Alex inhaled, and the first thing he felt was the sweet smell of dark red roses. The scent floated through his nostrils and somewhat encouraged him to breathe deeply, but as soon as he did, he hissed and cursed when the pain from his bandaged ribcage gripped through his bod, and then a hot sensation burned through his veins so ferociously he thought he was going to die as he found it extremely difficult to breathe.
As the pain surged, his body arched, his leg muscles cramped, and toes curled. He cried out until the nurses came hurrying into his room. They restrained his body that was writhing pain. As soon as he felt a needle being injected into his arm, he rapidly fell back into unconsciousness, and he curled up into a ball, and fell back into the darkness.
The next time he woke up, and despite the discomfort, he fluttered his eyelids open with every ounce of energy that his body was able to produce again after a long sleep. He felt groggy, and the room spun around him, but the ache all around his body was something he finally could manage. He scowled and tried to move his right hand in front of his face in an effort to cover his eyes from the bright lights above him.
He breathed in and out, slowly closing, then gently opening his eyes over and over again until his eyes got used to the light. He moved his gaze to his side and recognized the woman sitting by his bed from the first time he opened his eyes.
Breathing in, he tried to open his mouth to say something to Harper, but all that came out of his mouth was a groan.
Harper immediately jumped back. "You’re awake.”
“Who are you?” He finally managed to speak despite how dry and painful his throat felt.
“I’m Harper. Have you really forgotten about me?”
He licked his cracked lips. “You…I don’t know you.”
“Ale―”
“Let me go,” he whispered, trying to push himself up.
“I really don’t think you should do that.”
“Who are you?!”
“What? I told you―” Harper started to sense panic building within her. “Libby! Dr. Miller!”
“Who are you?” Alex started screaming.
“Alex, you need to calm down.”
"I don't want to calm down. I need to get out of here! I don’t know you!"
Dr. Miller and the two nurses hurriedly entered the room.
“How long has he been awake?” Dr. Miller asked.
“Um―ah―just―just now,” Harper stammered. “What’s wrong with him?”
As soon the nurses tried to put their hands on Alex, he started lashing out, screaming. “Let me out! I don’t know you! Let me out! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
“Alex, we’re not going to kill you!” Harper replied.
Dr. Miller shot her a look. “At this point, that’s not going to help, Ms. Fritz.” He quickly gave out orders to the nurses to keep Alex still. He took a syringe out.
“What kind of bullshit is this? Let me out! I haven’t done anything to you people! Please! Please, let me out! Just let me go!” Alex begged. He tried to throw a punch at the two men trying to pin him down on the bed. He writhed and twisted but couldn't get out of their grasp. He yelled again, but they weren't listening. None of them were, except for Harper, who tried hard to shut her mouth and not respond to any of his cries. He panicked and struggled even more, when he saw that they were strapping him down to the bed.
“Oh my god,” Harper whispered to herself as she hurried in the corner. She turned her head away to avoid watching the ordeal. She closed her eyes and waited.
“Let me out! I don’t know you, people! Unstrap me! You can’t do this to me! I didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t know you!” Alex screamed in fear and continued to struggle to free himself when he suddenly felt a sting in his right arm. He glared at the needle that Dr. Miller pulled out of his flesh, then at the doctor who administered it.
“What’s going on with him now?” Harper asked. Her breath quickening at the sight of Alex in front of her.
Alex’s body soon relaxed involuntarily, no matter how hard he fought. He groaned for almost a minute before the drug took him completely, and darkness started to descend on him again. And the last thing he heard before it all went utterly black was a frantic beeping before it everything dragged on and on, then, everything was muted.
Biting her lower lip, Harper immediately exited the room. She let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding and then collapse on the sofa. She shut her eyes and inhaled and exhaled. She opened her eyes again and looked down at her trembling hands.
“Dammit!” She sniffed.
She had witnessed Alex’s scandals firsthand, but she was never as startled as she was now. She had never seen him this helpless and scared. A panic-stricken Alex was something she could never bear to see over and over again. His agony had become too discomforting for her.
She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them on the sofa. And why couldn’t he remember her?
"Ms. Fritz?” Dr. Miller came out of Alex’s room a few minutes later. He walked over to her and joined her on the sofa.
“What’s wrong him, Dr. Miller?” Harper asked, steading the quiver in her voice.
Dr. Miller smiled at her. “I understand what you must be feeling right now.”
But Harper couldn’t bring herself to smile back. “I really hope so. I still don’t even know what I’m doing here. Am I supposed to help Alex calm down every time he lashes out like that? If I am, then I guess I’d have to tell Lucas I haven’t succeeded. If only I could speak to him.”
“He will get better, Ms. Fritz.”
“When? It’s been over a week now, Dr. Miller, just in case you haven’t noticed. Now I have grown more confused with a lot of things than ever!”
“You will get your answers soon,” the doctor assured her.
“I don’t need those answers soon. I need them now. I’m stuck here, in this cottage, without a clue of what’s really going on. It’s just not fair. I don’t even know if I still have a job when I get back to Seattle.”
“After the sacrifice of by just being here? Oh, you will still have that job, Ms. Fritz, and probably more than that,” Dr. Miller told her calmly.
Harper looked at him for a moment, then asked. “What do you exactly mean by that?”
“The Carmichaels is a very generous family. They will make sure you’re fully compensated.”
She flatly looked at the doctor. “Oh, is that why you’re here, doing your job, without asking any questions? Because you know you will be fully compensated?”
“I have known their family long enough to know.”
“Well, whatever. Could you at least tell me what’s going on with Alex? Why’s he been acting that way? Every time he wakes up seems like a manic situation. And why can’t he remember me? Has he lost his memory?”
“Dr. Miller let out a heavy sigh then stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“Master Alex…” Dr. Miller sat back on the sofa. “Well, unlike some common movie plot, people with amnesia don't actually forget their identity. They still know who they are. They don’t completely lose every memory stored in their brains. But with Alex, his situation is entirely a different thing.”
“What do you mean different? How different? And will he ever get his memory back?”
The doctor paused, thinking it over before answering, “His situation, it’s like―like his entire memory has been wiped out. And, I can’t really tell for sure when he’ll start remembering things again.”
Harper got up and started to pace. “Are you trying to tell me I could be stuck here indefinitely?”
“Look, Ms. Fritz, our brain is the most complex organ in our body. What we can do now is take things one step at a time. With his tantrums, there’s no way we can talk to Master Alex and get a coherent answer at the moment, so what our goal, for now, is to find a way to calm him down as soon as he opens his eyes.”
Harper shook her head. “You do that. As soon as I speak to Lucas, I’m out here,” she said, then walked out.
* * *
Harper had finally come to the day when she no longer expected Lucas to return or answer her calls. So that Saturday night, instead of waiting for her phone to ring until 11 PM, she collapsed onto the queen size bed―that had slowly felt familiar to her―with an exasperated sigh at 8 PM. She tried calling Lucas again earlier that day out of routine, but she wasn’t really expecting him to pick up his phone and answer. So that night, she decided to sleep early. Everything had been too taxing for her that she was always too tired to do anything anymore when night time came.
She was about to roll over a night of sleep when she heard the familiar ringing blaring from her phone. Her heart quickened. She hastily picked up her phone from the bedside table, and, not needing to check who it was, she quickly answered.
“Harper?” Lucas’s cautious voice in the line stopped Harper’s complete thought process, causing her to drop her phone. It bounced on the edge of the bed before it fell on the floor.
“Shit.” She reached for the phone and brought it to her ear. “Lucas? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m here, Harper,” Lucas spoke, his voice was soft yet hushed.
Harper bit her lip as she sat up on her bed, pulling at her blanket so she could wrap it around her. “I called you! Like a million times. Why weren’t you picking up?”
“I’m so sorry, Harper. Things are―have been very difficult lately. How’s―how is he?”
“You mean Alex? He’s not good at all, Lucas. I mean, it’s weird that he’s healing so fast, but he’s disoriented most times. Dr. Miller always has to sedate him every time he wakes up.”
“That’s not good.”
“I agree. And, frankly, I don’t think I can take any more of his outbursts. I mean, sure, I don’t actually do anything whenever it happens, but the emotional baggage is becoming too much. Seeing him scream and beg for us to let him go is just too exhausting. It’s like he’s scared and in pain, and he just wants us to let him go.”
“He’s…he’s scared?”
“Because he doesn’t recognize any of us. I don’t even think he remembers his name. Dr. Miller said his memory must have been wiped out.” She paused. “Haven’t you spoken to Dr. Miller? Isn’t he providing you or Alex’s family with updates?”
Lucas sighed. “It’s best that I only contact you.”
“What? Why? What is going on? Dr. Miller should be updating the Carmichaels.”
Lucas was quiet on the other side of the phone for a while. "Harper, Alex cannot know anything.”
“What?”
“I’ll meet you soon, and I promise you that I will explain everything to you. Things are just a little crazy at the moment, and right now, Alex shouldn’t know anything.”
Harper thought it over. "What should we do then? What are we supposed to say when he starts asking? His frenzy is usually triggered when he starts asking questions, and we don’t provide any concrete answers.”
“Just tell him anything to pacify him. Appease him with whatever you think would work. What we need now is time to repair the damage he’s done. And there’s no way we can do that when he’s around.”
“Damage? What did he do? And was Francine with him when they were ambushed? Dr. Miller told me Alex was ambushed.”
“I will tell you when we meet. Just make sure he stays there.”
“Wait. So―are you telling me I should stay here longer?”
“For at least a week more.”
“I have a job, and a life, Lucas,” Harper sternly said.
“I’ve already spoken to Castor. The job is yours, and you’re paid while you’re there.”
She sighed. “This is an awful lot of responsibility you had me taken on, Lucas. I don’t really think I signed up for this. I thought I was just going to check on Alex’s situation for you.”
“Please, Harper. I would have it the other way if I could. But for now… please… he can’t come back yet.”
“I don’t know, Lucas.”
“Please do it for me, at least?”
She let out another annoyed sigh and ran her hand through her hair. "One week. Then I’m out of here."
"Thank you so much, Harper. I'll see you real soon."
“Like when?”
“Soon, Harper. Please…just hang on a little longer for me.” Lucas’s words were soft and gentle.
“Fine.”
When Lucas told her he needed to go, they ended the call, and Harper carefully placed her phone back onto her bedside table. She thought about their conversation for a while before curling back into her blankets. She had wanted to ask Lucas about them, but hearing his voice and speak to her with such tenderness was enough for the familiar warmth to blossom in her heart.