Forever & Always

Chapter 35: Ptophobia✔️

(adj) - the fear of falling

Pronounced: toe-foe-bee-yuh

•3rd Person pov•

Winter's family wasted no time in dropping everything and rushing to the hospital. It felt like they waited forever for her to wake, but they knew they had to be patient. When they arrived, they saw Wonder sitting against the wall outside of Winter's room, dried tear stains on his cheeks.

"Wonder, baby? What happened?" Alyssa asked her youngest son. Wonder tried to respond to his mother's question, but all he could do was open and close his mouth. No words would come out. Eventually, he gave up on trying to speak and just nodded to the door that led to Winter's room.

Alyssa stood up from her crouched position and entered the room. She gasped when she saw her only daughter finally awake. Although the family wanted to pile into the room all at once, they knew they had to be mindful of the amount of people so they didn't overwhelm her.

"Winter?" Dion whispered her name and her head snapped away from the TV playing a random movie. Winter stared at the couple, as well as everyone else who stood impatiently in the doorway. It was silent for a minute until she decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong room."

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The next month was not easy, for Winter or the family she didn't know she had. Her parents, Helios, and Valentina showed her pictures from her younger years, shared stories of all the mischief she would cause with Wonder and her adoptive brothers, told her of all of the beautiful moments she shared with the people who love her. Her friends would recall all of the adventures they had and the memories they made when they went on missions, all the amazing places they visited, and the breathtaking sites they saw. Her brothers didn't know what to do. They tried to remind her of all the things she loved and the things she hated. They tried to remind her of who she was and what she meant to them.

And Arlo...

Arlo couldn't do anything. How was he meant to sit there and tell her about the person she was supposed to be? How was he meant to tell her what she was supposed to remember? How was he meant to tell her what they were to each other when she didn't even know that she loved him? Tell her that they were going to build a life together? Tell her what was going to be their future when she didn't remember a damn thing?!

Taking Winter home was a challenge. She was very reluctant to leave the hospital considering she didn't know who these strangers were. She was confused and thought they were all crazy and delusional with their ridiculous stories. She was given proof that these people really were her family, but that didn't stop her from putting up a fight.

Eventually, she agreed to go home with them. After she rested for the first few days, her brothers took her for a tour around the house. They showed her all of her allegedly favorite rooms and places. The backyard where she would spend hours drawing and painting all of the flowers, plants, and trees, the art room where all of her magnificent pieces lay, the dance studio where she let herself get lost in the music, the music room where she let her emotions run wild... and she didn't remember any of it.

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Everything was too much. The walks through the halls, looking at the same sad faces, listening to the same ridiculous stories. She tried to remember something, anything, she really did. But nothing would come. The only thing she did enjoy were the walks outside with her father. He didn't try to pressure her into remembering like everybody else.

He didn't bring up any memories of her life before her accident, didn't tell her who she was supposed to be. He just let her be, left her to remember on her own. Plus, the walks were good for her physical therapy.