterical amnesia. Something caused a shock that drove you into this condition. Despite the fact you had a hit on your head, it wasn't the cause. However, the main problem is the absence of an ID. Worse than that, those documents you found. What we can do...
- I know what you can do, Doctor! At least, I think I do. The only question is why are you taking too long to start a treatment? Give me some medicine, something.

Maybe I did a big mistake. I didn't wait for her to finish talking. That's the problem with doctors: they talk, talk and talk. Most of the time, 80% of what they say you were already expecting. I know I have amnesia and I'm confused about the documents. So, she could have said something a bit more useful.

- Mr. Natan, I'm trying to help you. So, please, let me finish. As I was trying to say, what we can do first is contact a detective to look for the owners of those documents. I have a friend that used to work for the Foreign Police. Also, he has some specialties in hypnosis. I guess he can help on both ways. I will ask him to come by, and do that as fast as he can.
- I'm sorry, Doctor Rianne. I hope you understand that it's not easy for me. I'm really thankful for your help.
- You are welcome, Ms. Natan. Now you can go back to your room.

That said she took her purse and some annotations she did, about me probably. Rianne was a red hair woman, as taller as I am. She wasn't wearing white, as most of the doctors do. The only white piece was a shirt, under her black blazer. She had black pants as well. The result of black clothes, red hair and green eyes was like if you have a she-elf dressed as a gothic girl. I stood up and opened the door for her. After we left the room, she took the first corridor on right and I kept walking straight ahead. After the junctions, I took the corridor on my left. The funniest thing I realised was that my room had a number totally against the pattern used. I mean, I found out that the rooms on my right had even numbers, starting from 200; on my left, the other rooms started from 201, odd numbers. So, why my room was numbered as 131?

When I reached the door I waited for some time, looking at Mr. Arnold’s bed. This time he wasn’t awake; at least from here it seemed he was sleeping. So, I guess I won’t have any surprises like “Hello Natan”. The strangest thing was that he just went to sleep after his greetings. Then I went to my bed, just to take some rest. The talk with Doctor Rianne was really long. We started by half past two PM, and now it’s almost half past five. Thus, some rest before the dinner is a quite good deal. I just lied on my bed, put my hands under my head, and when I was about to close my eyes in an attempt to remember something… I heard a voice saying:

- Well Natan, based on my last try, it seemed you don’t want to talk with your room mate. Am I right?

I just tried to think as fast as I could in 5 seconds. I couldn’t find any proper answer. I wasn’t desperate, just confused. The guy lying on the bed beside me tried to kill himself because he cannot remember anything. But now, and that is really strange, he heard my name and remember me. Even worse, he talks like a healthy person, in both physical and mental states. If suddenly he started getting better, is good for me as well; maybe they can fix me.

- Hello Mr. Arnold; and sorry for not talking to you earlier today, I wasn’t expecting you to remember the name I’m using.
- Sure, I understand. I was surprise as well for seeing you here.

Heartbeat increasing fast, anxiety; I thought I would have a spontaneous combustion. He should be kidding me. He was, definitively, kidding me. I sat on the bed with my hands on my head, but not in a relaxing position.

- What do you mean by “I was surprise as well for seeing you here”, Mr. Arnold?
- You can call me Arnold, no problem at all.
- Answer my question!

At that moment Angela came into the room. She looked surprise, staring at me.

- With whom are you talking to?
- With whom?! I’m talking to him…

Then I turned to Mr. Arnold, pointed to him and realised that he was sleeping. Now it’s the right moment to get desperate. I told her everything about what happened, after she left and after I came back from the talk with Doctor Rianne.

- Mr. Natan, I know it’s being hard for you to handle all of this, but we gave some medicine to Mr. Arnold. I don’t think it’s time for him to wake up.
- You don’t understand. He was awake; he is just pretending.

I stood up and took three steps to Mr. Arnold's bed; he was sleeping. At least that’s what I thought at a first glance. Then I tried to wake him up, touching his hand gently. He was so cold. For one moment I thought I was touching a dead body. But suddenly, he made some noise, like a dog grunting. I looked at Angela and she just moved her shoulders, like she didn’t understand anything at all. I gave up and I went back to bed.

- Mr. Natan, I do perfectly understand that you are really confused. I already told that. Just relax and try to sleep a bit, you need some rest. Doctor Rianne asked me to tell you that her friend is coming tomorrow to see you.

Let me see: detective, hypnosis specialist and psychologist. I guess that fine and it means good news. I will try to forget about Mr. Arnold for now.

- Fine by me, Angela. I'm not going anywhere. What did you bring for me?
- Let's see: some soup, bread and an apple. If you want some coffee, just let me know.
- Everything is fine. Thank you.

She was leaving the room when she stopped and turned to me:

- I almost forget. I asked if you could watch some TV. So, by now, if you want to, you can go to the reception. Just don't leave the main hall. We will bring the TV tomorrow. But keep in mind that you have to keep an eye on Mr. Arnold; he can try again with the TV wires.
- That's fine. I guess he won't move anyway.

She left and I was having my dinner. I was really full of hope. The detective could give me some amibarbital and I would talk about everything. That would help me to find my family, or someone that was looking for me now. It took almost one hour to have a plate of soup and four slices of bread. The apple I would eat later on. I was really excited about the next day. Then I heard a deep breath. I thought for one second who did that; and I closed my eyes. He said:

- So she left. And she is still thinking I'm sleeping. What do you think, Natan? May I call you Natan?

I repeated to myself several times that he was still sleeping.

- Come on, Natan. You know I'm awake. You know I can talk to you.
- What's the matter with you, Mr. Arnold? Why don't you talk to other people?
- Well, it's a bit hard to explain. I tried to kill myself, as you heard about. After that, I started keeping some memories in my mind. I guess that’s why I remember you. But there is something else: you seem really familiar to me. But this I cannot recall.
- My second question...
- Well, it's just as strange for me as it is for you. I don't want them to make any sort of experiment with me. In time everything will be explained.

That's the second time I heard the phrase here. What is it about? Maybe it’s just an old cliché; maybe not. At least Mr. Arnold explained a bit about his situation.

- Do you to play some chess, Natan? It could help you to get your memories back; at least about chess.
- Well, if you can remember you can teach me.
- It's under my bed, get. Let's adjust the high of our beds and use this wheel chair as a table.

We played chess for almost the whole night. I was a bit surprised because I could remember something about chess, indeed. We went to sleep around 3 AM; I just ignored Angela remarks about rest. By nine in the morning she came into the room; I was just waking up. She told me:

- You slept like a baby. I came to check if everything was fine, by 8 PM, you were in a deep sleep. How do you feel today, Mr. Natan?