Author's Note:I hope you enjoy my first foray in writing fantasy fiction, no not THAT kind of fantasy hehe. The story starts out relatively dark, but is needed to set Steven on his path. I hope to share a new chapter at least once a week, the challenges of life notwithstanding. ~Rebecca
It had been an extremely difficult day for Steven, by the time he had arrived home that evening. He had known that today would be painful and depressing, but he wasn’t prepared for how lost and utterly alone he felt right now. He spent the next fifteen minutes pacing around his small house, one that he had once shared with his partner Ben, but now it was quiet and empty, which was a reflection of how Steven felt. He felt an overwhelming grief and had been for several weeks, then with the events of todays funeral that grief was quickly being replaced by rage.
He was too wound up to eat, and even though he knew he shouldn’t, he grabbed the half empty bottle of whiskey out of the freezer. Forgoing a glass, he collapsed on his couch with the bottle, after a moment he took a long drink and let the freezing cold liquor burn his throat. Setting the bottle down, he knew he had to be careful and not get drunk tonight, he had plans to make. He was planning for revenge, seeing he had given up any hope of justice.
Once the burning in his throat had subsided he leaned forward and picked up the album that was on the coffee table. Caressing the cover gently, he took another swig from the bottle before he opened it to the first page of photos. The first photo brought a smile from his face, but also tears. The first photo was of three teenagers on one of the best days of Steven’s life. It was just him and his two closest friends, or as they had dubbed themselves the underdogs.
The underdogs had consisted of himself, Ben, or Benji as he was called then, and then Kelly. They had attended school together since Pre-K and had formed a close bond almost immediately. They had never been considered part of the popular crowd, for one they all three had ended up being late bloomers and until the middle of high school had been left behind by the rest of their class. Both he and Benji wore glasses and had both been short and chubby until their final growth spurts, while Kelly would have been mistaken for a boy until her junior year when her body finally developed. Towards the end of their high school career all three would have been considered attractive, but it had been too late by then, their lot in life had been set as geeks and nerds by the time they were in middle school. There was no changing their class in school, so they became the underdogs, shunned by those in the popular clique.
The memories of that day brought Steven a small degree of peace, the old Polaroid was taken by the caretaker of the Dismals Canyon, an old canyon not to far from Phil Campbell, Al, where they had grown up. It was one of their favorite places to go, with the trails and waterfalls they could be lost for hours, and since it wasn’t a ‘cool’ place for high school students to hang out they didn’t have to worry about being harassed by any of their classmates in the small town.
Turned the page, the next photos were from a few years later during their senior year. While he and Benji were still wearing glasses in the first picture, they had both slimmed up considerably and almost could had been mistaken as preppy. Between them was Kelly, who by then was beautiful, the rail thin tomboy from the other picture had been replaced by a gorgeous young woman. While all three were smiling, he could see something in Kelly’s eyes, her smile wasn’t extending to her eyes anymore. Looking at the photo, he realized that her problems must have started by then, but neither him or Benji had known she was struggling with anything. They both were struggling themselves, and were afraid to talk to even their small group. He took another drink…
The bottom photo was of himself and Kelly at prom, their one attempt at dating, which ultimately failed. Steven blamed himself for that failure, and couldn’t help but blame himself for what had eventually happened to Kelly. Their relationship didn’t fail because he didn’t love her, he actually loved her too much. He had loved her ever since he realized what love was, the problem was he wasn’t physically attracted to her… He had known he was gay since he was around 12, but fear in the small homophobic community they lived in had caused him to hate himself and to try to hide that part about him. He had thought that if he loved her enough, he could make their relationship work, but the night of the prom when they kissed… They both knew that he had felt nothing but friendship…
The next few pages of the three was taken during their summer before college, in each one he noticed Kelly’s expression growing slightly more grim as the summer went on. Unfortunately, both he and Benji hadn’t noticed anything at the time. He softly cursed himself as he stared at the picture, had he not been so caught up in his own bullshit, maybe he could have noticed and helped her. Maybe things would have been different… He took another drink.
There were only a few pictures after that, with only Steven and Kelly in them during their freshman year in college. Benji had decided to go to a different school for pre-law, and had gone to Auburn instead of Alabama like they had. At least they both had gone there for a while, before Kelly flunked out and disappeared. He and Kelly had grown further and further apart, and the few times he had seen her before she left school, she was always drunk and hanging out with the party crowd. She didn’t just drop out of school, but out of his life, and her family’s life as well.
The next several years were a blur, and there weren’t any photographs of that time. Steven had concentrated on getting his business degree and had thought focusing on everything else but his orientation he could forget what he was… Upon graduation he had gotten a job with a small firm, and moved to Birmingham, trying to run from his home and from his past.
While he still called home occasionally, the only time he could bring himself to return to Phil Campbell was Christmas, and then he was only there for the day and made the two-plus hour trip back home. He had lost track of both Benji and Kelly and had thought the underdogs were a thing of the past, until he ran into Benji, who was going by Ben now, at their ten-year high school reunion. He had almost not gone at all, but there was hope that he could reconnect with his long lost friends, so he went. While Kelly was nowhere to be found, even her family hadn’t heard from her in years, he had reconnected with Ben. He had found out Ben was in real estate law in Birmingham, and didn’t live far from him at all.
The two wasted no time in rekindling their friendship, and quickly found themselves spending most of their free time in each other’s company. Over the next year Steven realized two things, one that he couldn’t hide who he was anymore, and the other was that he had fallen deeply in love with his lifelong friend. He had tried to bury those feelings out of fear, no matter how he felt, he didn’t want to loose Ben out of his life again. He kept up the charade for a few more months before he started making himself sick from constantly hiding his true feelings. Then he decided to come clean, no matter what happened, he no longer wanted to lie to the man he loved. At least then he thought he could be free, no matter what happened.
The night he chose to confess to Ben was a night he will never forget. They had gone to a movie and decided to have a drink afterwards and went to a local jazz bar. While Steven had been trying to get his courage up, Ben could tell that something was bothering him so he asked. After taking a deep breath, he confessed everything, that he was gay, he had known for years, how it had tried to hide and forget about it, then finally that he had fallen in love with his best friend. The moments he waited for a response seemed like hours had passed before Ben smiled at him. Steve was extremely confused, right up until Ben leaned over and kissed him. Ben then confessed the same feelings that he had been fighting, then they kissed again.
They had been inseparable ever since, they both came out at work, which unfortunately cost Steven his job. Ben was much luckier, working in a law office, everyone was much more liberally minded. They also were trying to hire an office manager, so Steven no longer had any job issues. The next several years they were every bit a married couple in every sense, other than legally. While they still had to deal with a lot of hateful people, they were living in Alabama after all, it was manageable. Then they decided to go to their twentieth high school reunion.
The moment they walked into the gymnasium, they weren’t prepared for the animosity that they received. There had been only a small handful of people who were amazed with them and seemed to accept them, but out of their class of 124 people, those accepting few only numbered in single digits. They almost left but by then they had already developed a pretty thick skin, and besides they were happier than most and wanted everyone to see that.
Then it turned from bad to worse, as they saw Kelly walk in with her husband. Their long lost friend, who had disappeared for almost two decades, stepped back into their life for a moment. At first they didn’t recognize her, while they frequently exercised, hiking and racquetball, they were healthy looking and looked much younger than their 38 years. Kelly on the other hand looked much older, whatever had happened to her had taken its toll. Gone was the gorgeous teenager they remembered, but a tired and dangerously thin woman who looked like an addict of some sort. For a moment, Kelly’s eyes brightened when she saw her two friends, and when she found out they were now a couple, her eyes faded. They both had tried to talk to her to find out what had happened to her, then her husband butted in and shoved them both back. When he spoke they then realized who he was. Back in high school Chad Moorland had been a rich preppy kid and the star quarterback for the Bobcats, he had moved on to playing for Alabama but blew out his knee as a redshirt freshmen. He lost his football career and then his scholarship, he now was a balding heavyset used car salesman, and he was angry.
Chad caught Ben with a wild punch before turning on Steven, but he was unaware that due to the harassment he had received in school, Steven had been practicing martial arts since college. The black belt holding Steven quickly disabled Chad with a few quick punches, but didn’t do much, if any, damage. Steven quickly helped Ben to his feet, while Kelly was screaming at them to leave. She even started to push them out the gym, and right at the last moment Steven heard her tell them to run, that Chad and his friends had prepared to do much worse. With a quick look he saw remnants of their old friend, before she started shrieking for the ‘faggots’ to leave. It was the last time that he had seen her. That had been just over a month ago.
Steven and Ben had both realized that Kelly was in trouble, and had vowed to help her. They started making plans on how to get in touch with her, when a week after the reunion their world was torn apart forever. As they were leaving a restaurant from having a date, they were jumped by five men in ski masks, with his training Steven took a beating but dished out more than he received, he even managed to break two of his assailants noses before they ran off. Ben on the other hand never regained consciousness from his beating, and passed away two days later in the hospital. Steven had given up all hope on finding justice, since the police department didn’t seem too concerned with two fags being beaten, even if one of them died. After three weeks there had been no recent developments, then he got the phone call that led him to this moment.
The call had been from Kelly’s mother, Kelly had apparently been drinking and driving. They found her car, and her remains at the bottom of a ravine not too far from Phil Campbell. That was why Steven’s grief was so overwhelming, he blamed himself for what had befallen both of his friends. He kept thinking that if he hadn’t ever been born, he wouldn’t have started Kelly down her path of destruction. She had started her decline shortly after their ‘date’ at the prom, so it had to have been him. Had he not been there, Ben wouldn’t have fallen in love with him. They both would still be alive. He had decided that once he paid his respects to his friend Kelly, that he was going to end his own. His life was just too empty to carry forward. That was before he saw Chad at the funeral, supposedly mourning his dead wife. It wasn’t the look of disdain on Chad’s face that caused him to realized exactly what had happened, but it was the slightly remaining swelling left over from a recently broken nose. The look that Chad had given him chilled him to the bone, Chad knew that he knew. That alone had given him a purpose and a reason not to kill himself, at least not yet… He had some work left to do before he could go.
Steven tossed the photo album back on the coffee table, and took yet another long pull of the whiskey. The pull wasn’t as much as he expected as the last bit of the still cold liquor spilled into his mouth. Looking dumbly at the now empty bottle he started silently cursing himself. He hadn’t intended to get drunk, he knew he had to stay aware of his surroundings. Chad and his friends realized that he knew that they had been involved in Ben’s death, so Steven knew that they would most likely try to silence him. While he relished the idea of his life ending so he could be with his friends again, it wouldn’t happen until he felt Chad’s life pass through his own hands. Angrily he stood up and started to stumble then a voice out of nowhere made him jump back.
“You know you’re in danger don’t you?” The melodious feminine voice stated.
Spinning around Steven saw a strikingly beautiful woman in his living room, she was tall and willowy, but what caught him off guard were her gold colored eyes, that and the sense of strength radiating from her. He jumped back and almost fell, but caught himself on the bar leading into the kitchen. He exclaimed, “Who the fuck are you?!?!”
Grimacing at his language, the woman spoke calmly, “Steven I’ve come to help you… You know they are on their way, they will be here in a few minutes…”
Steven started to feel sick, the alcohol sitting in a stomach that hadn’t seen food in days started to lurch. He started to move to the sink to empty his stomach, but only made half a step before he started to fall. They mystery woman instantly was by his side and caught him, before he was able to pull away she touched his chest with her hand and a soothing sensation passed through him. Moments later he stood up the sick feeling completely gone and his mind was once again clear. He quickly stepped back, and blurted out, “What did you just do?!?”
She softly responded, “Like I said before, I’m here to help you Steven.”
Confused, he asked, “Why? How? I mean… Who are you and why do you want to help me?”
She responded, “You can call me Michelle, I’m a friend… The why and how, we don’t have enough time to explain. They are only about ten minutes away Steven.”
Steve asked, “How do you know that? How do you even know what is going on?”
Michelle told him, “I think its easier if I showed you how I know, but you need to sit down first.” She gently took his hand, which he hesitantly drew back at first. Once her hand touched his, another soothing sensation passed through him.
The next thing he knew he was sitting on his couch with Michelle sitting on the coffee table facing him and looking him directly in the eyes. Her gaze made him feel small and insignificant, almost like he wasn’t worthy to stare into her golden orbs. He quickly let his chin fall and looked at the floor in shame.
Michelle gently grasped his chin and lifted his head so he could look at her, she told him, “Steven its okay, I can’t hurt you. I just want to help, but to do that I need to show you something. I just thought it would be best if you sat down first, this might be overwhelming.”
For some reason the timbre of her voice, and the way it gently filled the room, calmed him. He couldn’t help but trust her, so he gently nodded acceptance.
Slowly she leaned forward and placed her forehead against his, he felt a warm tingle when their heads touched, then visions quickly started flashing through his mind. He saw himself and his friends when they were kids, how close they were. He had seen them grow up and how their bond grow stronger. He then saw that each in their own way started dealing with their own struggles. He couldn’t see what they were, but somehow through the vision he just knew they were there. He then saw the night of his prom and the remorse in Kellys eyes after they kissed. He then witnessed the years of struggling that she had faced, turning from alcohol to marijuana, then to things much much worse. He saw Benji and his struggles, then the night they kissed and the years afterwards of complete happiness, but at the same instant he felt Kelly’s despair. He witnessed the assault upon them, but from an outside perspective. Then the moment that Benji passed away, Steven was downstairs in the hospital and hadn’t even been there when the man that he loved expired. The last vision though unnerved him, he witnessed Kelly fighting with her husband. She accused him of killing Ben… Right before he grabbed her around the throat and squeezed until she quit moving, then how he he placed her in her car and rolled it down the ravine, right after lighting the gas inside the car on fire.
When the visions left him he found himself shaking uncontrollably, with Michelle’s arms holding him gently. The tears were blinding him, but he knew now that what he was planning, was the right thing to do. He uttered, “I’m going to kill him for what he did… No one would ever believe me anyway… It’s the only way…” Then he thought for a second what had just happened, then he wiped his eyes and started into her eyes and asked, “How did you do that?”
Michelle grimaced at his first utterance, she shook her head and told him, “Steven I’m not here to help you kill him… That’s revenge, not justice, I can’t help you hurt him anymore than I can hurt you. I’m here to help you in another way. There is another way. I’m here to help you save them.”
Surprised he blurted out, “Help them?!? Why would I help them! They killed Kelly and Benji!!!”
Taking his hand again so she could soothe him, she said, “Not save them, I’m talking about saving Kelly and Ben…”
He wanted to ask if she was crazy, Ben and Kelly were dead. He had watched their dead bodies be buried. With what he had seen though, he knew there was something incredible about the young strange beautiful woman. For some reason he believed that she could do what she said… He simply asked, “What do I have to do?”
She smiled sadly at him and told him, “You don’t have to do anything, but be yourself. The hard part is up to me. I’m going to send you back, you will need to be there for them, but in a different way than you were before… To save them, the key is you Steven. It will be difficult, and your life will be difficult, more difficult than you could imagine… But you will save them…”
Oddly he didn’t even question about being ‘sent back’, what confused him was be there in a different way… “You can really do that? And that it would save them?”, he asked, to which she just nodded. Then he thought how could he be there in a different way, then he remembered when Kelly started being troubled. It was after they kissed, and how it had twisted their relationship. He had loved her, and he was sure she had loved him… That had to be what would be different. He then asked, “If you can send me back, I take it you have the power to change things…”
She nodded, but told him, “I can change a lot of things, but I can’t change a persons mind. Free will and all that jazz… A persons mind and heart I can’t force to change, I can only suggest. A person has to change on their own.
He thought free will? He blurted out, “What are you supposed to be an angel or something?”
She shook her head, and told him sadly, “No, I’m no angel… I’m nothing like what you would think an angel would be like…”
His mind drifted back to his other thought, that if he could physically love Kelly as much as his heart did, it would solve everything. If he was straight, they could fall in love, and then if he and Ben weren’t in a relationship there wouldn’t have been any reason for Chad to do what he did. He then asked, “Could you make it where I could love her, they way she needs to be loved? I mean I already did, err do love her, I just couldn’t…”
“You’re gay.”, She stated, it wasn’t a question. He just nodded dumbly, not even caring how she knew. She thought for a quick moment, she knew that he was gay, but it wasn’t a physical thing she could change. Him being gay was part of the energy that made him who he was, a soul as the humans would call it. She then looked calmly at him, “I think I can manage that, but I need to warn you… If for some reason you do fall for each other, it wont last… You’re destined to go your separate ways… You’re life will not be pleasant in the least… Kelly will eventually find her soulmate though, you can be thankful of that at least.”
He softly asked, “But they will both be alive right?” She just nodded, so he continued, “So do it, I don’t care if we don’t stay together… As long as they both are alive…”
Michele felt his grief and his desperation, but she reiterated, “You have to understand though, this is going to be hard Steven you have to understand…”
Steve interrupted her, “Like this is a bed of freaking roses?!? I have nothing in my life, but hate… Hate for Chad and his friends. Hate for myself for letting my friends down…” He started to sob, everything had just built up for so long. Michelle started to try to ease his suffering, but that thought was quickly interrupted by several car doors slamming…
She exclaimed, “They are here Steven, you have minutes left… I need you to understand…”
He grasped her hand, and told her, “Do it… There is nothing left here anyway.”
Laying her hands on each side of his face, she leaned forward. Just as the door was kicked in, her lips kissed his forehead and for a second time stood still.
Steven immediately felt his body being pulled in every different directions, he then felt his body spinning end over end. Suddenly a loud crashing sound filled his ears, and it was loud enough he felt it through his entire body. Then he felt an extremely sharp and powerful blow on his head, right before his world went dark…
Michelle stood quickly, and seconds after she stood, the room she was in blurred for a quick second. She then found the scenery had changed, even though she was still in the same house that she had been in with Steven. Now the furniture was different, the door was closed and not kicked in, and instead of Steven in the house there was now a family of four sitting on the couch and watching a Disney movie. It was obvious they couldn’t see her, so she made no effort to hide. She slowly bowed her head and prayed, desperate that something, anything might hear it.
She prayed for Stevens success, and that he would be strong enough to face what lay ahead of him, she prayed for several moments before another woman’s voice interrupted her.
“Sister why do you bother praying? You know there is nothing there to hear you…” The voice said harshly.
Looking up at the fiery red headed amazon that now stood beside her, the family still just oblivious to the newcomer as they were to her, Michelle told her, “Old habits die hard… Even we should still have hope… Hope is still a good thing.”
The red-head asked, “Why are you trying to save the girl? Do you really think it will matter in the end?”
Michelle stood up and glared at the woman, “We have been setting the board for this moment for thousands of years, it has to matter! She is just the first piece of the puzzle to be put down… We can’t fail… It all can’t be in vain…”
Much more gently the red-head told her, “Michelle… I know you still hope… It’s been so long since a lot of us had any hope left…” After a moment of silence between them the red-head spoke again, “Sister I hope now that you have pushed over you’re first domino, that the others fall where you intended… You know what happens if it fails…”
Michelle nodded slowly, then spoke softly, “I know what will befall us all if it fails… All I have left is hope Azrael, you know that as…”
Azrael, the red headed woman, just nodded and gently spoke, “Well then, I will stand by your side sister, no matter what transpires.”
Michelle’s body started to shimmer and said, “Thank you…”, before she faded away.
To be continued.
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Author's Note:Thank you so much for the kind words so far, I hope this chapter lives up to the first. I’m almost finished with the 3rd chapter, and hopefully it will be up by this weekend. ~Rebecca
That morning in the hospital, Dr. Raphael was making her rounds in the ICU, as she was checking on her patients, one concerned her more than the others. The seventeen year old had been brought in a week and a half ago after being in a severe car wreck, unfortunately drugs had been found in her system along with a small amount of alcohol. The girl had been in extremely bad shape, had it not been for her being in the ER that night, there was no doubt the girl would have died. As it was, it was still extremely touch and go, but at least she was no longer in danger. The girl was making a miraculous recovery, now it was just a waiting game. She had been kept sedated since they started working on her, her injuries had been severe enough there was a fear she could injure herself further if she attempted to move. Dr. Raphael had taken her off the sedatives late last night, so now it was all in the girls hands.
A few hours later the girl began to stir, one of the nurses alerted the Dr. and within minutes Dr. Raphael was by the girl’s side. She gently brushed what was left of her hair away from her eyes, concern written plainly on her face. Due to a head injury sustained in the crash, there had been significant swelling on her brain, and she had been rushed into emergency brain surgery to relieve the pressure. The entire right side of her skull had been shaved, and the rest of her beautiful blonde hair had been cut some, but her bangs were still just long enough to lay over her eyes.
Without any warning the girl opened her eyes, but the bright light of the room caused her to immediately shut them again. The pain in her head caused her to whimper softly.
Dr. Raphael immediately noticed and quickly dimmed the lights some, gently she asked, “Is that any better?”
The girl hesitantly reopened her eyes, while the light still caused her some discomfort it was much better. While her vision was a bit blurry she could make out the brunette in the Dr.’s coat wearing a stethoscope around her neck. She tried to speak, but her throat was so dry and raw she could barely make a sound.
The Dr. had prepared for that, so she picked up the cup of ice she had brought in and gently fed the ice chips to the girl, “Don’t chew or swallow these, just let them melt to moisten your throat.” The girl slowly nodded, and the Dr. continued to feed her ice for the next few minutes until the girl was ready to try again.
She croaked out, “Where am I? What happened?”
The Dr. told her, “Sweetie you’re in the ICU, you were involved in a car wreck. You were hurt pretty bad, but you’re going to be okay. You’ve still got a ways to go, but you’re on the mend and out of trouble at least. ”
The girl smiled, and whispered, “Thank you Dr. uhh… I don’t know your name…”
Dr. Raphael laughed, “Oh sorry about that, I’m Dr. Jessica Raphael, but just call me Jessica… Or even Jess, that’s what my friends call me.”
The girl softly giggled, although the action caused her a momentary wince of pain. A moment later she recovered and replied, “Okay Jess, it’s really nice to meet you… You probably already know, but I’m… Umm… I’m…” The girls forehead wrinkled up in concentration as she tried to stammer out her name, the concern on the Jess’s face was apparent. The more she tried to think of her name, the more her head began to hurt, finally she whimpered, “I can’t remember… Why can’t I remember my name?”
Taking the girls hand in hers, Jess tried to console her, “Easy, its okay. You had a really hard blow to you’re head, your memory is probably just a bit rattled okay.”
The girl nodded, but gripped the Dr’s hand firmly. There was just something calming about holding her hand.
Jess softly asked her, “With your memory shaken like it is, I do need to ask you a few questions okay?” The girl nodded, afraid what else she might not remember. “Okay you’ve been unconscious for over a week, so I wont ask you what day it is… Do you remember what year it is?”
Nodding the girl said proudly, “Yes I do! It’s two thou… Wait… No that’s not right… It’s… uhh…” She then burst into tears, while shaking her head vehemently. “I don’t know… What’s wrong with me?”
Really concerned now, Jess gently took the girl and hugged her until she stopped crying. When tears stopped she let her gently lie back down. Jess then asked her, “Can you tell me the last thing you remember?”
The girl thought for a moment, “I remember being in a room, talking with someone… There was a loud noise coming from the door, like someone was kicking it in… After that, I remember an explosion… Then I woke up here… What year is it?”
“It’s nineteen-eighty-six…”, Jess told her.
Confused, she responded, “That doesn’t seem right… Shouldn’t it at least feel right?”
“I honestly am not sure… That’s what year it is though… Do you remember anything before that incident?”, Jess asked. The girl shook her head no. “You don’t remember getting into the car?” Another no. “Okay… The someone you were with in the room, can you describe them?”
The girl frantically tried to remember that one memory that she did have, but the harder she tried to picture the person with her, the more the memory faded until there was nothing left. She burst into tears again, now almost hysterical.
Jess then moved to her side, “Shh its going to be okay… Try and calm down… I’m going to give you something to relax.
The girl wasn’t paying any attention to her anymore, trying so hard to remember something, anything, was causing her head to start throbbing. She didn’t notice the Dr. start messing with her IV like she was putting something in it, then felt the doctor put her hand on her arm soothingly. Moments later the girl fell into a light slumber. Had anyone been in the room and was paying attention they might have seen Jessica’s brown eyes momentarily flash gold for half a second right before the girl fell asleep.
She slept peacefully until later that evening, when she was pulled out of her nap by two voices talking outside her room. She immediately recognized one as Jess, her doctor, and the other one, while familiar, she couldn’t place it. She lay there keeping her eyes closed, just listening to the two voices trying to place the other one.
She heard Jess say, “I don’t want to worry you, certain memory loss is not all that unexpected with head trauma. She took not one but several blows as the car tumbled… I don’t know to what extent her memory loss is, or how much she will regain…”
The other voice fearfully asked, “How bad is it? Is she going to be okay?”.
Jess answered, “It might be total… She can’t remember her name, the accident, or anything prior… She might just need something that will spark a memory, and the rest could come flooding back…”
“What if they don’t?”
Jess softly said, “There is a chance she might not regain any… I want to think positively, though… She’s healing, her body is healthy, physically she is going to be fine. No matter if she remembers or not, she is going to need you and her friends to help her…”
“Okay… Can I see her?”
Kindly, Jess told her, “Yes of course, she was taking a nap, but lets see if we can wake her.”
A moment later Jess led an older blonde woman in and immediately she could place the voice, “Mom!!!” She started to sit up, and while her body still hurt, she managed. Her mother came rushing to her side and sat down on the bed and grabbed her daughter in a hug.
“You remember?!?” Her mother asked.
“I don’t know… I remember you… I feel like I’d never see you again…” she softly sobbed while clutching her mom tightly.
Jess looked on at mother and daughter hopefully, she hoped that would trigger the young girls memories. She asked, “Do you remember anything else?”
Letting go of her mom, her forehead wrinkled as she thought hard… As another tear started to form, she shook her head. “No I don’t…” She then looked back at her mother and softly said, “But I remember something, and that’s way more than I had before…” Her mother grasped her once again, more softly this time.
“I’m just glad you’re going to be okay sweetie, that’s all that matters right now.”, her mother said still hugging her.
“How am I going to be okay, if I can’t remember anything…How am…” she started to say before her mom interrupted her.
“None of that matters right now, you are still here… The rest we will figure out okay?” Her mom said trying to soothe her.
The girl just nodded, after a moment she asked, “Can you at least tell me what my name is?”
Jess looked surprised, “Did I not? Oh I’m so sorry…”
Her mother smiled at the Dr. to let her know it was okay, then she looked back at her daughter, “We named you Annabelle Marie, but you’ve been going by Belle since you were six…”
Surprised that while the two names sparked another memory, that memory wasn’t about her. The name, like the year, didn’t ‘feel’ right… After a moment she remembered something else, “You named me after both my Grandmas, right?”
Surprised her mom asked, “You remember then?”
Sadly, Belle just softly said, “I remember them… But not me…”
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, her mother said, “You will…”
Belle whimpered, “But what if I don’t…”
Grasping her daughter in another hug, she whispered in Belle’s ear, “Then we’ll just make a lot more memories okay…”
Nodding in her mothers embrace, Belle softly said, “Okay…”
The two sat there in their embrace for several minutes, Belle just clutching her mother, and for right now, her most important memory.
Finally Jessica cleared her throat softly, “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but visiting hours in the ICU were over twenty minutes ago. Don’t worry though, Belle will be moving to a regular room in the morning, and the way shes recovering she should be home in a few days.”
Her mother let go of Belle, but not before kissing her on the cheek. She looked to Jess and told her, “Thank you… For everything… I don’t know what we would have done if…”
Jess put her hand on Mrs. Riley’s arm, “You don’t have to thank me, she’s going to be okay. We all will see to that.”
Belle though she saw Jessica’s eyes flash as her Mom instantly seemed to relax. She shrugged it off as her eyes playing tricks on her, she told her mom, “I’ll be okay, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Her mom reassured her, “Yes I’ll be waiting in your room when you get there.”
Mrs. Riley thanked Jess again and even gave her a hug before she left.
After the door closed Jess came and sat next to Belle and asked her, “How are you doing?”
Belle smiled sadly, “I’m okay… I guess… I just wish I could remember…” She paused to think a moment before her smile grew bigger, then she said, “I remember my Mom though, so that’s gotta be something.”
Jess smiled, “Yes it is… How are you feeling physically?”
“Better, I’m still sore, but I don’t hurt near as bad as I did when I woke up…” Belle told her.
Jess softly told her, “You’re making a miraculous recovery, but you still need your rest. You’ll be going home in no time. Just lie down and try to rest.”
Belle laid all the way down and smiled at the young doctor, “Thank you for everything Jess.”
Jess smiled and as she leaned over to kiss Belle on her forehead, which Belle realized was not usual for a doctor, “You are most welcome young one.” No sooner did Jess’s lips touch her forehead, Belle was sleeping peacefully. She sat there and stared worriedly at her young patient, before a voice brought her out of her thoughts. It would have startled her had she not been expecting it.
“How is she doing Doctor?”
Sighing, Jess replied, “She’s sleeping, and healing well… I’m worried Michelle… This isn’t what was supposed to happen…”
Michelle, standing there in a nurses outfit, agreed, “I know, she wasn’t supposed to be in an accident, let alone amnesia, let alone everything else… How bad is it?”
Jess stood and faced her old friend and comrade. “It’s bad, if not worse… She has bits of her memories, but I’m not sure if those memories are from… before… Or if she’s remembering this life…”
Confused Michelle asked, “She shouldn’t remember anything from Steven’s life… How is that possible?”
Jess looked at her, “She shouldn’t have been taking drugs or drinking alcohol either!” Jess then sighed, “You’re guess is as good as mine… I’ve tried to look past to see what caused the accident, and I couldn’t sense it… Let alone the previous few years of her life… It’s as blank to me as it is her…”
Michelle paused for a moment in concentration as a grave look came across her face before she said, “Neither can I… That’s not good…”
Jess asked, “There is something else that’s wrong too. From her blood work she was pregnant as well. She wasn’t supposed to have been pregnant… Everything’s changed from what it should have been…”
Michelle gasped, “Pregnant?! That cant be right! You said was?”
Jess responded, “I didn’t noticed when she came in… The baby must have died in the accident… I only felt her when I first touched her… Her blood work though proved the she had been… How do we expect to succeed with the plan when everything is starting out so wrong?”
Michelle thought for a moment, and grimly stated, “I don’t know… Someone has manipulated her since we last looked at this… We’ll just have to play a more active roll then we had originally planned. If someone is deliberately trying to sabotage this… We just have to keep a closer eye on her…”
Jess sadly looked at the young girl resting peacefully, and she sighed, “Who would do this, and who could cause us not to see what they have done?… Oh no!”
Michelle nodded grimly, “Yes, exactly… At least one of us has gone rogue…”
To be continued.
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Author's Note:My sincere apologies for taking this long for a new chapter. If you saw my blog, you'd have seen that due to my daughters joining softball at school, I've ended up being drafted into softball as well. I hope to do better, but I can't make any promises right now. Hope you enjoy. ~Rebecca
Belle woke early the next morning suddenly, she had been having a really good dream, until the dream twisted on her and had jarred her wake. As she clutched her chest and was trying to catch her breathe a nurse came in quickly to the room.
“Miss, are you okay?”, the nurse asked.
Belle nodded, and between her deep breaths, said, “Yeah I think so… I was having a dream and it… I guess it turned into a nightmare…”
The nurse didn’t look too convinced, so she came over and started checking her vitals, “Well we were at the desk and suddenly your heart rate jumped pretty drastically. You set off more than one alarm young lady.”, she said, smiling to let the girl know she was just teasing. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Smiling softly at the nurse, being grateful for her using humor in trying to calm her down, Belle responded, “Not really… It was just a dream. It didn’t really make much sense anyway.”
The nurse comforted her, “Most dreams don’t… Since you’re awake, how about I get your breakfast coming. After you eat we can see about getting you disconnected and moved out of here.”
Smiling, Belle told her, “That sounds good.”
The nurse joked, “Which one? Breakfast or getting out of here?”
Excitedly, the girl said, “Both.”
The nurse chuckled as she finished taking her vitals and then left Belle to her thoughts, which quickly drifted back to the strange dream. She remembered the dream vividly, but parts were fading faster than others, some though felt burned in her memory. The dream felt like a memory than a dream, not that she had many memories to compare it to. She remembered kissing her… husband? He felt like a husband, at least in the dream. While familiar to her, he was older than her, which didn’t make any sense. She did remember feeling happy, happier than she could remember, but then again, she could only remember a couple of days… What jarred her awake was that in the dream she was getting ready to go out on a date with her husband, and when she looked in the mirror to check their appearance before walking out the door was what caused it. She distinctly remembered seeing two guys in the mirror, with her being one of them. She was deep in thought, trying to understand the dream and what it was about when Jessica walked in the door with her breakfast.
“Good morning.”, Jess said as she greeted her young patient. Suddenly she saw, or felt, the discomfort in the young girl, “Belle are you okay?”
Realized she was caught thinking about the dream, she tried to brush it off and looked up at her doctor and smiled, at least the smile was natural. There was something comforting about Jess that made it easy for her to smile, “I’m okay, I just had a weird nightmare I guess… I was just trying to make some sense of it before it faded away. Which most of it has, it’s probably why it doesn’t make any sense to me.”
While Jessica couldn’t read the girl’s mind, she could read feel her emotions, and she knew the girl was lying. Not wanting to draw more attention to the dream, she tried to distract her with the plate of food. “Well I special ordered this, figure since this is a celebration meal, we could use with a good tasty breakfast instead of the stuff they’ve been sending up here.”
That caused the young girl to laugh heartily, “Okay, I don’t mind. What are we celebrating though?”
Jess pointed at her and said, “Someone is going to be getting out of here, just as soon as she eats her breakfast.
Giggling at that, Belle exclaimed, “Well then what are we waiting for, bring that tray over here!”
Laughing with her, Jess moved the tray and bed into position, so the girl could eat. Watching her, Jess was relieved, the girl seemed to have forgotten whatever was bothering her about the dream. Keeping a careful eye on the girl and her emotions, Jess sat down on the bed next to Belle while she ate, and just visited with her like an old friend. Strangely to the young girl and her lack of memories, Jessica was one of her oldest friends, even after only knowing her for two days.
A little over an hour later, the nurses wheeled Belle out of the ICU and into a regular room. To Belle’s surprise, her mother had kept her word and was waiting in the room when she came through the door. Mrs. Riley jumped up and tried to help the orderly, but quickly decided to stay out of his way. Once the bed was in place and the orderly had left, her mother sat down and wrapped her daughter in a hug.
“How’s my sweet girl doing this morning?”, she asked.
Smiling at her mom, she said, “A lot better now.” Holding her arms out so her mom could see, “Look I only look like a used pincushion and not one currently being used.”
Smiling at her daughter’s good mood, she responded, “That’s good to know, also they said that since you’ve been able to keep solid food down, that once you prove that everything is working as it should, that you can come home.”
Confused, Belle asked, “What do you mean if everything is working?”
Laughing gently, but semi uncomfortable about the subject, she told her daughter, “Well once you can pee and poop without difficulty, we can get you home. They also said that you’ll need to build your strength enough that you can walk, but Dr. Raphael seems convinced that you’re strong enough. You know, she has a lot of faith in you.”
Belle nodded, “I know she does… I feel like she’s more of a friend though than my doctor… Is that weird?”
Her mother shook her head, “No it isn’t, she’s been here since you were brought in, and she’s been here every time I have… I honestly don’t think she takes any time off.”, she said jokingly.
“I’m glad that she’s been here, she’s helped me a lot…” Belle started to say before she felt her stomach rumble. She gently placed her hand on her stomach, then looked back up to her mother. “It looks like I get to prove that everything’s working sooner than later. Could you help me up?”
Her mom looked at her worriedly, “Do you want me to get a nurse?”
Belle shook her head, “No I feel fine, other than I need to… umm… go…”
Mrs. Riley gently helped her swing her legs around and moved her into a sitting position. “Are you sure you don’t want me to get someone?”
“Mom, I’m fine… Just give me a hand okay?”, Belle told her.
With her mom holding her hand for support, Belle gently slid her bare feet onto the floor and slowly slid off the bed putting most of her weight on her legs while still leaning against the bed. She wobbled a bit, but her legs didn’t feel the least bit weak, just uncoordinated. She stood there for a few moments, then looked at her mother’s worried expression. Smiling at her mom, “See I’m fine, my legs don’t feel weak in the least. My balance though is a bit off…” She then pushed off of the bed and stood to her full height and stretched.
Slightly more relieved her mother told her, “Okay, but don’t try and overdo it.”
Other than her balance being slightly off, Belle felt good, and the stretch felt heavenly. She glanced over at her mom and something struck her as being off. It took her a moment to place what felt wrong before she realized and asked, “Did I shrink or something? I remember feeling taller than this.”
“Umm, no you haven’t shrunk. You’re the same height as normal, you’re still only about an inch taller than me.” Mrs. Riley tried to tell her.
“Okay… If you say so…”, Belle half-heartedly stated. It really bothered her, even though she couldn’t remember anything about herself, she did vividly remember her mother… She also remembered having to always look down at her... Trying to brush that thought out of her head, she nodded to her mother, “Let’s do this.”
Her mother nodded, “Okay but at the first sign of you getting tired, we call for help.” Belle nodded to her, and her mother said, “Ok then, I’m just waiting for you.”
She took her first hesitant step, and like she had noticed just standing there, that her balance felt ‘off’. Not bad enough for her to be dizzy or bad enough for her to fall, but just enough to be noticeable. As she took her next step, then her next, she realized the balance issue was just probably from her being bedridden for as long as she had been. In the same thought; she realized that she shouldn’t be walking this easily either. Trying not to think of any of those things though, she kept placing one foot in front of the other. Each step she had to rely less and less on her mother’s hand, and by the time she was in the bathroom she was almost walking by herself. As she sat down to do her business, her mother stayed close by, which made it extremely difficult for her to get started. Eventually she did, and as amazing as it was that she could walk so easily, there weren’t any complications with this either.
After she flushed and stood up, she moved to the sink to wash her hands, all without her mother’s assistance. “See Mom I’m okay.”, she said trying to reassure her mother.
Mrs. Riley just stared on in amazement, softly she said, “It really is a miracle… Thank you God…” She then noticed the panic-stricken expression on her daughter’s face as she stared into the mirror. “Baby what’s wrong?”, she blurted out.
Belle just stared at her reflection in shock and amazement. She thought she would at least recognize her face, since she had recognized her mother so easily. She softly gasped, “This is me? I mean… This doesn’t look or feel right… This can’t be me… Can it?”
Moving over to stand behind her daughter, she looked at the reflection of the young lady in the reflection. While the swelling had gone down, there were still some slight bruising around one of her eyes, and even with one side of her hair cut off, she could still see her beautiful daughter. Softly she told her, “Sweetie I know this is hard, but yes this is you. Don’t worry about the bruising, it will go away, and your hair will grow back out… Maybe we can go and see about getting you a wig or something to cover that up… You are still my beautiful girl…”
The words didn’t have the effect her mother had intended, Belle slowly examined her face looking for anything that might spark a memory… She noticed her high cheekbones, her pale blue eyes, her full soft lips, with her dainty little nose… She was beautiful, she saw that… It just wasn’t her, or at least what she thought she’d look like. She then looked at her hair, turning to the right she saw the soft honey blonde shoulder length hair, it still had that wrong feeling to her. She then turned to her left and saw where they had had to cut her hair for her surgery. After two weeks the scar was very faint, and while her hair was slightly more than an inch long on that side, it definitely wasn’t honey blond… It was a much lighter blonde, almost white depending on how the light hit it.
Turning her head back and forth looking at her hair, she finally said, “No, can we just cut all this off, so it will at least match?” For some reason the idea of having short hair seemed more comfortable to her. She then also asked, “Did I dye my hair this color?”
Her mom shook her head, “No you didn’t that’s your natural color… Or at least it was… I had asked about that while you were… asleep. The doctors told me that a severe shock could possibly cause your hair to lighten that, they also said the head trauma could be why your eyes lightened up as well… Are you sure you want to cut it off? You’ve always loved your long hair…”
Belle nodded, the thought of having long hair and having to deal with all that, almost made her shudder. The mention of her eyes also changing somehow made her look closer, her eyes were blue, but like her hair, how pale they were didn’t sit right with her either… Turning away from the mirror, it was causing her more grief right now than she had expected. She had thought to have recognized herself like she had her mother, but all she saw was a stranger. She softly asked, “Can I get back to my bed?”
“Of course.”, her mother said. She reached out to grasp Belle’s hand to help her, but as lost in thought as her daughter was, she didn’t see it and just walked normally to her bed and sat down. Worriedly, she asked, “Belle? Are you okay?”
She had been in such deep thought, she realized she had forgotten her mother was even in the room, “Yeah… No… Mom I don’t know… Why could I recognize you so easily, but can’t recognize myself… Why am I such a stranger to myself…”, she said before she hung her head down as the tears started to streak down her cheeks.
Quickly, her mother rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her distraught daughter. She kept whispering to her that she’d be okay as she held her. Her daughters despair was breaking her heart, even with how much Belle had changed in the last few years, this reminded her of when Belle was much younger. It was like having her baby girl back in her arms, but seeing and feeling Belle this upset, it didn’t take her long at all to start crying with her. She held on to her daughter until she felt her relax, she almost let her go until she realized that she had cried herself until she had passed out. It took a lot, but she was able to slide her into her bed and get her covered up. Seeing that Belle was sleeping somewhat peacefully, she laid her head down on the bed and continued to cry, until her tears eventually dried up.
“Mrs. Riley? Are you okay?”, Jessica asked as she had come into the room.
Shaken out of her deep train of thought, she forced herself to smile as she looked up at the doctor, “Yes, I’m okay…” Her voice then trailed off as her smile faltered, as the feeling of helplessness at being able to help her daughter resurfaced.
Jess frowned, “No, you’re not… Mrs. Riley…” She started to say before she was interrupted.
“Please call me Jill… With all you’ve done for Belle, calling me Mrs. is just… Too impersonal…”, Jill told her.
“Okay, Jill then… Let me check on Belle, and then why don’t we go and get some coffee too.”, Jess told her softly. She knew that something serious was on Jill’s mind, she hoped that, getting her alone that Jill might open up to her. She wanted to help, but she also needed information.
“Okay, but I want to be here when she wakes up… She was pretty upset earlier…” Jill responded.
Jess nodded, then went to check on Belle. She pretended to check her pulse, and even though the young girl was asleep Jess could feel the turmoil in her. She wasn’t conscious, but the emotions were still there in her subconscious. She ensured Jill couldn’t see her eyes, as she calmed Belle down the only way she knew. Finally, she said, “She’s going to sleep for a while, let’s go on downstairs.”
Reluctantly Jill stood up and took a long look at her daughter, it appeared she was sleeping peacefully at the moment. She went over and softly kissed her daughter’s forehead, then turned to Jess, “Ok, but just one cup of coffee. Then I’m coming back up here. Jessica agreed and then the two ladies left the room and the young girl sleeping.
Fifteen minutes later, the two women had their cups of coffee and had found an out of the way booth in the hospitals cafeteria. It was still early for the lunch crowd, so the place was mostly devoid of people. After several long moments, Jess was the first to speak.
“Mrs., I mean Jill… I know you’re not doing okay. I’d like to help, if I can.”, the doctor told her.
Jill paused for several moments, finally she responded, “I know you do… You’ve already done so much for Belle…”
“Jill, I’m going to be blunt here. I care about Belle, I really do. I want to see her get past this, but that means that you need to be okay also, so you can be there for her. She’s going to need you.”, Jess told her as she gently took Jill’s hand and gave it a gently squeeze.
Jill sighed, “I know she will. I just don’t know if I’ll be enough for her… Especially since…” Jill paused, unsure why she almost blurted out the thought that she couldn’t get to go away.
Jess felt how insecure she was, but was afraid to push her too much, so she tried a different approach. “Belle’s body is pretty much healed, other than some superficial bruising there isn’t much the hospital can do. With her amnesia, she’s going to need help to get past this.”
Frustrated, Jill blurted out, “What if I don’t… What if I can’t help her?”
Giving her hand another gentle squeeze, Jess told her softly, “You’re not alone in this. Your family needs to help you as well. Your husband and other daughter will help you.”
Shaking her head, Jill muttered, “I don’t see them helping her…”
Frowning Jess asked, “Why not?”
Jill wanted to tell the doctor but thinking of why they wouldn’t, made her thoughts return to what had originally upset her. “It’s just that… Belle and her sister… They really didn’t see eye to eye very often, the same goes with my husband.”
Jess was surprised with that news, she had known that Steven had gotten along great with his family, at least when he was still in school. Belle’s history should have been the same, she needed to know more, but didn’t want to press too much since it was obviously upsetting her even more. “Okay then, how about her friends. They can help her too…”
With that Jill started to softly cry, “No… Her new friends aren’t really the helping type…”
Really confused now and needing answers, Jess asked with another squeeze of her hand, “Jill you need to tell me what’s really going on if you want to really help Belle.”
With tears running down her cheeks, she blurted out. “Jess… The Belle you’ve gotten to know isn’t the one that left the house the night of the accident… She has changed so much over the last few years. Oh god, you’re going to think I’m a horrible parent…”
Jess tried to console her, afraid that she might have pushed too hard, “Jill I’ll never think that, I promise. You’ve been here every day, and almost every waking moment to keep an eye on your daughter. If she hopes to regain any of her memories, she’s going to need you Jill.”
Jill, reaching her breaking point, “That’s just it! Don’t you understand?!? I don’t want her to ever regain her memories!”
To be continued.
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Author's Note:Thank you for the nice comments, I'm working hard at getting the new chapters posted as quickly as possible. Life just doesn't seem to be giving me much chance to slow down often to write. I know that I was a bit slow getting it started, I mean geez... who takes 4 chapters to set the stage... Oh, guess that would be me, oops... Hope you all enjoy... *MUAH* ~Rebecca
Jess sat there stunned at Jill’s statement, her mind filled with question after question. Michelle had told her that for everything to work out, that Belle would need her family as well as her friends, both Kelly and Ben’s support through the next year. She had to find out what had changed so drastically, with all the questions running through her mind she was only able to ask, “Why?”
Jill wiped the tears that were beginning to form and tried to sniff them away. She thought for a moment and then said, “I think it would best to show you…” She then reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet, upon opening it Jess noticed it was full of pictures. After a brief search through the pictures she found the one she was looking for, she handed it to Jess and said softly, “This is MY Belle… Before she changed…”
Jess took the picture and looked at it, she immediate recognized the picture, or at least the one from Steven’s reality. It showed three young teens with their arms on each other’s shoulders. The picture she remembered was of two boys and a girl, in this one it was two girls with one boy. The brunette was on one end, the boy on the other, with Belle in the middle. Had it not been for the girl’s long hair and light makeup, they could have been mistaken for three boys. The thing that stood out the most was the joy that was clearly written on their face. She couldn’t help but smile at the happiness depicted in that picture, she then looked up and asked, “What happened?”
Jill sighed long and hard, and said, “I guess you could say puberty happened…”
Confused, Jess asked, “But everyone goes through that, why’d that change everything?”
Jill shook her head, “It shouldn’t have… As early as Belle’s hit her though… She started getting attention that she wasn’t used to, I guess it was intoxicating for her… She started developing so much sooner than the rest of the girls in her class… At first, we were just amazed at how beautiful our daughter was becoming, we didn’t notice the other ways she was changing…”
Frowning now, Jess prodded, “Other ways? What other ways?”
Jill pondered for a moment before answering, “With her starting 7th grade while looking like she should be a senior in high school, she started becoming popular. She started getting invites from ‘new’ friends for things like sleepovers, and getting invited to becoming a cheerleader… She didn’t even have to try out, she had the ‘look’ the cheer squad wanted… The more popular she became… The more she mistreated her old friends… And us…” Jill then pulled another photo out of her wallet, and glanced at it sadly for a quick moment and then handed it over to Jess, and told her, “This is the Belle that was in that accident… Not the girl you know upstairs…”
Jess took the picture and as she looked at it, she barely could recognize Belle in it. It was a picture of five girls at a school dance, and since only one of them was a blonde, it was easy to pick her out. That was the only indicator though, with the heavy makeup and skimpy dress she was wearing, she looked nothing like the poor girl Jess had been treating. Unlike the other photograph of the three friends, the looks on the girl’s faces were not of happiness, there was no feeling of joy in this picture. All five of the girls had this look of disdain and contempt, they all seemed to radiate a sense of superiority. Realizing how wrong everything had become, a feeling of dread started seeping into her psyche.
Jill told her, “Those are her ‘new and improved’ friends… They are not nice girls at all, they corrupted my daughter… I’m willing to bet that you haven’t seen any of them come visit her, not one single time… They couldn’t be bothered to come here.”
Jess, holding up the first picture, asked, “What about them? Do they know she was in the accident?”
Jill nodded, and sniffed trying to hold back anymore tears, “I tried to call them to let them know… Hoping that they would come and help… I hoped that with her amnesia that they could help me save her from the path she had been on… Neither of their parents would let me talk to them… They blamed me for the things Belle had done and said… She had turned on her friends, trying to gain acceptance from… Those people…”
“What kind of things?”, Jess asked desperately. She was beyond shocked that the sweet girl upstairs, and the female version of Steven, could have turned out to be like that.
Jill shook her head and mutter, “At first she just quit spending as much time with them. The more and more popular she got… She started harassing them with the group, like she had been harassed by them before… It didn’t take long before she started being the instigator… Being friends with them for so long, nobody questioned the rumors that she started…”
Shocked, Jess said softly, “That isn’t supposed to be Belle…” Jill looked at her questioningly, so Jess continued, “Well that isn’t the girl that is resting upstairs.”
Jill sadly said, “No it isn’t… That is the daughter that I remember upstairs… She was such a good girl… By the time we got a call from Benji’s parents it was too late, she was no longer the daughter we had known… It continued to get worse…”
Jess asked, “Why did his parents call you?”
“She started a rumor that ended up getting poor Benji beaten up, simply so she could rise up in the social hierarchy.” Jill paused as she quietly wiped more tears from her cheek before she continued, “The alcohol and the other drugs we didn’t find out about until a few months ago, when her grades started slipping. We didn’t even know about the pregnancy until after the accident… Do you understand why I don’t want her to remember?”
Jess nodded, “Well maybe this can be her second chance… It could be a second chance for all of you…”
Jill smiled through her tears and said, “That’s what I’ve been hoping… When I found out that they had to revive her at the accident scene, I’d been hoping that it would scare her enough to straighten up knowing she had died… Now that she doesn’t remember… Am I a horrible mother to wish that she wouldn’t remember?”
Shaking her head, Jess whispered, “No, you’re not horrible… You’re only wishing the best for her… Even if she doesn’t remember, you’re going to have to tell her how she had been… She needs to have a warning of what kind of friends she had surrounded herself with, so she doesn’t fall in with that group again… One question though, you said she died?”
Jill nodded, “You didn’t know?” Jess shook her head no, so Jill continued, “One of the EMT’s that was there told us a few days afterwards… He said that she died while they were pulling her out of the car… He said he was able to revive her less than a minute later, and they kept her heart beating until they got her to the ER…”
Jess was at a loss for words, she could feel the despair that had filled the poor mother but could also feel the hope within her as well. She had really grown fond of the woman, and desperately wanted to help her, Unfortunately, in the way she was getting her information was causing the hope she felt from her start to stall. Jess hoped she had heard enough, so she gently let go of Jill’s hand, so she could pick up her coffee cup.
Jill sat there dazed for a few quick seconds before she quickly shook her head to try to clear the fog in her thoughts. Looking up at Jess and seeing the concerned expression on her face caused her to smile sadly. She apologized, “I’m sorry I told you all that… I hope I didn’t make you think less of her… I guess I just needed to get it off my chest.”
Jess told her, “It’s okay… Talking about it might help Jill… Don’t worry though, I adore your daughter. If you need anything let me know. I want to help her and to help you as well.”
“Thank you for that… Also, thank you for the coffee.”, Jill told her, then she checked her watch and as she stood she said, “I’ve been down here for too long, I need to get up there in case she wakes up.”
Smiling at her, Jess replied, “Okay, I’ll be up in a minute. Remember what I said though, if you need anything, just ask.” Jill nodded and turned to leave the cafeteria. Jess sat there for a short while trying to think of how to tell Michelle the news. Things were so far off from the original plan that had been shared with her, that she was clueless on how they can salvage things. She was about to get up when she felt a familiar presence, as she looked up she saw Michelle, once again in a nurse’s uniform, as she sat down.
Michelle sadly stated, “I heard… That explains a lot of things that we didn’t understand though.”
With frustration clearly written all over her face, Jess blurted out, “How does this explain anything? You had told me that when you shifted Steven that Belle would have been at home in bed asleep when the merge was to happen?”
Michelle snapped, “She was supposed to be, at least that’s where she was the last time I was here!” Michelle took a deep calming breath and continued, “Someone was here and changed things. She started developing before she was supposed to, before had fully embraced her identity… The bullying had stopped, and she was getting attention… Something all children crave…”
Nodding as she thought about it, she thought how Belle would have welcomed the attention at first. Her and her two friends had been bullied for a long time. She could also see how that attention would have been addictive for her, and how she would have craved it even more… Moving on to the next worry, she asked, “Her dying in the accident… That would be why she has Steven’s memories. The merge never happened…”
Michelle nodded, “That’s the best I can come up with… The shift was supposed to happen while she slept… She was going to need Belle’s compassion, and the strength that Steven had learned so she would be able to survive and do what needed to be done… The merge would have taken a few hours to complete, that’s why I tried to time it, so she should have been asleep when it happened… Instead of hours, the merge only had maybe fifteen minutes… We won’t know how much actually merged if she doesn’t regain her memories, but it looks like when she was resuscitated it was mostly Steven that came back…”
“Mostly…”, Jess mused, “That’s why she isn’t upset out about being a girl? She seems to know something is different… That doesn’t explain the memory loss. I’ve healed her mind from the injury she sustained… She should be remembering.”
“I have a feeling that the memory loss wasn’t from any physical trauma. I pulled Steven from a traumatic moment, and with Belle’s passing, he’s been thrust right into another major trauma… His, now her, mind is trying to connect with this new life, and its rejecting what its seeing. It hasn’t connected that Steven is now Belle…”
“Can’t we go back and change things back to the way it was?”, Jess hopefully asked.
“Have you tried to look forward from here?”, Michelle asked her.
Frowning, Jess replied, “No I haven’t. I’ve been focusing everything on Belle and trying to find out what happened. What have you seen?”
Michelle said, “Too many things have been modified here in this time… The path ahead is too vague to see, nothing is clear. Too many rifts have formed, until they heal themselves it’s just too dangerous. We could completely unravel everything.”
“It could take years for just one single rift to close… How long do you think it will take for the rifts to close?”, Jess asked.
Michelle just shook her head and said, “I don’t know… I highly doubt it will be in Belle’s lifetime…”
Jess just bowed her head, “Then it was all done in vain… We’ve lost…”
Michelle gently squeezed her hand and told her, “Don’t give up hope okay, it’s not over. Belle is alive, and remember how strong Steven was… All is not lost…”
Looking up at her friend, “If we can’t alter things back, how is she supposed to save her friends? They won’t even talk to her anymore… I don’t see her ‘new’ friends helping her, but only hurting her more… What are we supposed to do?”
Michelle agreed, “You’re right that we can’t alter things… We aren’t helpless though… Belle is going to need friends… You’ve gained her trust as her doctor, and the trust of her mother… She’s just going to need someone to be a friend when she gets back to school next semester.”
Jess countered, “But you said we couldn’t change anything.”
Michelle answered, “I did, but I never said we couldn’t still help her.”
Jess asked, “What do you have in mind?”
Michelle smiled, “How do you feel about becoming an aunt?”
When Jill reentered the room, she found that Belle had already been awake, she was hoping that she would have felt better after her long nap. The expression that was on her face made it obvious that that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, she looked almost as upset as she did earlier. Softly she spoke, “Baby are you feeling any better?”
She had been in such deep thought she had been oblivious to her mother coming in the room, so she jumped slightly. Forcing a smile that didn’t make it to her eyes she said, “I guess so… Maybe…”
Jill tried her best to console her, “Sweetie, don’t worry about earlier… It’s understandable that you’re dealing with a lot right now…”
Belle shook her head, “It’s not just that… Earlier when I was waking up I was still lying here with my eyes closed… Then one of the doctors came in doing his rounds… He was telling the people with him my situation… I guess he thought I was still asleep…” Finally looking up at her mother she said earnestly, “Mom I’m sorry… For everything…”
Concerned Jill asked, “What did you hear?”
Wiping her eyes, Belle said, “He told them that when I was admitted that I was over twice the limit for drinking… He also mentioned there were a lot of drugs in my system…and that… that I lost the baby… He said that I had died…” She then covered her face to try and hide behind her hands.
At first all Jill could say was, “Oh…” That was the absolute last way she was wanting Belle to find out. She had been thinking since she had woken up how to broach that topic. Seeing Belle, at least the sweet innocent one that she used to be, dealing with that new information pulled hard on her emotions. Gently she put her arms around her daughter, “I’m so sorry that you found out that way…”
Pushing back so she could look at her mother in disbelief, “You knew?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Trying to remain calm, Jill gently grabbed Belle’s shoulders to keep her from pulling further away, and looked her directly in the eyes, “Do you remember anything about that night?” Belle slowly shook her head, so Jill continued, “Do you remember who the father was?” Belle shook her head again, so she went on, “Then what good would it have done to tell you that so soon after you woke up?”
“I don’t know.”, Bell cried. “I don’t know who I was with… I don’t remember anything from before I woke up except you… I need to know… something!”
Jill was stunned, because Belle had remembered her, she thought that her memory had only affected things related to Belle. Softly she asked, “Do you remember your Dad? Or Megan?”
At Megan’s name Belle perked up, “I remember Megan’s name… But I can’t picture her… Dad either…”
Jill reached into her purse and pulled the pictures she had in her wallet. She selected two specific pictures and showed the first one to Belle. She asked, “Do you remember now?”
As soon as Belle saw the picture she immediately recognized her Dad, her younger sister Megan, and her mother. No sooner did she recognize them several memories came to here perfectly clear. “I remember them… This was when Megan was in 7th grade… It was right before she got her braces removed…”
Surprised, Jill exclaimed, “You remember getting the picture?”
Belle softly responded, “No… I don’t… As soon as I saw Dad and Megan, I remembered them… Like I had remembered you when I woke up… This girl in the picture though I don’t remember anything about…”
Seeing that Belle was pointing at herself in the picture, Jill softly caressed her hand. Not knowing what else she could say, she mumbled, “It’s going to be okay…”
Now that she remembered her Dad and sister, Belle realized something else, “Why hasn’t Megan or Dad come to see me? They are ashamed of me, aren’t they?”
“No baby… It’s just… You and your sister hadn’t gotten along the last few years… You’re Dad… He’s just been busy with his job…”, Jill tried to alleviate any worry Belle might have, but she couldn’t hide her expression of disgust at her husband and youngers daughter’s actions.
Hanging her head down, Belle stated, “They are ashamed of me… I can imagine how it looks for an assistant minister’s daughter to end up drunk and pregnant… I remember enough to know that Dad is all about image… I don’t know what changed between me and Megan though… For some reason I remember being close with her, more like friends…” After a brief pause she looked up into her mother’s eyes and asked, “Mom who was I for all this to happen? I need to know what kind of person I was.”
Jill was hesitant about answering her, but from the expression on her daughter’s face, she realized that she couldn’t lie to her. She spent the next several minutes telling her a slightly watered-down version of what she had told Jess. She informed her that she had fallen in with an unpleasant group of girls, who had led her to make bad choices. How she had abandoned her other friends… She couldn’t tell her just how bad her behavior had become but told her enough. When she was finished they sat there silent for a long while, while Belle contemplated everything she had just been told.
Finally, she said, “I don’t blame them for not checking on me… I don’t sound like I was someone I would want to hang around either… Mom… I don’t want to be that person ever again…”
Rubbing her daughters back, Jill told her softly, “You don’t have to be baby. You can decide on who you want to be… Think of all this as you are getting a second chance to right your wrongs, even if you can’t remember them.”
Nodding with a bit more resolve, Belle said, “Okay… I need to get started on it though, it sounds like I have a lot of wrongs to straighten out… I can’t do that here though.”
Jill tilted her head quizzically and asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Belle smiled, “It means I’m ready to get started… I’m ready to go home.”
To be continued.
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Author's Note:Oh my God, first things first... I am so so sorry that this has taken me this long to write... Life has really been keeping me busier than I've been in a long time. Both of my daughters started softball and have pulled me into helping with it as well. That and with me working 6 days a week for the last few months, I usually have a half hour to write (if I'm lucky) a day... My muse has won, with my limited time to write, I quit fighting with her... I let her write what she wants, just so I have forward progress on something... To any that read my super short story, The Petulant Muse, you can see my struggle... On a happy note, the way things are going by the time I get Guardians wrapped up I might have 3 other stories almost finished at the same time. lol. Once again, my sincere apologies for the delay in my writing. I hope you enjoy. ~Rebecca
The next morning, Belle found that Jess had been true to her word. Shortly after her morning rounds, paperwork was started to have her discharged from the hospital. Her mother had arrived earlier in the morning and had brought her some clothes for her to go home in. That is how she found herself in that moment just staring in the mirror, hoping to rekindle any memory of the girl that she saw staring back at her. She was hoping to find anything that would spark a memory, even if those memories might be painful. Unfortunately, all she saw was a complete and total stranger.
The stranger was no doubt beautiful, even with her partially shaved head, and only standing in a pair of faded jeans and sweater. Her pale blue eyes were striking, and with the pale almost white-blonde hair that was growing in gave her an almost ethereal quality. How fast her hair was growing was also bothering her a bit. She had only been awake for a few days, and her hair on the side that had been shaved, had at least doubled in length since she had first woken. She had asked Jess about it, only to be told that it was just a few side effects from some of the new procedures that they had done to save her life. Things like her hair and nails would probably continue to grow quicker, plus she would heal quicker for a few more weeks until it fully ran its course. She had tried to accept that, but for some reason that just didn’t sit right with her. There were also many other things that felt off to her as well, how her memories about herself were completely blank, even though she could remember others as soon as she saw them. How quickly she seemed to have healed was another one, she knew that it was miraculous that she was walking around pain free after it only being three weeks since she had been so horribly injured in the wreck. There were just so many different things that were bothering her, she couldn’t put her finger on any single thing, so she just kept trying to brush it off as a result from being in a coma and her amnesia, still that feeling of wrongness persisted. She was so lost in thought, she didn’t even notice her mother had walked into the bathroom to check on her.
“Everything okay baby girl?”, Jill asked, which startled Belle and caused her to jump.
“OH! Mom! I didn’t hear you!”, Belle exclaimed while holding her hand over her racing heart. “You scared me!”, she tried to fuss, but couldn’t hide her giggles once she realized how it must have looked. Her mother came up behind her as they both then stared into the mirror.
Jill told her softly, while using her fingers to try to cover up the shaved side of her head, “Jess told me your scar is completely healed so we can see about getting this fixed if you want.”
Wrinkles appeared in her forehead as Belle asked, “Fixed? What do you mean fixed?”
Still brushing Belle’s hair, Jill said, “I don’t know… Maybe get this cleaned up, its long enough Julie said she could put some extensions in it, and we can dye it all to match your normal hair color… You know get you looking like your old self?”
Turning her head back and forth, trying to decide from the longer hair or the shorter side, she sighed, “Mom… I don’t know... I mean, from what you’ve said… I don’t think I want to look like the old me, she doesn’t sound like a person I’d want to know, let alone look like... Do you think we could just get it all cut?”
Nodding at and understanding her daughter’s reasoning, Jill softly told her, “I think I understand… You know? I think you could totally rock a short hair style.” She then softly wrapped her daughter in her arms and they just hugged for a long while, until Jess interrupted them.
“So, are you two ready to get out of here?”, The young doctor asked, to which both the ladies nodded vigorously.
After a dozen signatures and an hour later, Jill was finally pulling out of the hospital’s parking lot with Belle sitting in the seat next to her. Belle hadn’t realized until leaving the hospital that her memory of her home town had been just as blank as her other memories had been, until she had seen visual reminders at least. As her mom drove, Belle just stared out the window as the memory of each street and building they passed bombarded her. She was amazed at first, but then she noticed that her memories and what she was seeing didn’t exactly match. Some of the storefronts were different, and some, while the same, seemed to look older in her memories.
“Honey? Are you okay?”, Jill asked her daughter.
That shook her out of her thoughts, “Yes Ma’am. I was just thinking and remembering. It’s just… I don’t know exactly… Something doesn’t seem right…”
Confused, Jill asked, “What do you mean not right?”
Belle shrugged her shoulders, “I can’t quite put my finger on it… It’s just when I see a place, like the Western Auto there… I didn’t remember it was there, until we just passed it… I remember it looking… I don’t know older?!? Have they repainted it recently?
Jill, slightly concerned, told her, “It hasn’t been repainted, but the building is only six or seven years old… Are you okay? Do I need to go back to the hospital?”
Belle shook her head firmly, “No Mom, please don’t. I feel fine… Could you just drive around for a bit? I mean I want to remember more of around here… Hopefully enough will come back so I can figure out what’s going on…”
Still concerned about her daughter, Jill reluctantly nodded her head and continued driving. She even turned down side streets and ended up driving all over downtown trying not to miss anything. Belle just silently stared and tried to take in everything, hoping to figure out what was causing the problem. They had covered almost the entire town in less than forty minutes, but unfortunately it had not done anything but confuse Belle even further.
As Jill started to turn down one of the streets that was off Main, when she remarked, “Look! Julie’s parking lot looks empty. Do you want to see if she can get in you in?”
As soon as she saw the building her mom was looking at, she remembered Julie’s Salon, at least a little bit. Thankfully the shop didn’t have any noticeable differences from her few memories of it. She only had memories of her mother bringing her here when she was younger though, and it was only of her mother getting her hair done, but not any of herself getting styled. Thankfully the memories were close enough to what she saw she was relieved, and said, “That actually sounds good… This half a head of hair is really annoying.”
A few minutes later Belle found herself swept up in the hurricane that was Julie. Julie had run this salon for longer than Belle had been alive, and for a middle age woman she was energetic and had a youthful spring in her step. Julie fussed over Belle, and thankfully she didn’t press Belle too much about the accident, but mostly about what she wanted done with her hair. It took Belle almost twenty minutes of explaining what she wanted done, and at first Julie was hesitant to simply cut the rest of her hair to match. Finally, she listened and understood Belle’s concerns, after all it would be much simpler for her to cut it short and let her hair grow back naturally.
When Julie was done cutting, washing, and finally styling her now short cut, both Belle and her mother were amazed at how drastically a difference the new cut had made. Her short pale blond hair, with her piercing pale blue eyes made her look almost ethereal. Even Julie was amazed at how well her new look had turned out. Julie and Jill had just gushed about how pretty she was, and then turned to some other small-town gossip. Belle was oblivious to their conversation though, she was so entranced by the beautiful young stranger that was once again staring back at her in the mirror. A brief time later Jill roused Belle from her trance, so they could go, and quickly found themselves back in the car.
“I still need to go get something for dinner, do you want me to take you home first, or do you feel up to getting groceries with me?”, Jill asked.
The question pulled Belle from staring at herself in the side mirror, she thought for a moment and told her, “I feel okay, I’d rather go with you. I’m not sure I really want to be at home by myself…” Her mother sadly nodded, and quickly they were on their way once again.
When Jill pulled into ‘The Pig’, otherwise known as Piggly Wiggly, Belle sat up and with a confused expression said, “I thought The Pig closed…”
Glancing over at her daughter, Jill said, “No baby… This place will never close… It’s the only grocery store in town… Don’t you remember that?”
Afraid that her mother would take her back to the hospital, Belle just muttered, “That’s right… Guess I was thinking about someplace else… Sorry Mom, guess things are going to be jumbled up for a while longer…”
“Okay… If you say so…”, Jill told her. Concern was clearly etched on her face, but she was wanting desperately to trust the person that her daughter was now, so she let it slide.
Walking into the store, Belle grabbed a buggy and pushed it alongside her mother, and once again she was assaulted by memories. More than she had been used to so far, enough that she started feeling a slight pressure in her head. She tried to hide her discomfort but failed with the amount of attention her mother was giving her.
“Belle what’s wrong?”, she asked.
Shaking her head to try to stop the influx of memories, she glanced at her mom and tried to smile, “It’s just a lot coming back to me at once… I seem to have a lot of memories from here… Did I work here or something?”
Jill said, “No you haven’t… You’ve never had a job before. Most of your time was spent with your friends and cheerleading… I used to bring you here a lot when you were younger though… Think that might be it?”
Not convinced, but also not wanting her mother to worry any more, she just replied, “Maybe…” They both silently resumed shopping and as they were passing the frozen food section Belle suddenly had an idea, so she asked, “Do you know what you’re making for supper?”
Jill replied, “No I don’t… Is there something you want me to make?”
Belle nodded, “Yes ma’am there is… I just remembered the spinach ravioli alfredo and its sounds really good after all the hospital food.”
“Belle… I’ve never cooked anything like that… Where do you remember it from?”
Belle’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she tried to remember, after a moment she said, “I’m not sure… I remember how to make it though… Would you mind if I made it?”
Surprised, Jill said, “You’ve never tried to cook anything before… Where did you learn it?”
“I haven’t?”, Belle asked in surprise, seeing the frozen ravioli bag in the freezer sparked that memory. It felt like a memory to her, but if what her mother was saying was true then it was one she shouldn’t have. She softly asked, “Mom… I don’t know where I know this… I really don’t… I remember how to make it for some reason… Can I? I need to see if this is a real memory… Please?”
Seeing the conflict in her daughter, and with her begging as she was, Jill told her, “Okay… Let’s see… I’m curious to see this too. Besides, if you can cook now, it will make my life a bit easier too.” She smiled as she said the joke, hoping to alleviate some of the stress in her daughter. Seeing Belle smile at her in relief made her feel she knew she had made the right decision, “Okay so tell me what you need for this?”
With Jill keeping a close eye on her, Belle spent the next ten minutes getting all the ingredients she needed. She picked up each item without hesitation, almost as if she’s made the dish many times. As the entered the check out line, Belle was looking over the items she had gotten with a confused expression.
Jill asked, “Did you forget anything?” Belle just shook her head no, and her mom asked, “Then what’s wrong?”
“That’s exactly what’s wrong… I know I didn’t forget anything… But I don’t remember how I know that… You’ve said I’ve never cooked before?”, Belle asked, perplexed.
Jill shook her head no and said, “Not that I’ve seen baby… But it sounds interesting at least. I’m looking forward to seeing how you put it all together.”
They both then waited in silence, Jill keeping an eye on her daughter, while Belle just kept staring at her ingredients. Finally, when it was their turn to check out a very familiar voice said, “Do y’all prefer paper or plastic?”
Belle immediately looked up at the cashier and blurted out, “Oh my God! Shannon, it’s so good to see you!”
The cashier, Shannon, looked at her but couldn’t place her until she glanced over at Jill, she then said warily “Belle?” Belle just smiled and nodded. Shannon gave her an uneasy glance, “I heard about… Uh, your accident… I’m surprised you’re up and about already from how bad I heard it was.”
Jill then asked Belle, “You remember Shannon from when she used to be your babysitter?”
That caused Shannon to tilt her head just slightly as Belle said, “Of course I do Mom… There’s something else though…” She paused in thought for a moment before she noticed the way Shannon was staring at her, so she told her softly, “Oh yeah, it’s a miracle that I feel as well as I do, physically at least… My memories though are pretty jumbled… I don’t remember a lot…”
Shannon then forced a small smile as she started ringing up the items, and said, “I’m sorry to hear that, but at least you’re getting better right?”
Belle nodded and replied, “Yeah… I hope so…” She then looked down in thought, trying to remember what it was that was nagging her about Shannon. She remembered the baby-sitting years ago, after all she was four years older than her, but there was something else she couldn’t quite place either.
Belle remained quiet and in deep thought while Shannon finished checking them out. As she was helping her mother put the full bags into their buggy a young mother walked by with a young boy and it suddenly came to her. She then looked up and as Shannon was finishing up loading the last bag of groceries, Belle asked, “I remembered… How’s your brother doing?”
Shannon looked up at her quickly, obviously startled and said, “How do you know about him?”
Belle looked down and softly said, “I don’t know how I remember him… I do though… Is he okay?” She then looked up pleadingly at the surprised cashier.
The obvious look of concern on Belle’s face softened Shannon’s initial reaction some, after taking a deep breath she told her, “He’s tired a lot… We’re hoping he regains his strength some for the next round of treatments…”
Belle sadly smiled and told her, “Well for what it’s worth, I’ll keep you and Sean in my prayers okay…”
Shannon not having any idea how this strange girl had known anything her or her family was going through, looked at her for a long moment. She then returned her smile and told her, “Thank you… It actually does mean a lot… Oh and Belle? You take care of yourself, alright?”
Belle smiled and said, “You too.” She then followed her mother out of the store.
The ride home was in silence at first, Belle lost in thought, and Jill constantly glancing over at her daughter worriedly. They were about half way to their house before Jill couldn’t stand it anymore, “Belle… You looked like you had met a long-lost friend when you saw Shannon. What do you remember about her and her brother?”
Belle thought and said, “I felt like I had met a friend Mom… I don’t know why, other than a feeling that we are, or at least were friends…”
Jill asked, “What about her brother? You said his name was Sean?”
Belle nodded, “Yeah… He turned eleven a few months ago… It was about the same time he started getting sick…”
Jill pulled the car over, so she could look directly at her daughter, “Belle how do you know all that?”
Belle just shrugged, she was feeling quite overwhelmed at the moment. As a tear started to run down her
cheek she said, “You know what’s worse than not having any idea how I know all that?” Jill just shook her head, so Belle continued, “Somehow I know something even worse…”
Jill reached over and put her hand under Belle’s chin and softly turned her head towards her, “Baby… You’re scaring me…”
“Mom, I’m scaring me…”, Belle whimpered.
Wiping her daughter’s tears from her cheek, she asked, “Belle you can talk to me okay… What’s worse than knowing he is sick?”
Belle then started to seriously get upset, but before she completely broke down she did say, “I don’t know how, but I know that he’s got cancer… He’s not going to make it… He dies a week before his twelfth birthday… I know that… Because I remember going to his funeral…” Then the floodgates opened.
To be continued.
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