Finding Mayumi

Chapter 3

Year 2021, San Diego, CA.

A couple on their way home found an unconscious man on the roadside where there were no houses near to be found. When they realized the guy was still alive, they immediately took him to the nearest hospital to give him aid.

They found him 143 miles away from the City, but he held on till they reached the nearest community hospital where they gave him medical attention immediately before they transfer him to the hospital with complete equipments and facilities.

The guy they found was covered with mud, countless open wounds all over his body, showing how much he had been hit hard many times.

His face was covered with blood, his fingers were broken, with dislocated bones, with two left ribs with fractures. One of eyes was severely damaged, and the doctors said chances are low for that eye to see again.

He miraculously survived, but it put him in a coma.

Without parents, his closest friend and his mom who has been very close to him were those who looked after him. So many reached to give help. Gave donations in cash and in kind. His fans provided the best doctor and put him in a private hospital.

It was televised, but the police didn’t find a lead on who and where to find those who kidnapped and torture him.

This man is known as Peter Levi Armstrong, a famous painter, known as vlogger. He travels to different countries to paint random faces of people. With his cool personality and handsome face, many women are attracted to him, and also, many hate him too.

Envying his fame and achievements, but behind this attention he could get, there is a kind and selfless painter that only few close friends know.

Before the day he was abducted, he went to an exclusive contest; they only invited famous painters all over the globe. He won and the next day he was gone.

Eddie Thompson, who is his best friend, tried finding him and couldn’t contact his phone. That was the only time he reported it to the police and on the next day, Peter was found.

On the 17th day of April, Peter gained consciousness. His wounds already healed for a very long time he was in a coma, the day he started acting strangely in the eyes of few people closest to him.

******

Peter woke up lying on a soft surface. The room was chilly. Unknown types of machines were beside him, creating noises. There were wires and hose attached to his body.

Uncertain on what was behind those and on where he was. He searched for anybody who can help, but nobody was around.

The place seemed so strange for him, a place he knew he has never been.

Couldn’t move, except his eyes. He examined the entire room and one thing caught his attention, a round object hung on the wall. His sense of sight was blurry when he tried to look at something farther. It took him a few seconds to focus his sight on the object and he saw digits on the side of his mind, told him it was numbers. Like a whisper.

It has three arrows of different sizes. One was flowing and the other two were pointing at two different numbers, one at three, and the shortest was pointing number six.

He watched the longest stick move with a slight frown on his face. Asking what it is and how it moves.

His eyes were clued at the clock when a nurse entered his room. He immediately felt uncomfortable after seeing her. The clothes she was wearing were too fit on her body. Her legs were quite exposed too.

The nurse checked the machines inside the IV and his oxygen. Jotting down every detail on the clipboard she was holding while humming a song. When she was about to check the patient’s vitals, she noticed the patient’s eyes wide open and staring at her. She immediately ran outside calling someone.

Peter thought he freaked her out that’s why she ran away. He lost the chance to ask her where he is.

But the nurse returned with a companion. A middle-aged man, bald with a well-toned body. He pointed a flashlight directly at his right eye and next to the left. Even how bright it was. His left eye saw nothing.

“80/20.” He told the woman.”

He doesn’t know what does it means. They checked his blood pressure and all the readings in every machine.

“Call his relatives,” the man asked the nurse

Eddie came with his Mom, they were thrilled to see him. After many tests to see if he fully recovered, they finally removed all the instruments connected to his body.

Peter couldn’t speak and remember what happened. He couldn’t understand people around him as he came from a different place, too alienated. Everything seems new to him. No matter how small and simple.

He stayed longer in the hospital because his behavior wasn’t normal and to their surprise; he learned fast, but Eddie noticed differences in his behavior and his attitude compare to the old Peter he knew.

More calm, patient, eager, warm-hearted, and he became nicer as a person. Peter became like a newborn person, like a child that needing guidance. He forgot many things in his past, even his name, who he is, and things he used to do before the incident.

Because he still cannot remember who kidnapped him and where they took him, the case they filed for those kidnappers remained unresolved.

His doctors let him go home, Eddie drove him to his house. He was amused by the environment outside the hospital. With tall buildings, vehicles, and even the horns of vehicles.

They stopped in front of an enormous gate; it opened by itself after Eddie pressed a button. It was a big house with a vast lawn. So many dry leaves shattered. Two autos were parked, a camping van and a sports car.

“We’re home,” Eddie announced.

“This is your house?” Peter asked.

Eddie was about to burst to laugh but he suddenly remembered his friends couldn’t remember things about him. So he tried explaining everything to him. They started on the autos outside and only enter the house after answering all of Peter’s questions.

Peter was so dumbfounded. He checked every corner of the house like it wasn’t his. Eddie taught him how to use the gaming console he found, and they spent their entire day playing games.

Eddie went home late, he told Peter to let no strangers inside the house.

He was about to sleep when he suddenly felt so alone, longing for someone. There were things he could remember, but not about the place where he is now. Some memories, but it was black and white. A certain place.

About summer, a place he mostly went fishing. A fruit he loves eating. A yellow, sweet when ripe, and sour when green. Rice fields, he could even still remember how it feels when walking barefooted on a muddy field.

Reminiscing didn’t let him sleep. His feet took him to the art room. There were tons of paintings inside. He saw an empty canvas, paints, and brushes well maintained.

He grabbed a brush and opened bottles of paints. He doesn’t know what he was doing, his hands were like moving by themselves. He kept grabbing different brushes, dipping in the paint, and wiped them on the canvas.

Peter painted all the details of his past he remembers and after, he saw a person sitting under a tree and suddenly, a name he remembered.

“Mayumi, ”