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↳Two years later
The sky was dark and cloudy, and I gazed out my apartment windows, watching as rain fell to the ground in tiny droplets. The glass pane that I stood behind was slightly dingy and could probably use a good cleaning - as could the rest of my apartment. But I would have to deal with that later, since I was already fifteen minutes late for work. I breezed into my bedroom, pulling off the oversized t-shirt I had slept in and opening my closet. Everything was arranged neatly according to color, so choosing an outfit wasn't much of a chore.
After a few moments of speculation, I grabbed a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and a black t-shirt bearing the Gypsy Café logo, along with my favorite black converse. I decided to pull my hair back into a ponytail and add minimal makeup.
On the way to my bathroom, I passed the full length mirror I had hung in the hallway and my eyes drifted over to the left side of my body. Directly under my left breast and extending to my rib cage, the skin was slightly lighter and at one time, had been a large, bloody slash mark.
Now, however, it was only the remnant of one.
I sighed, hating how it looked, and hating that I couldn't even remember what happened. The only thing I remembered was waking up alone in a small white hospital room, hooked up to a billion machines.
The doctors told me I had been in some form of accident and that a couple of strangers found me on the side of the road. I was in shock from blood loss and barely clinging to life.
Upon hearing this, I was terrified and confused. I tried desperately to remember what had happened, staying awake into the late hours of the night, hoping for even a sliver or hint of memory.
But I came up with nothing.
The only item that had any significance at all to me was the flannel they returned upon my exit from the hospital.
It wasn't mine- of that I was certain.
They said it had been tied around my wounds when I arrived, and they supposed it came from one of the two men who found me. I frowned. Two men had found me? Seen me that way?
I had been so lost in my thoughts and fears, I almost missed the nurse asking if I wanted to keep it.
After a moment of hesitation, I had reached out for it. I held the fabric tightly, breathing in it's scent- some form of woodsy cologne and another smell I really couldn't decipher, but fell in love with immediately.
When I arrived home, I clung to that flannel for dear life. I walked around the house wearing it. I held it as I slept. I folded it in my purse when I went anywhere, stroking the thin fabric for reassurance.
As odd as it sounds, it became my lifeline- the only thing in my life that brought me some form of comfort.
And to this day, I still slept with it under my pillow, hoping to someday find whoever it had once belonged to.
::
After the accident, I decided I needed to take time for myself. I moved from my apartment in the city to one on the outskirts of town. I dropped my job as a receptionist at a lawyer's office and picked up a job at a local hole-in-the-wall coffee shop. I even went as far as cutting off all connections with my old friends, knowing they'd somehow find a way to convince me to come back.
I guess one thing really can change your life.
::
"Hey Hazel, would you mind getting table two?" Jeffrey's voice called from somewhere in the kitchen, "I would but my hands are full!"
"I'm on it," I called back, setting down the silverware I'd been arranging, grabbing some menus and heading over to the table.
The coffeehouse was already filled, almost to its capacity, and it wasn't even noon yet.
All the booths lining the walls and beside the windows were occupied, and almost all of the tables were as well. "A waitresses work is never done," I murmured, locating table two and taking their order. It was a cute couple who looked about high school age. The boy was wearing a red and white letterman's jacket and the girl was in a red cheerleader's uniform. They looked so happy together, holding hands and smiling- it made my heart ache.
Ever since the accident, things hadn't gone quite my way in the relationship department, and though I had never minded being alone, I often wondered what it would be like to have someone like that.
But then I snapped back into reality, remembering most things didn't work out for me anyway.
"Alright, I'll be right out with those," I smiled sweetly, writing their order down and heading into the kitchen.
On the way there, I stroked the flannel I had tied around my waist, wondering what it's previous owner could possibly be doing
::
Author's Note: HIIII guys! Sorry I've been inactive for so long, I've been crazy busy.
I love the show, the characters and the actors, and I've had this story sitting on my laptop, completely forgotten for a billion years now, so I figured I'd give it a second chance.
