A Walk Down Memory Lane

Chapter 1 - Remembering

The long agonizing hours of therapy had started to get on Raven's nerves. At first she was willing to take a walk down the not-so-familiar memory lane, but as the road towards remembrance got longer and the destination kept slipping farther and farther away, Raven couldn't help but get tired of all the effort. More often than not she would cry herself to sleep in the bed which was accustomed to her shape, but was unknown to her mind, trying to figure out why life would choose her for the dealing of the unlucky card.

It was hard. Everything about the situation spelled out the word Hard. Exactly how did the world expect a 17-year-old to deal with memory loss when she didn't even remember what caused it? Everyone kept telling her how it happened, the event was etched into her brain, yet she could not grasp the reality of the fact that she had been the target of a hit and run. She would spend countless hours trying to picture the scene in her mind; it was all there, but not from memory, rather from words.

Raven had just got back from therapy and sat, exhausted, on her bed trying to, yet again, actually remember the incident that had so easily altered her life. The picture in her head was as vivid as daylight, but what made it stand out was the fact that it felt like something out of a book rather than her own brain:

"You were angry at us and you ran out in the street to get away. If only you had known.. oh if only I had known, I would have stopped you... Oh Raven, darling, please forgive me. You were running from your brother who kept calling you back, and then it hit you. That blasted idiot who took away my little girl's memory. Oh honey, I am so sorry!" Her mother had explained to Raven, floundered under a blanket of tears, when she finally came around after about a week of comatose. Her surroundings scared her and the only people her brain refused from letting go were her mother, father and brother. Why was that? It confused the doctors too, but fact was fact and this was the factual situation.

She had woken up in a hospital room, full of flowers and greeting cards from names she knew not. Her mother was by her side, comforting her as if she were mourning the loss of a loved one. Why she was in a hospital room, she had no clue, but she knew she'd find out, and she did. 

"Amnesia. Temporary or permanent, we cannot know. But considering how she woke up so soon after her coma, we can say that it is very possible for her to retrieve her memory." 

Those were the doctor's words that had imprinted themselves in Raven's brain. She kept reminding herself that there were still possibilities of her being able to remember everything once again.

"But what if I don't ever remember? Then what? I can't not remember! I HAVE TO REMEMBER!" Grabbing hold of the nearest pillow, Raven screamed her lungs out into it. "Oh-kay Raven. Calm down. Things will get better. At least I hope they do." She shoved that train of thought aside and turned on her laptop. Logging on to Facebook, she plugged in her headphones and blasted her play-list on max. She sang along to every song that came up. "I can remember song lyrics AND my Facebook password, but not my best friend's name? Or even if I have a best friend. What is this? A damn movie? GOD!" A deep sigh of exasperation escaped her lips as she slowly let herself get absorbed into the music. 

Scrolling down her time-line, she noticed someone had tagged her in a picture. It was her, and a slightly taller girl standing arm in arm, smiling straight into the camera. It looked like an old picture because Raven was still in two ponytails. The smiles on both the faces were genuine; a type Raven had forgotten how to put on. The girl next to her was Mary-Anne Strum, according to her username. The picture was captioned:

"I really hope you remember Raven, because I miss you more than anything. You were always like a sister to me and I need my sister back. :( 

"Sister?" Raven thought. That's when she remembered how Mary-Anne had shown up at the hospital, accompanied by a couple of other people, and had stayed all day trying to help Raven remember something, anything. "Well if you really were my sister, WHY DON'T I REMEMBER YOU? WHY NOT? WHY WAS IT MY STUPID BRAIN THAT HAD TO MALFUNCTION? WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER?!" The thought brought tears to her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her sleeve and walked over to the mirror.