ˢʷᵉᵉᵖ ᵐᵉ ᵒᶠᶠ ᵐʸ ᶠᵉᵉᵗ {ᶜᵒᵐᵖˡᵉᵗᵉᵈ}

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

2 weeks

i can't breathe. i'm standing in payton's hospital room and he's getting discharged today. i'm so happy i could pass out.

"hey guys," payton's doctor walks in, "so basically before you get discharged we have to run a full body scan to make sure you're ok to be discharged and then we'll go ahead and get your papers ready and everything."

"ok, thank you." i smile and she smiles back, walking out of the room.

after running tests

"ok so we got the tests back and payton has suffered brain injuries from the car accident and we're going to need to do some surgery." his doctor says.

"so he's not getting discharged?" i ask.

"no, i'm sorry, at the least he'll be out in 2 more weeks and that's if everything goes smoothly. if it goes bad then he might need to stay longer which could be up to 6 months depending on what happens. but we have an amazing neuro surgeon and i assure you that you have nothing to worry about." she tells us.

"seriously?" payton says, "i want to go home. i don't want surgery i want to go home." he starts getting mad. i walk over to him and calm him down.

"it's ok payton it's ok. it's all going to be ok." i tell him, running my fingers through his hair. he calms down and they prep him for surgery and take him to an OR while i sit in the waiting room.

hours later

"ok so everything went very well, we should expect full recovery from surgery in about 2-3 weeks." the doctor tells me. i smile and walk into payton's room. i see him and he's still sleeping. i sit in a chair beside him, flipping through a magazine and notice he's waking up and moving around. i grab his hand and he looks at me and pulls it away.

"payton are you ok?" i ask him.

"where am i?" he asks me.

"you're at the hospital, remember? you got into a car accident a month ago. they did surgery and you were supposed to be discharged today but you had to have brain surgery and you just woke up from it." i tell him. maybe he's just a little confused from the surgery.

"oh. are you my doctor?" he asks me.

"wait what?" i'm starting to get worried.

"aren't you my doctor?" he asks.

"you don't know who i am?" i sit here. my face changing expressions from confused to sad.

"no..?" he says.

"payton. it's me. it's tess." i say trying to put my hand on his.

"i dont- i don't know who you are." he pulls away.

"i'm your fiancé. we're supposed to get married after graduation." i show him the ring.

"graduation? i'm a junior." he says.

"no...you're a senior. you're my fiancé you proposed to me. i was with quinton and then came to your house and told you i loved you and it was your brother noah's birthday." i tell him.

"im sorry. i don't know you. i don't know anyone named quinton. how do you know noah?" he looks so confused.

"remember. you're my fiancé. i met your family. god please remember payton please. your grandparents showed me your baby pictures and those letters you wrote when you were a little kid. please remember me payton i love you." i have tears in my eyes.

"i don't know you." he says. i run out of the room and find the doctor.

my heart is beating outside of my chest.

my limbs feel heavier.

my throat goes dry.

i can't breathe.

"you said everything went well." i yell at the doctor.

"calm down, ma'am. what's wrong?" she asks.

"what's wrong?" i scoff, "what's wrong? my fiancé is sitting in that bed and he thinks he's a junior. he doesn't remember me. it went soooo smoothly right? sure it did." i walk away and back into his room and she goes in there.

"ok, we are going to figure out what happened ok?" the doctor says and i look at her and start crying. i hug her. she hugs me back.

"i will figure this out. i promise." she tells me and i pull away from the hug and let her leave the room. i look at payton and he looks upset.

"are you really my fiancé?" he asks. i just nod.

"im sure i love you. i just, i don't remember." he's still nice even when he doesn't know who i am. the doctor comes back. she pulls me aside.

"after looking into it, we found that the anesthetic that was used was what caused payton's memory loss. he may get his memory back, but there's a chance that he won't." she tells me, as sympathetic as possible.

"what are the odds?" i ask her. she stands there and looks at me and sighs.

"there's a 95% chance he won't regain his memory." she tells me. i look back at him and look at her and start crying. my payton. my fiancé. my everything. the love of my life. the light of my world. my other half. my soulmate. he doesn't even remember who i am.

*im sorryyyyyy*