Splintered Memory - By Natascha Holloway Page 0,28

that.

Emily wanted to hug him and tell him that she was there for him. She wanted to hold his hand and comfort him, but she knew that these were actions that would only make her feel better and not him. She knew that the only thing that would make him feel better was Charlie waking up and telling him that she was going to be alright. Yet that didn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon, if at all.

Matt

He sat watching Charlie, but he could feel his eyelids getting heavier with sleep. He wondered how much longer he could stay awake, but as his eyelids drooped again Charlie opened her eyes. He jumped up and hit the call button.

“Yes doctor?” A nurse asked coming into the room quickly.

“Call Oak,” he said. To which the nurse was gone.

“You’re awake,” he said softly to Charlie.

She looked directly at him.

That was a good sign he thought. She was clearly able to react to the sound of his voice. Matt felt himself smile, and Charlie half smiled back at him. He smiled even wider. She had reacted to his reaction. That was another excellent sign. Her brain was functioning.

“I need you to say something for me,” he said. Please he urged silently, willing her with all of his heart to be able to say something. “Can you say something, anything,” he said.

“Where am I?” She asked incredibly throatily.

Thank god Matt thought, relief overwhelming him. “You’re in hospital. You were in a car accident,” he said stroking her face; “but your okay. So there’s no need to worry, okay?”

Charlie looked pale, but she nodded her head. “Are you my doctor?” She asked, and Matt laughed. Even after everything that she’d been through, she was joking with him straight off the bat. The sound of his laughter woke Harry, and he got up and came straight over to the bed.

“She’s awake?” He asked Matt. “You’re awake,” he said to Charlie.

Charlie nodded, but Matt noticed that something in her face was off. Her expression seemed confused. His laughter died away, and he felt something inside his stomach sink. There was something very wrong with how Charlie was looking at Harry and at him.

“Do you know your name?” He asked praying that he was reading too much into the expression in her face, and that she would laugh at him and think that he was being ridiculous.

“Of course she knows her name,” Harry said. “Why would you ask her that?”

Matt didn’t look at Harry though, and neither did he reply. His eyes instead remained locked on Charlie’s.

“Do you remember your name?” He asked her.

She shook her head slightly. The question had brought to her attention the fact that she didn’t know the answer to what was a very obvious question. She started to look tearful and suddenly scared, and Matt looked from her to Harry who looked dumbfounded.

“Do you remember my name?” Matt asked whilst willing himself not to cry too as he looked into his wife’s face, which he could see was filling with anguish.

She shook her head again, and Matt could see that there were tears now in her eyes.

“That’s alright,” Matt said sounding far more reassuring than he felt. “Do you know who this is?” He asked pointing to Harry, but he knew instantly that he’d over done it.

Charlie shook her head for a third time, and Matt watched helplessly as the tears that she’d been trying to contain began to silently run down her cheeks.

Emily

She’d been stood with Oak when the nurse had come to find him, and she’d followed him as he’d headed straight for Charlie’s room. Yet as they turned into the corridor that Charlie’s room was on, they both saw Matt pushing Harry out into the corridor.

“What’s wrong with her?” Harry demanded.

“Stop yelling,” Matt said firmly; “you’re terrifying her.”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Oak said to Emily.

Matt turned to Oak as he walked towards him, and he said stoically; “she might have amnesia, it’s probably from the head trauma.”

Oak nodded and walked into the room, and Emily followed him in.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Charlie said in a small voice.

Oak smiled reassuringly and said; “well I’m more concerned with you right now. So I just want to ask you a couple of questions, okay?”

Charlie nodded, but she still looked worried as she asked Oak; “what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I remember my name?”

Oak looked at her calmly and said; “we’re going to run some tests, but it seems that you