I D E N T I T Y

Welcome Home

We pull up to a two-story, white with blue shutters, end of the street, house. It's actually really pretty. Rachel takes the key out of the ignition and sighs.

She turns to me, "Are you okay? What was that about?"

I brush some hair out of my face and say: "Nothing, I'm just tired. Can you show me my room?"

She stares at me with an observing look for a few seconds. "Yes, okay, come on. It's on the second floor."

I hop out of the car and follow her inside the house.

It's spotless, nothing dusty on the floor. The living room has a soft looking brown couch. The kitchen looks very elegant and fancy. It looks so clean I wouldn't want to eat in it. This is the complete opposite of the Wright household.

The entire house would be cluttered with little random knik knacks that my family would find at some antique shop. The kitchen would have millions of dishes strayed around the kitchen that my little brothers left out.

I smile. My mom would always get so mad at them. But they still would always leave them out, I honestly think it was just to annoy her. I laugh a little at the memory.

"What's so funny?" Rachel looks over at me smiling, "Does this trigger any memories?"

My smile quickly fades, "Sorry, no. Where's my room?"

She looks disappointed but gestures me to follow her up the stairs. She leads me through a hallway and then stops at a door.

She takes a deep breath and then smiles. "This is your room."

She opens the door and I take a breath in."It's...beautiful."

She looks happy, "I would hope so, I tried to keep it clean!"

The walls are painted hot pink with a bunch of boy band posters plastered on the walls. There's a shelf that's packed with CDs and records. A record player is sitting on the nightstand which is right next to a really soft looking bed with a dark purple comforter.

It's nothing like my old room, which was nowhere near as colorful, but it's still pretty, still good. The only problem is that I don't see any books.

"Um Rachel, do I have any books?"

She frowns, "No, you were never much of a reader. But seeing now, it seems that Olivia was."

"Yeah, she was." I say softly

Rachel plops down on my bed."Tell me about her."

"Who?" I ask puzzled

"Olivia. What was she like?"

"Oh um," I say as I sit on the bed, "she loved to read and write. She was really smart." I laugh a little. "Valedictorian actually."

Rachel smiles, "Really?"

I smile too, "Yeah, and I had the best friends and family. We would always have so much fun! And-"

I cut off at the sight of Rachel trying to keep tears from spilling down her face.

"So," she sniffles, "sounds like you had a great life."

I feel uncomfortable, "Yeah, I guess I did."

Eager to get off the topic I say, "What was Peyton like?"

"Peyton? She was the sweetest girl. She loved to have fun, all the time really. She loved rock and singing and dancing to her own beat. She was-"

Then she cuts off because she can't take it. She's sobbing and I don't know what to do.

"I-I'm sorry, I just didn't think it'd be this hard. I've been alone for 3 years and now your back..and you don't even remember who I am." She sobs.

I feel awful. This has been so hard on me but I never once considered how hard it was on her. I scoot over to her and stiffly put my arms around her shoulders. She cries even more as she squeezes my hand.

We just sit there with each other for the rest of the day. And for the first time since I woke up from the coma, it feels like things maybe, just maybe, might be alright.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Sorry it's so short! I will try to be posting more chapters given that we all have more free time than usual. Please keep safe and healthy and wash your hands. And if your bored, why don't take some time and read my books? 😉 -Vanna