Chapter 9
The moment the river swallowed Vanessa whole, a bone-chilling cold surged in from all directions. The current wrapped around her body, dragging her downward like a thousand invisible hands pulling her into the abyss.
Her consciousness began to fade, and fragmented images flashed before her eyes.
How 15-year-old Matthias wiped paint off her face in the library, how 18-year-old Matthias secretly held her hand at graduation, and how 20-year-old Matthias knelt in the snow, cupping her frozen hands and breathing warmth onto them.
“Matthias…” she whispered in her heart as river water gushed into her mouth.
Darkness took over, and she slowly closed her eyes. She thought, “We can finally meet again.”
In a haze, it felt like someone grabbed her wrist.
Vanessa struggled to open her eyes, only to be met with the stark white ceiling of a hospital room. The sharp scent of disinfectant filled her nose, and she instinctively frowned.
“You’re awake?” A woman’s unfamiliar voice broke the silence. “You’re lucky to be alive. Jumping off a bridge that high and surviving? That’s something.”
She turned her head in confusion and saw a nurse, Stacy Duff, adjusting the IV drip. She said, “I
However, Vanessa was startled by her.own voice. Her throat felt like it had been scraped with sandpaper, aching terribly. What panicked her more was the realization that she couldn’t remember anything.
Who was she? Why was she here?
“Don’t force yourself to talk,” Stacy said gently, seeing the panic and confusion on Vanessa’s pale face.
She placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and added, “The doctor said you’ve got temporary memory loss from lack of oxygen to the brain. It’s common in cases like this. The good news is your body is fine. Rest a few days, and you’ll be ready for discharge.”
Memory loss?
Stacy helped Vanessa lie back down as the latter stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to remember anything. Yet, all she could catch were scattered, flickering images.
A silhouette of two people holding each other in the snow, trembling fingers in front of a
headstone, and a pair of eyes so cold they made her heart ache.
She didn’t know whose eyes they were, but every time they flashed across her mind, her chest tightened with an unbearable ache.
“Oh, by the way,” Stacy said as she reached the door and turned back, “the stranger who brought you in said you were calling out for ‘Matthias’ the whole time you were unconscious. Is he someone you know?”
Matthias?
That name was like a key, unlocking a floodgate of memories in an instant. Suddenly, a rush of images surged through her mind.
Matthias’ gentle smile, the cool touch of his fingers as he wrapped a scarf around her neck, and his blood-covered body during the car crash as he still managed to push her to safety…
Vanessa screamed as a sharp pain shot through her head, making her curl up on the bed as tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
“Doctor! Somebody get the doctor!” Stacy ran out of the room in a panic.
Vanessa gripped the bedsheet tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms. The memories came fast and vanished just as quickly. Before long, all that remained was a blurry outline.
She remembered there was someone important named Matthias, but she couldn’t recall what he looked like or what they had been through.
The doctor, Heather Steele, arrived quickly. She carefully questioned Vanessa about what had happened after she woke up. She wrote something in her medical chart and said, “It’s fine. You’re just too weak physically, which caused such a strong reaction.”
Heather sighed and advised, “Your priority now is to rest and recover. Don’t rush the memory issue.”
Vanessa nodded numbly. Cold sweat still clung to her temples, and her face was so pale that it nearly blended with the bedsheets. Then, the door closed, leaving her alone in the ward.
She followed Heather’s orders and rarely left her room. With proper rest, her body recovered quickly. However, those memories remained as hazy as trying to see through fogged glass.
“Don’t worry too much. One day, you might just remember everything all at once,” Heather reassured her.
Heather held her glasses and comforted Vanessa, but she couldn’t help sighing inwardly.
During the days Vanessa was hospitalized, not a single person had come to visit her. At that thought, Heather sighed again and pulled out a few bills before handing them to Vanessa.
“You can pay me back later,” she added and waved before turning away, pretending not to notice Vanessa’s expression.
Vanessa stood in front of the train station’s ticket counter and hesitated for a moment. Finally, she said, “One ticket to Merathea.”
When she said the name of the place, she felt an odd sense of peace. She didn’t know why she needed to go there, but something inside her told her it was time to leave.
The ticket agent handed over the ticket, and Vanessa thanked him before turning toward the platform. People bustled back and forth all around her, but she’d never felt more alone.
She looked down at the ID card in her hand. The woman in the photo had a gentle gaze and a soft smile.
“Vanessa York…” she whispered, hoping to find something familiar in the sound of her own name. Yet, the only response she got was the howling wind rushing past her ears.
