Oh, my head hurts. Why? Last time I woke up feeling like this it was after I’d had a really good night, but ate something dodgy. This time… I don’t remember having fun… I don’t remember eating… in fact I don’t remember anything at all.
My eyelids feel really heavy, it almost seems too much trouble to open them. Maybe I’ll just wait for a while.
Oh my head. I’m just gonna stay sitting still and see if it gets better. It’s weird though, I don’t seem to be able to lift my arm. All I wanna do is hold my head. Why can’t I lift my arm?
Okay, maybe I should open my eyes now.
Oh, bright light. Don’t like the bright light. Can’t turn away from it. My head won’t move. My arms won’t move. Nor my legs. None of me. I’m sitting, but I can’t move. Something is stopping me. I can just see the ends of my fingers, I know they’re mine ’cos I can see them moving when I try to wiggle ’em. But that’s about all I can do. Whatever is holding me here is very tight; there’s no point in struggling.
This bright light’s making my head hurt more. I can shut my eyes to make it stop. Ah, that’s better. Still hurts, but not so much.
Where am I? All I really noticed was the bright light; nothing else. I’m going to have to open my eyes again and have another look. At least my head doesn’t ache so much now. Right, here goes.
If I look down, the light isn’t so bad. The ground is white, in fact everything seems to be white. Can’t really see much other than lots of white.
I can feel that there is something tightly gripping my arm, but I can’t move my head so I’m not able to see what it is. There’s something on my chest too, but I can’t see that either.
What’s that strange noise? The same thing over and over again. Ping… ping… ping.
There’s a smell. A sweet, sickly smell. A bit like something has been burnt.
This is too confusing, I’m going to call for help.
I can’t. There’s something in my mouth stopping me. What is going on?
I just heard a different noise but I can’t see anything new yet. Still just lots of white.
Oh, there’s a man here now, I can see him moving around in front of me. He’s covered in white too. But he’s ignoring me. Can’t he see I need help?
What’s he doing? He’s carrying something, but I can’t see what it is.
It’s something long and thin and shiny. Oh no! I’m a real coward when it comes to pain. I know what that is, please don’t stick it in me.
He’s at my side now, I can’t see him but I know he’s there and I can’t stop what I know he’s going to do next. The anticipation is probably worse…
Oh no it isn’t. Horrible sharp pain in my arm. I can’t even shout out.
That noise is speeding up. Ping, ping, ping, ping.
Bright light again, right in my eye. The man is peering at me, into my eyes; he’s really close, I can feel his breath on my face, smell him. I can’t do anything back at him, apart from snort and close my eyes.
I can hear him moving away, so I’ll risk opening my eyes again.
I can’t see him any more but I can still hear him. There’s a sound like water being poured.
I can see him again, he’s coming back holding out something to me. Reaching up to my face, he’s removing whatever it was that was covering my mouth. He’s offering me a drink. I hadn’t realised how thirsty I was, so I’m not going to turn it down. Ahh, that’s so good.
But before I can make a sound he’s put the cover back over my mouth. A missed opportunity. Why did I give in to the need for a drink? I should have called for help as soon as I could. I mustn’t make that mistake again. There must be someone else around who can help me; if only I can let them know where I am.
He’s coming back again carrying something else now. What is it?
It looks like… It is, it’s a banana. He’s bringing me a banana. What is he playing at? Now he’s uncovering his mouth. Is he going to eat the banana? No, it looks like he’s going to say something. What?
“Here Bobo, have a banana. There’s a good chimp.”