If You Forget | ✓

Chapter 15

I look through the window of the cottage, watching the officers put my parents in the back of a police car, and then drive away. As if on cue, one siren is replaced with another when the ambulance arrives, and a few technicians soon join us in the room, only to put Chris on a stretcher and carefully carry him back downstairs. Officer Jones reluctantly follows them, leaving me alone with a disappointed Officer Marsh.

"I'm sorry for not trusting you from the start, Elainne," he says after a long silence. "I really thought they were the good guys. Since the day you disappeared, they were trying to get us to search for you two, even joined our search parties and kept in touch with us every day. We all believed they were good people. Now I see that was probably just a part of their plot to lead us astray."

I'm not sure what part of his words does it, but something breaks a dam inside of me, and the tears roll down my face again. I sniff into my sleeve while the officer awkwardly stands by my side.

My tears subdue a bit only after he gives me a short pat on the back. "Look, kiddo, you have to believe in what you said to your friend. You two are safe now. We'll all try our best to keep it that way."

***

The hospital hallway stretches far and wide ahead of us. I feel as if I'm pushed back through time, to the days when I was recovering in this same place. Officer Marsh is waiting with me in front of the hospital room where Chris is slowly coming back to his senses. The doctor is inside, and I can't help but fear that he'll suddenly walk out and relay some bad news to us.

I shiver as two sets of footsteps echo in the hallway, headed in our direction. I look up and see his parents running over to us, with a mixture of panic and relief written all over their faces.

"Elainne!" Jia Zhou rushes to my side, grabbing my shoulders. "Elainne! What happened? How is he? Will he be alright?" She fires out question after question, and I don't even have the time to answer before the door of Chris's room open and the doctor walks out.

"Are you the patient's family?" he asks the three of us, skipping the officer who's still in his recognizable police uniform. His parents nod urgently, and from the edge of my consciousness I find myself nodding too, even though I don't know why. "You can go inside to see him now, but I wouldn't advise spending too much time with him. It would be the best for him to rest." With those words, he promptly leaves us all in the hallway.

"Elainne," the officer's voice snaps me out of my thoughts, "do you want to head inside first? I'd like to tell his parents what happened first."

I look at the couple, and despite their impatient expressions, they silently agree. My hands tremble as I grab the door's handle, hesitating for a slight second before heading in.

The first thing I see is Chris, laying in his bed and staring at the ceiling. His eyes open and close slowly, revealing just how tired he is. I close the door behind me, and his head turns in my direction. He smiles, but I can't ignore the weary look of his face.

Tears well in my eyes as I run up to his bed, trying to hug him without moving his IV. We stay like that for a few minutes, my tears damping his hospital gown.

"I'm sorry," I finally murmur in his shoulder. "This is all my fault."

"Hey," he whispers, rubbing my back as I cry, "you saved my life."

"But I'm the one who put it in danger in the first place."

He pats my back lightly. "It's okay. It's not your fault."

"How are you feeling?" I ask him and put some distance between us, giving him some space as I wipe my tears.

"I'm better now that the drugs are wearing out," he replies, slumping deeper into his hospital bed.

"What even happened back there in the cottage?" I finally ask, since the time I spent with Officer Marsh was mostly full of awkward silence.

"Oh, I actually woke up in the meantime. You know, when police was already there and trying to stop your parents. It took a bit for my brain to start working again, but when I figured out your mother was the one holding me, I just swung my head back as hard as I could and hit her."

I stare at him dumbfounded. "That's actually impressive. Especially considering how weak you are."

"I mean, I'm pretty sure it hurt me more than it did her," he says with a tint of amusement in his voice. "But I hope I broke her nose or something." I chuckle at his ever the same joking tone, but it doesn't last for long.

"Did they-did they hurt you?"

"No, only kept me unconscious. Except when they gave me some food. To be honest, I was just sleeping most of the time." He giggles weakly, trying to lighten up the mood again, but I don't join him this time. "What happened to you?"

I take a deep breath, and then tell him the entire story, leaving nothing out for the first time.

After a minute of deadly silence, he finally speaks. "Elainne... you're freaking brilliant, you know that?"

"I was just very lucky," I murmur. "If I had less luck and didn't rely on some wild guesses, I would probably still be stuck with them." I freeze at my own words, slowly realizing just how true that actually is. I had a lot of luck because every clue was still in its place. If at least one tiny element of the equation was changed in the meantime, I would've never found the flash drive and gotten my memories back.

"No, no, you're both lucky and brilliant, okay? I always told you you should become a detective," he teases.

I burst into laughter when I hear the door behind me open. I turn around, only to see his parents rushing in.

"Chris!" Jia yells and runs to his son's side. My heart clenches when I look at them, and I shift my gaze onto the worn out floor beneath me.

"I'm really sorry," I tell them, but I don't dare to look at their worried faces.

A hand reaches my shoulder and pats it gently. "This isn't your fault," Logan answers. "We noticed something wasn't quite right about your parents, but we weren't sure what to do. They seemed just as desperate as us."

I flinch when two arms suddenly wrap around me, enveloping me in a firm, but warm hug. "Thank you for saving his life," his mother sobs into my shoulder. Reluctantly, I return the hug. She's only a couple of inches shorter than me, but her hug makes me feel so much smaller in her arms.

After a minute, I awkwardly pull away and point towards the door. "I'll go outside and give you some privacy."

They don't argue, only nod and turn all their attention back to their son. I head towards the door, but stop when I grab the handle, turning around to look at them again. Chris isn't looking at me anymore, completely occupied by his parents who see nothing but him now.

With a painful pang in my chest, I realize that's what a family should be like—happy, united, supporting each other with nothing but love and good intentions in their hearts.

I think about those first days when I returned home, clouded by an illusion. I, too, had that, if only for a short while. But if everything was a lie, can I even call it a family?

With a corner of his eye, Chris glances at me, then locks his gaze with mine and gives me one of his flashy, but adorable smiles.

I smile back at him, then open the door and walk out.

***

Ahhhh we're here! There's only the epilogue left (will be out tomorrow) and I can't believe we're so close to the end! Now I need to go and prepare my tissues, see you tomorrow--

Nina <3