Distractions

Chapter 9: Remembering

I woke up in my bed with tubes in my arms. My eyelids were heavy. Irina was sitting in the chair by my bed, on her phone. She hadn't noticed I was awake yet. I settled more into the bed, trying to make noise. She finally looked up and immediately rushed towards me.

"Hey." She tried to make me more comfortable. I tried to talk but I couldn't. It hurt my chest to. "It might be uncomfortable to talk for a couple more minutes." She told me with a sympathetic smile. I pointed to the tubes. "Oh, those were to stabilize you." She must've seen the confused expression. "You were out for two days. We took you to the hospital and they made you stay in there for a night. Then they brought you back here and set all this up." I tugged at the tubes. I gestured for water. She already had a cup for me. She gave it to me. I finally felt like I could talk again.

"What did you tell dad?" I croaked. I knew she couldn't have told him the truth.

"I told him you fell down the stairs." I took another sip of water

"That's pretty generic." She nodded agreeing with me. "Did he buy it?"

"Yeah, he did." She looked at me dead in the face. "Do you know who I am?" It's funny that I've been getting the same question from the same group of people. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You work with Oliver and Aaron." I used the only two names I knew. She seemed relieved. She gave me another look I couldn't quite pinpoint

"Yeah, I do." So, she's a spy. Hmm, how interesting.

"Can I ask you a question?" She looked nervous.

"Yeah."

"What happened?" I debated on whether to tell her or not. But I figured if she worked with Oliver and Aaron she could be trustworthy.

"I think I was remembering..." I started. I told her about all of the 'Gracie Dreams' so far. She was stunned. If she had no idea, then Oliver and everyone else didn't either. The more I spoke about the 'Gracie Dreams' the more real it became. And by the time I was done, all of the excitement from finally learning about who I was, had drained. And for the first time, I was scared that maybe I wasn't meant to remember who I was. Maybe God tried to give me another chance, a redo. Irina caught sight of my face.

"What's wrong?" She leaned in towards me. Tears welled up in my eyes as I finally admitted my feelings to her.

"I'm scared." My lower lip trembled. Irina took my hand.

"Whatever you do, Oliver and I will always be with you."

"Thank you." I choked. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying. "I don't know if I want to do this anymore."

"Why? Why wouldn't you want to know who you are? Why wouldn't you want to know the truth, and stop living this lie you've been living?"

"I don't know. It's just, my life was perfect until-." I abruptly stopped.

"Until what?" I looked up at her because I finally figured out what I had to do.

"You have to get me out of here." My sudden urgent manner caught her off guard. "The bed?" I shook my head.

"No, you have to take me to where Aaron died." Her eyes widened.

"I can't do that!" She staged whispered.

"Why?"

"Your father barely let me come in, I can't just waltz out of the house with you."

"Please?"

"No. I can't do it." She was still stage whispering to me.

"Irina," I looked at her, my eyes begging her to. She heaved a sigh.

"Fine, fine."

"Thanks, I owe you." The corners of her mouth turned up. She stood up and checked the house to see if my dad was here. She popped her head in.

"The coast is clear."

"Okay, help me stand up." She helped me up and down the stairs to the door. She unexpectedly stopped. She looked at me, my arm was slung around her neck so she was supporting my weight.

"Are you sure about this?" I nodded my head. "Okay." She said breathily.