Page 14 of Remember Me

Forty-five minutes later—although it feels like it’s been a lifetime—the nurse comes to get us from the waiting area, explaining we’re allowed back into the room and Dr. Carter will be along shortly.

Wren rushes to Lottie first and hugs her friend gently. “Char, girl, you scared the crap out of me! Don’t ever do that again,” she blurts out, tears streaming down her face.

“Wren…” Lottie’s voice is rough and unused. Bringing a straw to her lips, Lottie slowly sips the water Wren offers her.

Wren then moves away so I can get closer to my girl. I take her hand, and the moisture that was threatening to leak from my eyes is now full on flowing. Lottie looks at me blankly, her brow furrowed. Huh?

“I’m so glad you’re finally awake, Lotts, we’ve been going out of our minds waiting for you to wake up for weeks,” My lip trembling as I speak.

I am stabbed straight through the heart when she delivers the blow I never saw coming.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

What the actual fuck? She doesn’t remember me? Wren's eyes widen as she turns to look at me. I have lost all ability to speak, struck dumb by what has just happened. Is this some kind of cruel joke? Am I on a hidden camera show?

“Babe, this is Jake. You know, your best friend?”

Lottie’s eyebrows furrow, like she’s trying to pull the information from somewhere deep in her brain. She’s just come out of a coma, maybe she needs a moment.

“Hey, it’s ok. It’s been a while, I’m sure you just need a moment to process everything. That’s all.” I don’t know who I’m trying to reassure more: me or her.

Luckily, Dr. Carter appears to check over Lottie, and we mention she doesn’t remember who I am. He starts to ask her some simple questions. Her full name—Charlotte Louisa Bennett. How old she is—twenty-five. I mean, she’s twenty-six, but the doctor said she may not recall the days prior to the accident. And then where she lives—San Diego. So how come she doesn’t know who I am? Remember me, Lottie. Please, I beg you.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Running my fingers through my hair, I take a seat in the corner while Dr. Carter continues to check over Lottie.

“Where are my parents?” She hisses as she moves in bed, jostling her ribs.

Shit. Wren and I share a look of despair over who’s going to break the news, but Dr. Carter does it for us.

“Unfortunately, Miss Bennett, you were involved in a serious car accident, and your parents sadly did not make it.” He looks at her directly, his eyes heavy and laced with sympathy.

I see the light in Lottie’s eyes go out completely before she lets out the most gut-wrenching wail I have ever heard, one I never want to hear again in my life. I feel her pain all the way down to my marrow, and fuck is it excruciating. Wanting to comfort her, I take a step toward her, but she flinches–fucking flinches like I’m a complete stranger to her. This is so messed up. All I want to do is hold her, love her, but knowing she won’t want my comfort stabs at my heart further. Wren takes Lottie in her arms and soothes her slowly. She’s who Lottie needs right now. Not me.

Before long, the pain meds Lottie’s been given kick in, and she’s asleep again. Dr. Carter takes us outside to talk about her injuries and recovery plan, and why I have disappeared from her memory.

“Based on the head trauma she received following the accident, it’s likely she’s suffering from post-traumatic or localized dissociative amnesia. This is where someone loses a period of time or a specific person from their memory following trauma. Memories can come back. They can take weeks, months, maybe even years. The key here is to take things slowly and not push. There is also a chance she may never recover those memories.”

The walls close in around me as I struggle to take in what the doctor is saying. The lump in my throat has me in a chokehold and I struggle to breathe, my ears start to ring and my vision blurs further.

“I-I can’t be here right now. I need some air.” I push away from the wall that’s holding me up and stagger out of the hospital, desperate to clear my head and pick up the pieces of my shattered heart.

Chapter 10

Charlotte

The bright lights and strong smell of disinfectant assault my senses as I wake. There are wires everywhere and the hope this was just some nightmare is blown away. This is real life. My life.

Slumping back down into the pillows, I recount everything that’s happened in the last however many hours. My parents are gone; I’ll never see them again. The weight of the loss of them sits heavily on my heart, and I know I’ll never be the same. How could the universe be so cruel and take them both from me?

Wren’s currently asleep in a chair while Sawyer watches over her. He’s a friend of her brothers, so I’m not sure what he’s doing here, and they’ve never gotten along. That’s a question for another day.

Looking around, I notice the other guy has gone. Who was he? He looked so crestfallen when I didn’t recognize him. Was he my boyfriend? No, I’m pretty sure Wren said he was my best friend, but that can’t be. I have male friends, but none that look like…him. He is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. Tall, with dark brown hair and dark, soulful eyes that stared at me with such intensity. And the way his shirt hugged his arms?

Guilt prickles inside that I can’t remember. I hate to be the reason he looked like that. Is that why he isn’t here now? Because of me? The thought causes tears to pool, threatening to spill over at any moment, then I think about my parents again and I can’t stop the loud sob that wracks my body.

The noise jolts Wren awake. “Oh my god, babe, come here.” She rushes to sit on the bed and does her best to wrap an arm around me.

“It-it’s all just t-too much, y-you know?” My brain is firing a mile a minute, and it hurts like hell, but I’m desperate for answers. Desperate for him to come back and I don’t even know why. “Where did that man go?”