Clean Slate

Chapter 2

bright lights.

super bright.

too bright, too loud.

Wow okay, this hurts.

I want to open my eyes, I can hear people talking.

Where am I?

Who's talking?

Open your eyes.

I immediately regretted my decision, bright light practically blinding me and too many faces over me at once.

Faces I didn't know.

"Oh my god sweetheart." A woman with brown hair and brown eyes stared down at me, and that's when I realized that my left hand was being held my both of hers.

sweetheart?

I frowned at her, unsure who this woman was. Maybe she had the wrong room, maybe I looked like someone else.

"Give her some room to breathe." A man with glasses and grey hair stepped into veiw, a small flashlight in his hand, shining into my eyes now.

This hurts, I want to close my eyes again.

The crowd began to back away from my bed, except for the woman holding my hand. Everyone else watched from a distance, letting the grey haired man get closer and really start to blind me with the flashlight.

"Hello, can you tell me your name?" The man asked, finally clicking off his flashlight. He was dressed in a white coat, most likely a doctor.

A doctor?

Am I at the hospital?

Why would I be at a hospital?

What's my name?

I managed to shake my head weakly, my head immediately pounding. I was starting to feel more awake though, now aware enough to realize I was laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to various machines.

"Do you know who this is?" The doctor asked, gesturing to the woman gripping my hand. I studied her face, her smile lines and her glistening cheeks, the way her eyes were shiny as she stared at me.

"No." I whispered, although a feeling in my gut told me that I should know. The woman began to cry, a man stepping forward from the crowd to embrace her. He looked like he was crying as well, his green eyes staring down at me with a look of disappointment.

My stomach turned as I tried to familiarize myself with my surroundings. I knew that I was in a hospital bed and that I was wearing a very uncomfortable hospital dress, I knew that my head felt heavy and that I was connected to machines beside my bed, I knew that there were five other people staring at me from the back of the room, all strangers to me.

"Do you know who this is?" He gestured now to the man embracing the crying woman, his face new to me.

"No."

He began to break down as well, a younger man stepping forward.

"Me?"

He looked young, brown hair, dark eyes, a worried look on his face. Yet I couldn't recognize him, I'd never seen him before.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, thinking it was probably the correct thing to say. All of these people I was supposed to recognize and I had no idea who they were. Why was I supposed to know them?

The boy nodded silently and stepped backwards, and that's when I noticed his arm in a sling, his right one. I think.

"Can you tell me how old you are?" The doctor asked, and I suddenly noticed a nurse towards the back of the room, likely writing down my answers and symptoms.

I'm 17.

"I'm 17." I talked quietly to keep my head from feeling like it was going to explode, the bright lights starting to not hurt as bad.

"Ah okay good." The doctor smiled slightly despite all the crying people in the room, making me even further confused.

"Olivia, I'm going to walk you through what's happening right now." Olivia, I'm Olivia. The doctor spoke in a cautious tone, taking a seat next to my hospital bed.

"Olivia, you were in a car accident. I will go into details later if you would like, but because of this, you have what we call Amnesic Syndrome, commonly called amnesia or memory loss. Any information you would like to share would be appreciated."

That's not right.

No, he's wrong. There was no accident, I would remember, I would know who these people are.

"Olivia, these are your parents." The doctor gestured to the lady gripping my hand and the man comforting her, both of them red-eyed and crying.

A machine beside me began to beep, the doctor immediately becoming concerned. Everyone else in the room was very concerned as well, my heart pounding in my ears.

This wasn't happening, these are not my parents. I would remember. Why can I not remember.

"Olivia, you need to calm down." The doctor said, the nurse murmuring something about my heart rate being through-the-roof. "I know it's a lot, it's going to be okay. Everyone here loves you, the memories may come back and everything will make sense again."

I shook my head, ripping my hand from my supposed mother, watching her lose it all over again at my actions. "I need to leave, I don't know these people."

"Because of the accident." The doctor began to try and soothe me again, frowning at my panic. "We're going to do everything we can to restore your memory, but any memories of the accident may be blocked out due to trauma. This is your boyfriend."

He gestured to the younger guy from before with the broken arm, who was now walking towards me. He stared down at me and gently lifted his un-injured arm, placing a hand on my cheek. "I'm so sorry Olivia."

I frowned up at him, not liking the feeling of him touching me. I felt like too much was touching me, my skin suddenly feeling tingly and too much.

"That's enough." My "mother"s voice said as I looked up at her, finding her glaring at my supposed boyfriend. "You've done enough damage."

"Rebecca.." A woman standing in the back of the room sighed, not completing her sentence. "Carter let's respect her wishes, i'm sure you and Olivia will be spending a lot of time together."

"She doesn't even know me." The boy pulled his hand off of my face, looking down at me with an ugly expression. I would describe it as disgust and guilt.

"Well it's still important that you guys spend time together so she can regain some of her memories, we need to make sure she follows the same routine that she has been, plus some visits with a psychiatrist just to make sure she's on the right track." The doctor chimed in, examining my face. "Can you tell us anything you remember?"

I'm a cheerleader. I'm a flyer.

"Im a cheerleader." It came out halfway between a statement and a question, the doctor nodding with a smile.

"Good Olivia, what do you do?"

"I'm a flyer, I go in the air."

I was in the air, both of my arms being held as I looked out at the crowd, taking three deep breaths as I prepared for my flip. The flips were always the worst, I preferred to close my eyes.

"Good job. Anything else?"

I shook my head as I met the doctors eyes, feeling slightly disappointed in myself. "What happened in the accident?"

"I think that may be a little much for right now." The doctor laughed a little, motioning for the people in the back to step out of the room, the doctors eyes scanning over my face and then the machines I was hooked up to. "I think some more rest will be good for you, when you wake up i'll let your boyfriend know and he can help explain the accident."

My eyelids felt heavy as I nodded, realizing that resting wouldn't be the worst idea. "How long has it been?"

"The accident happened Friday night, right now it's sunday morning."

So many questions. I have so many questions.

"Thank you."