THE COUNTDOWN GIRL

CHAPTER 02

I woke up to the sound of my alarm ringing in my ears , sending chills down my spine. My butt felt wet underneath it. I opened my eyes letting thick beams of sunlight penetrate it's way through my eyelids filling my vision with overlapping neon yellow circles. Maybe next time , it would be clearer or maybe there won't be a next time. My body slowly started losing its numbness.  I tried to sit up , that's when I realized that I had peed on my bed. Just like everytime I was stressed.

My laser surgery is scheduled for today. The doctors said that I have a 75% chance of regaining normal eyesight but the remaining 25% kept me and my parents hanging on for two long years before I finally made up my mind that it's a "do or die thing". I didn't want to have regrets for the rest of my life.

I was adopted at the age of 16 . Anyone would say that it's a pretty late adoption and that it doesn't make sense. My parents Mr. And Mrs. Archer are both prestigious surgeons. When they found me at St.Lucas orphanage five years ago , I had no memory of my parents or my life before the day that i suddenly woke up on a hospital bed and then was transferred to the orphanage. Surprisingly,  I could talk and read and I also seemed to have a pretty impressive memory. All I owned were the clothes I was wearing on the day they found me , my super thick glasses and the plain silver ring that I had on since then. I dont remember who gave it to me but for some reason I almost never took it off .

When Mr. And Mrs. Archer's only son Eric was diagnosed with stage 2 leukaemia , he had told his parents that he wants to adopt the sister he never had. I remember them coming to the orphanage.  It was about five days after I came to the orphanage,  I was the wierd girl and nobody wanted to be friends.  But somehow  it felt relieving for me than being the center of attention. It's funny that I thought so because back then, I didn't even know my name yet whether I've felt how it feels to be the centre of attention .

At first,  they didn't even notice me. Just like every other person who visited the orphanage in the days that I've been there. I was reading my favourite book in the orphanage library.  I already hated that place. The walls were painted in the lightest shade of brown, so light that it looked like over milked coffee. It was plain and stale looking and it made me feel empty and sick. I felt someone's presence behind me. I turned around to meet the most beautiful eyes that I've ever witnessed.  He sat next to me . He bent his head and looked into my eyes,  " so , they say your memories are all erased sort of" . I nodded.  "How?", he asked.
"The doctors say that there can be many reasons like shock or brain damage, but they really dont know the specific reason ". I was surprised to hear my own voice because it's been a while since I talked with someone.  The last time I talked was with a psychiatrist in the hospital that I woke up in. Unlike her , he seemed to be genuinely interested in getting to know me.

"By the way, mind telling me why your glasses are so thick?" He asked .  "Well, that's a difficult question for a girl who doesn't even know her name" I chuckled as I pushed my glasses up my nose. "  it's cute when you do that", he said ."My nose was extremely short and tiny. So, my glasses always slide down my nose and I constantly have to push them up my nose".

"Dont you miss it? Your past I mean.", he asked as he nudged my shoulder lightly. "Well , I dont have any memories in my mind. Plus I dont think that I would have forgotten if I had memories worth remembering ", I said as I turned around to face him. His face looked dull and tired . His lips slowly curled into a smile and before I knew it I was sandwiched between his arms. I hugged him tight as he patted against my shoulder slowly.  On that day, for the very first time, I felt safe and unafraid of all the uncertainties that lied ahead of me. I asked myself whether this was how it felt to have a brother. Right then, I really wished I had one.

Slowly,  he let go of the embrace and looked into the book I was reading.  The book was titled 'Holly' and the cover elaborated a girl falling down from the skies . " so what's this one about?", he asked and I told him that it was a story about holly , an angel who fell from heaven and she doesn't remember anything about her past . I told him about Rafael,  the human who she falls in love with and how he grows old and dies while she still remains young because she was cursed with immortality as her penalty for causing an imbalance in the universe  which was also the reason why she was banished to earth. He listened to each sentence carefully and seemed to be indulged in the story.

"I'm Eric by the way. What's your name?", he asked when I finally finished speaking.  " I dont know", I sounded crazy. " you won't mind if I call you Holly then would you?", he questioned . I nodded , the. He continued " Holly Archer, would you like to be my sister?", At that moment I already liked him very much and it didn't even seem to be a question.
My vocal chords automatically forced out the words "I do".

They took me home the very same day . On our way home,  Eric told me all about how he wanted a sister so badly that he demanded a separate room for her and how he cried for weeks to biy a hunk bed when his parents didn't allow it. He also told me about the toy collection he had for his sister because he always used to buy separate toys for his sister when his parents bought him toys. Mr. and Mrs.  Archer said that they were too occupied with their work to think about another child.

After a two hour long drive we reached home . Eric pressed the remote and the roller gates scrolled up. Mr.Archer parked his car in the garage and told us to get down. As we did, I noticed that their house looks simple , minimalistic but it was also a huge house with a well maintained garden. Eric opened the door for me and the first thing I see is a tiny husky staring at me with his eyes open as wide as saucepans. "Hey there, what's his name?", I turned around to ask Eric.  "He's donut ", he said, and by the look in his eyes , he seemed to be very proud of his creative mind. "Hey donut, good boy", I said as I rolled it over and patted its head. " I think we're going to get along really well",

"Me too", i heard Eric say.

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