Remember

Chapter 6: Happy Late Birthday!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating today, I just got home. Without further ado here is the next update. Please read, comment, and vote and I hope that you enjoy!

Before the darkness finally lifted I began to be aware of my surroundings. I heard the beeping of a heart rate monitor, felt an IV in my left arm, and recognized the voices of my parents and my roommate as their conversation drifted above me. I felt my dry eyelids stuck together and focused all of my energy towards opening them. When I finally succeeded I was practically blinded by the bright white light that filled vision. I let out a groan and almost instantly the room was filled with the questions being directed towards me.

"What were you doing out there?

"What happened?"

"What were you thinking?"

"Are you OK?"

"Can we get anything for you?"

I just wanted to tell them to stop. Every question they asked just seemed to cause sensory overload in my mind. I finally managed to answer the last question, "Water." I croaked out of my dry and cracked throat.

That shut them up and Olivia moved quickly to grab me a glass while my parents busied themselves by adjusting my blanket and pillow. After I had a sip of water they began to question me again, it felt more like an interrogation than parental curiosity or concern.

"So what exactly happened out there?" My dad asked. "Why were you running at such an ungodly hour?"

I took a deep breath as if to place my thoughts and remember everything, Olivia began to open her mouth to speak but I started before she could, "I was super stressed out about a test that we were going to have in my one class. I just could not sleep and decided to go for a run to blow off some energy. I wasn't paying attention and as a result, I tripped over a root knocking me out. I don't remember anything after that."

I said, doing my best to act slightly embarrassed by my clumsiness. Olivia shot me a curious glare, wondering why I had lied. To be honest, I truly do not know why I did it myself, something inside of me just seemed to think that there would be grave consequences if I told them about my dreams.

My dad nodded, he seemed to be buying it, which was a relief. "Well let us fill you in on the rest." My mother said as she fixed my blanket in a motherly gesture, but something about it didn't seem genuine. I shook my head, I was probably over thinking everything.

"Well let's see, Olivia here found you on the North Forest Trail. Then she managed to get you here to the hospital, called us, we waited, and now you just woke up. The doctor said that you were exhausted so he gave you sedatives to sleep. He also said that it could cause extreme hallucinations, so any weird dreams?" I shook my head no but she wasn't even paying attention, already moving on to the next order of business with her no-nonsense tone. "You have been out for three days."

Before I had time to process what she said Olivia began to speak, shooting me a desperate glance before she did. "I was worried when you were not there when I woke up, so I put myself in your shoes and tried to find you. It took a while but I did, you were passed out on North Forest. Scared the living daylights out of me!"

Everything that had just been said struck me as wrong. I could practically feel all of the lies being woven around me. I wanted to scream and yell and demand the truth, but I knew that would do more harm than good. Instead, I asked a harmless question, "What is today's date?"

Everyone around me seemed to shift uncomfortably around, not meeting my eyes. Finally, Olivia spoke, "January 23rd." She mumbled.

I threw my right hand up in the air in exasperation. "You have got to be kidding me! I slept through my nineteen birthday!" During my rant, my parents slipped out of the room. On my eighteenth birthday last year I had gotten extremely sick and fallen into a medically induced coma for a week before I woke up. I had to have physical therapy for a couple weeks afterward. I had looked forward to being conscious for my nineteenth birthday, but that didn't happen.

"Sorry?" Olivia said sheepishly. "I wanted to have your gifts piled up next to your bed for when you woke up, but Mr. and Mrs. Miller would not let me."

I shook my head softly, "It's not your fault, my parents can be true sticks in the mud."

We laughed and fell into an easy conversation, but my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking about all the things that had been said earlier, all of the lies that I had seen. After a while of conversation, my parents reentered the room, followed by a nurse. I was given the discharge papers to sign and once I received my doctor's instructions, I was free to go.

 My parents insisted on driving Olivia and I back to our dorm. Saying that they had a 'surprise' in store and that it was too cold to be walking the whole way back, especially in the snow. I had a feeling that the 'surprise' was a birthday gift, and maybe a small dessert.

When we got back to the dorm I was proven correct. There was a box of cupcakes for us to split and a gift from my parents, a full copy of The Lord of The Rings, and one from Olivia, a container of Nutella. It was a running joke between the two of us that if she did not cook I would be living off of Nutella.

After a bit of awkward conversation between the four of us, my parents finally left. Once we were alone I could feel the tension that was sitting between Olivia and I. I chose to ignore it, I would find out later why she had lied, but until then I was exhausted and in desperate need of a shower and sleep.

Later on, when I was finally in bed and getting ready to fall asleep I felt my hand brush across a package underneath of my pillow. I froze, lost in time to the memory of another package, one whose content was most definitely sinister. With shaking hands, I opened up this one. Inside was a small amulet, with a wolf head on it. The wolf was beautiful, pure black with blazing gold eyes. The back of the amulet was inscribed with a Greek saying, one that I could not read, but a note was included in the package. It read

Asteria,

I failed to protect you this time. This time, you were hurt and I was too late to stop it. This amulet is for your protection, if you chose to wear it. If you do not then it is your choice, but I cannot help you. If you do, I will always be there when you are in danger.

Ianua

I was conflicted. Who was this Ianua? Should I wear the amulet? I let the chain fall out of my hand onto the bed. As I did this I lost the feeling of warmth and comfort that I had not even realized filled me as I held the amulet. Call me superstitious, but I was going to wear the amulet. I slipped the amulet over my head, reaching up to clasp it in my hand for comfort. As I drifted off to sleep, embraced in warmth, one of the things that had been bugging me made sense. I had been on South Forest when I had been running and fell. Why was I found on North Forest?