Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Twenty

“Austin?”, he felt a hand gently brush against his arm as he peeled his eyes open only to be greeted by the white ceilings above him. He groaned in pain as he felt a throbbing, piercing pain on his head, chest and one of his legs.

His vision was a bit blurry as he tried to look around his surrounding, wincing from the pain he felt from his body. He noticed he was in an unfamiliar environment. With his vision slowly clearing up, he could make out two figures in the room, both were women.

“Where am I?”, he croaked out, his throat so dry like he hasn't quenched his thirst in quite some time. He felt a straw placed between his lips and he went on to pull the liquid from the glass into his mouth, instantly soothing his throat and he threw his head back onto the pillow again.

“You're at the hospital my darling. Don't you remember anything?”, he recognized the voice as his mother, who was stroking his cheek softly. Angie watched as he shook his head.

“What happened?”

“You were involved in a car accident honey”, the other woman besides him answered

Honey?

He furrowed his eyebrows at her reply before turning to look her direction. She wore a warm smile on her face as she caressed his hand softly. She didn't look familiar to him. There was a feeling that he probably knew her from somewhere, he thought about it for a second, but nothing came up.

Mira watched as Austin narrowed his eyes at her, thinking that he was still mad about the other night they had an argument. She felt guilty and blamed herself for the accident. If maybe she didn't act the way she did, he wouldn't have stormed out and got hurt.

He was still thinking of places where he might have seen her. Was she a relative he had forgotten about? Surely he could remember her if she was. He looked confused as he stared at her.

“Are you okay love?”, the woman asked. Her face didn't look familiar to him at all.

“Who are you?”, he finally asked and the other woman's jaw dropped in surprise

“What do you mean who am I?”, Mira laughed nervously, thinking he was joking, but he wasn't. He didn't know her. She quickly noticed the seriousness on his face, and she frowned before raising her eyes to look at her mother-in-law standing across her in bewilderment. The older woman was equally shocked at her son's question.

“Austin, darling?”, he turned to look at Angie. “What's the last thing you remember?”

He paused to think for a second before his eyes lit up in remembrance

“Abigail”, a smile played on his lips before it quickly disappeared as his eyes widened at the last piece of information he could recall. He just came back from work and found her letter on the table, finding out she had left him. Then he called his mother.

“I remember telling you Abigail was gone, and you hired that private investigator of yours. He told me he can't find her, like she's disappeared off the face of the earth or something. Then I drove around the city for months looking for her, hired a private investigator of my own, but I still couldn't find her and then,” he paused as he tried to patch up other events but nothing came up. It was pitch black.

“I can't remember”

The two women exchanged looks and then at him again, failing to find the next words to utter

“That's all you remember?”, Mira asked, failing to hide the disappointment in her voice. Her heart sank when he nodded his head.

“You don't remember who I am?”, she seeked confirmation, and he nodded his head again. A sob left her lips as she plopped down the chair next to her and started crying. He watched her in surprise before turning to his mother, who was also close to tears. To her, the nightmare had just begun all over again. Just when she was relieved her son was finding his feet away from Abigail's claws, he was going back again. She had to deal with his devastation and depression of not finding her again.