All I Need Is Bacon! That, and a New Name Too!

Once again, I wake up to the unpleasant sound of beeping and the strong smell of antiseptics. It took me a bit to remember what has happened so far since the chaos of the prior day. I slowly sat up, remembering the one time I sat up quickly that I ripped my wounds open again. I look around to observe my surroundings seeing as I was too distracted by the condition my body was in yesterday.

One of the things that I see first is the painting from earlier. Upon closer inspection, I notice that it is not a painting but a bigger version of the tablet hanging from the wall, which I suddenly remember is called a Television. As I keep looking around, I see Lynx on what seems to be a smaller version of the tablet she showed me yesterday. She seems to be focused on what she is looking at as she hasn't noticed that I've woken up.

"Good morning, Lynx," I say with a somewhat raspy voice as I am using it for the first time today. To my surprise, Lynx flinches and almost drops her very miniature tablet. She then places her hand on her chest as she sighs in relief.

"Good morning, Little One. How are you feeling today?" She asks as she gets up to walk to me.

"I am feeling much better, and I don't feel any pain."

"Well, that's because the nurses gave you a pain reliever only an hour ago. So, I would hope that it was working." She smiles.

"Although I am a bit hungry."

"I thought so seeing as you've been asleep since I first brought you here and only woke up after 19 days just yesterday."

As I heard that, I got the feeling that I should have been surprised, but I can't think of how much time she's saying has passed since I can't remember much.

"What would you like to eat?" Lady, remember that you are talking to someone who lost their memories. Do you really expect me to remember the names of foods I liked?

"I don't know. What is there to eat? Actually, don't tell me, I probably won't know what it is or what it looks like. Anything will do, I just want to eat something." The emptiness in my stomach feels so big and heavy, I just want to fill it.

"Hmm, in that case, let's just get a little bit of everything. You are a lycan so you would have a metabolism that is higher than most non-lycan people, so let's get you more." She claps and walks to the door, and I see Kenny standing behind it when she opens it. I assume they discuss what I will be eating. Soon, Lynx comes back with a smile on her face and sits down in the bed next to me.

"Now then, the first thing I want to talk to you about is what I should call you. After all, I can't just keep calling you child or little one or such." She gently rubs my head and then chuckles.

"Is there a name you would like me to call you?" She asks as she looks at me with what I can only call a mischievous face. I did have an idea, but for some reason, I felt too embarrassed to tell her.

I squeezed my folded hands in my lap under the blankets while I squirmed under her gaze. She giggled, and when she did, I couldn't help but imagine that she already knew something that I didn't realize.

"If you don't want to tell, then it seems that is that. But… if you don't mind, shall I guess instead? Or would you like me to give you a name? If I say something that you would like for a name, please speak up." She closes her eyes, and it looks like she is thinking hard about what I should be called.

"How about Sapphire. I thought of it due to the color of your eyes." I didn't know what a sapphire was, but I can only assume it was blue. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I had in mind. I shake my head.

"Well, I'm kind of uncreative with things like this so I try some generic names. Seipora, Celeste, Mei, Luna, umm…. Kara, Zora, Rowan, Dona, Bai, Bryn, Thea, Syllin, Sariel, Melody…" Right now, my head feels super dizzy after shaking it so much. I like it that she is trying, but…

"Sigh, you didn't like any of those, hmm? Well, you did react to that last one, seeing as you waited a little longer before shaking your head. So, that means you liked it, but that isn't what you want." I nodded to confirm.

"How about Harmony?" I shake my head.

"Cadence?" Another shake.

"Lyra?" Shake.

"Carol?"

This continues for quite a while. To the point that I feel dizzy and the room is spinning from how much I have been Shaking my head. Right now, I am giving her a flat stare. She has said so many that I've lost hope in her chances of thinking of one that I liked.

"Echo." Her confident smiling face beams at me as I stare at her in confusion and shock.

"How did you know?" I feel like I missed something important. It's like I've forgotten something, which was a feeling I didn't like because I've already forgotten all of my past, I don't need to forget anymore.

"You already had a name in mind but didn't speak up… Why didn't you say anything? That should be the real question rather than how I knew about it. Would have saved us all the torture of listening to me list names for about an hour." She huffs as she places her hands on her hips before sighing. I realize that she sighs a lot when she is talking to me.

"Don't you remember? You had a bazaar one-sided conversation with me right before you fell asleep yesterday about the idea of an echo and how you wished to be one. Then you asked me a question about it, and I answered but you had fallen asleep as I finished telling you. If it weren't for the stunt you just pulled, acting so childish because of a name, I might as well have thought of you as a 100-year-old sage. Honestly, where did you even think of something like that?"

I did remember that, but I thought it was a dream or that it was all just the thoughts in my head. I guess I was talking out loud about it and she was listening. I feel my face heat up, and I think something is wrong with me again. I push the feeling away and smile, nodding in response.

Lynx just smirks at me, and that's when I realized that she was going to choose this name from the beginning. I suddenly start to pout, and I cross my arms over my chest. I feel played with. She gently rubs my head to appease my anger.

"From now on, I will call you Echo." I gave her a faint nod once again. I really don't know why I was feeling shy at this moment.

Soon the food came, and the smell was so overwhelming that I almost ran for the cart that had the best smell. It was very simple food that I was able to identify them all. Eggs, bacon, ham, milk, oatmeal, many types of fruits, Cinnamon French Toast, flat cakes that are like very fluffy bread, and buttered toast. They couldn't give me any other foods until I got a little better, but this already seemed like enough. I greedily started to eat it all with no regard for those around me.

Just as I was finishing up, Lynx brought up another topic.

"So, now that you have a name, we need to talk about what will happen to you after you recover since you are only about 11 or 12 years old. This is what I wanted to talk about with you yesterday, but you were so excited for me to read to you that it completely slipped my mind and I never got around to it."

"Because we don't know about any close family or friends that you might have, the only real option is to send you to an orphanage. The thing is, I don't exactly trust the orphanages the Oligarchy's council have set up."

"So, I came to the conclusion that because I found you, it should be made my responsibility to take care of you. I have decided that I will adopt you."

"What does adopt mean?"

"It means that we will become family. You will be my daughter and I will be your mother legally on paper. You will start living with me once you have recovered enough to be allowed to leave the hospital." She smiled as she finished.

"What does 'on piper' mean?" Lady, you are using a lot of words that I don't recognize or remember. I look at her in confusion while she frowns.

"Right… in this time I will also try to educate you and so that you will know things a child around your age should know. I will also try to teach you the skills you will most likely need when you start living outside the hospital, especially if you are going to be living with me. I will have you know that the…"

I nodded without thinking too much about it. Honestly, I stopped listening once I smelled more bacon coming from the hallway just outside my door.

As much as I liked the idea of learning, I liked the idea of bacon more. I think bacon and ham have become my new favorite foods. I looked at her and noticed that she was waiting for me to confirm that I had heard what she said.

"I understand. Can I have more bacon?" I looked at her expectantly.

"Do you now? Because it seems like you were distracted and haven't heard a word I said. Honestly…" She sighed shaking her head then waved at Kenny to bring in more food. Based on her reaction, I had a feeling that she wasn't used to dealing with people my age or people like me. I wonder what it will be like to live with her if that were true.

"Why do I get the feeling that your opinion of me has suddenly turned for the worse?" I hear what Lynx mumbles under her breath but pay no mind to it. Right now, all I needed was bacon.

After eating, I felt very tired again, so I went back asleep.

This became my habit for the next few days. Wake up, eat, spend time with Lynx, sleep again. Occasionally, I would stay awake for longer and I would ask Lynx to read me more books, or how to do certain things like teaching me how to use the TV, how to write, and so on. I also found out that there were a lot of things to learn from watching TV and it also helped me expand my vocabulary much faster, although I have come to like reading books with Lynx much better.

In the times that Lynx wasn't there, I would talk with Lydia, and she was quite nice about everything. But the issue was that she wasn't always there either. That left me with Kenny. I did tolerate him to an extent, but he was extremely talkative with me for some reason. He would talk about the most random things, and I wouldn't even know about half of them.

Eventually, with all the time I was forced to spend with him, I forgave Kenny for what happened when we first met. Now, I occasionally talk back and respond to him, that is if he is not talking and actually lets me speak.