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Chapter 2: Awakening.
I woke up to so much noise and an unbelievable headache. What did I do last night? Did I go out clubbing and drink too much? If so, it was the worst hangover I had ever had. My eyes are so heavily lidded. I try to open them and the slightest beam of light makes me recoil and shut them closed tighter. I hear voices from a far, as if the owners of the voices are speaking under water. Am I in trouble? Did I drink too much that my parents have come to have a word with me? It wouldn't be the first time. When I turned 21 and I began experimenting with alcohol, I got so drank one time with my friends that I had to be carried home. My parents and my elder siblings all came into my room to have a serious word with me. It was an intervention. After that, I decided not to drink ever again. And I hadn't, at least not until last night I guess. I had to open my eyes and face the consequences of my actions. Just to get it over with. I tried to pry my eyes open again and this time I didn't shut them. The effort to open just one eye caused my headache to split into a thousand milli-headaches. The voices became nearer and more familiar now. "She's opening her eyes mum!" It was my little sister Sophie. What was Sophie doing in my room? She shouldn't see me like this, setting a bad example for her. Who invited her to this intervention? "Abby, it's mum. Everyone is here, even Xavier. How do you feel?" My mother.
Suddenly I felt like a little girl again and I just wanted my mum to hold me in her arms as I cried over the mistakes I had made. I finally opened my eyes to find a sparkling white ceiling. My bedroom ceiling is not white, it's blue. What was going on? "Mum? What's everyone doing in my bedroom?" I asked, puzzled. "Honey, you were in a car accident. Don't you remember?" Answered my dad. His voice was coming from the bottom side of my bed. He sounded tense and I wanted to get out of bed and give him a big hug because my father was the most calm person in the whole world. Why was he so tense. Then it slowly dawned on me what my mother had said. I looked around me. My older sister Isabelle was holding my right hand. Her eyes were puffy as if she'd recently been crying. The window behind her was not my bedroom window. I turned to my mother. "Accident?....... I don't seem to remember. My head hurts so much mummy." She was holding my left hand, but not as strongly as Izzy. I took my left hand from her and touched my aching head. Bandages. "Go get the Doctor Jermaine. It's okay honey, the Doctor is on the way," said my father. Had I really been in an accident? Or were they pranking me? The Talli family was notorious for pranking people. But no, this couldn't be. My headache was too severe, too real. They couldn't have gone out of their way to knock me out. Even pranks have limits. At the confused look on my face, my mother said in her most comforting voice, like she used once when I was 13 and I was screaming in the bathroom because I'd had my first period and I was scared that everyone would know, "You were in an accident and Xavier here brought you to the hospital. Right dear?" "Who..... is Xavier?" She shoved a young man closer to my bed for me to recognise and acknowledge his help perhaps. Did I know this young man? I couldn't tell if he looked familiar. He looked frightened though. Frightened of me? I was probably misreading his expression. But when I looked into his eyes, I saw something in them. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but it made me feel like I knew him. That perhaps at one time, long ago, we had been friends, best friends even. But it couldn't be because I would remember my best friend, wouldn't I? At my lack of recognition, he slithered out of the way and started moving towards the exit. He moved in an intriguing way. Like he had something to hide. A secret to keep and I wanted to know what that secret was. For the life of me, I had to know. He stood by the door and just then, the doctor came in. Doctor Jane, our family doctor. I shifted my glance from the door to the end of my bed. My twin brothers Jerome and Jermaine were standing close together, as if creating a human wall to guard their little sister. They hadn't spoken the entire time I was awake. "Alright clan, you'll have to wait outside as I give Abby her check up," said the doctor. Everyone left the room reluctantly. "So Abby, how are you feeling?" She touched my bandaged head. "My heard really hurts. And the light is really hurting my eyes." She moved to draw the curtains halfway. "How about your body? Any pain?" She touched my toes, my shins, my knees, my thighs - I winced! Then she touched my waist, my ribs - I giggled then winced again because my head exploded again. My arms, my collar bone, my neck. "So no pain accept for here" She touched my things again, "and your head?" "Yes." "You're a lucky girl Abby. So tell me what you remember about the accident." "I can't remember anything. Even the smallest bit." "What's the last thing you remember?" "Uum I can't even remember when I left the house." I was really straining myself to remember. Why couldn't I remember? Doctor Jane took a small flashlight from her lab coat and shone it into my eyes. Then she asked me how many fingers she was holding up. I couldn't tell how many fingers she was holding up so I said I didn't know. "You don't know because you can't see it or because your head hurts when you think about?" She brought her hand closer to my face and I said, "Two fingers." "Okay. You did good Abby. I'll tell the nurse to bring you something for that headache and your thighs. You'll be good to go home in a few days." "Doc, why can't I remember anything about the accident?" She put down the notebook she had been taking notes of my exam on and looked at me. Her face was warm and honest, like my mother's. "Well you see Abby, sometimes when a person goes through a traumatic experience, the brain tends to hide that memory deep inside the subconscious such that the person cannot remember what happened at all. Sometimes it's temporary, sometimes permanent. Yours is most likely temporary because you remember everything else except what happened. I'm sure if you give it time, it'll all come back to you." "I have amnesia?" "Not really. It just looks like your brain doesn't want you to remember what happened. It's probably a painful memory for you." "But if I wasn't seriously injured, it can't possibly be that terrible of a memory?" "Then perhaps it's something else. Prior to the accident. I'm sure your friend Xavier can help you remember what happened but it'll slowly return to you, not to worry." She pat my arm and then left to go get the nurse. Xavier. Was he really my friend? If I couldn't remember him, he probably has something to do with why. Was he with ne when it happened? He also called the ambulance and rode with me to the hospital so, he has a lot to tell me. But where do I start? I don't know how to break the ice and tell him, when he is probably my best friend, that I can't remember anything from the night of the accident and I need him to tell me what happened. My entire family suddenly walked in and I instinctively looked towards the door to see if Xavier drew up the rear. He wasn't there. "Where's Xavier?" "He went home, honey. He's been up all night watching you, he needed to rest. But he'll be back tomorrow, don't worry," said my father. I felt warm reassurance trickle down my back. He'd be coming back tomorrow. I had all night to think about how I'd tell him about why I couldn't remember him and tell him to give me all the details about what happened. I felt nervous just thinking about it. What if I wouldn't like the answers? What if I'm better off not remembering what happened in the first place? And yet I just had to know. It was part of my life and I had to know what happened. I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I didn't hear a thing my family was telling me. I hardly even noticed the nurse as she came in and gave me my medication. All I remember before I plunged into slumber was my mother kissing my forehead as I closed my eyes. I dreamt of a young man with frightened eyes calling my name, telling me that I should see how beautiful I look when I am asleep. 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