“Oh, and Lucas says hi.” I heard a voice say in my right ear. “Charlie, you need to wake up. It’s been two months.”
Two months? Of what? What’s been going on for two months? Why can’t I wake up? Who’s Charlie? Who’s talking to me.
“Well, Lucy and I have to leave. She didn’t want to come in because of your room-mate who has a hole in their throat.” the voice said again. “I’ll see you next week.”
“Okay, Charlotte. Time for your breakfast.” A different voice said. Who are these people?
Suddenly some beeps happened and I could see a while light and a ringing in my ear. The words, “Doctor, Charlotte Hale in room number five hundred-seven is waking up.” were faintly noticeable.
My eyes opened and a light flashed from one eye to the next. “Charlotte, can you remember anything?”
“Who’s Charlotte?” I said looking at the male doctor in front of me.
“Get her mother, now.” The man said to the colored nurse next to him. She scurried out of the room and you could hear her shoes squeak on the ground as she walked briskly.
“What do you remember?”
“I don’t remember anything. Nothing at all. I don’t know who I am or who you people are. W-who are you?”
“I am Dr. Pendery. You and your friends, Lucy, Kara, Lucas, and Rider were in a car crash. The car, as we believe so, ran straight into you, knocking you into a coma and now we think that there may be more damage to your brain.”
“Charlie.” a dark-haired lady said walking towards me and hugging me.
“Who are you?” I asked slightly hugging her back.
“What do you mean, Charlotte? I’m your mother.” she looked at the nurse while letting go of me, “You’re right, she really doesn’t remember.”
On the way back to my house, I sat there in the car looking at my reflection. “Um... Amy-” I started.
“Mom. I’m your mom. Call me Mom.”
“-Mom, what are these?” I asked touching the white pads on my face.
“Butterfly bandages. Don’t touch them. They’re keeping stitches in place.” she said not looking at me while she drove.
“How old am I?” I asked.
“See that blue bag in the backseat. Well, that has all the information that you need.”
“Oh. How’s this happen?”
“Your friend Kara was driving and a semi hit you on the right side because you were sitting in the back seat. It was kind of like a head on thing. Your head was against the window. Your friend, Rider, had moved and covered you. Your lousy boyfriend didn’t do a thing. Didn’t even visit you in the hospital.” she scoffed, “He had two months. Two, to come and say ‘Hi Char, I know that you’re in a coma, but hey, I’ll be here everyday because I’m an amazing boyfriend. You should date that Rider boy.”
“Amy- Mom, I don’t know who that is.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, you were dating Lucas at the time but I’m starting to think that may be over. I mean, Rider would visit bi-weekly. At least! Mondays and Fridays he would be sitting there talking about--” that’s when I zoned out, looking at the sky and the clouds.
“Well, we’re home.” she said as the car stopped making noises.
I got out of the car and grabbed the blue bag. It had something that looked like folded up fabric in it. I pulled it out.
‘Charlotte “Charlie” Marie Hale; age 17; pale blue eyes; dark brown hair; senior at Auburn High School’
I looked through the rest of the folded cloth-type material. $345.00, a frozen yogurt charge card, and a hot topic rewards card.
I slung the bag over my shoulder and walked into the house. A yapping sensation rang in my ears as I closed the door and stared at the beautiful chandelier that hung from the ceiling.
“Missy, don’t.” my mom said. But who’s Missy?
As soon as that thought had entered my head, two dogs ran towards me. First a small one, I’m guessing Missy, and then a big one who had howled at me but then rubbed against my leg to pet it.
“So the small one is Missy, and the big one, his name is Johnson.” I pet Johnson and bent down to get a closer look at Missy. That’s when a I hear something crash.
“Cas! Colt! Cecilia! Chadwick! Rider!” my mom yells up the stairs. About a second or two later, three boys that look like they’re from ages 5 to 15 run down the stairs with a girl who looks about 4 or 5. “Charlotte, these are your siblings, Andrew, Cole, Cecilia, and Chadwick.”
“H-how old are they?” I asked clutching my bag closer to my body.
“Chadwick is 15, Cas is 12, Colt is 7, and Cecilia is 4.” she said sweetly.
Cecilia stepped towards me and held out a bunny. I bent down to her level and she touched the bandages on my face. “Did it hurt?” she asked.
“I can’t remember.” I chuckled a little. She smiled.
“I’m sorry, Amy, the kids made a mess and I didn’t want to leave all of that on the top floor.” a boy about my age. He stopped at the stair that he was on and smiled. “I heard that you were going to wake up soon. I didn’t know when though. I wanted to be there, but I would rather let your mom go to see you first.”
“Charlie, this is Rider.” my mom said with a smile and the cross of her arms over her chest.
He was attractive. There was no doubt about it. He had green eyes and brown hair. His lips looked slightly swelled.
“Did Cece draw on your cast again?” my mom asked picking up Cecilia and poking her nose. Cece giggled.
“Uh, yeah.” he said looking at a sticker covered cast with marker splayed all over the sides.
“I am so sorry.” Mom started to apologize but he stopped her.
“Don’t be! It looks way better with Elsa all over me. It just shows how manly I am.” he laughed a little.
“Chad, Cas, please go and find your father.”
“But Mom!” both boys complained.
“No buts, now go and find him. He would want to she Charlotte before she goes to meet up with her friends.”
The two boys sulk away and into a room.
“I’m going to go make dinner with Cece and Colt. Don’t leave until after dinner.”
“Okay.” I say shyly.
“So, Charlie. How was the hospital?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How about when you woke up?”
“It was pretty good. The food tasted pretty bad, though.”
“That’s what I thought! When I visited you, they would give me donuts and hot chocolate.”
“That’s quite nice.”
“Charlie!” someone’s voice boomed as they walked towards me. “I thought the boys were messing with me. They’ve been trying to pull that on me for weeks.”
I stood there with a blank expression on my face.
“You don’t remember...”
I shook my head.
“Well, I’m your father.”
I stood there for another minute. The silence crept upon us as I stood there and Rider suddenly took my arm and told him that I was going out tonight.
“Where are we going?”
“To the drop off.” He said shutting the door behind me
“The drop off? That sounds familiar.” I stated while walking towards the blue car sitting in the drive.
“Finding Nemo. You could quote every word if you were asked to, you’ve seen it so many times.” He sat down in the driver’s seat.
“How do you know that I’ve seen it so many times?”
“Because I had to watch it with you.” He backed out of the drive quite fast and down the road.
He decided to turn on the radio. Something that sounded vaguely familiar started playing. He sang along and pointed to me as the female started to sing. “Yeah. You may not remember it.”
We sat in silence other than the song playing. “Sha-la-la-la-la-la looks ain’t that sad. Ain’t it a shame, too bad, he’s gonna miss the girl.” I sung.
“Hmm, so you do remember?” he smirked.
“Remember what?” I asked.
“What do you mean, remember what?”
“What do I remember?”
“This song! You sung it!”
“I don’t know, it’s like talking. I just know it.”
“Wow. How about-” he started but stopped as he leaned over and pressed a button. “M’kay. Sing this.”
“I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me, Princess, when was the last time you let your heart decide. A whole new world. A dazzling place I never knew, when I get way up here, it’s crystal clear that now I’m in a whole new world with you.” I sang with the music.
“So you know Disney. But-” he stopped talking again. “What about Jack and Jack, hmm?”
“I’ll try,” I laughed as the music started. “So now, your mama’s talkin’ to you sayin’ clean up the basement. But the money’s talkin’ to ya, that’s personification. Paper in my hand till the day that I’m finished, now a hater’s just a fan who is scared to admit it. But I get it. A preconceived notion that you can’t like us cause your friends don’t you’re genaric like a number 2 pencil. Eventually you will be blowin’ on the whistle at the YMCA leagues every Sunday with your kin folk. I’m comin’ around the mountain, I’m just findin’ my way and all I want to do in life is make someone’s day and get paid from time to time. With that I’m tryin’ to say, is that I can’t see why you’re hatin’ when I’m just doin’ my thing.”
“You did not just do that.”
“I did.”
“How?”
“You remember the whole words thing?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s how. It just comes to me.”
“Wow.” He said astonished.
“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing.” I said with a smile.
“Are you sure you lost your mind?”
“Lost my mind? What does that mean?”
“Um... Not exactly what you think. Or what other people may think. I’m saying are you sure you lost your memory.”
“Oh. Yes. I am very sure.”
“It’s so weird having you be awkward around me. You use to dance to this kind of stuff.”
“Oh really?” I asked, my eyebrows knit together.
“Yeah.”
“When did I play soccer?”
He chuckled, “Well that was out of the blue.”
“Well?” I asked.
“Uhh... kindergarten. “
“Who was James?”
He slammed on the breaks. “How do you know about James?” he said in a scary, stern voice.
My eyes started to tear up “I-i don’t know.”
“No, no, no. Oh my God, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” A tear or two fell from my eyes as I curled up in the seat. “Please, please, just look at me.” he came a little closer. I looked up. “Charlotte, I did not mean to scare you, okay? I love you like a best friend should very much and I would not hurt you. Please, tell me what you remember of James.”
Kinda terrible, kinda amazing.
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