Recalling Reality

Chapter 26

My head is pounding, and I need something to at least make it stop causing my stomach to roil. When I finally sit up, I can't help but squint to get the afternoon sun from being in my eyes. It has been a long time since I've had a headache this bad, if at all.

But, I need to find Shane and talk to him. See him. See what was happening.

The man I spent an amazing weekend with was blond and had eyes that captured my soul. And the man who was in the room with me yesterday, or whenever that was, was not the Shane I knew.

I pull myself out of the bed and slip on a pair of blue jeans and the black sweater that was at the foot of the bed. My heart beats a little harder as I glance around the room. There is a large panoramic portrait of a tropical island with some smaller ones to decorate around it on one wall. Another wall had a flat screen television hanging on it with an electric fireplace built in just below it. And a closet was on the third wall. The fourth wall, there were two doors.

And I have never been in this room before. Looking down at my clothing, I don't remember this sweater, though it is very soft and I love the feel of it against my skin. And the jeans are a tad bit too big for me, as I am taking in the fact that my waistline isn't it's normal size.

Neither is my chest. There isn't much poking out of my sweater either.

There are a few articles of clothing in the white basket by the closet door. Picking out a pair of jean shorts, I check the size and clearly the label is printed with a 5/6. Never, for as long as I could remember, I wore that size. I was always a ten or twelve at the most. This has to be someone else's room.

Walking out of the house in the thin tank top and boy-shorts would bring on too many lookers. And I was never one to let anyone see what I looked like under my clothing. So, who's ever clothes these were, I was taking them.

Fleeing from the house, I didn't even take a second glance around. I don't even know how I came to that house. Who's house was it?

This is not right. There is beating playing even harder in my head and the tears are building just from the blasting of the noise. I had to find Shane and ask him what was going on. He would know why Ryan was impersonating him, and... why was I out of the hospital when the last thing I can recall was that I couldn't hardly speak or write?

Finding Shane was my only hope to figure this all out. He is the one I needed. He is the one who mended everything that was broken inside of me. I need to find him and I know right where to do so.

Shane lives next to Taylor. And that is where I need to go... If I could figure out where I am at in the first place.

There is a sparkling black pickup with dealer plates on it parked in the driveway. I can get an address out of the glove box maybe. Or... In newly purchased vehicles, there was always that tag in the window that would have the owners name and address on it. As long as the door was unlocked and there was no security system on it, I can check it out.

Making my way around the vehicle, careful not to scratch it, my eyes catch the faint decal in the back window, barely peeking out through the dark tint. I give the passenger door handle a tug and it comes right open. I am instantly slapped with the new vehicle smell. A smell I never really had the chance to experience as my vehicles were all used.

Carefully, I peel the taped paper from the window and my heart stops, my breath shoots out leaving blazing trails of fire behind. The paper floats out of my fingertips and jumps out of the back seat. All I caught was Hannah Bartholomew before I released the paper.

This was my truck? Since when? And Bartholomew? I wasn't married. I never married Shane... Or apparently Ryan.

Something was not right.

I was just in the hospital.

I just saw Ryan who turned out to be Shane. And Doctor Masters concreted that for me by calling Ryan, Shane.

Now, I wake up in a strange house, with smaller clothing... A truck that is brand new, is owned by Hannah Bartholomew.

My heart is hammering in my ears. There is so much pressure in my head that it can explode any second. I circle around in my spot checking out the neighborhood. But there isn't a neighborhood!

There is nothing but a forest of trees off to the left and a large play yard to the right of the two story large house with a wrap around porch. Just off to the end of the long gravel driveway, there is a beautiful three car garage and a big red barn to the right of that. I was in the country.

My chest is collapsing on my lungs and heart. It's hard for me to even try to suck in any of the rich, sweet hay scented air. Tears are searing my eyes as I take in the scenery. A scenery that is all so strange.

I take the chance on climbing in the front seat of the truck. The keys are in the ignition. I crank over the engine and it rumbles to life. If this is mine, if I am Hannah Bartholomew, then I need to find Shane and see what was happening.

And if the blond man I fell in love with wasn't the actual Shane Bartholomew, I would have to just seek out that man and ask him what the hell was going on. And that place was right next door to Taylor's.

But where was I?

I had to just drive around and find the nearest town. That way, if I knew where I was, I can figure out how to get to Shane's.

I back out of the drive and turn around in the little patch of gravel. Taking a left on the highway, I follow it down a few miles until I begin seeing signs of life. A quaint little town is ahead and the population is under five hundred. I stop in the only gas station and the clerk tells me that I am west of Racine by a half an hour. As long as I stay on the highway, I would eventually run right into the city of Racine. And I knew my way from Racine to Taylor's.

My drive is long and once I am in the city, my heart begins to pick up speed again. There are so many more stores that what I remembered. Then again, I hadn't been on the western side of this city in a long time. I usually cut off by the mall when I visited because I had no business going any further.

I shake it off and find the highway that will take me straight through Kenosha and down to the Illinois state line to my brother's neck of the woods.

It's a half an hour drive and I am finally there. I turn in to the driveway that leads to Shane's and I glance over the yard. He is lazy with mowing lately, and it's a field in his front yard. As for the back, I could imagine how that looked. But he was never lazy with his yard. It was always trimmed up, neat and tidy.

I heave the door open and slid out. Walking up the walkway to the door, my stomach twists and my throat dries. There is something about this house that is sending chills up my spine. Then again, the last time I was at this house, I was being escorted out by the ex-monster who damn near broke my heart.

I knock, and ring the doorbell, but there is no life coming to the door. And there wouldn't be if it was a weekday and Shane was working. I could sit and wait, but that might be all day. So, I turn the door knob, but it is locked. Though... he never did lock the back door.

Racing around to the backyard, I skid to a stop when I see the above ground pool in my brother's yard. Taylor never had a pool. And for as far as I can recall, he wasn't going to put one in either. Shrugging it off my shoulders, I jog up the back steps and peer into the large patio doors. The house is vacant. No couch. no table. No chairs. Nothing but the kitchen counter and the island where Shane and I always ate breakfast.

I back up and head around to the front where I trip over something that is hidden in the field. Ripping the item from the grass, my heart crashes into my stomach.

FOR SALE.