I

She can feel the increasing pain in her left thigh as she runs for her life. The arrowhead is deep pinned in her flesh and this makes her difficult to move knowing that this one arrow could kill her in just a few hours. She can also hear the whooshing arrows behind her coming from the two helicopters that were towering over her. And meters away to where she is heading is already the dead-end for her run. Another arrow is charged right into her direction that leaves her no choice, but to risk her life jumping on a high cliff. She might still live after falling in the water than catching all those poisonous arrows and die, surely.

"A!"

A girl almost jumped from her seat and the book she was reading is already on the floor meters away from her. It took seconds of staring before this girl shouted calling for someone. Then, a man came in dashing with sweat over his shirtless body.

"What happened?" He asks and before the girl could answer, his eyes landed on the bed where she is sitting.

She stares at them with shocked eyes.

"You're awake! How do you feel?" He asks her, but she did not respond. She does not know who they are and where she is. The place is not familiar to her. The man tries to get near but stops when she moves backward hitting the bed's headboard.

"Aw!" She squeals upon a sudden rush of pain in her left thigh and leg. It feels like her flesh is torn into pieces.

"Careful! Careful," he says and approaches her quickly. He guides her on removing the blanket that they used to cover her lower limbs. The girl also gives some help.

Almost her skin is exposed to these strangers, but she does not mind. Her eyes are on the bloody cloth used as a bandage for her wound. The wound on her leg is surprising and confusing on how it got there. She cannot remember anything she did to suffer from this pain. Whenever she tries to move her legs, pain inflicts like hell.

"You'd got a poisonous arrowhead, but no worries. It's already treated," the man tells her.

"Yes. You're almost dead the other day, but fortunately, you made it," the girl says. Excitement is in her eyes.

Arrowhead? Poison? How did she get an arrowhead? Did they mean, it was the reason she has this painful wound? Why can't she remember anything about what they were saying?

"Is she okay?" The girl asks. She becomes confused and worried at the same time. "Why isn't she speaking? Is she mute?"

A lot of questions are fired in her head at a time.

"Maybe, get her some soup, okay?"

"Oh, yeah! She's hungry." The girl left the room, hurriedly. "I'll be right back," she adds, shouting.

"Sorry about my sister. She's kind of really worried for you since the first day she saw you," the man tells her with a hesitant smile.

She throws him a look then, back to her wound. She is curious about things she does not know how to start.

"The arrow was seriously poisonous that it spread fast, but there's nothing to worry about now. It's just that a matter of time for your wound to heal."

"How did I get here?" After sorting some things messing in her head, she decided, finally to come up with her first question. The man seems a bit shocked to her.

"I... I found you floating on the river," he stammers which made her look at him, intently.

He got fine features.

"Thought you were dead, but when I checked, you still got some pulse so, I brought you here," he swallows, "then, find any ways to cure you."

That is all? She didn't get what she wanted to know. Why on a river? What was she doing there?

"How did I get in there?"

The man thinks for a while.

"The river."

"Umm.." He shakes his head. "I don't know. I've no idea."

She looks away from him.

"I can't remember anything from what you're saying." It is like her brain is being filled with emptiness.

Silence for about three minutes.

"I can't remember anything?" This is more like asking herself.

The man furrows and looks at her with curiosity. He stares at her and seems to be reading whether she is lying or not. Kind of, he did not like what he heard.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't remember anything that happened to me. About how I got a poisonous arrowhead in me? Why I was floating on the river where you have found me? Just how did this happen? I was almost near death?" She is nearing an outburst. She better close her eyes to control herself from doing so. This is not good.

"Here's your soup. I cooked this that's why I'm sure... She's sleeping again?"

She opens her eyes to see this noisy girl holding a bowl. How is she going to sleep in a sitting position?

"Oh, I thought... By the way, here's the soup and this is delicious," she says, smiling ear to ear while approaching her.

The smell of the food reaches her and reminds her that she is really hungry. Like she has not eaten for days.

"You don't need to move. I'm gonna feed you with no worries."

She nodded only and the girl set herself up on the bed near her.

"In whatever angle I look at you, you're really beautiful. You're maybe a rich kid," the girl comments before giving her a spoonful of soup.

She did not hesitate to open her mouth. If they helped her out from the poison on that arrowhead then, they are not going to feed her poison just to waste all their efforts saving her life. After swallowing the first spoon of soup, she took the spoon from the girl and fed herself, continuously. The girl still holding the bowl, is shocked by her actions, but becomes happy, eventually.

"Two days of sleeping will make you hungry."

She didn't mind what the girl said and just continued eating.

"Oh, yeah! By the way, I'm Natalie and I doubt Simon introduced himself already, but he's my older brother."

This catches her attention and looks at Natalie then, at Simon.

Name.

"How 'bout you? What's your name?"

Name.

Name? What is her name?