Page 177 of Poison Aches

Grammy and Samuel shoot each other a look… just like they always do when they’re silently communicating.

“Pumpkin, listen to me,” Grammy starts, voice now gentle and low. “You can never let Emmett Easton or anyone else know that you have your memories back. As far as anyone is concerned who knows your past, you have a case of retrograde amnesia.”

“Yes, but now I’m healed.”

“And if they know, you’ll go from healed to dead,” Samuel snaps.

With a gasp, I turn around to look at him, then back at Grammy. If they know I remember, then I’ll die? What?

“Ivy, you’ve been by my side at the hospital for so many years. Since you were six years old, in fact. I’m sure you know what happens to aches, wounds, and hurt that’s left untreated, don’t you?”

I want to shake my head and say I don’t know.

I want to tear this damn dictionary apart, then go on an expedition to tear this word from all the dictionaries and thesauruses in the world…but just like my feelings, that too is ridiculous.

“What happens, Ivy?” Grammy presses firmly, waiting for an answer.

At the tip of my tongue is a sassy response, something that will no doubt make her angry, but when I finally open my mouth, the most unlikely words come out of my mouth. The kind that are truthful—even if they hurt like hell.

“If left untreated, even the tiniest of wounds have the potential to become lethal.”

“Because lethality is…?” she presses on, as if hammering an errant nail on its head, so as to put it back in place.

“Death,” I croak.

In other words, my memories mean death.

My aches for him, for parents I don’t know, my ache to be loved, to be accepted, to be chosen… it’s all lethal and will cause my death.

“I’m not trying to hurt you, baby girl,” Grammy says gently, but seriously. “But keeping you safe will always be our number one priority.”

As she says that, Samuel, whom I hadn’t notice leave the room, comes back with two packed backpacks and two loaded duffel bags.

And suddenly everything becomes clear.

“No.” I stagger backward, shaking my head.

“We have to go.”

“No, I’m not leaving.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

The denial and pain mix together, blinding me, clouding my common sense.

“You remember that night, if they find out that you do….”

“He won’t hurt me!”

Grammy sighs heavily but I’m already backing away.

I bump into the flower vase in the hallway, and it goes crashing at my feet.

I see both my brother and grandmother drawing closer, so I do the most idiotic thing, I grab the largest chunk of broken ceramic and wield it like a knife. “Don’t come any closer!”

“Ivy, you’ll hurt yourself, put that down.”

“I’m not leaving!” I cry. “I hardly remember anything. Actually, I really want to remember everything so I can help Emmett.”

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