Just Keep Your Head Above

Cory woke up with no memory. She had pieces, fragments, but none of them made any sense. She remembered driving past palm trees, of course in California that didn't really define any place in particular. She remembered sirens and not being able to open her eyes all the way, being completely drained of life. She moaned shifting and looked around at the hospital room, there was a strange man standing over her with a lab coat and clip board.

"Hello Corazon, how are you doing?" The man asked, a low baritone voice that frightened her a little. She bit her lip and saw her legs under blankets that weren't hers and in a sterile room that didn't have pictures of her friends or family anywhere in sight. Her eyes began to water simply being afraid.

"I'm good, who are you?" She asked answering his question first to be polite and calming the tone of her voice, which was shaking beyond belief. She wanted to run, but she wasn't sure how fast her legs could take her. She wanted to scream, but she wasn't sure of how volatile this man is.

"I'm Dr. Stanton, you're at St. Luke's Medical Center in Tempe," The man said, his eyes revealing sympathy. This should've calmed her down, instead her shoulders tensed and she inched away from him tilting her head.

"No, no, where's Tempe? I was in Long Beach, not Tempe," She shook her head, her heart pounding against her chest. She shifted upwards moving her legs frivolously. "Where are my parents? I need to see my mom," She said tears beginning to cascade down her cheeks. She felt a pain in her side and winced moving back to a centered position. Meanwhile, Dr. Stanton's eyes grew wide and he tried to remain calm in front of her.

"Corazon, I can get your parents, they need to hear this," He said solemnly, slowly he walked across the room, poking his head out of cold room motioning towards things she couldn't see. She took in a deep breath when her mother and father walked into the room with her brothers and another boy she didn't know.

"Cory!" Her mother gushed rushing to the side of the bed, engulfing her into a giant hug. Cory clung on to her mother, tears still falling from her eyes. Cory was still in shock, where was Tempe? She clutched to her mother's cardigan making sure she was real. "Cory, we're so grateful you're alive. Thank God! And we brought a surprise," She said kissing Cory's forehead roughly before turning and revealing the boy she didn't recognize.

"Hey Core," He smirked, Cory furrowed her brows. She scanned him over and over there was something familiar about him, but she had no idea who he was. He came over to hug her instead she flinched backwards.

"Don't call me Core, I don't know who you are," She said not caring about how rude she was being. In her alarmed state, everything was sending her mind racing. The boy kept walking forwards, she kept backing up.

"Cory, it's me-it's Garrett, you know me," He replied, his eyes seemed hurt. She shook her head and looked at her mother with doe eyes, desperate for her to take action and get this creepy guy away from her.

"Please, get away from me, I don't know any Garretts," she shook her head, finally holding her knees to her chest. Everyone in the room was speechless and staring at her like she had three ears on her forehead. She looked at her mother, "Mom, where am I?" She cried, trying to wipe the tears away with her palm.

"Doctor? What's wrong with her?" Her mother asked, wrapping her arms around her protectively as the boy withdrew next to my brothers. Her oldest brother, Charlie, patted him on the back. She was so confused and she knew I was missing something just by the looks she was getting.

"Corazon, what's the last thing you remember?" Dr. Stanton asked, touching her head. Once he withdrew his hand she touched where he had touched and felt a gauze bandage making her cry more.

"Um, going surfing with Charlie, Mom and Dad getting mad at us because we were late for dinner... um... bits and pieces, they don't make any sense. Was I in a car wreck?" She thought hard just to remember anything. Everyone had the same puzzled look on their faces.

"And what date and year was that?" Dr. Stanton asked, after nodding and busily writing on his clipboard. The scratching sound seeming to be the only one in the room. She thought about it, summer was really hard to remember, but she thought about it processing and racking her mind for the answer.

"July 7th, 2006?" She guessed, knowing that it was 2006, she had just finished my sophomore year in high school. She looked over to the doctor and he shook his head, scribbling some more. I would've paid to see what he was writing instead she looked at her mother who clutched her tighter.

"Cool, Cory lost a chunk of her memory!" Her younger brother Chase, grinned with a look of amusement in his eyes. She rolled her eyes as Charlie hit in him the back of the head. "OW! What it is cool," Chase mumbled rubbing his head where he had been hit. Her jaw dropped at his idiocy.

"Mrs. Armstrong, I'm afraid the accident caused memory loss. The brain scan we did indicates she can still formulate memories. We're not sure if she'll ever get that memory back. She has the knowledge she learned in school, but memories are stored in a different part of the brain. This could be temporary... or," He said lowering his eyes from the contact he had with her mother.

"Or? Or what?" Her mother asked with tears in her eyes.

"Or it could be permanent, I'm sorry. The good news is that she can go home today. Corazon, we will need you to come back in once a week to make sure your concussion has healed as well as the lacerations," He nodded as if she didn't have a choice. She looked at dad nodding affirmatively along and knew she didn't.

The ride home from the hospital was awkward and silent. She sat next to the strange boy who had tried to hug her, he was starting to freak me out. She looked out the window, completely unfamiliar with all of her surroundings. It was honestly scary, like in family road trips driving through a town you were just passing through. So exotic even if there was some familiarity to it. Her father pulled the car up to driveway and they all got out, she saw a bright yellow car parked curbside, the corners of her lips turned up. It was a cute car.

Everyone hopped out and her mother and father hugged Garrett, this made her even more confused. Garrett turned to her and extended his hand, "I'm Garrett, nice to meet you Cory." He said looking pained as his voice sounded with hesitation and sadness pouring out. She smiled shyly and shook his head too.

"Nice to meet you Garrett," She said politely, he muttered something about seeing her around and hugged Charlie goodbye. This was weird because Charlie wasn't a hugger. She decided to wait until they were all in the house before she chased down Charlie in his room, "Charlie! Charlie!" She called out after him until he turned around, "who was that guy?"

"Uh," He said, taking a deep breath wondering how he was going to tell his baby sister what had happened with her life in the past two years. He opened the door wider, "Sit down," he ordered. She was curious and obeyed. He had answers she needed.

After he told her about the past two years. Things that had happened, them moving from California, he laughed at how much of a fit they put up. Him graduating and moving out and her starting her senior year. Lastly, he spoke of Garrett with particular fondness, after explaining the whole thing Cory's jaw dropped.

"So he was my boyfriend for the past two years basically?" She asked trying to comprehend why she had no memory. Surely if they were in love as everyone said they were, she'd remember him. She didn't even believe in love and he if could make her do it, she'd remember. This brought on a new skepticism about her life.

"Well, I mean, technically, he still is your boyfriend," Charlie said lifting his arms up that he had been resting on his knees. After sitting up straight she saw it, how much taller Charlie and Chase were. Charlie grabbed her hand and led her across the hall and showed her pictures, introducing her to people that she was smiling with. Sure enough there were pictures of Garrett and her littered everywhere, pictures of us kissing, smiling so hard. Their smiles weren't posed or faked, there was a radiance beaming from their lips. They looked so happy, they must have been.