forget-me-not

Chapter 6

I wake up in a bright room. The lights are burning my eyes. I hear beeping noises and feel a bunch of wires connected to my body. My eyes take a minute to adjust to the brightness of the room, but once they open, I see a man sitting beside my bed. I try to think really hard about who it is. He feels familiar but I can't think. It hurts to think. It's like he feels me staring at him and his head shoots up. His eyes pool with tears and he grabs my hand. He's screaming for the nurses to come and I just stare. I think we dated in high school? He looks much older, how old is he?

"Madeline, oh my goodness, I can't believe it." The man cries. A nurse comes rushing over and asks the man to step back. He stares at me in awe. He's tall. Definitely over six feet. He has beautiful brown pools for eyes and strong feeling hands but he looks broken. I see dog tags hanging from his neck and become more confused. The nurse waves her hand in front of me to redirect my attention.

"I have to ask you a few questions, is that alright?" She asks. I feel like I can't talk yet so I nod my head yes.

"Do you know your name?"

"Madeline." I answer questionably, clearing my throat.

"Madeline what?" She asks. I shut my eyes and use all my brain power to think of something. To think of my last name. What's my last name?

"Murphy?" I say not so confidently.

"That's you. Do you know where you are?"

"Well, definitely a hospital. Or a really bad dream." I reply. The guy lets out a quick laugh. I force a smile at him before looking back at the nurse. She asks me a few more questions. I struggle to get some right, I know it, but she doesn't tell me what's wrong or right. She calls the man Jake and pulls him by the door of my room.

"It looks like we were right. She has retrograde amnesia. She may not remember you. She may not remember everything about herself. She should remember her parents but even that's a toss up. You have to practice what we talked about. Do you want to talk to her?" She whispers, even though I heard everything. I feel my heart racing. Retrograde amnesia? I have amnesia? As in, I forgot things? How did I even get here?

"Hey, Mads, how are you feeling?" Jake asks. I shrug my shoulders and size him up again. He walks over to me and sits in the chair he was just sleeping in. He pulls it closer to my bed.

"My head hurts a little. I'm just confused." I answer. He reaches for my hand but I pull away. I immediately feel bad because of the look on his face, his perfect mustache forms a frown.

"I'm Jake, I'm not sure if you remember me." I can see a lot of hope in those beautiful brown eyes.

"You seem really familiar, but I can't put anything together. I feel like I remember you from high school. I can't figure out why I'm in here."

"You were in an accident because someone shot you. The bullet just missed your brain. You've been in a medically induced coma for about three weeks. We weren't sure when you would wake up. And we weren't sure who you would be if you did." He says. It seems like that was hard for him to get out. I sit still for a minute and soak in what he told me.

"The doctor said you have retrograde amnesia. You may remember certain things or you may not, and your memory may or may not come back eventually." He sighs. I extend my hand out for him to hold when I see that he's crying. Why can't I just remember anything? Or remember that I was shot?

"I'm sorry, so who are you to me? Who shot me? Why would someone shoot me?"

"The cops said they aren't exactly sure who did it, although I have a pretty good damn guess. The cameras in your shop were conveniently down for the last hour of your night before I came to pick you up. I knew I shouldn't have left you alone." He says angrily. He continues holding my hand with one hand while the other rubs his face.