© Copyright 2007 by More Than Novellas

Kathleen
December 30, 2006
katigirl55@hotmail.com

The darkness was slowly fading but the pain returned and caused her to groan. Where am I, she wanted to cry, but her voice would not obey. What’s happening? She slowly opened her eyes but a light blinded her and she had to shut them again.

Memories flooded her mind, a nice red car and wind blowing through her hair. Tires screeching as everything went black and a painful jolt pressed her against the back of her seat. She felt weightless, like she was flying. Glass was breaking as her car fell and her head slammed into the steering wheel.

She awoke with a scream and sat up, grabbing at blankets that had been covering her. Dizziness took a hold of her and she felt herself swaying, I’m going to die! Someone help me! Arms took a hold of her and slowly laid her back down on the pillow.

“It’s alright just calm down,” a female voice said. “You’re going to be fine, just fine. Do you remember what happened, Lizzie? Can you hear me? Try to rest, your parents are on their way and everything’s going to be fine.”

She saw a shadow moving and felt something rub the inside of her elbow. Seconds later something sharp was put in her arm and sleep slowly took a hold of her.

What is that? It smells so familiar, so... right. She opened her eyes and willed herself to wake up. A nice looking woman came up and started crying as she reached down to take a hold of Lizzie’s hand.

“Hi, honey. How are you?” She repeated her question when Lizzie just looked at her in confusion. “How are you, Lizzie?” She leaned in closer and laid a hand on the young ladies brow, feeling for fever.

“Who are you,” Lizzie finally croaked out. The woman stood as shock filled her eyes.

“Frank!” she called. “Frank, come quickly she’s awake!” A man came up and stood beside the woman. It took Lizzie a while to focus on his face but when she did she saw the man smile kindly.

“Who are you,” she asked again. The hold on her hand tightened as Frank turned around and called to the doctor.

“She doesn’t remember us, Doc. What’s happened?” He asked a man in a bright white jacket. “Amnesia is a common side effect of head injuries. It appears that she’s suffering from a severe concussion.”

Sarah
January 30, 2007
baughmanks@gmail.com

Lizzie sighed as she looked down at her journal. The doctor suggested she start writing in one, to help her keep track of what people told her. Frank was apparently her father, Bethany her mother. She had two brothers who were older, and a sister who was younger. They all lived in another state, she had forgotten to write it down. A whole family who seemed to love her, who prayed for her constantly. A whole family she could not remember.

Jan
April 10, 2007
cjones006@stny.rr.com

Lizzie slowly walked out of her hospital room, down the hall heading for the solarium. In such deep thought she appeared dazed to any one else who was around. For the past several weeks she had been healing from her physical injuries due to the accident. Just minutes ago Dr. Bannock had stopped in her room while making his hospital rounds.

“Lizzie, I just looked at all the x-rays that we took yesterday. Everything looks great and I think that you are ready to go home.”

But where was home. Maybe physically she was healed but emotionally and psychologically she was far from it. In her hands Lizzie carried the journal that she had been writing in for the last few days. On several pages were notes that she had jotted down from information people had been telling her about her past life.

“Is this what my life is reduced to? Just a few lines scribbled down on blank pages?” Lizzie’s head began to hurt as she tried to make some sense of it all.

She walked into the solarium, looked around and was relieved to see that no one else was there. Lizzie chose the couch that was closest to the window. When she first sat down the couch seemed to enfold her in its bulkiness. She took some comfort in that. After a couple minutes she leaned forward so that she could see out the window. As she looked out she could see the city traffic below. Her body gave an involuntary shuddered as if she were chilled even though the room was warmed by the sun that was streaming in through the windows.

For the past several weeks her life had consisted of just the four walls of her hospital room. Now the doctor said that she was ready to leave.

“I’m supposedly ready to go out there,” Lizzie thought as she looked out over the vast city. That thought frightened her almost beyond her control. She leaned back into the couch again. As she snuggled into the corner it felt as if someone had wrapped their arms around her. It gave her a start and she began to turn around to see if someone was there. She didn’t know if she believed in angels or in God but she instantly felt that there was a gentle spirit there with her giving her strength. Lizzie picked up the journal and gingerly opened it. Because of the amnesia her past was like a dark room that she was trying to enter. The doctors and her family had tried to fill her in on what her life had been like before the accident but it was as it they were talking about someone else. She was hoping that these words would give her even a little flicker into her prior life.

“For the past five years you have lived in Charleston, West Virginia,” her mother had told her. “You have been the department manager for a large retail store.”

The picture that they had shown her on the West Virginia license resembled the image that she saw in the mirror. Her hair was much shorter now because of the surgery that had to be done stitch up the gashes on her head she’d gotten in the accident. The bruises on her face were fading enough to be pretty well convinced that the picture was of her. Tucked in the binding of the journal were a few other pictures that her parents had given to her. Actually they had brought several picture albums but the quantity of them were more that she could handle. She finally accepted some carefully chosen pictures. She stared at a girl with strawberry-blonde hair and hazel eyes. When Lizzie looked at her had no recollection of who that person really was. Lizzie looked at a few scribbled words on the first page. She read the words “Johnstown, Pennsylvania”.

“When you are ready to leave here we want you to come home with us to Pennsylvania. At least until you get your memory back,” her father had told her yesterday as he gently held her hand. That would be okay if she knew that it would only be for a limited time. However, no one could tell her how long the amnesia would last. Also, even though these people who said they were her family had been very kind and loving to her they were virtual strangers.

She glanced down again and read the words “Charleston, West Virginia”. The address on the driver’s license had read 2475 W. Meadow Drive, Charleston, WV. Lizzie thought that maybe it would be better to go back to where she had been living before the accident. She was hopeful that it would jog her memory and she would be able to get her life back.

27 years old. Her parents had said that her birthday was June 16, 1980 and the license had confirmed that. She had lost the memory of 27 years.

“Will I ever be able to remember even a year ago?” Lizzie wondered as she swallowed a deep sigh.

“I was a department manager in a large store that belonged to a national chain. How hard could it be to get back into that line of work?” Lizzie thought to herself. She needed to start somewhere and that seemed like the best place to start. If she didn't get her memory back she as least could begin again.

Elizabeth Delayne
April 24, 2007
lizdelayne@hotmail.com

Jake Ferris stared at the familiar blue sedan and tried to form a rational thought. It was Amber’s car. From the familiar, faded, Relay for Life bumper sticker on the back, to the dangling beads and cross over the mirror. It was her car.

His hand trembled around his cell phone. He couldn’t call Anna and Reid. Not yet. Not until he had some control. Her parent’s were desperate. They gone after every call, every trace, had traveled to her old hangouts, until Anna had been hospitalized because of stress.

Amber loved to drive. She loved to travel. She might have changed course, just to see something new ... but she wouldn’t worry her parents. Not intentionally

She just happened to get lost. A lot.

It was is fault Amber had taken off to work with her uncle. She’d started out from her parent’s West Virginia home, headed for South Carolina. She would have easily gotten off track.

But clear into Virginia?

He watched as the police searched through the car, looking for evidence. They’d told him to stay back. Stay away.

But it was trouble.

There was a dent in the front bumper of the car, where it had obviously crashed. The police had earmarked a tree closer to the back highway, they’d walked from. The car had been driven back here, discovered only a few days ago by some hunters.

She could be anywhere. Her body abandoned. Locked somewhere with a ...

He closed his eyes. He couldn’t go there. Not yet. Not until there was some hope.

He prayed, searching for calm. She was safe. He had to believe she was safe.

Please ... protect her.

And when he found her, they would get around to the life he had planned to have ... before he’d thought himself lost. Before he’d stepped away from his childhood love, gone to New York, thought he’d eventually find something more.

“Looks like we have some handwritten directions out here,” one of the deputies called out.

When he started to step forward, Jake was motioned back. Two of the deputies looked over the list for a few minutes before calling something in and bagging the paper, without showing it to him.

Jake flipped open his phone. It was time to call Reid.

Jan
April 24, 2007
cjones006@stny.rr.com

“Reid, this is Jake.”

“Where are you son? We have been so anxious to hear from you that several times I've picked up the phone to call you. But you told us you would call us when you had some news…” Reid paused for what seemed several minutes. “Did you find her Jake? Tell me you found her safe!”

Jake hated to tell Reid about the abandoned car. It wasn’t really going to be any comfort to Reid or Annie. In fact now they would really think that Amber was in physical danger.

“Why would she have gone to central Virginia? She should have followed I-77 straight south and it would have taken her within five miles of my brother Richard’s house.”

Jake refrained from telling Reid all the details of how far off the road Amber’s car was.

“I have been wondering that too. The only thing that I can think of is that for some reason she got on I-81 that heads north and realized she had taken the wrong exit. Maybe she got off to find some place to eat and stay the night,” Jake replied trying to sound as positive as he could. “The police are here and are going over her car with a ‘fine toothed-comb’. I’m sure that they will be able to give us some clue as to why she left her car and possibly where she is now.”

As Jake was talking to Reid he could hear a truck coming down the highway. One of the deputies walked out so that he could be seen from the road. Soon a wrecker pulled down into the grove of trees parking a ways from Amber’s car.

“Listen, Reid, it looks like they are about done here so I am going to try to talk to the police. I will call you again as soon as I have some other news for you.”

“Okay, Jake. Thanks and we will be praying for you as well as for Amber. In fact tomorrow night the church is going to have a full night of prayer on Amber’s behalf. We know that there is power in prayer and we are going to tap into the power. Bye son.”

“Can you follow us down to headquarters?” one of the deputies walked over and asked Jake. “We have some questions we want to ask you.”

Before they had walked to their cars to leave a CSI unit came into the tree grove and staked out the area around Amber’s car.

“Hopefully those hunters didn’t destroy too much evidence,” he heard one of the CSI team say.

Reid’s heart was so heavy as he watched them begin to scavenge the area. He did not want to think the worst but he couldn’t help it when right now things looked so hopeless.

One of the team members looked over at him and said; “We’ll do all that we can.”

With that Jake turned around and followed the deputies back to the highway.

Elizabeth Delayne
April 24, 2007
lizdelayne@hotmail.com

* * *

Lizzie stared into the mirror. She was in her old bedroom, decorated in white lace and old furniture. She ran her fingertips over the glass as she stared at the unfamiliar face. Why couldn't she remember?

Apparently, she'd been gone to the city for a few years ... maybe that's why her room wasn't bringing back memories.

She needed to talk her parents into taking her back. But they were hesitant to do so right now, so worried about her. She was still weak, they said. She had given them a frightful scare.

People had been stopping by all day, telling her stories, exclaiming how much she had grown up. A high school friend, a few neighbors, a few of her parent's friends ...

She’d had a great life, she thought bitterly. She’d dropped out of high school, run off to a city in another place and another state, away from her home, her family. She just didn’t understand why.

She sat back on the frilly bed and tugged the old teddy bear in her arms. She felt lonely. She'd felt alone all day.

Lost...without her memories.

Jan
April 25, 2007
cjones006@stny.rr.com

* * *

“Hello, have I reached the Reagles?”

“Yes you have. May I ask who is calling?” Bethany asked as she heard the male voice on the other end of the line.

“This is Michael Cole. I worked with Lizzie at the department store. Rick, the store manager, gave me your number and said he thought it would be okay if I called. I am wondering how Lizzie is doing.”

“Well, Mr. Cole, physically Lizzie is doing great,” Bethany replied. “She seems to have healed from most of her injuries. She still does not have all her strength back but she is improving everyday.”

“Michael – please call me Michael, Mrs. Reagle. I’m glad to hear that Lizzie is healing but... how is her memory? Has she been able to remember much yet?” Michael asked, almost crossing his fingers as he hoped for the best.

“Lizzie doesn’t seem to have remembered anything yet. She is very cordial and polite but you can tell that she doesn’t really feel any connection to any of us.” Bethany continued, “We have asked a few people to stop by that Lizzie knew in the past. We were hoping that they would spark something in her memory. But nothing.” Bethany voice began to sound a little defeated.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Michael’s shoulders began to slump as he heard the news. “I know that this has to be difficult for you." He paused and then slowly continued, "Mrs. Reagle, I was hoping that I could come to PA and visit Lizzie. You see, Lizzie and I actually dated some before her accident. In fact, I felt that we were beginning to get serious.”

“I don’t believe that Lizzie ever mentioned you, Mr. Cole. I’m not sure it would be a good idea to introduce another person in her life right now. She seems to be having difficulty dealing with those that she has already met. In fact, she seems to be withdrawing. I don’t want anything to happen to make that worse. Besides that, we don’t know you, and even though I hope you are trustworthy, we don’t know that for sure.”

Michael’s spirit dropped. He had been hoping that he could see Lizzie and that she would feel that closeness that they had begun to develop with each other. He had been praying that the Lord would show him what to do to help Lizzie regain her memory.

“I understand how you feel, Mrs. Reagle,” Michael stated. “I can give you references to check on whom I am and you wouldn’t even have to tell Lizzie that she knew me recently. You could just introduce me as someone who knew her,” Michael said almost pleading with Lizzie’s mother.

Bethany could hear the desperation in the young man’s voice and she almost agreed right then but she hesitated saying, “Listen, Michael, I will talk to my husband about this and we will also pray about it. Why don’t you call us back in a couple of days? I would have loved to have told you that Lizzie had regained her memory but right now she is lost to us. So give us a few days and then call back.”

Elizabeth Delayne
April 24, 2007
lizdelayne@hotmail.com

"Mom?"

Lizzie stepped into the room as her mother hung up the phone. The kitchen, part of the house she'd apparently grown up in, still had no familiar memories for her. Even her mother, seemed distant and remote.

Funny--she had the same hair, nose of the girl in the family photographs. People told her how much she'd grown into her body, how she'd matured. She was Lizzie. Everyone said so.

But she didn't feel the connection.

She waited until Bethany looked at her. "Who was that?"

"No one."

"Someone I never mentioned?"

"You're very vulnerable right now, Lizzie."

She choked back a laugh. "Because I don't remember anything?"

"Because someone, anyone could be taking advantage of you."

Lizzie watched as Bethany walked from the kitchen.

She was vulnerable. Anyone could take advantage of her.

Anyone at all.

Jan
April 25, 2007
cjones006@stny.rr.com

* * *

A faint light shown under the door and the two windows that were in the room looked outlined in light but everything else was in darkness. The bed that she had been sleeping in was comfortable and warm. She remembered being cold and very cold and the warmth was some what comforting. She realized, though, that she wasn’t in her own bed; not even in her own home.

She began to recall the events that led her up to this point.

“That billboard advertising Henricus Historical Park in Chesterfield County, Virginia sparked my interest,” she recalled. Looking at the map she didn’t think that it would be that far of a detour and she was making good time. Henricus Historical Park was the area where Pocahontas grew up. After watching the movie POCAHONTAS when she was little, she always pretended that she was her. It would be fun to able to see the place where Pocahontas grew up.

“I got off I-77 at Covington and got onto I-64. I guess that I misjudged the miles because it was taking me longer than I thought.”

She remembered looking at her gas gage and deciding that she would stop to get gas, something to eat, and even stop for the night because it was beginning to get dark. There was no sense in driving clear on to the Park because it would be closed by the time she got there anyway. She would see it tomorrow.

“There was something in the road and I swerved to miss it but went too far off the side of the road. I remember hitting that tree. I don’t think that I hit it very hard but I must have hit it hard enough to bump my head on the steering wheel. I think I must have passed out for at least a couple minutes because the next thing I remember is that lady asking me if I was okay.”

“I think that I am okay. I’m just cold, really cold,” she remembered saying.

The woman told her that she needed be looked at and that her house was just down the road. They would go there and if it looked like she needed to go to the hospital then she would take her.

“I walked with her back up onto the road and got into her car. Then I remembered that I had left my purse, cell phone and keys in my car.”

“You just sit hear, dear, I’ll get them for you,” she recalled the lady saying. It seemed like it took a couple minutes for the lady to return.

“When we got to the house Hazel, …that’s right, that’s her name,… fixed me some hot tea, looked at my head. She told me that she thought all that I needed was a good nights rest. She had an extra room and I could stay there for the night” she recalled the events.

“All of a sudden I was so tired that I could hardly keep my eyes open so Hazel led me into a room and onto a bed. She helped me get my shoes off and covered me with a warm, heavy comforter.” That’s all she remembered until now.

She got off the bed, walked over to the door and turned the knob. The door would not open. It acted like it was stuck. She pulled on it but the door did not budge.

“Hazel, Hazel! I think that the door is stuck. I can’t get out.” She waited but didn’t hear any response.

She yelled again, louder this time. “HAZEL! I can’t get out of the room. The door is stuck!” Again she waited but there was no response.

There was a light switch by the door. She switched it on but nothing happened. The room remained dark.

She began to panic a little. She walked over to one of the windows and put up the shade. Still no light came in the window. There were shutters closed over it on the outside. She tried to push the window up but it appeared to be painted shut.

Now she did panic.

“Where am I?...Oh, Lord,” she began as tears filled her eyes and a great sob rose out of her chest. “Help me!”


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