Counting Down

Chapter 12 - Remember Me

"I can't believe this," I whispered into her hair. I was holding on to her so hard I was fearful that if I let her go she would be an illusion, nothing but a ghost. She pulled away and looked at me directly in the eyes. Every emotion I had been feeling these past few months was lifted off my shoulders.

"What's your name?" she asked me slightly in laughter.

"Jacklyn. Jacklyn Meyers," I laughed back. "I have so much to tell you."

"I can imagine," she said. We began walking back to her hospital room as worrisome doctors hooked her back up to machines to check her vitals. They were particularly worried about her increasing heart rate, which I apologized for.

"What happened? No one would tell me shit."

"Well," I sighed. "We were driving to go grocery shopping and some snow fell over night. I was driving and I turned over to you and..." I paused to catch my breath. "We hit a patch of back ice and spun out, staying on the road and incidentally in the oncoming lane. A truck t-boned us, driver's side door. You went flying out of the other door, I was crushed in my side."

She nodded slowly, trying to recollect the memory, but scrunched up her face and rubbed it with her hands. "I don't remember. The only thing I remembered when I woke up was my first name." Some tears escaped from her eyes and fell onto her hospital gown.

"What happened here? I mean what happened with you?" I asked.

"Well, all I can remember is hearing everything around me. I can recall everything. Every word people said around me, every doubt that I would wake up, every contemplation to give up on me," she shuddered, "it was terrifying."

"I woke up, and when I asked them what happened they just said that I had been in a terrible accident. I wish I had known," she said with a smile, "that I had left someone behind."

"Did they explain the watch to you?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered, "I was growing pretty persistent to find out about my life and the watch seemed like a good place to start." Her messy hair fell into her face and I reached to place it back behind her ear. She leaned in to my touch and caught my gaze with her own. "It can't tell you how amazing it is to finally meet you."

Those last few words rang like the sound of an old church bell. To finally meet me. Finally, to have her back in my arms. Finally, to call her mine once more. Finally, the endless nights spent awake in worry and fear has come to its close. "I can't tell you how amazing it is to have you back."

She winced. "Well, there's a lot I don't know. Even about myself. I cannot recollect much, except my name and..." she furrowed her eyebrows and shut her eyes.

In a few moments, she recoiled and yanked her hands to her temple in a gasp. She whispered something I couldn't distinguish, but before I could ask, a doctor came rushing down the hall, papers that had escape their clipboard waving out behind her.

"You need to fill out some paperwork, miss," she said while ushering me the giant clipboard.

While Riley went to gather the escaped papers, I asked the doctor, "could you pinch me or something to make sure I'm not dreaming?"

She smiled before replying, "No. You're very much awake."

-

Three months later

I stumbled into the kitchen and slid across the hardwood floor. My loud thud to the ground gained a wince of pain and a sharp look to our bedroom door. Witnessing Riley still fast asleep, I sighed lightly and got to work. The newly stocked refrigerator was overflowing with all of Riley's favorite fruits. I plugged in the waffle stove and got to work mixing batter and adding my secret ingredients, brown sugar and cinnamon. The coffee brewer was prepped and heating up the water as the first waffle showed signs of being fully cooked. I quickly swapped it out and poured more batter in to cook another. The coffee brewer almost made it's little beep, but I stopped it before it could. I poured some coffee into the large mug given to me coincidently by Tara as a gift for Riley's homecoming. Some creamer and sugar was added, in perfect proportions, if I do say so myself. The smell of cooked batter signaled me to gather the last waffle, and after placed it on the same plate as the other. The little fine china bowl I had for special occasions was filled to the brim with sliced bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and pomegranates to top it off. I heard Riley stirring after I finished sprinkling some powdered sugar to the tops of the waffles. I swiftly set the small vase on the table and plopped the pink rose into the water.