Chapter 1

I regained consciousness in the dark.

You might ask yourself how I knew I was conscious if I was in the dark, but just accept my version of events.

It was DARK when I regained consciousness.

My worst enemy was there to torment me. The beeping thing was keeping track of my pulse, heartbeat, blood pressure, temperature, and a number of other things, while another gizmo was pumping drugs into my tortured body.

All this was happening in the dark.

It took some time for me to remember what brought me to this particular intersection in my life, and I started to reach for my chest to see how bad I was wounded, but the plethora of tubes hooked up to me was a natural barrier.

Seeing how impossible it was to move around much with what looked like a dozen IV's percolating away, I decided to take inventory of my body.

Legs... ? Two!

Arms... ? Two, too!

Hands, fingers? ... Got both in the correct number.

Feet? ... I feel them both, attached right where they belong. Toes too.

Head...

Ok. That scared me. My head wounds were legendary, and always came with excruciating pain.

Surprisingly there was no head pain this time.

Hmmm...

Ok ... the big question ... WHO WAS I?

That required me to open my eyes and look around until I could gather enough facts to determine who I was, and where I was being treated. I cracked my eyes open and looked around again, seeking something, anything that would give me clues as to my identity.

The same dark hospital room was present when I looked around. My head wasn't restrained so I could turn it to see what there was to see. Mostly I saw dark walls, a dark ceiling, and a dark monitor, with dimly lit numbers all over it, spelling out my condition in numeric gauge.

To the far left I saw someone sleeping on a fold out loveseat. It was one of those love seats hospitals buy so loved ones can camp out beside their injured, sick, or dying relatives. Whoever was sleeping there looked mighty uncomfortable, and that made me grateful to be in a hospital bed, instead of the plastic covered torture bed.

I felt ... Well. That was a good question.

How did I feel?

I felt. That was for sure. I could feel the bed beneath me, and the covers over me. They felt cool and dry which made me think I hadn't been there for very long. My skin felt cool and dry, when I thought about it, so I might have been there a lot longer than I first supposed.

There was no pain.

Anywhere.

For the first time in four lifetimes, I was pain free.

It felt so good I wanted to jump up and run a marathon.

Of course, I had no idea who I was, but when I felt around my skull, there were no gunshot scars, so I wasn't Kevin, which meant Teri and the kids inherited a trust with over ten million dollars in it, which would be carefully administered to make sure they needed for nothing. Christine and Carole were going to come into money, also, but that might take a few weeks, while the lawyer in Asheville goes through the trust instructions.

Thinking about Christine made me wonder how she as doing, not that I could help since I didn't have Kevin's special essence anymore. Thinking about that made me think about my night with Christine and how much I enjoyed making love with her. It was a depressing to lose so many loved ones, just after discovering how precious they were.

Thinking about depression got me thinking about ... me.

Who was me? What did I look like? Was I loved, or hated? What mission was I to be completing on behalf of the universe, here?

Why???

All that went away when the door opened and a nurse walked in and started to fiddle with my IV pole.

"Hi," I said, softly. "Where am I?"

"EEEK!" she said. It might have been, "Ahhh!!!" I'm not positive, but it was one, or the other, for sure.

The nurse dropped her clipboard, squeaked again, and woke up my companion, who sat up and said, "What Wrong? Is something happening? Tell me what's wrong!!"

The nurse pointed at me like I'd done something really bad, and shouted, "He spoke to me!"

That admission made me wonder how long this body had been unconscious, so I turned to the person in the bed, and said, "Hi. Now I've spoken to you, too."

The shouting brought another nurse, who clearly had some seniority. She sent the first one out, turned on a light above the beeping machine, and turned to me, and said, "David, I'm Sarah. You are in Mercy Regional Medical Center, in Durango, Colorado. You and your family were in a very bad auto accident, and you've been asleep for about four days. We weren't expecting you to wake up tonight, and so Jenny was a little surprised. I am very sorry she startled you so badly, but she is young, and new to nursing.

"I need to call your doctor, and let him know that you are awake, and alert. I am pretty sure she'll be in to see you first thing in the morning, so ... in the meantime, I suggest you try to rest."

She was slim, young-ish, and had the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen. Her smile was genuine, but there was something hidden behind her smile that I was going to find out, sooner, or later, and I suspected that it was bad news. I guessed that whatever it was, was going to have to wait till morning. Rather than make demands, and get shot up with drugs, I relaxed and let her Sarah fuss over my pillow, and covers.

She gave me a small sip of water, fluffed my pillow again, switched off the light, and left.

I immediately turned to the woman occupying the sofa, and said, "Who are you, and what are you doing in my hospital room?"

It was a fair question, and she attacked it head on. "Hi. I'm Monica Johnson. The local court hired me to stay with you until they can sort out your situation. I'm not a nurse, just a companion, and I'm here to protect your interests."

None of that made much sense, so I asked the pregnant question. "Why do I need a defender from the court?"

She hesitated, but had opened that gate, so she was stuck walking through it. "David, I'm sorry, but your entire family was killed in the accident. They all died instantly. As far as anyone can tell, you were thrown clear when the car door popped open, and your seat belt was ripped loose. The State Police found you unconscious, about forty feet from the car, but not until the next morning, when the sun came up. You'd been out there all night, in the cold, and rain."

She seemed honestly concerned about my emotional well-being, and I tried to remain calm until she gave me more to go on. "What happened?"

She grimaced, and said, "A truck lost control, fishtailed into a bridge abutment, and slammed into it so hard, that the bridge collapsed onto your parents' car, with you and the two girls in the back. You were sitting against the back passenger door, which was unlocked, and when it popped open, some jagged piece of metal cut through your seatbelt, cut you on your side, pretty badly, and you were thrown clear of the crash.

"Everybody else was pinned in the wreckage, and died..."

Monica took my silence for grief, crawled into bed with me, and cradled my head against her bosom, trying to comfort me. I let her, rather than do something that caused her to question my memory. Her bosom felt very nice, by the way. It was soft, firm in all the right places, and I could detect just a hint of nipple beneath the blouse she wore.

She held me, and continued softly speaking. "You are going to be fine. None of your injuries are life threatening. There was some question about your head injury, and with you unconscious, the court decided to appoint itself as your protector. Now that you're awake, I'd imagine they will send me home in the morning.