an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
• • •
The office door shut slowly and softly. Julian stood facing the wall and his right arm leaned against it for support. His forehead lay on his right forearm. His left arm, freshly stitched up, was on his hip and had a tight grip on where his jeans ended. He was hanging on for his dear life. And Mara's. He was biting his cheek in anticipation to what the nameless doctor was going to tell him. He had met with so many doctors in the last couple hours and it was getting hard to put a name to the face. He was sure he had met with this one already, but he couldn't recall the name.
"Mr. Edelman, we are going to do the best we can to get her back to the way she used to be," the overweight Doctor said walking to his desk chair. Julian began pacing trying to wrap his brain around what the man just said. The man immediately turned on his heels to try and stop Julian from pacing a hole in the hospital floor. He had a strict stare with the floor, as if it was the reason this was happening.
"My own wife doesn't even know who I am- how the hell are you going to get her back to where she was?" Julian hollered. His eyes widened in shock of his own words. He stopped pacing with his words and his hand covered his mouth. He hadn't expected or planned for them to come out. He knelt to the floor and the teardrops left little marks on the beige carpeting of the small office he was ushered into. The office was chilled, the man had the window open in the middle of the Boston winter. The chill that spread through Julian's body reminded him that he wasn't dreaming, like he had hoped. He was wishing this was all just a bad nightmare, that he would wake up and his beloved Mara would be beside him in their king size bed. But this wasn't a dream. This was his reality.
"Please- Mr. Edelman, come sit," the man coaxed Julian by placing a comforting hand on his back. Julian stood from his crouched position and the tears stained his unusually bare cheeks. His usual scruff was absent. Julian sat in the cushioned chair across the desk from the doctor. His name was Doctor Carey, or that's what the golden name plate that sat on his wooden desk said anyway. Julian didn't want to believe that, or anything else they told him.
"We need you to tell us everything about Ms. Mara Abrams so we can start her therapy as soon as she wakes up."
"Her name is Mara Edelman," Julian mumbled. He didn't look Dr. Carey in the eyes. He looked just past him at all of the degrees on the wall. The white walls were adorned in degrees and recognitions, reassuring that Mara was in fact in the best hands possible.
"So you are married?" the large man said writing down the few words that Julian had spoken. Julian nodded slightly. His eyes were glassy from the tears he just shed, and anything could send them spilling out of his eyes again. The doctor looked up from his small pad of paper with apologetic eyes. His lips separated slightly before he began to speak again.
"Can you tell me the details of the accident?" Doctor Carey asked carefully. He didn't want to trigger any unneeded emotions but he needed the answers. Julian's mind flashed back to just hours ago after their big win against the Indianapolis Colts.
****
"You had such a good game," Mara said lovingly to her husband in the drivers seat. Her hand brushed past his cheek in wonder. Her soft hand sent a tingling down Julian's body. He was freshly shaven, despite it being playoffs. The man always grew his beard out for playoffs, but the petite woman begged him to shave it.
"Thanks Mara," Julian said shifting his gaze from his wife to the road. It was dark, but he could see the blue beauties glowing under the street lights as they drove through downtown Boston.
The couple was on their way to Danny's house to celebrate their upcoming Super Bowl trip with the rest of the New England Patriot's team. They had stayed at the stadium until the employees shut the lights off on the team but they weren't nearly done celebrating the extreme victory yet.
Mara placed her small hand on Julian's nearest leg to her and Julian clenched his jaw. "You know we are running late, but I could pull over and be just a few minutes later," Julian said stopping at the stop and go light that had just turned red. They were the first car at the light, with a large line behind them. Mara laughed innocently. The rest of the team was behind them.
"Just go," Mara said shoving her husband with the hand that she removed from his leg. Julian did as his wife told him and turned left at the still red light. "Julian!" The car was thrust into oncoming traffic and before Julian could stop the car another one was coming full force at them. He stuck his arm out to defend Mara from the colliding cars but his efforts were miniscule. Glass shattered everywhere in the wide receivers car.
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He awoke to his head resting against the steering wheel. "Mara! Mara!" he yelled trying to find his wife. She lay on the blacktop road approximately ten feet in front of the car. Julian began unbuckling so he could get to her. Paramedics rushed to him, to force him to stay sitting. They began examining him. "Don't help me, I'm fine. Help her!" Julian yelled hysterically. Traffic was completely stopped. The paramedics did as they were told and tended to the petite woman laying face down in the road. Julian began crying hysterically, what had he done. He couldn't bring himself to get up to see his wife, the guilt was too much. He saw a large figure coming his way. He could faintly see the face in the street lights. Tom Brady. The tall man was running, actually sprinting, toward his best friend. He didn't mind the glass or the blood that lay around his best wide receiver.
"Jules! Jules! Are you okay?" The man asked once he finally reached Julian. Julian's mouth couldn't form the words he wanted to say, he just stared at Tom with a blank expression. He looked back at Mara to see them loading her into an ambulance. Julian's mouth was dry and moved as if words were coming out, but he fell silent.
"Come on! I'll take you to her," Tom said coaxing the man out of the car. Julian felt weak. He needed to be with Mara, but the ambulance was packed with paramedics.
****
Julian paused once he finished telling the man what happened. "You really want her to remember that?" he looked up from his hands with a worried expression playing across her place.
"We want her to know everything. We will start with the basics, seeing how badly she had amnesia, we may not be able to recover her memories. They may have been lost when her head made contact with the blacktop," Dr. Carey said matter of factly.
"Then what? If you can't recover the memories than what happens?" Julian asked, holding back the lump in his throat.
