The Path to Love

Chapter 28

She looked at me in horror. "You remember?"

"Not everything," I replied quickly. "But I'm starting too. My mind is still blank about everything after I found out your uncle was dead."

"When I called you freaking out?"

"No. I found out before that, I think. Someone told me."

"Who told you?"

"I can't remember," I lied.

"Well, it happened. I moved past it quickly." Sam replied, putting her car in drive and starting the trip home. "It didn't take me long to forgive you for it, once I found out. I knew you were protecting me."

"So, that's not the reason we're not talking?" I asked her, kind of disappointed that I still didn't know why we weren't talking.

"No, that's not it." She replied.

"Will you tell me why we aren't talking?"

"No," she replied, softly.

"Why not, Sam? I miss you so much. You wear my sweaters all the time at school, so clearly you miss me too. What aren't you telling me?"

"Hunter, don't worry about it." Sam whispered. "You're just going to drive yourself crazy and make your concussion worse."

"I have been going crazy! We were in the car accident together and I can't even remember it! The doctor and my mom told me I saved you, but you didn't even come to visit me once! What did I do for you to hate me so much?"

She pulled into my driveway, but I refused to get out until she answered me. I looked in my driveway, of course my parents weren't here. The situation wasn't serious, so why bother for them to come check on their son who was hurt, again? I sighed out loud. I turned my attention back to Sam, waiting for an answer.

"I don't hate you, Hunter! I couldn't if I tried. It's quite the opposite actually, I love you."

"I love you too, Sam. You know that."

"No, Hunter, not like that. I'm, I'm, I'm in love with you. I'm staying away because I love you. When you remember the accident, you're not going to want to be around me anyways. I'm protecting myself from the heartbreak that is going to come. I'm protecting myself from the anger you're going to release when you remember."

"Sam, what did you do?"

"I wish I could tell you, Hunt. But I can't. I won't. If there's a chance you won't remember, I'm going to hold onto that. I'm going to protect you at all costs."

"You can't protect me from finding out the truth, Sam," I replied.

"Watch me," she said.

Those two words. Watch. Me. They struck a chord in my mind. Why did that sentence sound so familiar? I looked at Sam in confusion.

Then, everything around me faded and pictures flashed through my head.

My gaze settled down on the girl in the middle of the floor. Her posture was sunken, she was sitting on her knees and staring at nothing. I ran over to her and knelt beside her. "What happened?"

"He's dead." She stated, continuing to stare at the wall.

"Who's dead Sam?"

"He's dead."

"We already established that Sam. Who's dead?"

She wasn't even looking at me. She was looking straight ahead, her eyes void of any emotion. Her eyes were blank. She was just staring and not moving. She just kept mumbling he was dead.