Page 6 of Help Me Remember
Addy clears her throat. “You have been unconscious since it happened.”
“How long have I been like this?” I ask quickly. I’m so confused.
Addy brushes a tear off my cheek before whispering, “It’s been almost four days.”
“Tell me what happened. Please. I can’t . . .”
“Shh,” my mother coos. “Easy, Brielle. I wish we could tell you what happened, but we can’t. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Why can’t you tell me? Just tell me!” I shout, choosing to be angry because it’s better than folding into the grief.
Addison flinches before she steels herself and explains, “The doctors and the lawyers think it’s better if we allow your memory to return on its own. And, honestly, we don’t even know what happened.” She looks away.
Mom steps in. “They only told us that you were with him. They want your memory to come back on its own because you’re the only witness. You’re theonlyone who knows who did this, and the police and district attorney are worried that a defense attorney could use your memory loss against your testimony.”
“You mean the memory I don’t have? The testimony I can’t even give for the person who did this that no one can find?” Emotions swell in my throat and suffocate my voice until it’s nothing but a whisper. “Just tell me what happened.”
Tears fall down my cheeks like rain as I try to accept my brother is dead, no one can tell me what is going on, and an unknown amount of time has been stolen from my memory.
ChapterTwo
BRIELLE
Ifell asleep for about an hour, worn out from crying and still brokenhearted. When I woke up, Holden and Mom spent two hours trying to jog my memory, all to no avail. After another round of tears, I told my mother I wanted to speak to the lawyer and find out exactly what the hell is going on.
I was informed she’s here and will be in any minute.
Nerves hit me, but I hold them back.
There’s a knock on the door, but instead of the district attorney, Cora, entering, it’s Emmett and Spencer. I want to rail at them and demand they tell me what they know. Only, I’m already aware that they won’t, and I can’t handle another session of try-to-make-Brielle-remember-something.
“I don’t know anything, and I won’t do this again,” I say in a detached voice.
“We’re not here for that,” Emmett says.
“No?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?” I ask.
Spencer shrugs. “Because we like you, and your brother would want us here.”
I turn my head away at the statement. Growing up, Isaac let me tag along with them, and I was the annoying sister they all tortured but also protected. I cross my arms, hating that these guys, who have always been like brothers, are here without the one person I want to see most—my brother.
“The attorney will be here soon so you should just go.”
Emmett pulls his chair closer to the side of the bed. “We are staying because you could use some friends.”
“I could use my brother.”
I miss him so much. If he were here, he’d tell me everything. He wouldn’t care about some stupid plan to help me regain my memory. He would never let me suffer like this.
Emmett releases a breath through his nose. “We all could. Isaac was the best of us.”
I wipe away the errant tear. “He was.”
“He wouldn’t like this,” Emmett says. “Watching you suffer.”
