Chapter 4: New Eyes
The doctor was a tall bloke in his fifties with glasses and a clipboard and the kind of calm voice that made you think he'd seen everything. He walked in with Mum right behind him, and a younger woman who I guessed was a nurse.
"Well, Mr. Reed," he said, looking at me over his glasses. "You've given us quite the surprise."
"A good surprise or a bad one?"
He almost smiled. Almost. "A very good one. I'm Dr. Patel. I've been overseeing your care since you were admitted. How are you feeling?"
How was I feeling? I was feeling like a dead bloke who'd just been shoved into a teenager's body. But I couldn't exactly say that.
"I feel tired. Really tired. I also feel really thirsty and hungry, so can I have something to eat and drink?"
"That's perfectly normal after what you've been through." He turned to the nurse. "Can we get him some water, please? Small sips." He turned back towards me. "But no food for now. That will have to wait a bit."
"Okay, I understand," I said.
The nurse left and Dr. Patel started doing his thing. Torch in my eyes. Follow my finger. Squeeze my hands. Can you feel this? What about this? He asked me questions. What's your name? Liam Reed. Good. Do you know where you are? Hospital. Do you know what year it is? I didn't know that at all. If I had to guess, based on the TV and what was on the whiteboard, I'd say 2016. I got the year right but not the exact date, so he wrote that down.
"Do you remember what happened to you?"
I went quiet for a second. What would the real Liam know? He'd been ill. He'd been in hospital for a while. Beyond that, I didn't know what he'd remember or not.
"It's a bit foggy," I said. "I remember being ill. And then just... nothing. Until now."
Dr. Patel nodded like that was exactly what he expected. "That's very common with extended periods of unconsciousness. Your memory may come back in pieces over the next few weeks, or some of it may not come back at all. That's completely normal and nothing to worry about."
Perfect. The coma excuse was already working and I hadn't even had to use it yet. The doctor was doing my lying for me.
Mum was standing by the window the whole time, watching everything. She had her arms crossed and she kept doing this thing where she'd start to smile, then catch herself, like she was scared that if she got too happy it would jinx it.
"His vitals look good," Dr. Patel said, more to Mum than to me. "Better than good, actually. His recovery is remarkably fast. I'd like to keep him for observation, run some more tests over the next few days. But what I'm seeing right now is very encouraging."
"How long does he need to stay?" Mum asked.
"I'd like to keep him at least a week. We need to monitor his cognitive function, run a few scans, make sure there are no complications. But based on what I'm seeing today, I'm cautiously optimistic."
Mum pressed her hand over her mouth and nodded. She was trying not to cry again.
After Dr. Patel left, it was just me and Mum. She sat back down in her chair and pulled it closer to the bed.
"You hungry? I can go get you something. The canteen here is rubbish but there's a Greggs down the road."
"Mum, the doctor just told you and me no food and you already want to break the rules?" I said with a smile.
"He doesn't know what he's talking about. My baby is hungry so I'm getting him food. Mother instinct, you know. I'm getting you a Greggs."
"Fine, if you must. Can I get a sausage roll?"
"Do you want something else with that?"
I didn't actually know if the real Liam liked sausage rolls. But honestly, who doesn't? It felt like a safe bet. "No, just a sausage roll is fine."
She fussed over me for a while. Fixed the pillow behind my head. Told me Nathan was on his way. Nathan. Who's Nathan? I started searching through what the god had told me. Ah, Nathan is my brother. Okay, so I have a brother here. That's nice. I think. I hope he's nice. We'll see. He'd been at work when she called. Dad was coming too but he was on a job site and had to sort some things out first. She said it all fast, like she'd been holding it in and needed to get it out.
"Mum."
"Yeah?"
"I'm okay. Honestly. You can sit down."
She looked at me for a second. Then she sat down, took my hand again, and just held it. We didn't talk for a bit. That was fine. I didn't mind the quiet.
After about an hour she went to get the Greggs. Told me three times not to move before she left. I promised I wouldn't. She also told a nurse to check on me twice while she was gone. The nurse said she would. Mum told her to make it three times. The nurse said okay.
When I was finally alone, I took a breath.
Okay. Time to figure out who I was.
Mum had put a bag of stuff on the table next to my bed when she'd come in earlier. I hadn't looked at it yet. I reached over and pulled it closer. Inside was some clothes, a toothbrush, a charger, and a phone.
Liam's phone.
I picked it up and turned it on. Dead battery. I plugged in the charger and waited. After a few minutes the screen lit up.
No passcode. Thank God. Or thank the god. Whatever.
The wallpaper was a photo of a dog. A brown staffie looking at the camera with its tongue out. I didn't know whose dog it was. Maybe his? Maybe a mate's? I'd find out.
I opened the messages first.
Mum was the most recent. Dozens of messages from her sent over the past few weeks. All unanswered, obviously. "Morning love, just popping in after work." "The doctor says you're doing well today." "I brought your blanket from home." "Nathan says hi." "I love you sweetheart. Please wake up."
That one hit different. I put the phone down for a second and stared at the ceiling. Then I picked it back up.
There was a group chat with a few lads. Liam's mates, I assumed. The messages had slowed down over the weeks but they were there. "Get well soon bruv." "Hospital food can't be worse than your cooking lol." "Miss you mate." Normal stuff. Working class lads who didn't know how to deal with their friend being in a coma so they made jokes and sent memes.
I scrolled through Liam's photos. Most of them were normal. Him with mates at a pub. A selfie with what must be Nathan, they looked similar. A photo of a roast dinner that someone, probably Mum, had made. Some screenshots of football scores. A couple of photos of the dog from the wallpaper.
And then I found a photo of all of them. Liam, Mum, a man who must be Paul, and Nathan. Standing in front of a house. Everyone smiling. Nathan had his arm around Liam's shoulder. Mum was beaming. Dad had that kind of half smile that dads do when they don't know what to do in photos.
That was my family now.
I stared at the photo for a while. Studied their faces. Paul was stocky, working hands, the kind of bloke who looked like he'd been lifting heavy things his whole life. Nathan was taller than Liam, broader, with the same hair colour but a different face shape. He looked relaxed. Easy.
I went through more of the phone. Old Liam wasn't big on social media. His Instagram hadn't been updated in months. His search history was mostly YouTube, football highlights, and some gaming stuff. Normal teenage lad things. Nothing that screamed "I have a secret life" or "there's something you should know about me." Just a regular nineteen-year-old who got ill and ended up in hospital and never came out.
Until now. Sort of.
I opened the notes app. Empty. Opened his emails. Mostly junk. A few from the university he'd been at before he got ill. Not Cambridge, obviously. Some standard place. The emails were about missed deadlines and extenuating circumstances forms. His tutors asking if he was okay. Admin stuff.
So Liam Reed was a normal lad. Average student at an average uni. Loved football, had a group of mates, close with his family, had a dog or at least liked one. Nothing special. Nothing remarkable. The kind of person who, if you described them to someone, they'd nod and say "sounds like a nice enough bloke."
And now he had two gifts from a god and a brain that could take apart any system in the world.
I put the phone down and looked at the ceiling. I was going to need to learn a lot more about this life before anyone got suspicious. The coma excuse would cover a lot, but not everything. I needed to know names, places, stories. What school did Liam go to? Who was the dog? What was Nathan like? What did Dad do for work? All the small things that make up a life.
I had perfect memory now. Everything I learned, I'd keep forever. So I just had to learn it once.
I picked the phone back up and started from the beginning. The oldest messages, the oldest photos, the earliest emails. If I was going to be Liam Reed, I was going to do it properly.
I was still scrolling when Mum came back with two sausage rolls and a coffee.
"You're on your phone already? You've been awake for three hours!"
"Had to check if anyone missed me."
She sat down and handed me the sausage roll. "Everyone missed you, love. The whole street's been asking about you."
I took a bite. It was a good sausage roll.
I looked at her and she was smiling at me. Not the tearful, broken smile from earlier. A real one. A warm one. The kind of smile that said she thought the worst was over.
I smiled back.
"Cheers, Mum."