Captive

Chapter Thirty Eight

"She didn't know who we were," Bret said when he got back to the hotel. Davey sighed and handed him a beer. Sitting down on the desk chair Bret took it and tilted it up drinking deeply then sighing raggedly. "Just lay there looking at us as if we were two complete strangers they had let into her room."

"I'm sure that's normal after a coma," Davey said reassuringly and Bret shrugged, taking another long drink.

"What happens when she does start putting all the pieces together though? What happens when she remembers about those two clowns that got put away just before she had the heart attack? What happens if the first thing she remembers about me is that I kept her locked away and I hit her? Fuck!" His exclamation of sheer frustration echoed and Davey sighed.

"Cross that bridge when you come to it," he advised and Bret looked away from him, staring moodily out of the window as he tried to process the visit that afternoon. He and Rachel had waited anxiously outside of the room while the doctors woke Juliet up gradually. They were told they would be allowed to go in and see her for a few minutes but it would be very brief because the doctors would need to do some tests once she was awake. All he could see when he thought of her was that look of utter confusion on her face as she looked up at him from the bed, an expression on her face as if she was gazing up at a complete stranger and not necessarily one she wished to get to know better. She had appeared peaceful in her coma at least, no expression of anxiety or pain in her features but awake she looked wide eyed and fearful, shifting uncomfortably on the bed again and he struggled with the thought that she was happier in her dreams than in the waking world. "When can you go back?"

"Tomorrow," Bret said and Davey smiled.

"She'll know you by then, bound to. Maybe they shouldn't have let you and Rachel in so soon after she'd woken up. It was probably a bit too soon."

"Maybe," Bret said and clung onto that thought like a lifeline. He'd go tomorrow and she'd know him, she'd remember him and it would be fine. But the following day was just as bad as the first day. The nurse again advised just a short visit as there was a specialist coming in to see her and she just lay there looking between them with a bemused expression on her face. Rachel was clearly very upset by this but tried not to let it show until they were outside the room and she let her tears fall. Both she and Bret were experiencing a world of guilt as they considered whether their behaviours towards Juliet in the past had contributed to her lack of memory about them.

In the next few days they visited regularly but Juliet barely spoke to them and if she did her voice was polite and distant, as if she was with complete strangers rather than her mother and her boyfriend. The nurse advised them to talk about their lives together and to try to think of positive memories they could share which might help, but she cautioned them not to try and force her or to get angry when she couldn't remember because that wouldn't help. Rachel wondered if them going in together might be confusing as prior to Juliet being in hospital she and Bret had never met and so they tried visiting separately. Six days after she had come out of the coma Bret made his way to the hospital for the afternoon visiting slot and found her sat in the chair by the window. She'd had a shower and her hair was gleaming in the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. Her hand was at her throat and he saw she was wearing her necklace again, the sight of the familiar gold chain bringing a sense of hope to flood through him. He noticed she was wearing a hospital gown with a fluffy dressing gown wrapped around her to keep her warm but it didn't quite reach her ankles and he could see the scars there, crisscrossed like anklets around her skin. Juliet turned and for a brief moment she smiled at him warmly giving him hope she remembered who he was but then the smile faltered a little.

"Hey," he said softly. She forced the smile back on her lips. Bret carefully lowered himself into the chair opposite her. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine thank you," she said, politely.