One More Summer

Chapter 11

-Leah-

        A week after the panic attack, after almost a month in the hospital, I was finally going home. It wasn't really going home, as I had to go back every day to see doctors, but I got to sleep in my own bed. Not that I remembered it.

        "Are you ready sweetie, I mean Leah?" my mother said cautiously as I sat on the edge of the hospital bed.

        "Yes, M-Mom." The word felt strange on my tongue. It was an awkward dance, the one my mother and I danced. She was trying not to bring up anything I couldn't remember, trying not to make me feel uncomfortable. I was still getting used to calling her my mother. She looked at me, quickly blinking back tears. 

        "Then let's go," she said, dead quiet. I nodded, getting up to follow her. An awkward ride home followed. I sat uncomfortably in the front seat, tracing the burn marks on my arms. My mother pulled up in front of a house that I didn't recognize. We sat in silence for a moment when I felt hands running through my hair. I almost turned, almost asked my mother to stop, but then I heard the muffled sobs. And I let her delicate fingers braid my long hair.

        "I hope you know how lucky you are that your hair was up and didn't get burned," Katie had told me over and over. I only nodded, wondering how on earth my hair not getting torched was lucky. I snapped out of my little world when I heard my mother clear her throat. 

        "Um, we should probably get going inside. Is-is that okay?" I nodded, gently finger combing the braid out of my hair. I followed her inside, standing awkwardly at the entryway while Mom disappeared to get Grayson. I was starting to remember him more and more, but he was still a bit distant. 

        "Hey," he said shyly. "I'm glad you're back. Now we can play Mario Kart." I smiled.

        "I'd love to, but first can I put my stuff in my room?" I asked gently.

        "Yeah," he said, standing there, forgetting I had no clue where the bedroom was. "Oh, right. It's upstairs, all the way to the end of the hall, and then up that flight of stairs." 

        "Right. Erm, thanks," I grinned, before grabbing the small bag I had and following his instructions. At the very top of the house lay a room that I instantly knew was mine. The walls were a light shade of blue, not that you could see them much. Posters covered almost every inch of space. I walked over to one, a dark picture of three men. Underneath read the words, "Supernatural. Join the hunt." I thought for a moment, pressing my hands over my ears, before remembering.

        "Supernatural," I breathed, running my fingers down the length of the poster. And next to it, a blue police box. "Doctor Who." I gasped as the shows came back to me, before turning to look at a poster with four smiling boys.

        "Oh, that's right!" I grinned, remembering how Michael had started a band, and how they'd gotten really good. I'd been asked to design a poster for them. I turned my attention back to the rest of the room. There was a desk, set in a alcove right in front of a window. On the desk sat a laptop and a notebook. On the wall farthest from the doorway sat the bed, which had plain black sheets. Next to it was a bookshelf with a lamp. 

        I turned around and walked to one of the other windows in the room, where a black guitar sat. Then back to the closet, which was filled with band tees. Starting to feel almost numb, I walked back to the center of the room and turned slowly in circles. I noticed the bookshelves everywhere, noticed the glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. I drink in everything I can see, trying to remember the girl I was, the girl I am supposed to be now.