• “She’s been hit!” and “Did the car get her too?” Were some shouts that were being registered by my ears but what they meant, I did not know. I couldn’t comprehend what the sounds meant or any of it. The sky was a dark blue, twinkling lights glittering my eyes, and there were bodies around me, moving around and then I heard and irritating noise and saw something flashing, but I didn’t know what it was. Quickly the people moved and new people arrived, lifting me onto something.

    “Miss, can you hear me?” A male asked me. What did he say? What did his sounds mean? But I turned my head toward him without even knowing what he really wanted me to do. His lips upturned but what the signal meant I couldn’t understand. “Miss, you’ve been hit by a car and shot. We’re taking you to the emergency room. You’re bleeding but it will be alright.” He was wearing a white outfit, but I stared at him, confused. He repeated the noises but I didn’t know what they meant. “Ma’am do you understand what I am telling you?” I just stared longer and his eyes then went wide and he shouted something else to another man but I couldn’t even begin to hear it because soon everything had turned black.

    I slowly blinked my eyes open and closed them quickly, seeing a bright color on the walls. Smells filled my nose but I didn’t know what they were. I groaned and another man looked down at me and smiled. I noticed that the lights were moving quickly above me and then suddenly all went black again. Before all light left my eyes I could see two doors swing open and I heard more frantic shouts.

    “Dahni…My darling, can you hear me?” A higher pitched voice said. I didn’t know what they said or who they were but I opened my eyes and saw that the place I was at wasn’t as bright as before, nor was it as loud. I blinked a few times and then turned my head to the woman speaking in tongues I didn’t understand. Her hair was beautiful golden orange-yellow and was curly from the top to the bottom. Her eyes were a beautiful green and her face was very small along with her body.

    “Oh, my darling Dahni, you’re awake!” She cheered in her language. I just stared at her, trying my best to focus on her words but it was difficult. Finally I just shut my eyes again and breathed deeply, wondering who and where I was. Then suddenly there was a deeper voice in the hospital. All people hushed and I heard them back away from my body. A new someone appeared beside me and I opened my eyes again. He was masculine, with black hair and a square jaw. His eyes were a deep brown and he stared at me with some sort of negative emotion.

    “Dahni, we’re all waiting for you to speak. You can’t keep silent forever.” He waited and I didn’t respond. Then his face scrunched up and his eyes became darker. “Now you will listen to me little miss, you will not sit in her and upset your mother, your father, and your fiancée! Now speak to us or I swear I will take you out of this hospital!” My heartbeat quickened and I started to sweat in fear. Though his words didn’t make sense, they struck fear. Quickly someone rushed in and ushered everyone out.

    Then another man walked in. He seemed younger than the man who was just yelling and looked kind enough. He was holding something in his hands…well two things in his hands. The man who made everyone leave, left himself. That left the man with the things in his hands and me. He sat down in a chair and smiled at me.

    “Dahni.” He pointed to me and repeated himself. I stared at him, trying to understand what he meant and he did it again. Then he gently touched my hand, forehead, arms and face and repeated the word “Dahni” to me. My tongue flopped around in my mouth as I tried to repeat what he said.

    “D…n” Were the only sounds that came from my mouth. He gave another smile, a strand of his blonde hair falling into his face. Gently he moved it back into place and then stared at me, nodding his head as I tried the sounds again.

    He stopped me and then opened his mouth and gently pressed his tongue to the back of his top teeth and then closed his mouth almost all the way and made the “D” noise. After he did that he opened his mouth slightly and I watched as his tongue curled back slightly and he made the “ah” noise. Then he stared expectantly at me.

    Slowly I pressed my tongue to the back of my top teeth and made the “D” noise, that part was easy, but then I continued to attempt to make my tongue curl back slightly and finally it did and I made the “ah” noise. His eyes light up and he nodded and then opened his mouth again. As he did so I realized that when he opened his mouth, automatically his tongue would curl back so it was possible for him to make the “ah” noise. He then pressed his tongue to the back of his bottom teeth and I noticed his tongue made a hill and then he closed his teeth and made the “n” noise. I followed and after a few attempts I managed it.

    He smiled and then opened his mouth again. I automatically took this as instruction on how to pronounce the word he was saying and watched his mouth. He closed it again and pulled his lips back into a smiled and opened his lips and teeth slightly to show me what he was doing. His tongue was in a deflated “D” position, or flat against his bottom teeth. Then he closed his teeth slightly and made an “e” noise. Then he closed his mouth and started at me. After a long while I got the “e” down and then he said the word fully and stared at me.

    “D...AH...N…I” I took almost a full minute for me to say the word but I got it. He smiled warmly at me and pointed to me and repeated “Dahni” and then I repeated it, quicker this time. We continued to do this for a while and suddenly it clicked in my head, my name was Dahni, or according to this man it was.

    “Jayle” He said and pointed to himself. So his name was “Jayle” and I was Dahni. This was good progress, now I could get why people kept saying “Dahni” to me. Within about five minutes he had shown me how to say his name. Then I tried to pronounce it. I found it more difficult than my own name but tried and tried. Sadly all I got was “Jay” and he stuck with it for now. Then he would point to himself and say Jay and then wait for me to say it. Now I could within 10 seconds say either his or my name. Both in about 20 seconds.

    “Bye, Dahni.” The man stood and left the room. So bye meant to leave; now I could understand things better. My head wasn’t as foggy and I could say my own name. But while my head wasn’t as foggy as before, it was worn out from all of that and within seconds I was sleeping again in the black-filled dreams.