Never Again

Chapter 13

*Ashton's POV*

She pulls off her sweatshirt and she's not wearing a shirt like she said. I can't even look at her breast because all I can see are the cuts and scars that surround her body. I'm so mad at both Calum and her dad for doing this to her. My vision goes red and I feel the urge to punch something. I turn so I'm facing away from Adriana and punch the first thing in my sight line. I think it's a tree, but am proven wrong when Adriana falls back straight onto a rock. She bangs her head. I don't even realize I'm crying on my knees until her eyes close shut. Now I'm no better then Calum or her father. I put her sweatshirt over her lifeless body. I'm full on sobbing now. Why did I have to get so angry?

I pick her up and carry her bridal style. We get to my car and lay her across the backseat. I start the drive to the hospital. When I'm almost there I hear movement from the back seat. I look at her though the mirror.

"How you feeling, babe?" I ask her, she stares at me for a second then screams at the top of her lungs.

"Now we know you can talk," I mumble as I pull to the side of the road. I open the door to the back seat and try to help her out. She avoids me and gets out her self.

"Please don't hurt me," she whispered just as she starts crying.

"Babe, why wouldn't I ever hurt you," then I realized why we were just in the car driving to the hospital. "On purpose."

"Who are you? What are you doing? Why am I here? Where were you just taking me?" she asks, but I can only focus on the first question.

"Wait you seriously don't know who I am?" I ask her.

"Not a clue. Should I?" She ask confused.

"Fuck, I screwed up," I tell no one in particular.

"Wait, one question, who am I?" she asks and I can only look at her in pity.

"Stop looking at me like that. I don't know who you are, but I know that's not how your supposed to look at me," she says and it makes me smile.

"You are Adriana, a 17 year old beautiful young woman, who I love very much," I tell her, she blushes, and looks down.

"I told you this before, but you probably don't remember. Always hold your head up, alright," I repeat what I said yesterday. These past two days have been the longest of my life. I pull out my phone and check the time. 11:27. It's too early in the morning to take a visit to the hospital.

"Can you please get back in my car?" I ask politely.

"Where are you taking me?" she asks backing away. I can see the fear in her eyes.

"The hospital," I tell her. After one last doubting glance thrown my way, she finally gets back in the car.

"Thank you," she tells me when we're both in the car again. I still get a tingling feeling in my stomach when she says things like that.

"Well it's my fault your like this, so it's the least I can do," I tell her. I know I could make up some lie about how she fell and hit her hand. If I lie to her in one of the worst points in her life, then who am I?

"How is it your fault?" she asks. I tell her the whole story minus the part where I figure out about Calum and her dad.

"Wow," she says just as I pull into the hospital. I'm going to let her remember everything else. I want her to live a few days like a normal person. No Calum or her father hurting her for just a little bit.

"Hello, what's your emergency?" the receptionist asks, I didn't even realize we were in the hospital. I tell her the whole story I just told Adriana a few minutes ago.

"Wow, ok and she doesn't remember anything?" she asks.

"She can talk, but she doesn't know who I am or even her own name," I tell her.

"Ok, can you fill out these forms for her, or let her fill out the parts she can," she explains, but I don't think Adriana can fill out any of these questions. We sit down and she waits for me to fill out her forms.

"Adriana," the doctor calls so I stand up. I motion with my hands for Adriana to stand also.

"Come on, that's you," I tell her while helping her out of the chair. We follow the doctor to one of the back rooms. Adriana is just standing awkwardly in the doorway. I take her hand and lead her to the chair and tell her to sit. She hesitantly obeys by sitting where she is supposed to.

"Ok, so you don't remember who your boyfriend is," he says motioning towards me. I burst out laughing and Adriana and the doctor look at me strangely. When I'm calm I explain myself.

"Sorry, I'm not her boyfriend. When we would hang out I would always tease her about how we look like a couple. Just yesterday I convinced a cashier that we were a couple even with Adriana's protests," I tell the doctor. I hear Adriana laugh from behind me. "Do you remember?" I ask her hopefully.

"No, but somewhere in the back of my mind, it's telling me that's something we would always fight about. Do you have a girlfriend? Do I have a boyfriend?" she asks and I frown.

"I'm dating one of your best friends, and no you don't have a boyfriend," I tell her.

"Does your girlfriend's name start with a C?" she asks and my eyes widen. I still haven't figured out her name. I'm pretty sure it starts with a C.

"Ya, how did you know?" I ask her trying to direct the conversation away from my girlfriend and her name.

"She hasn't lose her whole memory just certain parts," the doctor answers for her.

"Will she regain her memory soon?" I ask the doctor.

"No, I highly doubt it," he tells me and I feel my heart drop.

"Around how long will it take to get her memory back?" I continue trying to figure out how long she won't know me.

"With the way it's looking, I'd say 2-3 weeks, in which I advise her to stay in the hospital," he answers and I feel my heart ache. "But we need to get a cat scan of her brain. It could be more or less depending on the damage," he tells me and I feel my hope return. She might remember me before the whole 2 weeks.

"Well that's good I guess," I say even though a small part of me worries that she will take a while to remember.

...

I feel really bad as I see Adriana getting her cat scan. I hope she's okay. The lights go out and the cat scan starts up. After a few minutes, which feel like days for me because I really want to see those results, before the lights return. I see the doctor go in and say something to Adriana. She gets up, walks towards the door, when she gets near I open it for her.

"What did he say?" I ask her when she walks out the door.

"The results will be out in 5 minutes for us to view," she says mocking the doctor's voice. I hug her while laughing.

"Glad you didn't lose your sense of humor, that I love so much," I tell her and she hugs me back. We go to the waiting room and sit down. After a few seconds Adriana reaches over the armrest and grabs my hand. I smile to myself, lift her hand, and kiss her knuckles, with the smile never leaving my face. I see the smile break out across her face.

"Adriana I have your test results," the doctor calls out.

"That's me, right?" Adriana whispers to me, I nod, and follow the doctor to the room we just came from.

"Ok, so there has been a change of plans," he says and I almost jump up in joy, but I stop when I hear the next words, that shock me to a whole new level.