The Baker Boy (Harry Styles) Book 1

Chapter 25

I stumble back in shock. His words had hit me like a physical blow. A nurse bursts in, probably having been alerted by the beeping machines and rushes over to Caellum’s side, checking his vitals. After checking to make sure that he was all right and that the elevated heart rate must have been from fear, she pages the doctor, telling him that Caellum was awake. As all this is happening though, I’m frozen to my spot. Amnesia? Really? After all we’d been through? I’d lost everyone but him and now it seemed like I’d lost him to.

The doctor walks in a cheery smile on his face. “Well Caellum, we’ve waited a long time to meet you” he says jokingly before looking up from his clipboard noticing the somber mood. He looks over at me, a trace of confusion on his face.

“He doesn’t remember me” I choke out. A look of pity flashes across his eyes before it’s masked and he looks back at Caellum’s scared expression.

“I’m Dr. Bolton. You were in an accident, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” the doctor asks. Caellum nods his head, the fear in his eyes fading as the trust that children seem to place in adults so easily calms him down. Dr Bolton hesitates a moment before turning to look at me. “Do you mind stepping out into the hall for the questioning? We don’t want to cause him any unnecessary stress at the moment and I think you being here during the questions might upset him. I nod my head dumbly, walking out of the room, almost bumping into Harry as he returns.

“Oh hey” he says with a grin “I know you said you didn’t want anything but I brought you a cup of tea” he says before seeing my blank expression. “What’s wrong?” he asks “Is it Caellum? Did something happen? I thought he was waking?” he asks worriedly. I shake my head.

“He did” I say numbly. “He woke up” Harry lets out a whoosh of breath.

“You scared me” he says with a chuckle. “I thought something bad happened”

“Harry, he doesn’t remember me” I say my voice cracking. The smile is instantly wiped from his face.

“Oh Maedbh” he says softly, pulling me into his arms. I feel the tears leak begin to leak out as a sob sends a shudder through me. “It’ll be ok, he’ll remember you” he soothes. I nod my head as I take a deep breath, blinking back the tears. Harry was right. Of course he was. Or at least, I had to believe he was. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if he didn’t regain his memory.

“Ok, let’s see here” the doctor says flipping open Caellum’s file. I glance over at Uncle Simon nervously as the doctor reads over all the notes. It had been a couple of hours since Caellum had woken and after running a few tests, the doctor had called Uncle Simon and I into his office to discuss the results. “Well I’ve got some good news and bad news for you” he says, looking up at the two of us.

“What’s the bad news?” I ask nervously.

“The bad news is that Caellum seems to have a severe case of retrograde amnesia. He remembers who he is, but can’t seem to remember much else.” Uncle Simon reaches over and squeezes my hand. I look over at him, seeing him look just as pale as I must be.

“The good news?” Uncle Simon asks.

“The good news is that the CAT Scan showed no permanent damage to his temporal cortex which means there is a good chance he will fully regain his memories”

I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding, a smile appearing on my face. Caellum would be all right; it was just a matter of time.

“What’s really fascinating about this case is that he appears to remember voices.” The doctor continues. “He doesn’t remember who the voices relate to, but he says there’s countless voices he just can’t put a name to. Now there have been some studies that would suggest that audio memories are stored separately from visual ones but there hasn’t been enough research done…” he continues rambling on but I tune it out. So Caellum would get better? How long would it take? If he remembered voices did that mean that hearing them could trigger his memories?

Obviously my Uncle didn’t care to much about the new research done on memory loss because he soon interrupts the doctor who’d gone off on a tangent about curing Alzheimer’s to ask when Caellum could be brought home.

“Well physically speaking, he’d be able to go home now. The two months in the hospital has healed any physical trauma he might have experienced. Mentally though, we’d like to keep him under observation for another night at least to make sure he’d be able to handle being with people he doesn’t know. Assuming tonight goes well you’ll be able to take him home tomorrow. He is still weak though so we will want to start twice a week physical therapy sessions to help rebuild those muscles that had degenerated. I tune out again as Uncle Simon and the doctor discuss minute details. Soon enough, everything is worked out and we walk out of the office. Harry stands up as soon as he sees us and walks over.

“So? What did he say? Is Caellum going to be all right?” he asks. I nod, and relay to him what the doctor said and a smile breaks onto his face. “That’s great,” he says. I nod my head reluctantly, it was great he’d recover but for the time being it sucked.

“You should go home, there’s school tomorrow” I finally say. It strikes me that Harry had spent the entire weekend at the hospital with me. He must have read the look on my face because he gives me a smile.

“I’ll always be here when you need me,” he says taking my hand and absentmindedly playing with my fingers. I smile and nod my head. “Speaking of school…” Harry says trailing off with a wince. I laugh slightly raising an eyebrow at him as I wait for him to continue. “I’m guessing you’re not going to be there tomorrow?” he asks. I shake my head.

“We’ll be bringing home Caellum tomorrow. I want to be there when he comes home.”

Harry nods his head understandingly. “Well I’ll stop by your house and bring you your homework. I know you can’t stand to be without schoolwork for more than 24 hours” he teases. I grin and stick out my tongue. He chuckles those adorable dimples forming.

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow” I say. He nods and begins to turn around before hesitating. He looks back at me, his eyes scanning my face before pressing his lips to mine in a quick peck. Before I even had time to realize his lips were against mine, they were gone and he was walking off. My fingers drift up to my tingling lips, my heart hammering, as I watch his retreating figure.

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Hey guys, I know not much happened in this chapter. It was mostly just setting up for the next chapter and to explain a few things I guess. Well anyways, let me know what you think please :-) Vote and comment!