Beyond the waves breaking on the shoreline he could see arelatively placid, blue ocean with the water glittering in the reflection ofthe rising sun. The sky was red around the sun but already beginning to turn abrilliant shade of blue above. Wherever he was, it certainly wasn’t disagreeable.
Memories of other places flooded through him, crowded citieswith noisy traffic and tired British seaside resorts, full of peeling paint anddrizzle. He could remember all these places with great clarity, but nothing ofhis experiences in them. A couple of minutes had passed now since he had wokenup and he still had no idea who he was.
He glanced around the room, looking for clues, but there waslittle to see. Other than the four-poster bed his surroundings were sparse.There was a wooden chest of drawers and wardrobe on the far side of the room,plus a small bedside table to his left, but that was all.
The room seemed devoid of technology, so there was seeminglyno way of finding out any information about his identity or his location. He decidedto get out of bed and examine things more closely.
A quick search of the drawers and the wardrobe provedfruitless. He had hoped he might find a wallet, smartphone or anything thatmight give him a clue to his identity, but there was nothing other than a fewclothes, presumably his, inside.
As he closed the last drawer, he noticed the single goldband on the ring finger of his left hand suggesting he was married, but towhom? His memory loss must be serious if he couldn’t even remember his ownwife. Despite being awake some time now, there was still nothing coming back tohim.
There was a small en suite bathroom to the left of the bed,but there were no further clues there, just a few basic toiletries that couldbelong to any man.
He opened the French windows and immediately felt thesearing heat on his skin, even though the sun had barely risen. Wherever hewas, the climate was extremely hot.
The doors led out to a large, wooden decking area, beyondwhich there was nothing but palm trees and sand leading down to the shore. Hewalked down to the end of the decking and then turned back to examine thebuilding he had just come from. His room was just a small part of a grandiose,whitewashed villa.
Other than the villa, there were no other buildings in sight.There were no other notable landmarks either. Casting his eyes left and rightalong the beach, all he could see was more sand and trees. Behind the villathere was more of the same, with no hills leading him to surmise that he was ona low-lying, small island.
It seemed like an idyllic desert island hideaway but whatwas he doing here? Was this home, or had he been brought here for some otherreason?
He heard the whistling sound again and saw a large,strange-looking duck near a palm tree close to the edge of the water. He hadnever been into ornithology, which was unfortunate, as if he had, he might beable to identify his location by the bird’s habitat.
Josh went back into the villa, closing the door behind himand feeling grateful for the air conditioning that was keeping his room cool.He planned to go and explore the rest of the building, but first he needed toget dressed.
He opened the wardrobe he had found the clothes in earlierand picked out a light, white cotton shirt and some matching white shorts whichwould be perfect for the climate. He also picked out a nice, old-fashionedstraw hat which would give him some protection from the sun. Slipping out ofhis silk pyjamas, he dressed quickly and then headed into the bathroom to shaveand brush his teeth.
Then he headed for the bedroom door, eager to see what laybeyond, but before he could grasp the handle, it opened in front of him toreveal a middle-aged woman with blonde, curly hair.
She was dressed in a figure-hugging blue leotard and lookedas if she had just been working out. She certainly looked to have a greatfigure for a woman who at a guess was in her fifties, but he didn’t know whoshe was. Some instinct inside told him that he had seen her before, but onceagain the memories proved elusive.
“Darling,” she purred, “You’re awake. Are you feelingbetter?”
Darling? Was this woman his girlfriend, or even his wife?Josh wasn’t sure what to say.
“Uh…I’m not sure,” he began.
“It’s OK, honey,” said the woman reassuringly. “You can’tremember anything, I know. It’s an after-effect of the virus. It will soonpass.”
“The virus?” asked Josh. That was another thing to add tothe list of things he couldn’t remember.
“Don’t worry, come through and have some breakfast and I’llexplain everything,” she replied, leading him through the bedroom door towardsa large, open-plan kitchen/dining area.
In the centre of the room was a large, wooden table set fortwo, covered in a sumptuous range of fresh fruits, breads, cereals and yogurts.
“How do you like your eggs done?” she asked.
“Soft-boiled,” he instinctively replied. He had rememberedthat alright. “Listen, I’m really sorry, but I can’t remember your name.”
“That’s OK,” she laughed. “I’ll forgive you under thecircumstances. I’m Vanessa. Your wife.”
“My wife?” he replied, glancing at the ring on his finger,as Vanessa popped two eggs into a boiling pan of water on the hotplate on theside.
“Of course,” she replied. “Now, I know you probably want toknow why you can’t remember anything, so you sit down there, help yourself tosome fruit and I’ll try and explain.”
He sat down on one of the pine chairs and looked eagerly atthe food in front of him. He certainly was feeling ravenously hungry and it alllooked very appealing.
“This is a lovely spread,” he said. “Did you do it allyourself?”
“I did,” she said. “You’ve been poorly. I want to help youbuild your strength up.”
“Thank you,” he replied. “I can’t remember where we are, yousee. When I looked outside earlier, I wondered if we might be in some luxury holidayresort like Sandals, but then I realised we couldn’t be because I couldn’t seeany other buildings.”
“That’s
