the amnesiac

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Hannah, what is going on?"

"Mom, you are not going to believe this." I paced back and forth, then tripped over a charger plug on the floor.

My mom hesitantly pulled me up and stared at me. "Hannah, what happened?"

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and explained myself all in one breath: "I looked at Jack and then BOOM all the memories just came flooding back. There was this time at a football game, then I was in photography club, then you were making cookies- they smelled really good by the way- and then I saw myself fall from the tree. Then I just snapped back into reality and now I can remember even more!! Like that time when Kate's parents were out of town and she stayed at our house for three weeks and that time when we went to Key West and saw that barracuda and when we were at Dunkin' Donuts with Gran and she was mesmerized at how many donuts they had and we ended up getting three-"

"Three dozen donuts," my mom finished, her eyes staring ghostly at me. I drew back, wondering why she wasn't happy that I could remember.

"Mom?"

She blinked a couple of times and sighed softly. "Hannah, you were six when that happened."

"I know."

She sighed again, smiled wider than she ever had before, and hugged me too tightly. "I can't believe this is happening!! I can't believe it!! I need to call Dr. Mario. He needs to know!! Oh my, I have to tell him." She let go of me and squeezes my shoulder. "Oh, honey. I'm so happy for you!!"

I half-smiled, half-groaned at how tight she was holding me. "Mom...?"

"Oh, sorry." She let go of my shoulders and squealed. "You have to go and spend time with Jack. He's probably wondering what the hell is going on. I'll go run to the hospital and explain everything to Dr. Mario. He might want to ask you some questions but who the hell cares? You're okay!!" She squealed again and raced out of the room.

I followed her out, blushing, and spotted Jack at the table. No more memories came to me- I already saw them all.

"Everything okay...?" Jack asks.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine, Jack," my mother answers for me. "I'm just have to run to the store for a few things. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, Hannah will be here to keep you company."

She grabs her purse and kisses my forehead, then Jack's, and runs out the door.

Once she's out, Jack looks at me, waiting for a real explanation.

I ignore his gaze and look at the empty plates on the table. "Uh, Jack? Where did the food go?"

Jack returns from serious land and looks nervously at the leftover cookie crumbs. "Well, uh, when you two went to the other room I kind of...ate them?"

I purse my lips and sigh. "Um, were you hungry?" he asks guiltily.

I scoff at stare at him coldly. He squirms in his seat. "So after all this time that I've been out of the hospital, why call now?"

He fiddles with his fingers, not looking me in the eyes. "I was...gone."

I look at him suspiciously. "Where did you go?"

"Um, retreat."

"Oh, right," I remember. "Sorry."

He shrugs and opens the refrigerator door, taking out a can of Coca-Cola. Then I think of something: Jack was the one that was with me when I fell from the tree, so why had he gone on a retreat while I was in the hospital? He didn't care to stay at home so that he can check up on my mom for news?

I open my mouth to ask, but then close it. I have no idea how I could word that sentence, and is wasn't sure I wanted to know what exactly happened.

"Say it."

I look up. "Huh?"

He smiles. "C'mon. You obviously want to ask me something. What is it?"

I shook my head and shrugged. "It's nothing."

He shrugs again and takes a sip of his soda. Silence takes over the room and I can't help but ask, "When I went to the hospital, you came with me, right?"

He puts his can down, and I can tell that he didn't want to talk about it. But I did.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did," he says after a moment.

"Then why didn't you stay? Why did you go on a retreat?"

He puts his head in his hands and sighs. I shrug, defeated. "Come on, it can't possibly be that hard of a question to answer."

He looks up and places his hands on his chin. "I didn't want to. I was scared that something really bad would happen to you. When we were climbing up that tree, and you fell..." He purses his lips. I wait for him to continue. "You hit your head pretty hard. There was a lot of blood, and you weren't responding. I called 911 and an ambulance came. They wouldn't let me go past the main desk. The doctors called your mom and she came, already in tears. She told me that I should go back home. After all, I had a retreat to go to the next morning, and you were going to be in there for quite a while." He looks away from me and continues. "I was the only person with you when you hit your head. I was the one to blame, as far as anyone else was concerned. I wanted to be with you when you woke up, but at the same time, I was scared to see you. I felt as if I would break down when I saw the fresh stitches on your head. Now, they're barely even there." He pauses and looks at my forehead, searching for the barely visible scar. "I was already on the list of people that were going on the retreat, and half of my mind was telling me that getting as far away from here as possible was a good idea. The other half was telling me that I should stay."

"So why did you act so calm when you came back?"

"Your mom called when you woke up. She told me that you were fine, that you just had a little trouble remembering a few things. When I called you earlier today, I kind of just figured that you might be having trouble remembering everyone. I was worried that you haven't been able to really talk to any of your 'friends.' I guess I was just hoping that if I came over, you would feel comfortable talking to me. After all, we were best friends." He smiled shyly and turned his head, trying to hide it.

I placed my hand on top of his and I felt him tense up. He turned back towards me and relaxed. "We can be friends now, too. If you want to."

He chuckled. "Yeah. Yeah, that would be nice." I laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

I let go of his hand and folded mine together on my lap.

"What, um, what about Aaron?" I looked up to find Jack blushing. I looked away and sighed. "He doesn't matter. Not anymore."

Jack nods. "Cassie?"

I laugh. "Oh, the whole cheerleading bullshit is far behind me now."

He smiled. "Good. You were always a bitch around them anyway."

I gasped and slapped his arm playfully. He laughed and shook his head. "Kidding, kidding."

I hope you were. I push that thought away. I can't think about that life anymore. It's gone; I'm no longer in it. Hannah Deacon is a whole new person. This is a whole new world.