ethereal

care

"She has Post-Traumatic Amnesia." Doctor Smith explained to me, my parents, and Amara's parents the day after she woke up. We were sitting in the food court having lunch. My head was spinning.

"It's confusion or memory loss that occurs almost immediately after a severe brain injury. For Amara, it wasn't immediately after, as she was in a coma for a couple weeks. But it is immediately based on when she awoke." He was writing something down on his clipboard. My leg was shaking and I could feel my moms hand rest on it, for reassurance.

The doctor looked at us and paused. Then he began speaking again, this time in a lower voice.

"This amnesia can be short term, or long term. With patients who do not develop this amnesia from a car accident, especially one as bad as yours," He pointed to me. "They usually have it short term. With Amara, there is a possibility it's long term." He sighed and looked at me, then back at his clipboard.

I couldn't believe this. Her memory could be gone forever. My shoulders shuddered at the thought of her never remembering any of us. My thoughts were interrupted by Doctor Smith waking over to me. "Shawn," He began. "I want you to not rush into things with her too quickly." I nodded. "No but seriously, please listen. Amara has not regained her memory yet, and she won't anytime soon. She doesn't remember anything. If everyone goes into this thinking they can throw information about her own self at her, that's not going to work. If we want the memory back, we have to take it slow. Too much information will cause stress for her, and who knows," He stared at me. "She might not even get it back after that." I nodded and looked down at the ground. I had to be strong about this, right? That's what she would have wanted, right?

"We're doing everything we can." He patted my back and walked away, his black shoes clicking on the marble floor.

I decided to visit her for the 6th time today. It was only lunch time but I kept going in to check on her. I walked into her new room. The hospital gave her a bigger one with a bigger bed and a lot more room for visitors, since she'll be staying for a lot longer than most people.

Everything was awkward between us. She knew nothing about me, yet I knew everything about her. And she had no idea. It was mostly, "Yeah, Oops, Sorry, No, Thank You, Hi, Bye." Just the basics. And when I say basics, I mean basics. Those are things you say to someone who's cashing you out and bagging your items at a grocery store. Not to your best friend, and girlfriend. Even if she lost her memory.

Every time I walk into that room, I admire her. I can't stare at her for too long, or else she'll notice me. She's been pretty slow with remembering the doctors names, so she'll mistake me for one. I just laugh and tell her I'm not the doctor.

I sat down in the wood chair that's always sitting beside her bed, and I take a deep sigh. She was reading a magazine, not looking at me.

Amara knew the basic things to know, like her letters and numbers, and how to read and write. She knew how to multiply, divide, and add. She knew how to do basic things and everyday tasks, like eating or brushing her teeth. That stuff was easy.

She doesn't remember the memories.
She doesn't remember the people creating those memories.
She just doesn't remember the past.

I looked at her.

"Amara." I breathed.

"Yes?" She looked up at me, her brown eyes wide open and shining with light, as usual.

"How are you doing, Hun?" I asked, getting up and pouring a glass of water. "Pretty good, I still don't remember anything though." She shook it off. I handed her the water.

"So, do you remember anything that happened before you got here?" I asked nervously. She placed her magazine on her lap.

"No, why?" She asked. "Well I was just wondering, you know if any memory came back yet."

"Well I don't remember anything. Sorry." She looked at me, tears in her eyes. She picked up the magazine and continued to read, trying to wipe away the tears. God, was I done with what the doctor said.

She needs to know.

She needs to know who everyone is!

Nobody is telling her anything. She's being closed up in this little box with absolutely nothing to reflect on. Because there's nothing to remember.

"Amara look at me, please." She looked up once more and then back at the ground. She hasn't really been looking at anyone straight in the eyes, which I understand. As I said, she's being closed up in a little box with no memories or knowledge to reflect on.

"Honestly, I've had enough of this. You need to know the truth." I got up and started pacing the room. "You need to know the truth about everything." I could feel her getting interested. My voice became louder. I took a seat beside her again and took her hands in mine. I was ready to just go for it and tell her everything.

So I did.

"I'm Shawn. I have been your best friend ever since we were really really little and boyfriend ever since the school year started and I just love you so much and, oh right. We dated a few times before but just went back to being besties until now, and we always used to go up to our secret treehouse when we were little and talk about everything and anything. You go to Pine Ridge Secondary School and we have all the same classes together and most of the same friends. We have the same favourite things, like your mom's famous pancakes and a favourite place to go when we're sad. Lisa, your mom and Andrew, your dad are out there and they have been here every single day since the accident and they just love you so much too. Oh, the accident!" I was out of breath and paused on the topic of the accident. "Before you ended up here, we were driving and the car swerved and it rolled all the way down a hill into a ditch and we crashed and, and you hit your head and, and that's how your memory...." I drifted off. "Your favourite colour is purple and you dyed your hair purple in grade 7 but hated it, your favourite food ever is sushi and every time we go out to eat you drag me to the nearest restaurant, you hate the way short sleeve tops look on you because you think they show off your curves too much, but Jesus, Amara I love your curves. You hate your grey eyes so you always cover them up or look down when you laugh, you blush and you tuck pieces of hair behind your ear when I compliment you, you think you look like crap when you're wearing sweatpants and no makeup, but you always look completely and utterly gorgeous. You "hate" it when I tickle you but I know that you secretly love it, you also love seeing me in a tux and staying by my side the whole time we go somewhere. You're definitely not the best at dancing but you're so happy when you are, your kisses are things I look forward to, so when I see you I get super excited to just cuddle you up on the couch, with you head resting on my chest and our hands intertwined, and, Amara I just love you so much and," I sighed. I was in tears by now.

She looked at me in shock.

Tears were flowing from her eyes and she didn't move.
I sat beside her. This time, on the bed. I looked hopefully into her gleaming eyes and caressed her cheek in my hand. I moved strands of curls away from her face and kissed her.

Passionately, hoping she would regain some form of memory. She stared at me and didn't move.

"Amara. Tell me some of it came back. Please just tell me some of it came back." I prayed

She shook her head.

------------------------------------

Hey babesssss ❤ So I hope you're liking the new plot twist in the story! This one was really dramatic and I wanted to kinda calm everything down before the play, which Amara might or might not be able to do.

So this chapter was just kinda filler, so I could explain a bit about what actually happened to her. I had to google it lmao 💖

But Post Traumatic Amnesia is really what it's called, and it can be either short or long term.

Anywayyyyy I hope you guys love it!!!!

Ily
- maya ✨