Forgotten ✓︎

Chapter 18

Megan

I awoke to voices speaking indistinctly. A throbbing headache made me furrow my brows. I felt as though someone had taken a baseball bat to my head, hit me with a truck, and then run me over with a train.

"I didn't know what else to do!" I heard a male's voice exclaim from a distance. "She fainted on me, and I remembered what I had been told."

"Sweetheart, you did the right thing," a soothing female answered. "She's going to be okay. They took her brain scans. Physically, she's okay.  Mentally, she'll probably be going through a lot, and I wouldn't be surprised if she has a headache. Don't worry. It wasn't your fault."

"How are you not upset with me? This is the second time she's landed in the hospital because of me."

"Honey, you were a child the first time, and you're still a kid. Accidents happen, and what happened the first time was not your fault in any way. Stop blaming yourself."

"I feel guilty. I should have protected her. It was safer for her without me."

By now, I had managed to peek my eyes open a little and saw the blurry figures of who I assumed belonged to Jared and my mother. Jared seemed to have his head bowed, his hands gripping his hair tightly. My mother had a consoling hand on his shoulder. The light sent a sharp piercing pain through my head, so I closed my eyes again with a soft groan. 

Hangovers were better than this pain right now.

"Jared. What happened to my daughter is not your fault, and it wasn't your fault the first time either. Stop blaming yourself. Do you think Megan would blame you?" I heard my mother question him.

"She never blames me. She didn't even remember me after the first time."

His voice was bitter, and the self-loathing that dripped pierced my heart. Had he been blaming himself this entire time? How long had he had this self-loathing in his heart?

"Oh, sweetheart..." 

I heard the heartbreak in my mother's tone.

Another wave of sharp pain through my head made me groan loudly in pain. 

"Megan, sweetheart?" I heard my mother ask. 

I groaned in response, ducking my head into the pillow to shut out the light.

"Jared, turn the lights off. I think they're hurting her," she told him.

From behind my eyes, I saw the room get darker. I felt movement by my bed and a few moments later, the pain in my head eased.

I slowly opened my eyes, the pain growing to a manageable level.

"Mommy, it hurts," I whispered trying to sit up.

My mother helped me adjust the bed so that I was no longer lying down. She carefully sat down next to me, and I leaned on her, resting my head on her shoulder the way I used to as a kid. She stroked my head lightly, making me sigh.

"Does that feel better?" she asked softly.

I nodded but stopped, the movement causing discomfort.