Remember Me (Jack Maynard)

Chapter 16

"What?" I asked Doctor Richards as he said the words I was dreading.

We're scared you're not going to remember much more.

"Again, we're not entirely sure how your case will be because there is no 'normal' for head injuries," Doctor Richards said, "but in the few months since the accident, you have shown significant improvement, but we're scared it's not on a good track to have it all come back before the six months are up."

The rest of the appointment went pretty much the same, except I was looking forward to my lessons with Jack even less. I didn't want to tell him what I'd learned at my appointment, but I knew that lying or not telling him would just put me in a worse spot when he either found out I was lying, or when my memories didn't come back.

Joe dropped me off at Jack's straight after the appointment, and I ran up the stairs, knocking and preparing myself for the lesson we'd have today. The door swung open and I was met with Conor's face, giving me a smile.

"Well hello, Mel," Conor said.

"Hey," I said, "I'm here for my lesson,"

"Come on in," he said opening the door wider, "though I'm afraid you won't get much lesson-ing in today."

Oh, thank God.

"Why?" I asked, a little confused, and then heard a girl's voice in the other room. "Who's...?"

"Mel, there's someone we'd like you to meet," Conor said, leading me into the other room to where Jack was messing with the hair of a young girl who sat on the couch, though they both stopped their play fighting when they saw that I was in the room. I knew exactly who she was before Conor spoke next. "Mel, this is our sister, Anna."

"Mellie!" Anna yelled, getting up off the couch and running towards me, hugging me tightly. I hugged back, not able to help the smile that crossed my face at how familiar her hugs felt.

Jack had tons of pictures of me and Anna together that he'd shown me after the Christmas one, when he was explaining to me the relationship that I'd had with Anna. The closest things I'd ever had to siblings, especially after my parents had died, was Joe and Zoe, but with Anna it was different. Conor too.

"Sorry," she said, "I know you don't know me..."

"I do," I told her, "Jack taught me. And I like your hugs. They feel really familiar to me."

She smiled bigger then, hugging me a little tighter.

"So how was the appointment?" Jack asked, coming over and giving me a hug once Anna had finished.

"Oh, it was... okay," I said.

"Just okay?" Jack asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah," I said. "So what are we doing?"

"We're here to kidnap you," Jack said, and a look of confusion crossed my face. "You see," he continued on, "we've gotten permission from Joe to do this, so it's technically not kidnapping. But we did pack a duffel bag of clothes that you still had here and we are taking you to Brighton for the night."

"What?" I asked.

"You're coming to meet Mum and Dad," Anna said, "it was Conor's idea, but it was brilliant."

"Keep in mind, this isn't the first time they've met you." Jack said reassuringly. "They love you."

"Okay," I said, still a little nervous.

I grabbed my bag and followed them down to Conor's car, sitting next to Anna in the backseat. The drive was spent with Conor singing along to his songs that were on a CD in the player and Jack obnoxiously drumming with his hands onto the dashboard while Anna recorded it for her Snapchat.

"Home sweet home," Conor said as we pulled up the drive to the Maynard household.

I stepped out nervously after Anna, following them to the front door. Jack held my hand and kept reassuring me that everything was just fine, but that didn't make my heart beat any slower when the door swung open to reveal their parents standing on the other side.

"You guys made it!" Helen said, giving each of them a hug before turning to me. "Amelie, it's so great to see you're alright!"

"Hi, it's nice to see you," I said as she gave me a tight hug.

"I don't know how much they told you," she said, "but I'm Helen and this is my husband, Gary."

"Yeah, they told me that," I said as Gary gave me a quick hug. "I think they've briefed me on most things, as far as I'm aware."

"I'll show you up to my room," Jack said, "and we can set our bags down."

I nodded, following Jack upstairs to his old bedroom. I looked around in awe when he opened the door and turned the light on, taking in the surroundings.

It looked like a typical boy's room, complete with posters everywhere. Across the dresser were different picture frames, filled with pictures ranging from him with his family to him and friends, both old from school and his current group with Joe and Caspar, and also a few pictures of the two of us. One caught my eye that I hadn't seen, and it wasn't in a frame, but just on a piece of paper laying atop the dresser. It was an ultrasound picture, that read Baby Maynard in the bottom corner.

"Was this... Conor's?" I asked Jack, picking it up and looking at it. My heart prickled with sadness as I stared at the picture of the lost baby.

"Yep," he nodded sadly, a single tear falling from his eye as he looked at it. "That's our niece."

I set the picture down, hugging him tightly, and he hugged me back, nuzzling his face into my neck.

"Thank you for bringing me here," I said softly. "For re-introducing me to your parents, and your sister, and letting me see everything here that I'd forgotten."

"We're your family," he said, "Conor. Anna. My parents. Me. We've been family for almost three years now. And family takes care of family. That's never going to change."