1000 Memories

Chapter 20

Maggie parks her car and runs towards me. “Que fais-tu ici?”She asks looking around.

“You can speak in English, I remember everything.” I say as I turn to hug her so tightly.

“Are you serious? What is your name then? “She tests to see if it’s true.

“Cindy,” I answer and she immediately starts to jump up and down in happiness not believing that I actually do remember everything.

“Wait, where are your parents? They have to hear this.”

“I think I was running away. I thought you guys kidn*pped me and are planning to traffic me, so I was running away.” I say and we both laugh hysterically as people watched wondering what is wrong with us.

“Let’s go home,” Maggie says and we walk out to the car and drive off.

“What happened Maggie?” I ask her as she drives down the highway.

“Well, we were about to pack up and leave the beach to go back home when you started drowning before becoming unconscious. We got you out of the water, tried to do CPR before the ambulance came and rushed you to the hospital. You had turned so blue, I have never been so scared in my life. I rode with you in the ambulance, Jo and Emily drove in later. You had been in the hospital for six days. Your mum flew in two days after you were admitted and your dad came much later. The doctors said you had a seizure which led to the drowning and some damage in your lungs. They had to put you in a medically induced coma for you to heal properly. Could you hear us when we talked to you?” She asks staring at me.

“No I didn’t hear anything. I don’t even think I knew where I was come to think of it.”

“Anyway it took about one more day before you woke up and started speaking in French,” she says and we both start laughing at the irony of that because I’d never even learnt the language.

“Oh gosh! I wish you would have seen the looks on everyone’s faces when you said those words. Now I can see it was hilarious,” Maggie continues laughing and a tear rolls down her face. I imagine the look on my mom’s face which only makes me laugh harder until my stomach hurts.

“Oh! She is going to get a panic attack when she discovers am not in my room. We better get there fast!”

It takes a few more minutes for us to get there. We pull into the driveway and walk int0 the house. Our parents have now moved into the living room to continue talking as they watch the news on the TV.

‘Maggie? Cindy? Where are you guys coming from?” My mom asks and they all turn to look at us with confused looks on their faces.

“Cindy, didn’t you just go upstairs to sleep? How are you walking in through the front door now? “She continues asking and I watch as it dawns on her that I got out through the window.

“Did you sneak out through your window?” Dad asks and I bow my head down in complete guilt and shame. Maggie giggles and they turn to look at her as if to say ’is this funny to you?’

“Okay come down, we can explain.” Maggie says to our parents who already seem worried.

“Her memories are back, so she can remember everything. “She points at me smiling and my mom covers her mouth with her hands in pure disbelief. She runs over and hugs me so tight almost toppling us over.

“Oh sweetheart, I can’t believe your back. This is such good news. “She says cupping my face and I smile.

“So I came in through the door with Maggie because I run away. I really thought you guys kidn*pped me so I took a cab to the bus station and was going to get a ticket to get as far away from here as possible. My memories came back when I met one of the judges on the play that I auditioned for. I think that is what triggered them back. I called Maggie just before I bought the ticket.” Just like Maggie, they find that very funny and start laughing so hard until they hold their stomachs because it starts to hurt.

“Anyway we are so glad you are back to normal now.” My dad says,

“But that’s just it, I don’t think am back to normal yet.” I say and they immediately stop laughing to look at me.

“Don’t say that, Cindy. “Maggie says as she slaps my arm to rebuke the words. Ouch.

“I am not wishing anything on myself guys. I am just saying that usually by now, I should have forgotten all about Margot and France since my real memories are back, so why are they even more vivid now than before?” I say and they all start to agree with me.

“Maybe you should give yourself sometime to forget. We’ll see how tomorrow goes. “My dad says.

“You girls should really rest now especially Cindy. You steal have a lot of healing to do.” My mom as and I agree because I already feel so tires at this point. Maggie decides to stay for the night because it is almost past midnight and she can’t go back to her apartment now.

“Yeesss! We finally get to share a room since we were kids.” Maggie fist bumps the air as she excitedly follows me upstairs.

“Goodnight,” we both say to our parents who are also getting prepared to settle in for the night. They had also had quite some time catch up on all that has happened since they moved away from Delaware to this city that is so far away. They would also be staying for the night in one of the rooms downstairs as they also live quite far away from here.

I give Maggie one of my pajamas to change into and then we settle in for the night.