Second Heartbeat

Brian was smiling at me, but you could still see this sadness in his eyes. The girl next him, who obviously was his twin, smiled at me too.

“Hey…”, I started, shyly.

Brian moved closer to me and hugged me tight. I hesitantly hugged him back, which caused him to gasp in surprise. He looked at me with his beautiful eyes, and smiled. A true smile this time.

“Do…do you remember anything?”, he asked in a shy tone.

I bite my lip, and shook my head. He nodded slowly and looked at his feet. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently.
I wanted to know him. I didn’t want him to look sad.

We heard Brian’s twin clear her throat.

“Ahem, it’s not because you’ve lost a big part of your memory that you’re allowed to ignore me.”, she said.

Brian’s eyes were wide, and Cathie looked furious.
Yeah, what she said could have hurt most of people, but not me. I just laughed. Cathie’s face softened and Brian was now looking at me with incomprehension on his face.
I moved closer to the girl.

“Hello.”, was the only thing I said.

“I’m Maddy.”, she explained.

“Brian’s twin.”, I randomly said.

“Yeah, it’s kinda obvious”, she smiled. “Well, what is happening to you is crazy. How could you not remember such a wonderful girl like me?”

Once again, to most of people, she could sound like an arrogant person, but instead, I knew that I already loved this girl.
She was the one not to complain about ‘my memory problems’. She was the one who was trying to make me smile. And I liked that.

I smiled brightly at her. And she smiled back.
Then she looked at Brian and Cathie.

“You two should spend time together…”, she said.
Cathie nodded.

“Yeah….if it’s okay with you…”, Brian responded.

I turned to look at him. I nodded and moved closer to him. He put his arm around my shoulders.

“Ms. Bauer, is it okay if I take Amber for a walk?”

Cathie nodded, smiling. “Of course, Brian.”

I was quite stressed about the fact of being alone with Brian. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, or to say.

“So,…hmmm,…how was your day?”, he asked.

“Strange.”, I answered truthfully. “Cathie showed me a lot of pictures, and I checked my Facebook.”

“Good. It will sure help you to regain your memory.”, he smiled.

I forced a smile. It was really weird to be surrounded by people who were thinking that I had lost my memory. I hadn’t.
But I couldn’t explain my theory to Brian. He would think I’m crazy.

“What are you thinking about?”, I heard him ask.

“My…memory problem.”, I half lied.

“Oh…”.

This was awkward. He didn’t know what to say to me. I didn’t know what to say to him. Great.

“Your sister is fun.”, I said, randomly.

“Yeah. She’s a badass.”, he laughed. “You too were really close before…you know…”

I nodded. I wanted so badly to tell him that I hadn’t lost my memory, that I had memories of another lie, with others people, another family, in another place.

“Br…Brian?”,

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“Can I tell you something? I know you’ll think I’m mentally sick but I can’t keep it inside anymore…”, I pleaded.

“Anything you want, babe.”

I winced when he called me babe. I wasn’t used to it.
“Well. I…I have some memories….”, I started.

His eyes seemed to pop out of his head. “Really?!”, he asked, looking happy.

“Yeah but…”. I stopped. I couldn’t do this.

“But what, honey?”

“If… If I told you that I… I remember of yesterday, but the thing is that my memories doesn’t…match…this life, I mean…here…”, I didn’t know how to explain.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I remember that last night I was in bed, in another house than this one, that I had a fight with my brother and that I was angry with my father. …And that my house was in Canada.”.

He looked at me with worry in his eyes. “Amber….it must be because you fell on your head… Your memory must be a little… perturbed…”

I knew it. I knew he wouldn’t believe me. Tears started to form in my eyes.

“No. I’m not crazy. I knew you would think I’m stupid.”, I said to him.

I felt his strong arms wrap around me. He looked into my eyes. “I didn’t say you were stupid. Just a little shocked.”

“Why don’t you believe me?”, I cried.

“Because… Amber… It’s impossible. Your life… I mean… You’ve always been here with us, with me. We’re friends since … almost forever. You never went to Canada or something like that.”, he explained calmly.

“Yes but, what if I told you that I remember almost each day of this life in Canada?”

Brian thought about for a few minutes. “Then I don’t know, Amber…”, he sighed.

“Did…did you tell that to your mother?”, he asked.

“No… She would have sent me to an asylum.”, I rolled my eyes. He chuckled.

“Look”, he started. “There’s one way to clear all this mystery. You can have a brain exam at the hospital. And that thing will tell us if your memory is damaged or not. If it is, then all this Canada thing is the result of the shock, and if it isn’t, …well… This is the weirdest thing I would have heard.”

His proposition was quite fair. He was right: it was the only way to sort things out.

“Okay…”. He smiled and tightened his embrace. “We’ll be okay…”, he whispered in my ear.

“Thanks.”

“For what?”, he asked, his eyebrow raised.

“For not thinking that I have to go to an asylum. For understanding me.”, I responded.

He took a deep breath. “I didn’t say I believed you, or this crazy story, but… You look pretty sure about it, so why not, after all? Plus you would have had a brain exam anyway so…”

I smiled and looked into his eyes. His gorgeous eyes. I felt his hand leave my waist to cup my face.
His thumbs caressed my cheekbones. He smiled. I grabbed his hands with mines, and rubbed them with my thumbs.

“Can I try something?”, he asked shyly.

I nodded, a bit worried.

I saw him lean for a kiss, and soon felt his lips on mine. His lips were soft and the kiss was sweet and gentle. I was tensed, but I soon gave in and put my arms around his neck, kissing him back. He smiled into the kiss, and wrapped his arms around my waist again.
We pulled apart, needing air.

“Let’s walk back home.” I said.

He nodded, grabbing my hand and we started to walk.