Remember Me.

“Higher Jacky!” she said. I could see the image of a young girl flying back at me. I reached my arms out and pushed her forward with all my might. She laughed as she went soaring forward, with her hands tightly clenched to the chains on the swing.

“Should I jump?” she said as she came flying back towards me.

“Do it!” I laughed. My voice sounded younger…

The girl flew off the swing and was sent soaring into the air. She seemed to linger there for a minute before she came back down to earth. She landed on her feet, but lost her footing and fell forward on her face. I ran up to her.

“Are you okay…?” I thought I said her name, but when it came out, it sounded garbled. The girl stood up and brushed off her pants and turned around to face me.

“I’m okay Jacky. You should do that; it’s so much fun!” she giggled. She had short black hair that came down to her chin, a round face, and deep blue eyes hidden behind silver wire-rimmed glasses.

“I don’t want to. I’m scared.” I said. The girl hugged me.

“You’re such a scaredy-cat, Jacky!” she smiled. I pushed her away playfully.

“Am not!” I giggled.

I smiled in my sleep, and rolled over. I felt someone poking me on the cheek. I swatted the air randomly and groaned.

“Jacky, wake the fuck up! We have to get a move on!” I heard Jackie shouting. I opened my eyes in time to see a pillow flying right into my face. I sat up. Jackie handed me a glass of juice.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip. I looked at her. She was wearing an Escape the Fate shirt and jeans. Her glasses were missing and her hair was pulled back.

“Okay, get dressed! I just got back from putting gas in my car. I also called a tow truck to get that heap back to the airport.” she said.

I threw the blankets off of me and stood up. I set the glass on the table and grabbed my phone and disconnected it from the charger. I had one text from Ronnie.

Where are you? The meeting has been postponed til next week. The message said. After grabbing my toothbrush out of my bag, I went into the bathroom and called Ronnie.

“Where are you?” Ronnie answered. I turned the water on and put toothpaste on my toothbrush.

“I'm in Oregon. My plane got delayed, and I thought I could drive... but the car broke down.” I said, putting the toothbrush in my mouth.

Lame! How are you getting back? By bus?” Ronnie asked.

“No, I'm getting a ride from this girl I met. She's so sweet... and she's British.” I said, spitting into the sink.

“Nice. Just don't get raped!” he said, laughing.

“Yeah yeah yeah... I won't. But anyway, I have to go. Jackie wants to get on the road.” I said.

“Did you just refer to yourself in third person?” Ronnie asked.

“No! The girl. Her name is Jackie.” I laughed.

“Oh! Okay then... that's weird. Well, see you soon. Get back safely.” Ronnie said and hung up.

I walked out of the bathroom and went into the living room and put my shoes on. Jackie was sitting at the table in the kitchen with a cigarette in one hand, and a map in the other.

“Ready to go?” I asked her. She looked up.

“Yeah, just about. I'm trying to map out the best way out of the city.” She replied, snubbing out her cigarette in the ashtray beside her.

“My phone can navigate, sweetie.” I said, holding up my phone.

“Oh, well... Okay then. Let's get out of here.” Jackie said, standing up. I grabbed my bag and guitar and followed her out the door. We got in the car and started driving. Jackie played with her ipod for a bit, then settled on a band I had never heard of before.

“Who's this?” I asked. “I like it...”

“Oh, it's The Rasmus. They're from Finland. I heard about them while living there as a teenager.” she said.

“You lived in Finland?” I said. “That's so cool. How old were you when you moved there?”

“I have no idea. I don't even remember leaving London.” Jackie said. “My mum told me I had an accident and I've never fully recovered my memories from my childhood.”

“Do you know what happened?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

“She said I fell and hit my head or something. That's why I have this scar.” she said, tracing the scar on her head. “I wish I did remember... I can recall my friend coming to see me, and not knowing who he was. He was hurt, and I haven't seen him since then.”

“I had that happen. I went to see her, and she started screaming at me and her dad came in and took me out of the room and told me to stay away.” I said looking at my lap.

“My mum told me that the boy's name was Jack.” She said.

I looked up and stared at her. It couldn't be...
The memory came back to me in an instant.

We were about ten years old and we were playing at the local park. We were chasing each other around the jungle gym, just being kids.

“I'm going to get you for that, Jackie!” I shouted. “I am not a scaredy-cat!”

“You are too!” she giggled. “Jack is a fraidy cat! A fraidy cat!” she taunted. She ran up the jungle gym all the way to the top. I climbed up after her. I grabbed her leg and she jumped, and fell backwards, hitting her head on the bar on her way down. She hit the ground and didn't move. I quickly climbed down from the jungle gym and went to her. Her head was bleeding badly. Blood was oozing out, clotting in in her hair. I screamed and screamed. I put my hand on her face. The blood felt warm on my skin. I started crying.

“Jackie! No! Wake up!” I screamed. By that time, Jackie's mother was running towards us. My dad wasn't too far behind. My dad grabbed my waist and pulled me up in his arms. Jackie's mom was dialing for an ambulance.

“What happened?! Jack you tell me now!” Her mother was screaming at me. My dad threw his arm out, trying to stop her from getting to me.

“She fell! She fell!” I choked on my tears. A few kids came up.

“NO! That's not what I saw!” said a little girl with blonde pigtails.

“Yeah! He pushed her down!” said a boy with dirt on his face.

Jackie's mother reeled at me. “You hurt my little girl! YOU MONSTER!”

“No I didn't! I didn't push her! She fell!” I cried. My dad set me down.

“Julie, Jack wouldn't do that! He and Jackie are friends... why would he hurt her?” my dad said.

“I don't know! All I know is that my little girl is on her way to the hospital!” she replied. She started walking away, towards her car. My dad and I followed close behind her.

We waited at that hospital for hours. The doctor came out and told us that she was awake, but had no memory of what happened. My dad and I went to the gift store and I got her a balloon and a teddy bear. I walked into the hospital room. No one else was in there. I looked at Jackie. Her head was bandaged up and she wasn't moving. I tapped on her shoulder. She stirred and opened her eyes. She looked at me and started screaming.

“WHO ARE YOU! GET OUT OF HERE! MOMMY! DADDY! HELP!” she screamed. I jumped back, dropping the balloon and teddy bear. The balloon floated up to the ceiling. Her parents ran in and her dad stormed over to me and grabbed my arm, and dragged me out of the room.

Once we were in the hallway, he grabbed my shoulders tightly and started shaking me.

“Look here you little shit, stay away from my Jackie! I heard what you did to her, and I'm not fucking happy about it.” he snarled. His breath smelled like stale beer and cigarettes.

“I didn't push her!” I cried.

“Bullshit, you little ingrate. Stay away from her!” he gripped my shoulders tighter.

“Ow! Mr. Hale, you're hurting me!” I sobbed. My dad came up and pulled me away.

“Get your hands off my son! He didn't push Jackie, and I believe him!” he said. “Come on Jacky. We're leaving.” he said, pulling me away.

And I never saw Jackie again. I looked at the girl beside me. She looked so much like the little girl I remembered. I went through so many years of feeling guilty for what happened to her, and the kids at school didn't make my life any better. They tormented me everyday about what happened.

“I still have the teddy the boy got me too. I found it on the floor.” Jackie said suddenly.

“Really? You kept it?” I said without thinking.

“You say that like you know me... or know about the teddy.” She said, stopping at a red light.

“I- I... No. Of course I don't know about the teddy.” I said quickly. “That's absurd!”

“Don't lie to me, Jacky. What do you know?” She said sternly.

“How long have we been driving?” I said, in a poor attempt at changing the subject.

“Five hours. Don't change the subject, Jacky. What do you know?” Jackie said impatiently.

I sighed. “I was the boy who came to see you. I dropped the teddy.” I said.

“Really now? Prove it.” she said.

“The teddy was brown and it had blue eyes and it was wearing a blue sweater that said 'I love you' on it.” I said. Jackie pulled the car over swiftly and stared at me.

“I don't bloody believe it... it's you...” she said.

I smiled nervously. This was a bit awkward.