Life's Not Perfect, But It's Better Than The Alternative

Ch 11

Alex's P.O.V

"Who are you?" Amy asked, staring at me curiously. I gasped, she had lost her memory. I pulled her up, "come on, we need to get you to a doctor. Now." I tried to pull on her arm but she yanked it away angrily, "I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't even know you!"

I bit my lip, trying to keep the tears back, "Amy, don't you remember?" This stunned her, "I don't remember...anything. My name is Amy Camper. Today is my 17th birthday. Isn't it?"

I felt the tears leak out, that day was the day she learned about me, she had blocked me out of her entire life. I gently took her hand, "you're 18. You're living in New York City in your own apartment. You're engaged." She looked down at the hand I was holding to see the gold band with the modest diamond. The ring I had given her.

"To who?" She asked, shocked. I whispered quietly, "to me."

"But-, but I wasn't supposed to get married until I was at least 20. And if I am 18 like you say I am then there's no way my parents would agree to this!" She exclaimed, wrenching herself away from my grasp and backing away. I took a step forward, "Amy, you need to go to the hospital. They can help make you better."

She took a breath, "okay. Prove to me that all of this is true." I held out my hand. She took it.

When we got to the hospital I rushed her into the emergency room. I was pacing nervously as the doctor got the x-rays. She just sat idly on the table, "so who are you?" I felt my heart lurch as she said this. I pulled up a chair, "my name is Alex Dame. I am your fiance." I held up my left hand to show her the ring she had gotten me not that long ago.

"But like I said, my parents would never agree to this. They would keep me in the basement if it kept me away from guys and potential dates," she said surely. I sighed, hating to have to break this to her.

"On your 17Th birthday, over a year ago, you were coming home from your party. You and your friends sorted your presents, and they left. Then your parents had to tell you something. They broke it to you that you were supposed to be in an arranged marriage." She cut me off, "are you serious? Those things still exist?" I nodded, "and you were in one."

I continued, "you were furious. You ran away to your friends, Jay." She interrupted me again, "I remember her, she was one of my best friends. Where is she?" I scratched the back of my neck, "about six states to the west."

"But I would never leave Jay behind. She was like a sister, or a really good dog," this made me smile. No matter what happened to her, no matter how much she didn't remember, she would always be Amy. I explained everything that happened, from scaring the crap out of Nick, to Mira repeatedly making out with Dan, to the incident in the woods with the wolf, she had to see the scar for herself, further proof that what I said was true.

I told her her entire life from the time I knew her until six hours ago. She gasped when she learned we slept together...not a week ago. Thankfully the doctor came in with her x-rays. He put them on the light board thing. He pointed to a spot that meant nothing to me, "you've had a concussion for at least a week, if not more. Since you didn't get it checked out it affected your brain and resulted in the loss of your memory. I'm surprised it took you this long before something happened. I can't prescribe anything, the only advice I can give you is to keep her around familiar things or things that should be familiar."

I looked at him in disbelief, "because she fell off the swing and hit her head she now doesn't even remember the one she's engaged to! A bullet and a few miles of hiking couldn't take her down, not kidnappers, or high school pervs, but a freaking swing!" I started yelling, panic creeping into my voice, making it high pitched.

I looked away, closing my eyes. I tried not to cry as I realized what this meant, I might lose her just because of a stupid swing. I felt a hand on my arm, I looked up to see her, concern in her eyes.

"I may not remember you, or anything that might have happened between us, but I can see that you truly do care for me. I will go with you to where ever I am now living. But I want to see my family and my friends, okay?" I suddenly hugged her tightly, picking her up. She awkwardly patted my back, "okay, just because I agreed doesn't mean I want to be all touchy-feely, okay? Could you let me go now?"

I smiled, setting her down. I grabbed her bag, "come on, let's go home."

Thank god for GPS, I had no idea where we were going. We had took so many random turns not even Amy with her memory could find our way home. At last, after six hours of driving, we finally made it home. I sighed and called her parents as she explored her apartment, they didn't take the news very well and they would be here the next day. Jake and Ash came over with her turtle thing. I shook my head, "guys this is bad. Really bad."

They saw Amy, looking at her own things like she had never seen them before. She came up, "do I know them?" I nodded sadly, "they are a gay couple that live a few blocks down. Ashton, or Ash, and Jake." I re-introduced them, even though she was the one who had introduced us. She shook their hands, "nice to re-meet you. Now if you will excuse me I have some cabinets to raid. I saw a lot of snacks in there."

I suddenly realized how much she had grown while I was gone, she was mature, responsible, but still a kid inside, now all of that was gone. I shook my head, I just screw everything up when I'm around. When I popped into her life the first time she was upset, frightened, and oh-so stubborn. Now look at her, she is exactly the same, after over a year she is the same.

"What happened to her?" Ash asked. I ran my fingers through my hair, "a little over a week ago, she hit her hand falling off the tire swing. We didn't get it checked out because she said she felt fine. And now she's lost her memory. She forgot she was even 18."

She came in, "why do I have all of these snacks anyway?" I pointed to the sign, Amy's Daycare. She just stared at it, like she was mesmerized. After a minute she snapped out of it, "major dejah-voe." I stopped, "what?"

"I feel like I've been here before. Like I'm supposed to be here. But I can't remember," she explained. I got an idea, "come on." I said, grabbing her hand and dragging her with me.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To the beach," I replied simply.