Can Love Overcome Amnesia?

Chapter 7: The Remaining Memories

~Annie~

Gah! Where on earth did I put that dress?!

I shuffled around in my closet, pulling item after item and tossing it haphazardly over my head. I glanced at the big Hello Kitty clock above my bed and groaned for about the billionth time. The twins are gonna pick me up in about 20 minutes and I'm still not dressed. 

We're going to Dan Howard's party. His parents are out of town so naturally, like a teenager's second instinct, he decides to throw a party. I was pretty well known in school, so I knew I had to go make an appearance at the party.

I opened my bedroom door and hollered, "Grandma, have you seen the dress I bought last week?"

I've been living with my grandma since I was 11 years old, after my parents and I got in a car crash. Apparently the road was really slick that night and my dad lost control of the car. My eyes blurred as my mind brought me back to that fateful night.

~~~*~~~*~~~

I woke up to the sound of loud and steady beeping. I slowly and painfully opened my eyes and squinted at the bright lights above me and felt my head ache as the constant beeping and bright lights attacked my dull senses. I studied my pale and bland surroundings and immediately recognized it as a hospital ward. For a moment I was confused on how I got there, and as I raised my hand to press the button next to me to call a nurse, I realized that I couldn't move my hand. In fact I couldn't move my arm, my legs, or any part of my body. 

Panic washed over me as I struggled to remember what happened. I raked my brain for any signs of what could've caused this but all I got was pure blackness. Suddenly, the door opened, and a man in a long white coat, who I assumed was the doctor, came in with an old lady dressed in a business suit trailing behind him.

"Good morning, young lady," the doctor gently smiled down on me. "How are you feeling?"

"W-Why am I here? What happened?" I whispered, tears welling up in my tired eyes.

"You had an accident, but you're all fine now," the doctor calmly replied. "Do you remember what happened?"

I tried to shake my head but my neck brace didn't let me. But the doctor must've known my response for he nodded and scribbled something in his clipboard. "Alright Annabelle, I'm gonna--"

"I'm sorry?" I interrupted. 

"Yes?"

"Uhm...who's Annabelle?"

~~~*~~~*~~~

It's been nearly 6 years since I woke up in that hospital, not remembering anything before the accident. Thankfully, the lady who came in with the doctor--who turned out to be my grandma--filled me in with my life. She said that my parents and I were driving home from a party on a rainy night and the slippery roads made my dad lose control of the wheel. At first I thought she was just feeding me the story but I felt a strange connection with her, like I felt safe and reassured, and I knew that we had the same blood flowing in our veins.

"Which one, dear?" I heard my grandma's voice pull me back to reality as she walked to my room. For a 67 year old lady, I'm proud to say that she sure does dress quite stylishly. But then again, she's not your average stay-at-home-and-bake-cookies kind of grandma; she's the CEO of my late-grandfather's company so I guess she's expected to always look smart and classy. 

"The sequined one," I replied. "The one that you said looked red carpet worthy?"

"I think I might have seen Josephine lay it on your bed last night," my grandma said as she stepped a kitten-heeled foot in my room but suddenly stopped. She looked at the mess in my room where the floor was no longer visible and pondered the chances of her accidentally stepping tripping over something laid shrewdly across the floor. She must've thought those chances to be high cause she stepped back and said, "Why don't you check your closet again and I'll go ask Josephine if she did put it on your bed? You know how bad my memory can get."

"Okay, thanks grandma," I smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. I know I can always count on her.

"Anytime, darling," she patted my shoulder, took another glance in my room, and walked away while shaking her head. "Teenagers these days." I heard her mutter as she descended the stairs to find our housekeeper.

I bounded back to my closet and glanced at the clock. I have 10 minutes to spare before I could hear the twins' loud music blasting from their car. I've already pulled most of my clothes out of my closet and the only thing left were old receipts and empty shopping bags. That and a box that I hadn't noticed before. Curiously, I knelt by my closet and pulled it on my lap. It was old and torn, so I carefully lifted the lid and gasped softly. Inside along with pieces of styrofoam were two beat up and muddy phones and pieces of jewelry.

"You and your parents had those the night of the accident," I heard a soft voice say and I looked up to see my grandma leaning on the doorframe with my sequined dress in her arms. The way she was leaning with tears in her eyes suddenly made her look so old and weary. Definitely not the grandma I know.

Suddenly the party didn't seem so important anymore. Here I am, holding the very items my parents had and wore the night they passed away and I want to go to a party? Ha, as if!

My grandma carefully made her way inside my room and slowly sat on my bed, absently brushing the sequins with her bejeweled fingers. "You know," she smiled sadly, "you have your mother's sweet personality and your father's stubbornness. They're quite a contradiction."

I felt my face heat up and I quickly averted my eyes to the box in my hands. I examined the phones: each were scratched, had mud stains, and were beat up. I wondered if I could still turn them on.

"I had those fixed so they could still work," my grandma said, reading my mind. "And I had the jewelry cleaned."

I nodded silently as I cherished this moment. I examined the jewelry next. Each ring and each necklace sparkled in my hands as if it had never witnessed such a dreadful event. The diamonds and pearls glowed as if it never came in contact with rain, blood, and mud. 

I felt my eyes tear up and as I took the lid to replace it back on the box, a piece of jewelry caught my eye. I dropped the lid and carefully lifted the silver necklace as if it would break any moment. I placed the box on the floor with my other hand and examined the pendant. It was a half a heart with a small, pink jewel embedded in it. I immediately felt my heart thump wildly as my blue eyes remained fixated on the necklace. It was as if it was enchanting me, silently and frantically whispering secrets that I couldn't hear.

"You were wearing that the night of the accident," I heard my grandma say. Her voice seemed so far away. It was as if nothing around me mattered, just me and the necklace inside an air tight bubble. Then my grandma spoke again:

"The paramedics said you were clutching that when they brought you in the ambulance. They said you wouldn't let it go, and that the way you were holding it was as if you were holding on to your life."