The Boy With The Blue Beanie

Chapter One - Remembering

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Exactly seven months ago, I went into a coma. Exactly seven months ago, a bitter snowstorm changed my life. Exactly seven months ago, I heard the last audible phrase that my mind could remember: I'll always find my way back to you.

He will still be there, I told myself. I placed my hand gently in the middle of my chest. As expected, my heart was racing. Though the train had yet to even arrive in Cheshire.

Relaxing was out of the question, as far as I was concerned.

It was as if my whole mind was erased. When I woke up, I could hardly commemorate anything before I was sent into a coma. All I rememered was that my name was Elizabeth, I had a loving family, and I was in love with a boy I met during my life in Cheshire. l I remembered was his curly hair, his green eyes, the way he twirled me around; his blue beanie that he let me wear, simply because I looked beautiful.

The doctors called it a miracle. They told me that there was a one in a million chance that I would survive. I had been out in the cold so long that my blood had dropped below average temperature. I could have been paralyzed. I could have died.

Instead the storm merely took my consciousness, and I curse myself everyday for missing the chance to say a proper goodbye to... him.

I wished more than anything that I could recall his name, remember the way I heard it the first day I laid eyes on the curly haired angel. He taught me what love felt like, and how it can change people. He taught me that no matter the person, everyone has a match. He taught me  how love works.

If you'd ask me if I believed in love at first sight, I would tell you yes.

The sound of the train's unpleasant whistle caused me to open into reality. It was then I realized I had been nawing at my lower lip for the past half hour. I ceased biting at my lip, and fiddled with my hands in my lap, drawing a small picture from my snow white dress pocket.

Unable to hide a smile, I ran my thumb across the familiar face of the boy, his smile showing all glory as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pushing my blonde hair down my back. 

"We will be arriving in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire in about fifteen minutes."

The conductor's voice had become friendly. The only friendly voice I witnessed upon waking was my mum's. She had stood beside the hospital cot through my entire stay. Perhaps this was why mother was amongst the only person I had remembered, aside from few family members, and this one boy. The one boy that I vowed I would find, so I could restore my life, and make up for the seven months I missed.

Some nights, I had dreams; he would hold me close, and whisper that he loved me. I would smile and look up into those green eyes, and tell him I loved him too, because it was true.

This boy was my reason to be. For when I was lost, I let go of everything. When I awoke, blinking my eyes in the hospital light, the doctors told me of how I had whispered about a boy. The doctors encouraged my embark to find him. They encouraged my adventure because it would assist in my recovery, and possibly help to piece together what could be recovered from my memory.

At first, mother was resistant in me finding the curly headed boy. Convincing her it was for my best interest, she wrapped me in an embrace, sending me off on the train.

The fifteen minutes passed quicker than I assumed. I stood up, acquiring the one bag I had lugged with me. I pressed a gentle kiss to the photo, placing it gently into the pocket of my dress.

I was unsure of many things. My mind may not have been as stable as many, but I knew there was one thing that was certain. I had been in love. And from all that I remembered: those were the best memories of my life. I wasn't ready to give them up. I was ready to make new ones.

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