Forgetting Love

He wouldn't let her go, even when she forgot.

There’s a boy, he sits by my hospital bed every day, yet I don’t know who he is. 

He sits on that chair for hours telling me a story. A story about a girl named Ally and a boy named Tom, and they were in love. This boy tells me that Tom loved Ally with all his heart, that he would give anything to be with her in peace, but no. Tom and Alayla had to fight for their love; they had to overcome obstacles. Neither their parents or their friends would allow them to be happy together. 

I enjoy the stories a lot; it’s the only thing I have to look forward to in my life. I am enraptured by the emotions, the joy, the pain and the helplessness that flicker across the boys face when he talks. 

But then, at night, when he is gone, I feel so alone. I don’t know where I am or even who I am, they have all told me, the strangers, with the sad expressions, I seem to forget a lot of things these days. I always sleep restlessly, dreaming of the stories, of Ally and Tom, wishing I could fly away, but I know couldn’t ever have a life like that, a fairy tale life. 

Every morning, when he comes, my heart flies, I feel so alive again. But today the boy looks sad, I ask him whats wrong, but he doesn’t answer, instead he just takes his seat, asking if I want to hear a story today, I smile and nod my head. Yesterday the story finished happily, Ally and Tom finally over-come their problems, they were together and nothing could stop them, I wanted to hear more about the happy times. 

‘“Come on,” Tom whispers, smiling to Ally secretly. They were out with friends for the day. “Lets go” Tom whispered in her ear. 

“Ok. Where are we going?” Ally asked. 

“I want to show you a place I love to go.” Tom took Ally’s hand leading her to his motorbike. 

“You know I hate that thing” She protested vehemently. 

“I know, but hold onto me tight” Tom reassured her teasingly. He handed her a helmet. She took it and placed it on her head, 

“So how horrible do I look?” 

“Not horrible at all, the total opposite, you look very smart” Tom swung a leg over the bike and started it with a loud roar. “Hop on.” Ally carefully got on the bike, only losing balance for a second. Tom kicked it down to first gear and once Ally had a good grip, they were off. 

Ally letting out only a small squeal, squeezed her arms tighter around Tom. She began to relax and actually started to enjoy the rise one, maybe she was touched by some of the elation that Tom felt. 

The bike was speeding up, but Ally held on tight, pressing her face into Toms back and squeezing her eyes shut. 

They were just about to go around a bend when suddenly another car came into view. It was heading strait for the bike. Swerving out of the way, Tom stood on the brakes hard. They just missed the car. Tom spun the bike around, stopping carefully on the shoulder of the road. He felt no arms holding onto him anymore, Ally had lost her grip and fallen off. She was lying completely still on the road, bloody and broken. Tom jumped off the bike letting it crash to the ground; he raced to her, dread in his heart. He fell to his knees and shook her shoulders roughly but she didn’t open her eyes…”

The boy had tears in his eyes when he stopped talking, his face was crumpled in pain. I reached out and touched his shoulder, I understood what he felt, the story had made me sad too. “Hey…” I stopped in mid sentence, I realized that I didn’t even know his name. “What’s your name?” I asked, feeling very silly. 

He looked up, “My name is… Tom” he said, still in pain. 

I gasped, “Tom… Like Tom in the story, Tom?” I ask. Not wanting to believe what I knew was true. 

“Yes, I am that Tom.” He said through the tears. 

“Oh my I am so sorry” I whispered, feeling his pain as if it were my own. I lent over and kissed his cheek, like he had done for me so many times. He grabbed my hand and held it close. 

“Wait a second, what happened to Ally then?” I ask, not thinking, “oh, sorry, that was inconsiderate; you don’t have to answer if you don’t want.” I realized it would hurt for him to explain. 

Tom laughed meekly, “It’s ok, you deserve to know” he said, “The ambulance came and I was still lying over her crying. You have to realize, I thought she was dead. They had to pull me off her. Once they got her stabilized and in the ambulance the paramedics told me that she was still alive, but only just. I was so very relieved. They took her to the nearest hospital and I road in the back. They cleaned and mended all of her internal and external wounds. She was just as perfect as always, apart from the concussion. It took her months to wake up, but I came to her every day, waiting and hoping. I had almost given up all hope, when she woke. The doctors asked her all these questions, and they determined that she was fine, physically, but  she had all these questions. She was asking where she was, who I and everybody else were, and even who she was. The doctors said that the questions would last a week or two at the most, but there was no change, she didn’t remember a thing about herself.” Tom slumped in his chair. 

“I… I’m so sorry,” that was all I could say, my head was too full of images from the story. 

“I have to go now” Tom said, he sounded exhausted. I looked out the window and saw that the sun had almost set, I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. 

“Will you come back tomorrow?” I asked hopefully. Tom got up, kissed my forehead and nodded, 

“I’ll be back, like always”. He promised and walked out the door. I let my head hit the pillow and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke the next morning earlier than usual, I had been dreaming, about Ally and Tom, poor Tom. I sat up and heaps of memories came rushing into my head, my friends, the good times I spent with them. Tom, his fingers caressing my face, The feeling of wind in my hair before we turned the corner that lead to this. They were all Allys memories, but they were mine too. Happiness flooded through me, I knew who I was. I had memories! I was so happy, practically jumping out of my skin, waiting for Tom to arrive. 

“Tom!” I screamed when he walked through the door. 

“Yes…” He asked cautiously, wondering what could have made me this excited. 

“Remember that time when you sneaked into my room at night, just to tell me that you loved me? Cause I do. What about the time when we were standing at the school gates, the first time we kissed? I remember that”. I watched Toms eyes widen as I spoke. If I could, I would have jumped out of bed and ran to him, but it seemed I didn’t have to, Tom ran to me instead. And to my utter surprise he kissed me full on the lips…

Author's Note

I wrote this years ago, my writing style has changed a lot since then.