When entering the food court, she felt off. She chalked it up to waiting too long before eating lunch. As she considered what food appealed to her most, she began to feel worse. A stabbing pain above her right eye made concentrating difficult. She rubbed her head in the hopes this would relieve it until she sat down to eat.
She settled on pizza and made her way to the counter to order, practically running into a man along the way. She apologized to him, unable to take her eyes off him even after he began to walk away. He turned back, staring at her. Something about him seemed familiar to her, but she couldn’t place it. Suddenly, the pain in her head became ten times worse, nearly blinding her with its stabbing sensation. Instinctively, she put her hand to her head; her mind was a jumble of thoughts. Her nightmare was pushed to the front of her mind, she remembered her hands on a cold wet stone, her labored breathing. She closed her eyes, trying to shut it all out. When she opened them she noticed the man she had almost run into still staring at her. She stared back for a moment before her vision narrowed to a pinpoint, blood rushed into her ears. Her limbs became heavy, and she sensed herself slipping away. Her eyes rolled back, and she slumped to the floor.
Chapter 4
The dark-haired man saw her go limp. Josie, as she now called herself, had almost run into him moments before. Had she recognized him? There was an instant where it appeared as though she remembered then a confused look prior to her grabbing her head, as though in pain. She had shut her eyes and when she opened them she had focused on him before fainting. He ran to her, catching her just before her head hit the hard floor. He eased her onto the floor. “Celine,” he said, trying to call her back to consciousness. “Celine!” He remembered she no longer used this name. “Josie… Josie, wake up, Josie.” The woman moved, a moan escaping her lips. She was coming to, would she remember now?
Josie’s eyes fluttered open. Her brain felt scrambled. She gazed at the man hovering over her. He was asking her something but she couldn’t respond. She realized she was lying on the floor. A small group of bystanders had gathered around her. She recognized the man as the one she had almost run into moments ago. He asked her if she was okay. She tried to sit up, but he stopped her. “Yes,” she said, confused. “I think so.”
“Don’t get up, we’ve got paramedics on the way, ma’am,” a uniformed woman told her.
“Paramedics?” Josie said, starting to return to normal. “No, no, I’m fine. I think I waited a bit too long to eat. I’m fine.” She again tried to push herself up to sitting, feeling ridiculous lying on the floor.
“Ma’am, please, stay where you are. The paramedics are on their way; we need to check that you are okay.”
It dawned on Josie that the security officer viewed her like a lawsuit waiting to happen. She stayed put, realizing that they were only following their protocol. The paramedics arrived within minutes, pushing aside both the security officer and the concerned man who still hovered over her. They descended on her with all manner of medical devices, measuring her oxygen intake, blood pressure, heart rate and more. “Ma’am, can you tell us your name?”
“Josie, Josephine, Josephine Benson.” Josie stammered, feeling ridiculous. They probably thought she didn’t remember her own name given her response.
“Do you know where you are?”
“The food court at the mall.”
“Can you tell us what happened, ma’am?” one paramedic asked her.
“I had a pain in my head, a stabbing pain and then I fainted. I think I waited too long to eat,” she responded sheepishly.
“Did you hit your head?”
“Uh, I don’t know…” Josie began to answer when the man who was hovering chimed in.
“No, she didn’t. I spotted her falling and caught her before she did.”
“Thank you, sir.” The paramedics proceeded to fire the standard barrage of questions at her. Josie refrained from rolling her eyes as she answered them all.
“Vitals look good,” one paramedic said to his partner. He turned to Josie. “Okay, we’re going to move you onto the stretcher here. We’re going to have you sit up slowly and shimmy onto it.”
“Stretcher? No, I’m fine. I just need some food and some rest,” Josie said, sitting up and waving her hand at them.
“Ma’am, Josie, we need to take you to the hospital to run a few standard tests.”
“Tests? I don’t need any tests. I’m fine! I just…”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but we have a protocol, we need to take you.”
Josie sighed. Of course they needed to take her; they had to follow the procedure to clear her of any medical problems or identify them right away in the event of a lawsuit. “Okay, okay,” she answered, beginning to shimmy herself onto the stretcher with their help.
“Besides, you get to ride in the ambulance! We’ll even use the siren for you,” one paramedic said, winking at her.
“What fun,” Josie said, her words thick with sarcasm.
Within minutes Josie was strapped down onto the stretcher and they were wheeling her to the ambulance that sat waiting outside. She felt ridiculous but at least she’d soon be out of sight from most of the people gawking at her. Once she was in the ambulance
