Jeremy’s POV

“Who are you?”

These three words pierced my heart. The first few seconds I thought she was messing with me but the longer I looked into her confused and slightly scared eyes the more I realized that this was really happening. I was shaking and carefully took another step towards the bed.
“Katie, it’s me, Jeremy. Please, don’t do this to me.” I said gently. She wasn’t a bad person. She would never make a sick joke like that. When she didn’t say anything I plopped down on a chair near the door and buried my face in my hands. The sunflower was lying on the floor, disregarded in shock and disbelief. Moments passed when no one of us said a word. The atmosphere in her room was heavy and drained me of every drop of happiness that had filled my body just moments ago.
“I … I’m sorry but … I really don’t know who you are. I don’t even know why I’m here.” Katie said after a while and switched off the TV. I looked up and saw her fumble with the remote control, a sad look on her beautiful face.
“Y-you don’t know what happened … at all?” I swallowed hard when I saw her shaking her head.
“I woke up alone and the doctor didn’t answer any of my questions.” Her voice sounded so soft, so scared. I couldn’t help but get up again but she flinched away. “Please …” She raised her hands, indicating me to stay away. Reluctantly I held myself back but I wiped my hand down my face in frustration.
“What is the last thi-“ Right then the door flew open and nearly out of its hinges. Inside barged my best friend, flowers and a teddy bear in his broad hands.
“Katiiiieeee!!!!!” Ivan stormed inside the room, hollering her name from the top of his lungs, smiling brightly. The poor girl nearly fell off the bed and the heart monitor was beeping like crazy. Pissed off and stressed I came and smacked the back of his head hard.
“Ouw! Dude! What’s wrong with you?” He glared at me.
“That’s not a way to enter a patient’s room. And besides … she doesn’t know who you are, who we all are.” I said matter-of-factly, my eyes burning into his.
“What?” Ivan’s head snapped towards Katie, who was now scared out of her mind.
“Yeah …” I said and positioned myself between them. “It’s ok sweetheart. This is Ivan. He is a friend.” I introduced him and he smiled, showing that he was completely harmless.
“Hey sweetie, I’m sorry. I was just so happy that you were back.” He said softly and carefully stepped closer but again Katie flinched away.
“You two are scaring me. Please … I don’t know what’s going on.” Her voice was shaking and she tried to hide under the sheets. It hurt a lot seeing her like this, so scared and helpless. But it hurt even more, realizing that she apparently didn’t remember us.
“It’s alright, honey. Just … just relax. Ivan and I are going to give you some space.” I smiled bravely and grabbed Ivan’s muscly arm to pull him towards the door. Under Katie’s wary stare he stumbled after me and I carefully closed the door.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ivan asked in shock.
“How the fuck should I know? This is a disaster!” I cried out and started to hurry down the hallway. I needed to find this Dr Knowles. That was his entire fault and I was going to give him a piece of my mind right now!
“Jeremy? What are you doing?” Ivan stormed after me. “I swear if you do something stupid-“
“Then what, hu? What could you possibly do that could make this whole situation even worse?” I hollered and grabbed the collar of his shirt, absolutely losing it. “You have no fucking idea what it feels like when the girl that you fucking love the most looks at you, scared out of her mind, and doesn’t remember you! You have no fucking idea what it feels like when your heart is being ripped out of your fucking chest!” I shoved him away from me. “I have enough of your bullshit! I don’t care what you think about my feelings for Katie. Just piss off ok?”
I didn’t wait for him to answer but ran off to find the doctor in charge. As I rushed down the corridors I felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders. Ivan was my friend but he acted like my freaking mother and didn’t know when his advice was welcomed and when it was not.
After what felt like an eternity I finally spotted Dr Knowles coming out of another room, followed by two nurses. I got upset all over again when I saw him smile and joke with his colleagues. This bastard! He lied to me. He said Katie was fine; that there was no damage. But there was! There was a fucking damage!
“Dr Knowles!” I spat and clomped angrily towards him.
“Mr Spencer, how my I he-“ He started nicely but I didn’t buy it. Not this time.
“Go and fix my girlfriend!” I pointed in the direction where Katie’s room was without taking my glaring eyes off that guy in scrubs.
“Excuse me? I don’t understand.” His face showed clear confusion.
“I can spell it for you.” I growled and hovered over him. “My girl doesn’t remember shit and that’s your fault!” I was about to charge at him but suddenly two male nurses grabbed my arms and held me back. “You gotta fix her! You have to fix her!”
I broke down to my knees crying. I was so stressed and irritated. Why couldn’t she remember me? What was wrong with my beautiful girl? We have had many unforgettable moments, I cherished them all. Every light touch, every gaze, every word coming from her kissable lips – I could never ever forget any of them.
Dr Knowles reacted immediately: He sent one of the nurses to get Dr Stevens and took the remaining one with him to the patient’s room. I came to my knees and followed them, one of the male nurses was on my heels. He held me back when I wanted to enter.
“Give them a moment. She seems scared enough already.” He said gently and I nodded but since I was too anxious I started pacing, rubbing the side of my arm and chewing on my bottom lip.
“You love her.” The guy said matter-of-factly. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes I do.” I said and looked at him, a look of determination in my eyes. He smiled and nodded.
“She is lucky to have her. I see a lot of couples and families in here but … true love has become very rare.” He stepped to me and patted my shoulder. “She will remember you. And it’s gonna be the happiest day in her life, knowing that her boyfriend had stayed with her instead of abandoning her.”
“I hope so, man.” I mumbled as I watched him walk away. “I really hope so.”


Katie’s POV

The doctor was again checking my pupillary light reflex. It was annoying and somehow hurting my head. Feeling the most uncomfortable since I had woken up in this place I turned my head away.
“It hurts.” I mumbled and rubbed my eyes. I could hear him sigh heavily. When an expected comment stayed out I looked back at him and the nurses who looked at me pitiful.
“Ms Reynolds, what do you remember?” Dr Knowles asked me softly.
“Nothing that could end with me being here.” I said simply. He only nodded and looked through the file with the test results. With another sigh he closed it and handed it back to one of the nurses. But before he could say something to me the door opened and another man in a white coat came inside, as well as this tall tattooed guy, who scared the shit out of me when he came inside acting like my boyfriend.
“Ms Reynolds, it’s a delight to see you back amongst the awake.” The grey-haired doctor came and sat to my feet, taking my cold hand into his broad warm ones. I could feel that he had performed a lot of surgeries in his life and it was sort of reassuring that he was here with me. I didn’t really trust those youngsters – although they were probably 10 years older than me.
“I’m Dr Stevens. I was in charge while we had you in surgery.” He smiled at me. I smiled back a little and squeezed his hand.
“What happened to me? Why am I here?” I asked, only focusing on his wrinkled face. The bushy mustache made him look even friendlier.
“My dear, I don’t know your whole story but you are here because you have been shot.” He said softly, making me gasp.
“What?!” My hand flew to my throat. I could feel my heart racing, not to mention that the heart monitor beeped like crazy. From the corner of my eye I noticed the Jeremy-guy tensing up.
“Shhh, it’s ok, you are safe now. You got shot in the chest and your tummy,” Dr Stevens pointed at my bandages, “We hardly managed to save you.”
I looked down to my hands but I wasn’t seeing them. I stared at something far away from her and let this information sank in. Someone shot me. A person purposely aimed a gun at me and bullets hit my body, ripping open skin and flesh, nearly killing me. What did I do to deserve this? What evil person must it have been to try and murder me like this?
“But that’s not everything.” Dr Stevens’s gentle voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
“What else is there?” I asked, feeling a familiar fear creeping up my spine. I knew why it was familiar. I had felt it before, for months, even years. I knew it but I refused to remember it. Before the physician could answer my question though, Jeremy spoke up again.
“Please … it should be me telling her all that.” He nearly choked saying this. I could see how sad he was, how much his heart was broken. And I felt bad. I felt so incredibly sorry and bad for not remembering him. His gorgeous deep brown eyes, his large hands, his deep voice – nothing of him was stirring up memories. I knew it hurt him and that hurt me even more. The happiness and relief of me being awake had been so apparent when he came into my room for the first time a while ago.
“I-I know you don’t remember me and … and you are probably scared out of your mind but … please … let me tell you everything. I beg you.” Jeremy whispered the last part. He couldn’t even handle looking at me. God, it was awful. Close to tears I nodded.
“Alright, we leave you two alone. But please …” Dr Stevens stood and looked at my visitor. “I trust in your common sense. If it stresses her too much you are going to leave. It may be normal that a coma patient misses a few links in his memory but still … you gotta handle it with care.”
“What?!” Jeremy’s eyes grew wide. “Normal? This …” He pointed at me, “This is normal? How …?”
“The medical explanation would take up too much time. We will talk later.” Dr Stevens opened the door and let Dr Knowles and the two nurses leave the room. “I will check on you later again, Ms Reynolds.” He smiled and left me alone with Jeremy, who was staring at the now closed door, his jaw dropped to the ground.
It was a really funny picture, making me chuckle. But when he looked at me I covered it with a cough. A small smile appeared on his, I gotta admit, pretty face.
“I missed this.” He said and sat on the chair he had occupied earlier.
“What?” I cocked my head.
“That chuckle, your smile. It’s been way too long since the last time I saw it.” His smile grew a little as he said that and I saw winkles appear around his eyes. He seemed to be a guy who loves to laugh a lot. At his compliment I felt my cheeks flush. I was blushing. This … familiar stranger was making me blush. Oh wow…
“Thank you.” I said smiling and looked down to my hands in my lap.
“I’m really sorry that I can’t remember you.” I whispered after a while and my eyes shifted to where Jeremy sat. He sighed heavily and wiped a hand down his face.
“It’s alright honey. It’s not your fault. It’s just …”
“Unexpected?”
“Yeah …” He nodded, looking down to the ground. We stayed silent for a while until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“So … how about you come a little closer and tell me what happened?” I asked him gently. I didn’t want to freak him out since I had reacted so differently the first moment I saw him.
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Jeremy looked at me, questioning my decision while he hesitantly scooted closer.
“Anything is better than living in this uncertainty. I have been existing in darkness for what feels like a lifetime. I need the light, Jeremy.” I grabbed his hand and surprised not only him but also myself, “Please … bring back the light.” I whispered, looking at him with pleading eyes. He smiled at me and his callused thumb started to softly rub the back of my hand.
“Alright baby. Let’s bring you back.” He said and then started to tell me everything.

Notes

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