Page 103 of Amnesia

Breathing became impossible for long moments. Everything in the universe stopped, maybe—probably even my heart. I hadn’t wanted her to say those three words. I’d been afraid they would be too easy for her to take back.

She couldn’t have them back. Not ever.

I had to remind myself how to breathe, and the first breath I took after those words sounded more like a gasp.

“It’s so easy to love you.” She confided, still pulling her hands through my hair. “I never thought it could be so simple for someone to get in here.” She pointed to her chest.

I kissed her. Just like that, we slipped back into the cocoon we’d been in before. My chest felt tight, so unbelievably full. I pulled away, dropping my forehead so it rested against hers. “Cross my heart,”

“Hope to die,” she added.

“You will be forever mine.”

She spoke softly. “Did you used to say that to Sadie?”

I nodded. “All the time. Except the forever mine part. That part is yours.”

“Forever is a long time,” she said.

“Not long enough.”

“Maybe I was wrong,” Amnesia said, wiggling a little beneath me. I sat up, so she could lean against the headboard. “Maybe the happiness and the memories I asked for will only make it harder when the truth comes back, when the memories resurface. Maybe it will make me realize what I lost.”

“You aren’t lost,” I told her, firm. “You’re found.”

“They’re coming back for me. You know it. Everywhere I go, the killer shows up.”

I shook my head adamantly. My inner lion paced inside me. The need to protect what was mine was stronger than I ever felt before. It was almost blinding, and I reminded myself I couldn’t allow this urge to make me stupid. Now more than ever I had to be smart. “I swear to God, Am, I will murder them before anyone gets the chance to harm you.”

Her head tilted to the side, a thoughtful glint coming into her chocolatey eyes. “There’s something else,”

“Tell me,” I demanded. I needed to know exactly what I was working against.

“I’d been so sure the person stalking me wanted me dead, but this last time, the other night in the hospital, it was different.”

“Different how?”

“They pulled this rag out of their cape thingy. It smelled so strongly of chloroform it nearly made me gag.”

“Yeah, I remember the odd scent in the room.” I realized. “They hadn’t done that before?”

She shook her head. “No. Up until then, it was more violent, almost urgent. The strangling, luring me into the woods, even in my nightmare from the night I nearly drowned. It felt like physical harm was imminent. But the other night…”

My brow furrowed. Trying to come up with an insane person’s motive wasn’t easy. “Maybe they planned to knock you out then kill you. Make less noise?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think they wanted to take me.”

My eyes widened, and alarm coursed through me. “Kidnap you?”

She nodded. “But why?”

I grabbed her wrist, giving it a gentle tug. “Am, did you tell the police that night when they came to the hospital?”

“Of course.”

“And?” I demanded.

“And they said usually, chloroform is used for kidnapping.”

---