Forget Me Not

Chapter 1

The first sign she had from him was the twitching of his fingers around hers.

She'd been leaning with one palm propped under her chin as she stared blankly at him, but the moment she felt it, she was up on her feet, her eyes wide and fingers gripping his tightly. "Dylan?" His eyes were slowly fluttering open, and she was almost breathless as she hovered over him anxiously. "Dylan – "

"Hey, what's going on?" The door opened slightly and Morgan stepped into the room.

Emma spared her a brief glance. "I think he's waking up," she breathed, focusing on Dylan again and watching his eyes open, baby blue irises slowly fixing on her. The smile that spread across her face was instantaneous, and she almost felt her knees buckle in sheer relief. "Hey, you."

He stared at her blankly for a moment, before his eyes slowly slid over to Morgan, who had come up to his other side. "Hi, monkey," he rasped, his voice so low and scratchy that he didn't quite sound like himself.

Morgan's grin widened at his typical nickname for her. "Finally decided to wake up, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Shut up – " he trailed off as a sudden fit of coughing wracked his body, and Morgan hastily reached for the glass of water on the nearby table, holding it up for him and patiently waiting for him to take a few sips.

His coughs subsided after awhile, and Emma smiled at him. "Dylan," the syllables of his name were soft on her tongue and she didn't think she could ever say his name enough times. "How're you feeling?" She reached out to lay a palm gently on his cheek, but he stilled, eyes darting to her unsurely.

"What're you doing?" He rasped, shifting away from her fractionally.

She blinked. "What?"

"You – " the words were lost on him as he struggled to make sense of the situation, the frown on his face deepening as he stared at her. "Who the hell are you?"

She froze. His question threw her off so much that for moment, her mind stayed completely blank. "What're you talking about?" She asked at last, exchanging a look with Morgan, who seemed equally as baffled as she was. "I'm Emma."

"I don't know any Emmas," he insisted, looking more unnerved by her sheer closeness as each second ticked by, and he turned to Morgan, eyes darting suspiciously between his sister and Emma, the latter of whom was rendered completely speechless. "Who is she – "?

"What's the matter with you?" Morgan rolled her eyes, reaching out to give him an instinctive smack on the head, but thinking the better of it at the very last second and retracting her hand. "That's Emma, you idiot, Emma."

"I don't know – "

The escalating tension was abruptly diffused when the door swung open and Dylan's mother came rushing in, his father following at a more leisurely pace with two cups of coffee in his hands. The both of them paused by the doorway, before his mother rushed into the room. "Oh, honey, you're awake!"

Emma automatically shifted aside for her, waiting as both his parents got their fair share of hugs and questions in. But her mind was in a whirl and she couldn't quite shake the feeling of dread that had settled within from the very moment he'd denied knowing her. Somewhere, at the back of her logical mind, she knew what this was – but surely, this couldn't possibly have happened, could it?

" – He was going on about how he doesn't know who Emma is," Morgan was clarifying the situation, glaring at Dylan with an accusatory look before turning to her parents.

"I really don't," Dylan's gaze was darting from person to person, and he was starting to look both angry and confused now. His gaze finally landed on Emma, and she felt her breath lodge in her throat. He looked at her with the unfamiliarity of a complete stranger, and she swore she could feel the distance between them engulf them whole. "I don't know you."