The Man of my Dreams by Gladys Quintal

and only recalled waking up in this very same hospital. I wonder? I started to search for my own file. I read about how I had no next of kin as both my parents were deceased, and how the hospital staff had found me on the front steps, unconscious.
    Hang on a minute . . . there was another page in here. But I couldn’t remember ever being in hospital before. It was 20 years ago. How could I not know about this? I began reading the page.
    “Repeatedly raped, strangled by stepfather . . .”
    This couldn’t be me! I never had a stepfather and I'd never been raped or strangled! But the document had my name on it and date of birth. I stared at the page in disbelief. What the hell was going on?

Chapter 11
    Past Life
     
    My head was spinning. What was going on? I'd never been “almost” murdered and my parents had still been happily married and together when they died. It must be a mistake. Yet my name and birth date were accurate and deep inside me I knew something wasn’t right. How could I find out now? Both my parents were dead. I kept staring at the paper in front of me. It couldn’t be me. Surely I'd remember something so horrible happening in my childhood? I tried to think, but my ears were ringing and I had to sit down. Could it be me? How could I not know about this? How could I have been raped and strangled and have no memory of it? I felt dizzy and numb all over. Had my parents broken up at one stage? Had mum remarried, this time to a monster? None of this made any sense. One thing was certain, though. I was damn well going to find out!
     
    “What’s this?’ Maria asked me when I handed her the file at lunch.
    “It’s my file,” I said.
    She frowned and opened it.
    “What do you mean your file? From when you were in the accident? Why would you want to dredge all that up again, Hun? Nothing good can come of looking at things so morbid.”
    She had that worried look on her face, one I'd seen so many times over the past few weeks.
    “Read it,” I said sternly, picking up my coffee and taking a sip.
    She looked at me, realizing I was deadly serious. She started to read the paper in front of her—the one from many years earlier when I'd been sexually abused and strangled by a stepfather who didn’t exist. She read in total silence, then looked up at me with horror in her eyes.
    “This can’t be right! You had a wonderful childhood and your parents surely would have told you if anything like this had happened?”
    “That's what I thought at first, too, but look at the name and birth date. I'm going to investigate, Maria. I have to know the truth.”
    For once in her life Maria was speechless. The silence seemed to last for ages until finally she broke it.
    “You should ask Moyra. She's worked at this hospital for over 20 years. A case like this would surely stick in her mind. She might remember something.”
    I jumped up from the table and ran over to Maria, giving her a big hug and kissing her on the cheek.
    “What a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that? Moyra would certainly remember, and we know what a big gossip she is. She won’t be able to keep it to herself. Oh thank you Maria, I knew you'd help me!”
    I grabbed my file, kissed her again and ran off to find Moyra and continue my quest for answers.

Chapter 12
    Retracing Steps
     
    No one really knew exactly how old Moyra was. She'd been at this hospital for as long as any of us could remember and had to be in her late 50s, if not older. She held her age well, though, and although a lot of us hazarded guesses, none of us were brave enough to actually ask her. Her hair was long and dark and was only now starting to show slight streaks of grey. She had a lovely, friendly face and smiled a lot. On her frame were the biggest boobs I'd ever seen! She wasn’t on the medical staff but worked in patient filing. If there were any major cases or gossip going on in the hospital, you could be sure Moyra knew about it.
    I decided to approach her as if I