Page 3 of Remember Me

I looked around for witnesses to my near demise, but no one was watching. I remember the sense of disbelief that assailed me. I had almost died, and no one had even noticed. I would have been like that kid you always hear about, the one on the bottom of the crowded community pool.

Invisible.

My ears, deafened by briny water, cleared and popped as I made my way back to the beach, exhaustion weighing every limb as though I’d fought a three-day battle. Noise filtered in as they did, until I could hear the beach again: the shrills of little kids, the plaintive cries of gulls, the rush of waves upon the shore.

That’s what waking felt like — finding the light and fighting my way toward it. Clawing my way through a weight so cloying, I wasn’t certain I’d emerge before I suffocated.

But eventually, I opened my eyes to a fluorescent track light overhead, partially obscured by an unfamiliar face hovering over me. My vision was blurry, but I had an impression of short, curling gray hair and round cheeks.

“She’s waking,” the face spoke. “Bernadette? Welcome back.”

I blinked, trying to clear my sight as she moved back, the sudden light sending pain spearing through my head. I moaned, swallowing. Thirsty. I was so thirsty.

“Water,” I said. Or at least, I attempted to say it. It came out a croak, barely discernible. Someone must have understood, though, because the bed was raised several inches and a straw was brought to my lips. I sucked at it gratefully.

“Birdie? Birdie, sweetheart, oh my God.”

Another woman was leaning over me, and after focusing I recognized her as my mother. “Mom? Where am I?” Looking past her, I saw a man around my age with dark hair and a square jaw that was currently tight with tension.Tall, dark, and handsome.“What’s going on?”

I tried to turn my head and view my surroundings, but the movement intensified the pain and I held still, instead, closing my eyes and lifting a hand to my head. “It hurts.”

“Sweetheart, you’re in the hospital. You were in an accident, but you’re going to be okay. You’re going to be fine.”

“Accident…?”

“Baby, do you remember the accident?” Tall Dark and Handsome, who to this point hadn’t spoken, leaned closer and brushed a hand gently against my hair.

Baby?I stared up at him in confusion.I don’t know you.

His eyes widened and his lips parted, and I realized I had said the words aloud.

Tall Dark and Handsome —TD AND H, I thought — shifted slightly away, a line forming between his eyes. “Doctor, I think —” His voice was sandpaper, as though he hadn’t done a lot of talking recently.

“Birdie, it’s Hayes. Your fiancé —”

“I don’t…” My voice trailed away, and I looked from my mother to Tall Dark and Handsome.

“Just give her a moment,” another voice interrupted. “It can be disorienting after a coma.”

A man in scrubs came to stand beside the bed, rubbing his hands together. The sharp scent of hand sanitizer reached my nose. With subtle authority, he stepped into Tall Dark and Handsome’s space, moving him aside. I saw him blink and scrub a hand across his mouth as he did.

“Hello, Bernadette,” the man in scrubs said with a polite smile. “I’m Doctor Chen. How are you feeling? Follow the light, please.”

He held a penlight in front of my face and moved it slowly in one direction, then the next.

“My head hurts.”

“We’ll get you something for that. Nurse?” A woman, the same one who had hovered over me as I awoke, nodded and left the room. “Do you know where you are, Bernadette?”

I started to shake my head but stopped as I remembered the pain. “A h-hospital, maybe? And my name’s B-birdie.”

“That’s correct. You’re at the UT Medical Center. Do you remember what brought you here?”

Why was I here? There was nothing. I looked up at the ceiling and thought, the activity making my brain hurt. My head hurt? Did brains hurt? “N-no.”

“Has she always had the stutter?” The doctor addressed the question to my mother.

“No. She’s never stuttered.”

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