Awake by Nightfall by Emilia Sherman (well read books .TXT) 📕

/> The thing about cops is you have to know how to lie. One thing that they always seemed to catch, is whenever you twitch or make a small movement that indicates you're lying. If you look them directly in the eyes, which means no looking down and you have to blink less, then they know you stand behind the words that are escaping your mouth.

“I already told you. I only remember that I hated flying, but we went anyways. Then I found myself in this hospital.” I kept my hands firmly upon my lap, my eyes focused on him, and kept a straight face.

“Do you remember your parents?”

I felt my stomach drop. Or maybe the hole in my heart was getting bigger. My parents were on that flight with me. They died and I survived. I had little problem remembering them. I suffered a head trauma and lost a bit of my memory. I couldn’t remember much of my childhood which included my parents.

The doctors brought in pictures trying to help me remember. They observed all my reactions to the pictures and recorded all the details. The pictures was helping. I could remember my mom’s smile and my dad’s awkwardness. I remember it was my mom who convinced us it was faster to travel by air. I blinked my eyes trying to cover the tears that were beginning to form.

“I can’t remember that much about the flight.” I looked down at my hands, a big mistake but I didn't care anymore.

“So, you do remember something.” He scooted forward, anticipating for an answer.

I heard what he said but something about how he said made me sick to my stomach.

“Yeah, throwing up.” I leaned over and threw up all over his neat black shoes.

He stood up immediately, alerting the nurse. The nurse ran in and gave the police a towel to wipe up his shoes. She then came over to me and helped me out of the bed to go to the bathroom. I glanced back at the officer and smiled weakly.

“Oops.”

~~~~~

“Marina, your aunt is here.” My nurse said while exiting the door with my untouched lunch.

I nodded. I watched as my aunt entered the room. She was tall and slender, which made her look a little bit floppy. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a bun but was slightly coming undone. Her hair was popping out in some spots. Her eyes were brown but had dark circles underneath them. Her face looked gray, like there was no color left in it. She had been crying. I was starting to think that every hospital was like this big black hole. It was like it sucked the lives out of everyone here. Even the doctors looked really pale.

She pulled me into a deep hug. The hug pulled every cord thing, which was hooked up to me, with us. Her lavender scent took over me, but I breathed it all in. It was a nice addition to the super clean scent here. She broke the embrace and starting messing with my hair. She pulled every strand of hair back, she could see my eyes. Just like my mom would do.

“They wouldn’t let me come see you. They said you loss some of your memory and seeing me might be too much for you.”

“I loss bits of it but nothing too bad.” I lied. I lost more than a bit. Like the doctor explained to me, my whole childhood was going to be a faded memory. It was a like big puzzle to me. I was putting one puzzle piece at a time to create the masterpiece but it was taking an extremely tough time to finish. I remember faces of people but I felt like I was barely getting to know them.

“I’m just glad you’re okay and you haven’t forgotten me.”

“I wish I could forget what happened.”

It got silent in the room. I didn’t want to tell her that I cried a bunch when the doctor told me what happened. Or, how much, I needed some comfort from someone. But I knew deep inside, that Aunt Cassie was going through the same thing I was. My mom was her only sister. Her only family that was left was me and her seventeen year old boy. She needed just as much comfort as I did.

“So, when can I leave?” Changing the subject, for me and her.

“Today, actually. Gabriel is sitting in the waiting room for us. I’ll tell the nurse to gather your things.” She touched my hand and left the room.

The nurse came back and handed me some clothes. Of course, these were not my old clothes. These were brand new. My aunt must have gone shopping while I was in here. I wonder what will happen to all my stuff back home. Do we go over and get my things? Or will they send the things over here? I hurried and got dress and walked out of the room.

The bright sun was glaring through the windows, making my skin look really pale. How long was I in here? Three weeks? How could I have gotten so pale? I walked faster. Hospitals were not on my top list of favorite’s spots to hang out. I glanced into the rooms that I passed, catching glimpses of the people inside. Everyone looked pale and sick. It made me want to throw up. I could never get a degree in medical. The thought seemed just outrageous and more like a bad joke. I wouldn’t want to spend all my time in a white building that smelled too clean.

Aunt Cassie led me into the waiting room. I looked around for any familiar faces excepting to find Gabriel. Aunt Cassie said he was here, waiting for us. I noticed a lonely boy standing next to the water fountain, with his back to me. I stepped away from Aunt Cassie, excited. It had to be Gabriel. I haven’t seen him in an awhile but the usual school photos of him. He should still look like the awkward boy like he did in the pictures.

“Hey, Gabe.”

The boy turned around, confused. It wasn’t him. Aunt Cassie came up from behind and apologized to the boy. I walked away, ashamed of my mistake. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment. I let Aunt Cassie lead me to the right Gabriel, who had turned out had been waiting outside the waiting room.

“Marina.”

This had come from a taller boy then the one before. Gabriel had certainly changed from his last photo. He used to have chubby cheeks but now, his face was broad and slim. He had brown hair that look like a deep, dark chocolate. His eyes were green like bright, taken-care-of-the-grass green. He had gotten way taller from before. He hugged me, burying my face inside his chest.

I pushed him away. It wasn’t hard to remember him. He was such a pain when we were little. He was always picking on me because I had braces. Those memories weren’t hard to figure out. How could anyone forget their most horrible nicknames? Gabe gave me the nickname, Metal Grin. He told me at first it was a wrestling name. I believed him until his mom yelled at him to stop making fun of my braces.

“Hello, Gabe.”

“I knew you couldn’t forget about me. I mean we were best of friends back in the days.” He snickered and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

Aunt Cassie didn’t mention my little mistake back there. I didn’t want to look like an idiot. Also, if they knew I was still having trouble with my memories they might trapped me in there again. I was grateful that Aunt Cassie probably understood my embarrassment.

Gabe led us to a white ’92 Honda Civic. He got in the passenger seat while Aunt Cassie helped me into the back. We finally drove away from the hospital. I looked back. I couldn’t sit on a memory of my lost parents forever. I could barely remember them. I would soon forget about the plane crash and just remember my parents before that event.

Nobody wants to remember death.

~~~~~

“This will be your room for now, until we can get a bigger house.” Cassie placed a stack of sheets on an air mattress.

I glanced over her shoulder through a tiny doorway. There wasn’t much I could say about the room. The room was small. Well, technically, it wasn’t a room at all. It was Cassie’s walk-in closet from her room, which was the size of a bathroom. The twin-size air mattress took up most of the space in the room. There were bars for hanging up clothes that took up each of the three walls. On top of the bars, there were boards intact to the wall to hold stuff above. The shelves were there to hold all my stuff. If we were ever in an earthquake, I was likely to be squished.

“It’s fine.” I half-smiled encouragingly.

“Just for two weeks, I promise. I will find a better home and more space.” Cassie said while looking uncomfortably around the tiny space. “Maybe, I should give you my room. I can put my stuff in here and I will sleep in the living room. The sofa is pretty comfortable once I put some blankets on top of the cushions.”

I looked back at her room. She had a twin bed also, but that wasn’t the only thing in her room. She had a long dresser, with a mirror, which was placed against one wall. The thing that took up most of the room, was the computer desk.

Cassie was a work at home mom. She did most of her work here at home. She was psychologist, but that was all I knew. I wasn’t sure what kind of psychologist, only that she has being doing this kind of work for years. She helps people with bad memories and pushes them to move forward.

Anyways, I could tell that there may be only enough room for me to sleep in the closet. I was used to sleeping in a ball but Aunt Cassie. I don’t think it would be wise, at her age, to sleep like that. She would be sore and she was the one with a job. If we didn’t have any money, we would never get a bigger house. I would just have to sleep in here and not cry about it.

“It’s fine.” I repeated pathetically.

She didn’t seem convinced but she also didn’t want to linger on the subject. She left me alone to put my clothes on top of the shelves. I didn’t dare use hangers. I didn’t want to sleep with clothes above my head, that might have a chance to suffacate me. I just put everything on top of the shelves, either in boxes or suitcases. I stuck my under garments inside a box marked “Barbies”. Knowing Gabe, he was unlikely to touch anything too girly like Barbies. I stuck all my family photos into a little corner by the bed. I promised my aunt to go through them to try to get some of my memory back of the “Before” time.

I started to straighten out my bed. Sliding all the sheets and what not into the correct spots. I slept on air mattresses before and I didn’t really care for them. Hopefully, my first two weeks will go by fast and I won’t even think about the mattress or the room.

Gabriel came into the