Picture on the side is of Cody Christian, character inspiration for the adorable Ethan. Cute, isn't he?

This chapter is kinda sad one, but I had to get it over with. I hope you'll understand why I had to do that. Thanks for reading!

Chapter edited by crystaltmlinson. 

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Chapter Two

It was a feeling similar to that of waking up after a good night's sleep, and yet, so different. The darkness behind my eyelids was peaceful and comforting, and the dreams dubiously real. But opening my eyes only brought me a luminescence of uncertainty.

My body felt rested, but my mind was where the chaos was happening. I could bet that opening my eyelids had never felt so arduous as it did in that moment. Even the dim light of the room pricked my eyes just as the radiant rays of sun would. With squinting eyes, I looked around the blurry image of the room before my eyes landed on a clean glass window, displaying the blue sky with a tint of yellow. 'It must be afternoon.' My first conscious thought since waking up brought many others with it. Only then did I become aware of the unmistakable smell of a hospital. A glance around the room with eyes that could espy a sharper image of everything now confirmed my suspicion. The dull walls of the room, the IV stands, the monitors, and the enervated feeling of the room were daunting.

I tried to speak but no sound ever came. The dryness of my throat had me wanting to raise my hand to sooth it, but I couldn't. My eyes travelled down to my arms and were met with the disconcerting sight of thin wires disappearing under my shirt and plastic tubes injected into the back of my hands. Just as I was about to rip the tubes out, a familiarly strange face came into my view, his hand resting on my cheek and his eyes gleaming with tears of what could only be perceived as relief.

"Raelyn? Oh, Raelyn! You're awake!" a broken voice that sounded just as anxious as it was relieved filled the silence of the room. Blue eyes searched my face for something, though I couldn't understand what.

Alarmed by the boy's close proximity, I pushed his hand away. 'Who are you?' I wanted to ask, but my seemingly lost voice handicapped me. The pain and relief in his eyes were replaced by confusion as he looked down at me. He was about to speak again when the creak of the door interrupted him. A few moments later, a stout man dressed in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck entered my line of vision, followed by a few other people whose faces I couldn't see.

The man's first question to me was in absolute character with his profession. "How are you feeling now, Ms. White?" the doctor asked, standing next to my bed and giving me a polite smile.

Something about the sight of the doctor and the nurse, who was checking the various monitors attached to my body, calmed the panic inside my head, helping me not to wrench the tubes out of my body and make a run for the door.

I fisted the white sheets as I met Dr. Mitchell's gaze--at least, that was his name according to the identity card attached to his coat pocket. 

The instinctive action of clearing my throat twice before I tried to speak again seemed to work. "I-" my voice came out groggy, and the dryness in my throat pained my vocal chords. I cleared my throat once again before resuming my sentence. "I am feeling... better, I think," I finished, though the words sounded unsure to even my own ears.

Dr. Mitchell nodded at me before asking the nurse to adjust the position of my bed so that I would be in a sitting position, and help me drink some water that would help relieve my throat. And it did. The water soothed my throat muscles, and my vocal chords ached less the next time that I spoke. "Thank you. Why am I here? What happened to me?" I asked Dr. Mitchell, glancing at four other faces in the room before looking back at his.

"You got into a car accident, Ms. White. You received a major blow to your head, and several other minor injuries," came Dr. Mitchell's calculated response. I was about to ask another question, but he beat me to it. "What is the last thing you remember before waking up, Ms. White?"

The answer to his question was harder than it should have been. I tried to remember something, anything, but it felt like every thought had been erased from my mind. Biting my lower lip, I closed my eyes and willed myself to remember, but there was nothing; no voices, no faces, no colors and no memories. "I can't," I whispered, perplexed by the new revelation. I opened my eyes and looked into Dr. Mitchell's before meeting the gaze of every other person in the room. "I can't remember anything before waking up, " I confessed to Dr. Mitchell with a thudding heart and a quivering lip, scared of what was happening to me. "Why? Why can't I remember?"

Dr. Mitchell was quick to respond. "It's okay, it's okay," he tried to reassure my agitated self. "It could just be the effect of the medications given to you. Can you please tell me your name?"

I squinted my eyes at him, wondering why he would ask my name when he probably knew it already. Regardless, I opened my mouth to give him my name, but only a stunned breath escaped it. I didn't know it. I didn't know what my name was. How could I not have known my own name? I looked at Dr. Mitchell with petrified eyes while an expression of understanding passed through his own features. I breathed through my mouth, my chest rising and falling with every heavy breath I took, and my head whirled with so many fearful questions.

A thought made me look up at him again. "White," I whispered, putting two and two together in my head. "Raelyn White," I said in a louder voice. "You addressed me as Ms. White and he," I explained, pointing towards the boy whose face was the first I saw after waking up, "called me Raelyn. Is- is that my name? Raelyn White? But why can't I remember it?"

Dr. Mitchell nodded and I noticed that every pair of eyes in the room was fixated on him. "Yes, Ms. White, that is your name. Though, the way you remembered it was a different way from what I would have preferred. Anyway, we will have to conduct some tests before we can find out if it's simply the effect of your medication or something else. I'll make the arrangements for your tests while a nurse brings something for you to eat." Dr. Mitchell gave me a warm, encouraging smile before exiting the room along with the nurse.

I merely nodded at him, still distracted by my own perplexed thoughts, when a voice made me look up. "I am so glad you're awake, Rae. You do remember me, don't you?" A raven haired girl came forward. A small, sad smile graced her lips and her right hand's fingers fidgeted with a ring on her left hand's index finger.

I gave her a hesitant smile back, taking in her appearance before glancing at the two people standing behind her. The girl looked to be in her late teens, the boy from earlier in his mid teens, and the man in his mid forties. The looks of relief and sadness were common in all three of them, along with their black clothes. I didn't know how to reply to the girl's question. The expectant look in her eyes made me want to lie and tell her that I did remember her, but that wouldn't have changed the truth.

"I- I'm sorry. I don't," I admitted, feeling my heart break as a crestfallen look overshadowed her face. "I don't remember anything or anyone," I added, biting my lower lip as the pounding in my head increased. "I think," I turned away from them, feeling guilty for the next words I was about to say, "I think I should rest now."

"Oh!" whispered the girl, comprehending my implied meaning. "Of-of course, yeah, s-sure." Her voice sounded so dispirited that I couldn't find it in myself to look at her face. "We will be just outside if you need us." And with that, I heard footsteps walking away before there was a distinct sound of the door shutting.

I knew I had hurt her. I knew she must have cared about me a lot. But I didn't know her. Even though her face felt familiar, I couldn't place it anywhere in my blank head. And so, I had thought it better to tend to myself first before nursing others. 'Once the effect of the drugs wears off, I'd remember everything again, and I'll then apologize to the people I had hurt in my this condition,' I thought to myself, resting my head on the soft pillow and closing my eyes to get some rest.

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When I opened my eyes again, everything felt the same as before; the room was dimly lit, the walls were dull, there were IV stands and monitors attached to my body, and the room still carried that enervated feeling. The only difference was that in the view from the window, the sky was darker and cloudier now.

The realization that I must have fallen asleep brought a yawn to my lips, and I felt the need to stretch, but the various tubes stopped me from doing so. I glanced around the room only to find that no one was there. Sighing, I turned to my right, trying to reach for the glass of water that was kept on the bedside table and suddenly, an acute pain shot up from the right side of my head. I yelped and cursed in response, a few teardrops leaked from my eyes because of the unbearable pain.

Someone burst inside the room in an abrupt manner and rushed towards me. "Are you okay?" the boy asked apprehensively. He held my shoulders in a firm grip and helped me to sit up. I recognized him from earlier today, and even though his nearness made me feel uneasy, I didn't feel the need to push him away this time. "You should have just called us if you needed something," he muttered, adjusting the position of my bed.

"Is she alright?" a female voice asked, one that I hadn't heard before. My gaze snapped towards the direction of the sound and I realized that I had more people waiting on me than just three. The sight of so many unknown faces overwhelmed me, making me inadvertently hold the boy's hand.

He smiled down at me and nodded his head once in reassurance. "She's fine, just hurt her head a little," he answered the woman who I then noticed was pregnant. "I'm Ethan, your brother," he said, looking at me again. "How are you feeling now?"

"Better," I murmured, nodding at him and still not letting go of his hand. "What happened to me, Ethan?"

"Ms. White," Dr. Mitchell spoke, entering the room at the perfect timing. "I'm glad you're awake now. Please, eat something. You slept without eating anything during the day as well," he said as a nurse followed him in the room with a tray in her hands. "I can only imagine how hungry you must be feeling right now," he added good-naturedly, smiling at me.

I took a bite of the porridge that the nurse had brought me and looked back at Dr. Mitchell. "Thanks. Um, what happened to me, Dr. Mitchell?"

"As I told you earlier, Ms. White, you sustained a major blow to your head in the car accident. A glass shard had entered your skull from the right side of your head and damaged the temporal and frontal lobes of your brain. We performed a surgery to take the shard out, but this damage has caused traumatic amnesia, or retrograde traumatic amnesia to be specific," he explained, giving me enough time to process everything.

"Amnesia," I whispered to myself, shocked by the new information. "Will I never get my memories back?" I asked him in a low voice, my hold on Ethan's hand tightening in fear.

Dr. Mitchell paused before answering me. "You will get your memories back, Ms. White. However, it can be a short-term or a long-term memory loss, but of course, you will be able to overcome it. Don't worry." Dr. Mitchell averted his eyes from mine to look down at a clipboard in his hands before looking back at me. "There will be medicines and people to help you get your memories back. Your family friend, Dr. Amanda Summers, here," Dr. Mitchell gestured at a blonde woman standing with the many other people in the room, and she gave me a nod and a smile in greeting, "who is a psychiatrist, has offered to help you. You'll be in good hands, Ms. White."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but Dr. Mitchell halted me. "Ms. White, I can't tell you everything about your medical condition just yet. Some of the reports are still being processed. Do you want to ask anything except for your medical state?"

"Yes." My response was automatic. "I do want to ask about many other things." Dr. Mitchell nodded at me, signaling me to ask whatever it was that I wanted to know. I gulped, trying to pick the most important questions amongst the cluster of them that infused my mind. "How long was I out after the surgery?"

"Three days. You slipped into a coma after the surgery," Dr. Mitchell answered.

"Okay." I nodded, biting my lower lip and picking the question that had been weighing my conscience down since the time I heard of the car accident. "How did the accident happen? I mean, was I at fault in the accident? Did I... Did I hurt someone?"

Dr. Mitchell turned away from me and asked my visitors to kindly wait outside, allowing only three people to stay in the room other than himself and the nurse; Ethan, Dr. Amanda Summers and the pregnant woman. 'She must be my close family, too,' I thought to myself, but decided to ponder over it later.

"No, not at all!" It was Ethan who replied this time, "A drunk truck driver hit your car. You weren't even driving, Rae. You didn't hurt anyone."

I exhaled through my nose, grateful that I hadn't done anything wrong. I nodded at Ethan with a small smile before his words replayed in my head and another important question surfaced. "Who was driving, then? Who else was in the car with me?"

The question increased the tension in the room. I watched them exchange wary glances before Ethan answered again, but in a much lower voice. "Our father. He was driving. Our parents were there in the car with you."

"Where are they now? Are they okay?" My questions were frantic this time. Even though I didn't remember them, they were still my parents and I still cared for them.

"Ms. White," Dr. Mitchell said, "I think you should rest now. We can discuss other things tomorrow." His face concealed all of his thoughts but even then, I could tell that something was not right.

"I will, Dr. Mitchell. Just after I get the answer to this last question. Where are they? Are they severely hurt? You can tell me the truth," I pleaded, looking back at Ethan.

I watched as Amanda discussed something with Dr. Mitchell, and the discussion ended with Amanda nodding at Ethan, telling him that it was okay to tell me the truth. I tried, in a futile effort, to glean the answer by looking into Ethan's eyes because he was taking too much time to say it aloud.

"Raelyn," Ethan began, gulping and looking at our clasped hands, his pause making me more anxious by the second.

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A/N: Hey, y'all! How are ya?

Wow. This chapter was kinda intense, won't you say?

Dedication of the Chapter: Dedication for this chapter goes to my posse, my clique, my gang, my beyotches, my best girlfriends! Aanchu, Kitty, Scooby, Chatty, Kanno and racsmat (if you haven't checked out her book yet, I highly recommend that you do now!), thank you guys for being my constant supporters, motivators, inspirations, shrinks, and beta readers. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there for me during the times when I was pulling my hair out because something just didn't fit right in the story and I needed some encouragement, a second opinion, and sometimes even someone to chide and push me in the right direction to continue writing. Thanks, my darlings, I love you always! ♥

My Highlights of the Chapter: There was nothing huge in this chapter that would be considered as a highlight, I suppose, but there were these small moments that touched my heart.

Like, how Raelyn sees Ethan's face for the first time after waking up, and even though she can't remember him, she feels that familiarity nonetheless, she calls his face a "familiarly strange face" and this sentiment is later reinforced when she voluntarily keeps a hold of Ethan's hand for support ahead in the chapter. Also, how Raelyn decides to think about herself first before she sympathizes with anyone else's feelings. The scene where she knows she has hurt Shayla (I hope you recognized the raven-haired girl as Shayla) but she also understands that at that moment she couldn't give Shayla a false hope either. I think the scene just makes Raelyn more human, more real than fictional, more like us.

What do you think? What were your highlights of the chapter, if any?

Questions of the Chapter: What would be your reaction if you found yourself in Raelyn's situation, god forbid? Waking up in a hospital bed, injured and helpless, with no real memories to understand what had happened with you. Would you react the same way as Raelyn did with the people who claimed to be her family and friends, or would your reaction be different than hers, and what will your reaction be if different than hers?

That's a lot to think about, isn't it?

What are your thoughts on the entire chapter, the characters, the scenes, anything and everything?

Don't forget to let me know through your comments and votes, so that I'd know whether you're enjoying the story or not and can also thank you for reading it! Follow me to get updates on this book and on any other works that I write in the future! :⦆

Hugs & Kisses,

Shagun