“Abbey darling, I wish you would wake up. You’ve been driving everyone crazy… especially me, since I keep losing track of your freckles. Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can…no? I guess not. Well I feel like a broken record at this point so, I’m going to tell you something new. Even though you look like a corps right now you’re still so beautiful. It’s so odd, seeing you without your dimples though. Your scarlet hair is still soft and thick. I keep brushing it out of your eyes hoping you would open them. I think that’s what I miss the most though. I always loved those emerald green eyes of yours. I swear they are so bright they would light up the whole room, and when you smile not a single star shines brighter than you.”

I heard Andy’s voice and at first I just wanted to listen. I could just sit and listen to his voice for hours. But then I heard the catch of pain and I couldn’t take it.

“And all this time I thought you liked me for my personality.”

“Well of course there’s that but…” he paused then looked at me. I smiled and opened my eyes. He stared at me with bewilderment, “Your eyes, there was… I saw… no wait there it is. Your eyes have silver in them!”

“Good morning to you too. There must be something wrong with the lights.”

“It’s actually the afternoon, but that doesn’t matter; you’re awake!” His voice became loud with excitement as he shouted, “She’s awake! She’s awake! Quick, we need a doctor! She’s awake!”

Before I knew what was happening I was whisked away by a team to an examining room. The doctor checked my eyes with a light.

“Her pupils are even. Do you know who you are?”

“I looked at him questioningly as if to say of course I know who I am, “Abbey”

He shook his head, “What’s your full name?”

“My full name is Abaca Rosa Lee”

“Do you know what date it is?

“Today’s date… well yesterday was the twelfth so I would say today is December thirteenth. Why are you asking me these questions?”

Just then my mother rushed into the room, “It’s true, she awake.” She embraced me and refused to let go, “Oh my baby, you scared me half to death. Don’t you ever do that to us again!”

I wriggled out of her grasp and looked at her unknowingly. “What did I do; and why are you so frantic?”

My mother seemed even more baffled than before. She turned to the doctor with a desperate look for help. He put his hand on her shoulder, “I think it’s time to take Abbey back to her room.”

I was put into a wheelchair and my mom wheeled me back to the room as she spoke with the doctor. It was as if I wasn’t even there.

“She has no recollection of the event. This is very common among trauma patients. She may never her memory. I’m not sure if you would like to tell her what happened or have myself but she may need someone there to comfort her if she does remember.”

“She’s my daughter; I need to be the one who explains it to her, but thank you.”

The doctor left, and my mother and I sat down on the bed. She inhaled and smiled, “It’s good to see the color in your face is back. Now if I could just get you to smile.” As I chuckled to myself she beamed even brighter in reply, “That’s my girl.”

“You know it’s not that difficult to get me to smile.”

“You’re so easy to read, you always have a smile on. But it’s very rare to catch you with a frown on your pretty little face.” She sighed as she remembered that I was in a hospital bed, and I hadn’t a clue as to why.

“You know Mom; I get that ‘I can read you like a book’ thing from you; I know that something really horrible must have happened for me to wind up in a hospital bed. I need to know what happened so please don’t sugar coat it.”

She took my hands and gave them a little squeeze. “You had an accident when you were walking home from Jenn’s Sweet 16. She called to see if you made it home alright, but you never did. We immediately had a search for you. Dad found you that morning. You strayed off the main path in the woods. Your body was half submerged in the water, and a pool of your blood surrounded you. You lost so much blood it was a miracle that you were still alive. The doctors still don’t understand it. The police can’t determine whether the attacker was an animal or human there were lacerations everywhere. Most likely from it dragging you across the shards of broken glass scattered on the dirt floor. And your head was cracked on a rock.”

I couldn’t tell whose hands were shaking. With each word scenes would flash back and forth from what she was describing and the attack how I remembered it. It all flooded back including the pain. My eyes welded up with tears my mom took gasps of air in between sobs. Before I realized it I was in my mother’s arms curled up in a ball like a baby.
“I’m sorry mom. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

“Shah, Shah, you’re okay. You’re okay. It’s not your fault you couldn’t have stopped anything. It’s okay, I’m here now and you’re safe.”

She rocked me back and forth. We stayed like that until we had no more tears to cry. We sat up as a nurse walked in and informed us that visiting hours were over. The nurse walked over to my bed and began to reset my IP. My mother stood up from my bed and leaned over to give me a kiss. Her auburn hair brushed up against my cheeks as her lips pressed against my forehead.

“You should try and get some sleep, you need your rest.”

“I don’t want to be alone, please.”

She sighed and wrapped her arms around me to say good bye, “I promise you won’t be left alone, someone will be here in the morning”

Before I even saw her walk out the door my eyes shut closed and I slipped off into a dreamless sleep.