PART 3 – CHAPTER 140
JESS
The campus felt like a ghost town, and I was the ghost haunting it. Familiar, yet foreign.
It’s been a month since I woke up in the hospital with a blank slate where my memories should be.
A whole month, and I still didn’t know who I was–at least not in the way that mattered. I didn’t remember people. Faces, names, the ones I was supposed to love all of them were missing.
Yet, somehow, I knew I liked salt over sweet, preferred summer to winter, and I could still remember how to solve equations or where the states were on a map.
But faces? They were blurry. Names felt like smoke, slipping through my fingers every time I tried to grab hold.
According to the doctors, the part of my brain that got injured was where I stored memories of people–people I cared about. They kept telling me to stay hopeful, that things might come back, but I wasn’t so sure. Every day that passed, it felt like h would never get them back.
College seemed like the only escape from it. Nobody here knew me, at least not personally. I wasn’t disappointing anyone by not remembering. I wasn’t seeing that flicker of hurt every time I failed to recognize a face.
I’d see it in my parents‘ eyes, brother Josh’s, and even Luke’s-
PART 3 CHAPTER 140
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though he barely looked at me. His face was cold and distant like he’d already given up on me.
That hurt more than I expected it to.
“Okay, honey. You sure about this?” My mom’s voice brought me back to the present. She was watching me with the same worried look she’d worn every day since I woke up. Her face- God, I wished I could just remember something about it, something that didn’t feel forced.
“Yup,” I said, offering a smile I hoped looked more confident than I felt. “I wrote all the exams. The information’s still in my head, so I think I’ll catch up fine.” I tried to sound positive like I had it all under control. I didn’t, but I couldn’t let her know that.
“Okay. We’ll check in every week, alright?” My dad’s deep voice came from the driver’s seat. He hadn’t said much during the ride, and honestly, I was thankful for that. I wasn’t sure I could handle more questions or forced conversations.
“Sure.” I nodded, grabbing my bag–an overnight one, the only thing I had with me at the hospital. The rest was still locked away in my dorm room, a place I hadn’t set foot in since the accident.
According to Josh, when it happened, I had flown out to see Luke play one of his football games. I fell, hit my head, and the rest was history–literally. Josh filled in most of the blanks, telling me about our relationship, our family, and who my friends were. But Laura, my best friend, had been the one to fill in the important details.
Luke, though…I didn’t need memories to know why I’d been with him. He was the type of guy that would make any girl fall – hard.
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Tall, built like a god, with a face that could charm the devil himself. But when he did talk to me, his voice was cold, and his face unreadable.
Maybe I was a stranger to him now, just like I was to everyone else.
What confused me was what Laura had said about us. If any of it was true, why was he being so distant?
He left. Didn’t even say goodbye. Josh had relayed the message, explaining that Luke thought it would be easier that way. When Josh told me, it felt like something in my chest cracked open, and for reasons I couldn’t explain, it hurt. I didn’t know why–hell, I didn’t even know him anymore–but it did.
! pulled my bag up to my dorm building, forcing myself not to dwell on it.
By the time I reached the third floor, my legs felt like lead. I had to pull up a campus map just to remember where my dorm was -how ridiculous is that?-but I found it eventually. Room 312. My room and the girl I shared it with, Sofie.
Yeah – don’t remember her either.
I paused in front of the door, staring at the knob like it held all the answers I couldn’t remember. This is your room. You don’t need to knock, I told myself, but for some reason, I hesitated.
With a huff, I gripped the handle and twisted. “Fucking ridiculous,” I muttered under my breath as I shoved the door open.
Before I could step inside, a deep voice rumbled behind me.
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PART 3 – CHAPTER 140
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“Well, well, look who’s still breathing.”
I froze, my heart jumping in my chest as I turned. Standing in the hallway was a guy. Tall, blond, and broad, with dimples that would’ve been cute if he didn’t look so pissed off. His arms
were folded across his chest, muscles bulging beneath his shirt, and his face was set in a hard line.
He was mad. At me.
I blinked, staring at him like I might suddenly remember who he was, but nothing came. Just blankness. “I–uh–what?”
“You heard me,” he said, stepping closer, his voice dropping low. “Nice of you to respond to any of my texts and just let me know you are alive, Jessica.”
The text message… that was him..
