Hidden Motives

Familiarity

Hours later I awoke. My body felt surprisingly felt numb. I could feel the bandages carefully placed on my wounds. "It could have been worse" I reminded myself.

I just needed to get my memory back.

..................................................................................

The next day I was checked out of the hospital by Adyline. She took me to a house that seemed oddly familiar. With each step, I felt as if I was getting closer to uncovering my forgotten memories.

Upon walking in a boy was sitting on the couch. He was on his cell phone but looked up immediately when he saw me. "Zara. It's so nice to see you!" He then paused as if remembering something. "Oh, I forgot. Adyline told me what happened. You...you don't remember me."

I stared at him patiently waiting for him to introduce himself. He had a pillow behind him for support and looked like he was in some type of pain. 

"I am Maddox." he said. 

I instantly noticed that he lacked an accent. He was definitely American. I smiled at him kindly and said "Hi Maddox...I really hope I can get my memory back soon. It must be so weird for you all to have to reintroduce yourself to someone you already know."

I laughed as Maddox and Adyline looked at each other. I could tell this was weird to them.

As I was going to head onto the couch a woman appeared. She had messy hair and her eyes were red from crying. Her makeup was also smudged heavily across her face. I could tell that it was Adylines mother. She looked extremely similar to her. I also made the connection that she was probably crying because of her husband's death. 

She saw me and began wiping the tears away. She sniffled before saying "Hello sweetheart. How are you?" 

I responded with "I'm good. How....are you?"

She forced a smile and said "Getting better everyday. Umm..anyways I will have Adyline show you to your room. I heard what happened. I will make sure you get your memory back...it's just going to take time. You're strong. I know you can do it."

She then walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back as hard as I could. She didn't feel like a stranger at all. She felt perfectly comfortable with me so it made me comfortable with her. Besides, I could tell she really needed that hug. It made both of us feel better. 

Once she walked back upstairs I turned to Maddox. He was adjusting the heat pad that was on his stomach."If you don't mind me asking..what...what happened to you?" I stuttered.

He looked up at me and studied my face. Once he had reached the conclusion that I was serious he said "Long story short I was supposed to protect you. It didn't work. I got kidnapped. In the process, this man.... you know him....he hurt me bad. I can't give you any more info than that. I don't want to push it."

"Oh. I'm sorry that happened to you. It..it sounds terrible." I mumbled.

Maddox smiled and said, "It's not your fault."

I looked at him, confused by his response. "Of course it's not my fault. Why would it be? He..he wouldn't say that unless it was....Could..could that mean it was my fault?" I thought.

Maddox noticed this and said, "Don't overthink it and go to bed."

I laughed a bit before grabbing a glass of water from the kitchen. As I was about to head up the stairs I remembered the mystery man from the hospital. I looked at Maddox one last time. He was watching tv now.

"Hey Maddox I have one last question" I said while standing right before the stairs. 

Maddox looked up at me from the couch and paused the show he was watching. "What's up?"

I took a deep breath and said "I know this might sound crazy, but when I was at the hospital I saw this man. He was in the room talking to the doctor. I can't remember his name now. It was something with an M. Anyways he had beautiful blue and eyes and I felt like we had something. Some type of connection. Like I said I can't remember much, but before he left he told the doctor it would be best if we 'went our separate ways'. I feel like if I just talked to him I would have a shot at recovering my memory. Do..you possibly know anything about him?"

Maddox looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. Then his expression turned to anger. "No. Go to bed. You were probably just dreaming. Maybe even a bit too delusional from all the drugs. There is no one who matches that description here."

"But.." I argued.

"Go to bed. You need some rest." Maddox interfered.

"Something isn't right" I mumbled to myself while walking up the stairs. I plopped onto the large bed in my room. "There's something they're not telling me"