Forgotten ✓︎

Chapter 19

Jared

"Jared!" 

I clenched my teeth and continued walking, my heart cracking with every step that I took further away from her.

I had managed to avoid her for two weeks. The first week had been the easiest given that she had been in the hospital. It was this week, back in school, that had killed me. I wanted to hug her, to check that she was okay, and ask what she remembered. 

But I couldn't. 

Not when I was the reason she kept getting hurt. 

"Jared!" I heard her yell again. 

I felt a hand wrap around my elbow, forcing me to slow down. I closed my eyes and sighed. I didn't know if I had the strength to face her. 

"Why do you keep avoiding me?" she asked, hurt evident in her voice. 

I opened my eyes to see her in front of me, and I felt my heart squeeze painfully. Heartbreak was evident in her eyes, but so was anger. Despite that, she still looked beautiful.

"It's better if I keep my distance," I managed to answer, trying to keep my voice steady. 

I wanted to cry with relief. She seemed okay, at least physically. 

"Do you get to make that decision for us both?" she questioned.

I looked away, unable to face her. 

"Jared," she sighed. "I don't think it's better if you keep your distance. It's not your fault, and it never was. What do I have to do to convince you of that?" 

I closed my eyes.

"Jared," she breathed, drawing me into a hug. 

I couldn't find it in me to wrap my arms around her. She kept getting hurt any time I was in her life. It had to be a sign, a sign that I wasn't supposed to be in her life. 

"Baby, it's not your fault," she murmured in my ear. 

I pulled away and looked at her. 

"How can you possibly believe that?" I questioned. "The track record clearly shows that you get hurt any time I'm in your life. If that isn't a sign that I need to stay away from you, I don't know what is. This is the second time you've been hurt because of me."

"Are you serious? You think that I've gotten hurt because of you?" she demanded, growing angry. 

"What else am I supposed to think?" I questioned. "The record speaks for itself."

She scoffed. 

I stared at her, confused. 

"I got a referral from my doctor to go through hypnosis. I had my first session last week, which you would know if you hadn't run away again," she accused me. "Even if I hadn't had that one session, I still would have told you that you aren't to blame for anything that's happened to me. That blame goes to the people that actually hurt me, not you. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't be alive."

I shook my head in confusion. "I don't understand."

"The session last week had me unlocking memories from the time I was kidnapped. Do you know what I remembered, Jared? You managing to run after the car long enough to tell the cops what it looked like. You saw one of the men and described him to the cops. If it hadn't been for you, they would never found me in time. You were not the reason I was kidnapped, and I don't understand how you managed to think it was your fault," she answered.