Page 8 of Lost and Found

We’re sitting in silence when I start to hum. I don’t know what I’m humming, but a sense of familiarity washes over me. Dr. Reid looks at me. “Do you know what you’re humming?”

“No, but it feels…familiar if that makes any sense.” I probably sound crazy. I have amnesia, so how does something I’m humming feel familiar.

“That makes sense. It’s very common for amnesia patients to have moments that feel like déjà vu or familiar. Whatever you’re humming, is probably something you’ve heard before.”

I sigh heavily. I hate this feeling of being lost.

Dr. Reid takes my hand. “I know this has to be frustrating for you, but it will come back to you. Don’t stress over it right now.” His pager goes off and he looks down at it. “I’m sorry, but I have to go take care of this. I’ll swing back by later. If you need anything, just let one of the nurses know.”

“Okay, thank you,” I tell him. He smiles again before rushing out of the room. I stare at the door for a long time after he disappears. I hate to see him go. I don’t know why I feel so comfortable around him.

****

I fall asleep sometime after Dr. Reid left with the TV playing an episode ofFriends. When I wake up, the girl from earlier is sitting next to my bed reading a book. She looks up as if on cue. “Hey, you’re awake.”

I sit up slowly and she’s instantly by my side, helping me sit up. I can’t remember her, but I instantly feel like I can trust her, like she is someone I can rely on. “Thank you,” I tell her.

She smiles and sits lightly on the bed beside me. “I know right now you don’t know who I am, so I brought some pictures with me. I’m going to leave them here and whenever you feel like looking at them, you can.”

“Can we look at them now?” I ask. I would really like to remember something and who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and the pictures will trigger something. The girl gets off the bed and goes to the corner of the room, where a box is sitting and comes back. “What’s your name?”

She smiles, but I can tell it’s slightly forced. I know that I should know her name. I feel like I know her, but I’m just so confused. “Arden Hall. I’m a pediatrician. I just recently separated from my husband, Lawson, he’s an EMT and we have a son named Gideon, he likes to call you auntie. We grew up together and we’re more like sisters than friends.”

“I love his name.”

Arden smiles. “You helped me pick his name.” She lays the box between us and opens it. As she pulls out pictures, I see tons of us together over the years, and then some of me and a little boy who I assume is Gideon. She helps me look through them and every so often, I’ll ask about one and she explains what we were doing.

There’s one picture that’s older than the rest and in the picture, there are two little girls that look like they might be five-years-old. “What’s this one?”

“This one is from our first day of kindergarten. My mom took us because you’re great aunt had to be at work. This is just before we left. We were both so nervous, but once we got there, we found out we were in the same class. Everything turned out really great,” Arden tells me.

I let her words sink in. I roll them around my head trying to figure out where that memory is. Surely, I have one of that day. I can imagine it might be fuzzy after all these years, but it has to be there somewhere. I think of something. “What about my parents?”

Arden freezes. “What do you mean?”

“You said my great aunt had to work, and none of the pictures we’ve looked at so far have my parents in them.”

Arden takes a deep breath while taking one of my hands in hers. “Paige, your parents were killed in a convenience store robbery when you were a toddler. The only living relative you had was your great aunt, so she raised you. We lived across the street from one another growing up.”

Her words hit me like a wall of bricks. So, technically I have no one, or at least that’s how I feel. Apparently, I’m close to Arden, but I can’t remember her or anything about her. All I have are these few moments since I woke up. The frustration within me grows. I try to remind myself that Dr. Reid said it would take time to get everything back, but I want it now.

“I think that’s enough memory lane for today. I’m going to take a nap,” I tell Arden. She nods and collects the pictures, before placing them back in the box. I try to get comfortable, but it’s hard with Arden’s watchful eyes on me. I know she wants to help and I wish she could, but I don’t think there is anything that either of us can do.

Chapter Eight

Reid

The last couple of days have been tiring. I’ve had a couple of surgeries and multiple trips to the emergency room for head trauma-related accidents. Also, there’s Paige. She’s doing better physically. She was moved out of ICU yesterday and into a regular room. However, her amnesia is still there. Arden and I still haven’t told her about Codi and Corey and I am beginning to wonder if we should. I mean, this can’t go on forever.

I’m standing under the hot, steady stream of my shower when I hear my doorbell. I just got home from another long day at the office. I’m not sure who that could be, unless it’s my buddy, Derrick. Derrick Carter is a fellow doctor friend of mine. He’s a great guy to have around. He’s kind of like the class clown, he loves a good joke and it’s always fun to watch him flirt with women he knows he can’t get. I quickly grab my towel and wrap it around my waist, as I make my way to the front door. The doorbell rings again, three times fast, I pause. That doesn’t seem like something Derrick would do. There’s a possibility that Elena stopped by. I mean, we do that from time to time, but normally we check first, just because of how crazy our schedules are.

When I reach the door, I open it a crack and to say I’m shocked by the person standing on the other side of the door would be an understatement. Jonas, my older brother, is standing there with a smug look on his face. “It’s about time your lazy ass answered the door.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I ask him, as I take in his appearance. Jonas and I look nothing alike. I look like our father where Jonas resembles our mother and her side of the family.

“Well, is that any way to welcome your brother home?” he asks me, raising an eyebrow.

I shake my head and open the door for him to come in. “No, I’m sorry. You just caught me off guard. When did you get back?” Jonas is still active military and also a medic for them. What can I say, I guess we’re a medical type family?

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