Page 28 of Amnesia

My heart skipped a beat, and an overwhelming emotion welled inside me.

True blue eyes finally lifted, meeting mine. “Why aren’t the police here, Am?”

“Am?” I tilted my head.

“Amnesia is a bit of a mouthful.” He shrugged, the side of his mouth lifting, a rakish appearance transforming his face.

“The staff didn’t believe me.”

His boyish expression was replaced with anger and disbelief. “What?”

“No one saw anyone enter my room or run out. Apparently, no one saw the person anywhere. When they found me, security searched the whole building.”

“They think you made it up?” he growled.

“They think I dreamed it all, and when I woke up, I was so scared I stumbled into the hallway. The shrink is probably on her way to see me now,” I muttered.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Eddie urged, scooting the chair even closer to the bed.

My hand was still in his. The way his fingers flexed around mine in such a protective nature stirred something in me. Some emotion I didn’t understand. It was a feeling I was scared of but at the same time craved.

“My mind hasn’t shut off,” I confided.

“Yeah, I know.” Again, he seemed to truly understand.

“It sounds crazy.” I warned.

The double dimples in his cheeks appeared, and just looking at them made me feel lighter. “I’d say this entire situation is a little crazy.”

“They were here,” I whispered forcefully, almost angrily. I’d cried when the nurses told me no one had been found. And nothing in the room or anywhere could prove I hadn’t just been dreaming. They tried to give me some pills to help me “rest,” they said. I took them like a good patient and then spit them out and put them under my pillow.

I didn’t want to be drugged. My head was confused enough as it was. I didn’t want muffled thoughts and a hazy cloud hanging over me when I was trying to make sense of my new reality.

“I did have a bad dream, but when I woke up, someone wasin this room. I wasn’t imagining it. I wasn’t. It was too real… They wanted me dead.”

“Okay,” Eddie said, trying to soothe me. “I believe you. It’s okay.”

“You believe me?” I was surprised.

His eyes met mine, stoic and nearly intrusive. “I’m on your side. No matter what. I’ll always back you up.”

“Why?” I said, my voice trembling and wet. “Why would you be here for me, a complete stranger?”

His eyes saddened, the hold on my stare lost. “I don’t want to be a stranger to you, Am.”

My chest squeezed a little. I realized beneath his oozing personality, Eddie carried his own sorrow.

The door to my room swung in, and the clip-clap of the head shrinker’s high heels was like a hammer in my brain. “The staff told me you—” Her voice cut off when she saw I wasn’t alone. “You have a visitor.”

Gently, Eddie tugged his hand from mine and stood, offering it to the doctor to shake. “Eddie Donovan.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Donovan.”

“Eddie.” He corrected. Then he glanced around at me with a wicked smile. “Talking about me, are you?”

“No,” I retorted.

The look on his face made the doctor laugh, and I admit I thought about smiling, too. “From the staff.” The doctor corrected. “They don’t talk about the patients, but you, sir, are not a patient, and from what I hear, you’re at this hospital quite often.”

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