“Please,” I pressed as my head fell back against my pillow. “I need to know why I’m lying in this bed with an entirely different life than what I think I have. I deserve to know, and you both should be the people to tell me. You’re my parents.”
“A car accident,” Mum suddenly said. “You were in a car accident.”
My eyes widened. “But I can’t drive . . . can I?”
“No, you can’t drive.” Dad scrubbed his face with his hands. “You were in the passenger seat of a taxi when the accident occurred. Black ice on the road caused the accident. The driver is fine.”
My head swam as I processed what my parents were saying. Questions seemed to pile on top of one another, but before I had a chance to ask one, another person ran into the room. A person who made my whole body respond with a jump.
“Elliot!”
My heart practically burst the second I clapped eyes on him, then an ache took root. My Elliot . . . he looked so different. To me, it felt like I had just seen him, but he wasn’t as I remembered him. His chocolate-brown hair that used to be neat all over was longer – shaggy atop of his head while tightly trimmed to the sides of his scalp. He had thick facial hair now and he seemed bulkier, but I wasn’t sure if it was weight he’d gained or muscle. He seemed so much bigger, his presence that of a grown man. He looked tired and just as shocked to see me as I was him, but what caught me off guard the most about him were his ocean-blue eyes.
They were no longer lit with a passion for life. They appeared dull, empty . . . dead.
It frightened me.
“Elliot,” I repeated. “Everything is so wrong.”
He took a step towards me but Anderson got in his way.
“She’s confused,” Anderson stated. “Don’t come in here and take advantage of my wife, McKenna. You know she doesn’t want you any more.”
I gasped, shocked to hear those words leave Anderson’s mouth.
“I don’t u-understand,” I stammered. “Anderson . . . what are you saying?”
“He isn’t in your life, baby,” he answered me without looking away from Elliot. “He’s a piece of shit and I won’t let him break your heart again.”
Again?
Anderson invaded Elliot’s space and shoved him backwards. He was tall, but Elliot had four or five inches on him and was so much broader than him. They looked close in age but Elliot just seemed bigger in every way compared to Anderson.
“No!” I shouted, panicked. “No! Please, Elliot. I don’t know this man!”
Anderson spun to face me; his face was void of colour. He looked like he was physically hurt by my words, and a sense of remorse washed over me. I didn’t know this man, and I didn’t understand any of what was being discussed, but he was defending me against Elliot. He believed Elliot was a threat of some kind to me and he clearly didn’t want me to get hurt, and because of that I felt somewhat of a connection to him.
“Noah,” said Anderson.
“I’m sorry,” I said to him hurriedly. “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to hurt you, I truly don’t. I just don’t know you – you’ll have to . . . you’ll have to give me some time because this is all too much and I can’t think.”
My head ached so badly I placed both hands on my temples and whimpered. My entire skull throbbed to the point where I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. The pain was so intense I felt as if I couldn’t breathe around it.
“Mr Riley, I think it’s best if you leave,” Doctor Abara said to Anderson. “This is entirely overwhelming for your wife – you must understand.”
I couldn’t concentrate on what the doctor was saying, I was busy breathing in and out to help the pain in my head. I was so glad the doctor had told him to leave because I didn’t think I could do it; he looked so upset and hurt that I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t want to cause any more pain.
“Should I leave too, Mrs Ainsley?”
My heart just about stopped. I forced my eyes open and focused on Elliot as the room began to sway. I noticed bodies behind him, a nurse and two men in uniform. Security would be my guess.
“Elliot,” I rasped. “Please don’t leave me.”
I was sure I wanted Anderson to leave just so I could have a moment to try to sort out what was happening in my head, but I needed Elliot to stay. Even though he looked very different from how I remembered, he was familiar to me and I needed that at the moment. I needed something, someone, that I knew. I needed my rock.
Elliot closed his eyes as he clenched his hands into fists. To Anderson he said, “She wants me to stay, so I’m stayin’.”
“She’s my wife,” Anderson replied. “She’ll remember why I’m her husband and not you soon enough!”
I watched the interaction between them and I felt the loathing they had for one another. It wasn’t simply dislike; it was raw hate, and it was clearly felt by both of them with a passion.
“Until then, I’m stayin’ right here.” Elliot slowly turned his head and glared at Anderson. “You’re upsettin’ her by being here, so leave. Now.”
Anderson turned to me one final time, looking like he had a million things to say, before he left the room with the two security guards following behind. I watched him go, and part of me felt horrible and cruel. I had no memory of this man, but he knew me as his wife. I had no idea what was going through his head and I selfishly didn’t want to know, because I
