Ouch.

They spun, they flew, they sped through what seemed to be absolute nothingness. With nothing to slow them down, not even air, they seemed to move faster and faster, strange colors swirling around them, noises coming from nowhere, sensations that didn't make sense.

What's happening, Rowan!? Nym exclaimed, terrified.

I don't know, Rowan replied, trying his very best to stay calm. It wasn't enough. He and Nym were both nearly in a panic. But I think we-

SMACK. He was cut off when finally they came to a stop, jolted still by the cold, wet, hard pavement they were now laying on. So they were back on land, but where? Rowan groaned and sat up, looking around at the unfamiliar setting. It was dark-how long had they been in that...rift thing? They seemed to be in some kind of city...

Suddenly there was a loud blaring noise, followed by a screeching. Startled, Rowan and Nym turned their heads around to see two blinding lights speeding towards them.

There was a stunning impact, and then everything went blank.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Cadance muttered over and over to herself, unable to move in any way other than to tremble. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel. For what seemed like an eternity, she couldn't even blink.

Oh my god! I just...I just hit someone! Oh god! Cady thought frantically. What if she got arrested? What if...what if she had just killed someone!?

Shakily, slowly, she opened her door and stepped out. A few feet away lay the pedestrian she'd hit, completely motionless. Next to him, also motionless, was a dog. She'd hit a dog too!?

Tears welled up as she cautiously made her way over. Please don't be dead, please don't be dead...she thought desperately. The guy was definitely unconscious, and he was bleeding. Praying to every god she'd ever heard of, Cady laid her head down on the guy's chest.

A heartbeat! Cady nearly passed out from relief. Without another thought she whipped out her iPhone and dialed 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"I just...I just found this guy laying in the street, unconscious," Cady said, thinking quickly. She couldn't tell them the truth. "I think he got hit by a car. He's still alive."

"Where are you located?"

Cady looked around for a sign. "The end of New Fourth Street," she replied. "Please hurry!"

After being assured that an ambulance was on its way, Cady sat back and waited, unable to muster up the strength to stand.

Pain.

Nothingness.

Pain.

"...struck by an automobile..."

Still pain. It hurt. His head hurt.

"...girl insisted on bringing the dog..."

He slowly opened his eyes. It hurt worse, so he shut them again. What happened? What was going on? Where was he? It still hurt. A small moan of pain escaped him.

"Are you awake? Sir, can you hear me?"

He tried to nod, but the pain was almost sickening.

"Don't try to move, sir, you've been in an accident. Just try to stay awake and answer my questions. Do you know what happened?"

"No."

"Do you know what day it is?"

"No."

"Can you tell me your name?"

"...No."

It was too much. Willingly, he let himself slide back into nothingness.

Cady hated waiting rooms. More accurately, she hated waiting. So the very concept of a room made specifically for waiting irritated her greatly.

But she couldn't just run someone over and then leave them. She felt guilty enough as it was, but she didn't think she'd be able to live with herself if she didn't find out he was okay. She couldn't believe it. She'd run someone over. What was wrong with her?

"Excuse me, Ms. Madder?" a nurse, or doctor, or someone who wore scrubs said, walking up to Cady.

"That's me," Cady answered, jumping to her feet. "So what's the word? Is he okay? Is he gonna be okay?"

"He should be fine, physically," Person In Scrubs replied. "He's very lucky you found him when you did."

"Yeah...heheh, lucky," Cady replied nervously. Time to change the subject! "Wait, whattaya mean 'he'll be fine physically?' Is there some other way he won't be fine?"

Scrubs Person hesitated, making the blood drain from Cady's face. "Well, he did suffer some head trauma, which we believe led to the onset of retrograde amnesia."

"Like...he can't remember anything?" Cady asked.

"I'm afraid so," Scrubs Person said gently. "Thankfully he had an ID--well at least that's what we think it is, it was very foreign looking--so we know his name and age, but nothing else."

"Nothing? Like...where he lives and all that?" Cady asked anxiously.

Scrubs Person seemed to decide that they had said enough. "We'll continue to update you on the situation. In the meantime, our visitation rules restrict us to only allowing family to visit a patient. You're welcome to stay in the waiting room."

"Oh. Great." Cady muttered as Scrubs Person walked away. She flopped back down onto her seat and put her head in her hands. What had she done...

[This is like, a day or two later maybe...]

Rowan laid on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He was
concentrating hard, trying to remember something, anything. He wouldn't
even know his own name if he hadn't been told it was "Rowan Eligius."
It was...upsetting, for lack of a better word.

You really don't remember anything? the daemon laying down on the floor next to the bed asked unhappily.

I remember...I remember that you're my daemon...? Rowan said with uncertainty. What was her name, though? He couldn't think of it. It was so frustrating...!

It's Nym, the daemon replied. That's my name. And yeah, I'm your daemon, I think. I must be, there're no other clio here. It's weird though, not knowing my own clio.

Rowan tried to wrap his brain about this, but he couldn't. He could only vaguely think of what a daemon even was, let alone figure out why Nym could remember some things and he couldn't. But she didn't seem to remember him, though...It was like they were meeting for the first time.

This is weird, he agreed. I really don't like it.

Neither do I, Nym said sadly. I wish I could remember you.

All of the sudden the door opened and a blonde girl slipped through it, closing it quietly behind her.

"Um...hello," Cady said awkwardly to the victim of her reckless driving. She'd learned his name was Rowan and that today was his 23rd birthday. Way to go, she said to herself. Not only did she nearly kill a guy and give him amnesia, she did it on his birthday. "Um...I don't know if anyone told you, but...today's your birthday!"

She had sneaked into his room because she just felt too bad not to. She needed to do SOMETHING to at least begin to make it up to him, but what?

"So...happy birthday..." she said slowly, suddenly realizing how dumb she sounded. "I mean, not that you're happy right now...I guess...but I just thought I should say something..."

Well THIS was embarrassing.

Rowan stared at the blonde girl who had just come into his room and started talking to him as if she knew him.

...Well...Maybe she did know him...So far she knew more about him than he did. He hadn't had any idea that it was his birthday. With a sinking feeling, he realized he didn't even know how old he was. It was not a comforting thought.

So he asked the question that he'd probably have to ask a million more times, "Um, who are you?"

Cady stared back at Rowan blankly, before she realized that she hadn't even introduced herself. "Oh. Oh!" she blinked. "I'm Cadance Madder, call me Cady. Haha. Don't worry, you didn't know me before this!"

She smiled, not even faltering at the aghast look on Rowan's face. "I'm the one who...FOUND you and called 911. No need to thank me though! Anyways, it's nice to meet you!"

"...Nice to meet you too," Rowan said slowly, after a long pause. Geez, this girl had a lot of energy. She looked the opposite of how he felt. Even though she'd said not to, he felt obligated to thank her. Apparently she was the one who saved his life. "Well...thanks for saving me and all..."

He didn't know what else to say. Why had she come here anyways?

Nym got to her feet. "I'm Nym!" she introduced herself to the girl. "I'm Rowan's daemon! ...Where's yours?"

Didn't clio NEED daemons?

Cady's mouth dropped open like a cash register. Either she was having a vivid hallucination, or Rowan's dog just TALKED.

No. No, that was silly, dogs couldn't talk. But...she was so sure it had. It's mouth moved and everything. But Rowan didn't seem to react at all to his dog's words. Even an amnesiac would remember that animals are incapable of speech, right?

"D-did your dog just," she gulped, "talk?"

"Daemon," Nym corrected amiably, not registering Cady's strange reaction. "Yeah, I talked. So where IS your daemon? Is it outside the door? Or is it real small?"

But Rowan saw that something was off. Was it normal for clio to react like that when addressed by someone else's daemon? He couldn't say he knew for sure...

"Is, um, something wrong?" he asked, just to make sure.

Cady wobbled a little bit, as if she were about to faint. There was no doubt about it, that dog could speak. But...but it didn't make any sense...How could a dog talk?

"Is, um, something wrong?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed in a faint, high-pitched voice. "Your dog just TALKED! Dogs aren't supposed to talk!"

She looked down at the dog. "You're supposed to bark!"

Nym looked uncertainly at Rowan, who shrugged. He was more than just a little confused right now. This was getting to be too much.

"Er...uh, bark?" Nym tried. "Like that? Oh, oops, sorry, I'm talking again. Haha. Bark?"

Rowan looked at Cady, who still looked like she was in shock. "Why isn't she supposed to talk?" he asked, feeling kind of stupid for not understanding her reaction.

"I'm going crazy," Cady muttered to herself in the same faint, high voice. The stressful events of the past few days must have triggered some sort of psychotic episode. How else could she explain this?

"I, uh, I hafta go now. Feel better soon, bye," she turned and extied very quickly, shaking her head and reassuring herself over and over that dogs couldn't talk.

The girl, Cady or whatever, left suddenly. Maybe it had been her intention to consol him, but she ended up leaving him feeling even more distressed than before. It seemed like the only things he did remember weren't real.

He must have gotten hit really hard by that...car, whatever that was. When he asked the doctors they just gave him worried looks, which made him nervous. Why could he remember words like "Eilemaiden" and "Dian," which others insisted weren't real words, but he couldn't remember what a "car" was, while it seemed to be common knowledge?

He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. Maybe sleep would help. He doubted it, but it was better than staring at the ceiling.

END