One Glance

Chapter 22

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... everyday." Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

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Chapter Twenty – Two

She stared at the man in front of her, the man who seemed to be so happy that she had just signed her name on the parchment he had provided her with.

How had she done that? How had she written that name when she had no idea who she was?

But she had obeyed him, trusted him, even, as he had told her to look him in the eyes. She stared into his blue eyes as her instincts took over. He had kind eyes, she had decided, as her hand scribbled over the parchment. He had kind eyes and she found a faint sense of comfort in them. Comfort was not something that felt easily attainable at the present.

The name that these people called her was written on the parchment in front of her. Written in her own hand, though she did not even recognise her own writing.

Isabella Cassidy. Isabella Cassidy. Isabella Cassidy. No matter how many times she read and re-read that name, it felt foreign. Everything felt foreign.

She stared at the man who seemed to think it his right to sit on the same bed as her. Even though he had kind eyes, that still felt inappropriate. He had said his name was Luke. She knew him, apparently.

He started to talk to the others, the faces that she did not know, but she did not listen. She studied his face and searched her empty mind for any recollection of him.

He was a tall, lean man. He looked to be physically fit, as though he had a profession that required agility. The skin that was exposed was littered with little scars and nicks, most notably on his face. There was a pink scar near his left eye. It looked new. It reminded her of the scar that was on her head.

The blonde woman, the one who called herself Annaliese, her sister, or so she said, had shown her the scar on her head with a hand mirror shortly after she had woken up.

It had overwhelmed her. The information had been too much. The next thing she knew a rag was over her mouth and she woke up a while later.

She felt calmer today. She still had no idea who she was, but her memories had to have been inside of her somewhere. She had just written her name. The name that these people called her.

If these people were here, by her bedside, then she was important to them. And if she was important to them, then they had to be important to her as well.

She continued the study of the man on her bed. He was very handsome, in a rugged, tired sort of way. He had a pleasing face with slight purple shadows below his eyes. His light hair was untidy, but she thought it suited him.

It seemed she was a Cassidy. Annaliese, her sister, had given her surname as Cassidy. This man, Luke, had not given her his surname, but if it was Cassidy also, did that make him her brother?

The other faces at the doorway all wore the same expression. Hopeful. As though she would miraculously remember everything. She hoped that they were right.

"Isabella?"

Her attention was only caught when Luke reached out and touched her hand. She immediately recoiled, and she could see the hurt in his eyes as she did so.

She did not need to pull away, she decided. This man was trustworthy. Her instincts were telling her so. Seeing as she did not have anything else to rely upon, she would need to listen to them. She placed her hand back down on the bed. If he reached for her again, she would not pull away.