Learning to Remember

Chapter 1: Frankie

"Come on, move it!"

Frankie swerved his bike around the old Cadillac that wasn't even going the speed limit, then moved to get back into the right lane.

"I've got a deadline!" He yelled as he hit yet another section of traffic. "This is why I never drive my car." He growled as he swerved his bike in and out of the cars. If he didn't make this delivery on time, he'd get another bad review. And he couldn't afford that. He was barely scraping by as it was.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he turned off of the busy street and onto a calmer residential side street. He pedaled hard to get the bike up to its maximum speed, hoping he could cruise on to his destination. When the street slanted into a slight hill and his bike was going as fast as he could push it, he stopped pedaling and let the bike cruise. He glanced to his right at a nearby park where families were playing with their kids as the sun was beginning to set behind the trees. He rolled his eyes. "Boring." He muttered to himself as he turned to look back toward the street.

His breath caught in his lungs as a car backed out into the street right in front of him. Glancing to the other lane, he saw an SUV was approaching from the opposite direction. No time for much else, he swerved behind a parked truck to get onto the sidewalk and go around the cadillac.

As he came around the back bumper of the truck, he turned and leaned backward to make his bike bunny hop over the curb and onto the sidewalk. As his bike was coming down and his view became more visible around the truck, he spotted a woman standing right in front of him. He cursed as his bike landed and he slammed on the brakes as he swerved to avoid her. But it was too late. He clipped the woman and she fell to the ground.

Skidding to a stop, Frank hopped off his bike and bent down to see the woman was lying still and had a small cut on the side of her forehead. He cursed again. Not sure what to do, he stood and looked around. The street parking spots seemed packed full, but there were no people in sight. He didn't see anyone approaching them to help.

A groan from below him had him looking back down at the woman. She placed one hand on her head and one on the sidewalk beside her. "Wha...." The woman muttered.

Panic filled him. Or at least, that was the only reason he could come up with as to why he'd act so rashly as to do what he would do next. He bent down, grabbed her purse, and shoved it into his messenger bag, hopping back onto his bike and taking off, turning onto the first side street he could find.

A moment later, the woman sat up and looked around her, not seeing anyone. She stood but quickly closed her eyes and winced in pain as her head throbbed. Feeling something wet, she pulled her hand away and opened her eyes to find blood on her fingers. "What happened?" She whispered to herself as she turned and looked around at her surroundings again.

"Amelia?" She turned at the sound of a man's voice behind her and her breath caught in her throat. She had to tilt her face up to look the tall man in the eyes. Not that it took much for someone to seem tall with her 5'3" height. Still, she guessed he was just over six feet. His strawberry blonde hair was all messy and his nose and cheeks were covered in freckles. Her eyes took on a mind of their own as they roamed downward. His snug t-shirt was sticking to his chest, drenched in sweat, and he was panting for breath. Why was he out of breath? Then she noticed he was wearing athletic shorts and sneakers.

"You've been running?" She asked mindlessly as she stared at his chest.

He chuckled and she felt herself shiver slightly at the sound. "Yeah, I try to run most evenings. It helps me unwind. Are you alright, you seemed confused? Wait..." She looked up to find his eyes scrunched up in confusion as he stared at her head. "You're bleeding. Are you ok?"