One Moment (The Little Hollow Series Book 1)

by Danielle Dickson

  “I don’t know if I can stomach anything right now.” I just took a bottle of water off her and she shrugged.

  “More for me then. Have they said when she’s expected to wake up?”

  I shrugged. “Could be anytime I guess, they said for me to press that big red button when she does though.”

  Keeley looked at it with wide eyes. “Is it wrong of me to say that I’m really tempted to press it?” I laughed and she smiled.

  “I’m really glad you’re here, Kee. I couldn’t have gone through this without you.”

  She leaned over and squeezed my hand. “Now that all the mushy stuff is over, are you going to tell me what you and Connor talked about last night?”

  I was silent for a minute. “We didn’t. I was asleep when he came in and I woke up just as he was walking out. I thought it was a dream at first so I got up to follow him. That’s when I saw you guys.” She frowned. “What?”

  She picked up her bottle of water and started screwing and unscrewing the cap. “He drove back here after you told him to leave, risking you thinking he wasn’t respecting your wishes, then just left anyway without talking to you. I may be a bitch at times but this isn’t how I wanted this to end for you, Sam.”

  I looked down at my mom. “Yeah, me neither,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone else, but I knew Kee had heard me by the grin on her face.

  Just then, my mom’s hand twitched and I picked it up. “Mom? Mom can you hear me? It’s, Sam. Kee, press the button, she’s waking up.”

  Her eyelids fluttered and the machines started beeping in an erratic rhythm. I looked at Kee, panic written all over my face as the tube sticking out her mouth started making a screeching noise.

  Two nurses came into the room completely unfazed. “Don’t worry, sweetie, it’s just her trying to breathe on her own. If you step outside while we take this breathing tube out, you can come straight back in.”

  I did as I was told and waited anxiously in the hall until one of the nurses popped her head around the door. “You can come back in now; she’s starting to come around.” I walked into the room and took my mom’s hand in mine.

  Her eyelids fluttered again before opening slightly. “Mom? It’s me, Sam.” She pulled her hand away and clutched at her throat, I looked to the nurse that had stayed behind and she pointed to the water at her bedside.

  “She will be extremely thirsty but only let her take little sips. Her throat will be very sore for a few days but she’ll be right as rain in no time.” I nodded and picked up the cup with the straw in it. “Here, let me prop up her bed a little.” She used a little remote control to make the top end of the bed incline a little more.

  “Thank you.” I directed the straw into my mom’s mouth and she took a sip, blanching as she swallowed. She tried to say something but I interjected and said, “Don’t try to talk just yet. Do you know where you are?” She shook her head. “You’re in the hospital, you were in a pretty bad way when you got brought in. You’ve got a concussion and had to have your stomach pumped.”

  Her eyes widened and she looked over at the nurse.

  “Good morning, Miss Reynolds, it’s good to have you back with us. I’m one of the nurses that’s been looking after you. Would it be alright to do a few checks of your vitals?” I couldn’t blame her for looking bewildered but she nodded anyway. “If you girls could just wait outside again, I promise to have this done as quickly as possible.”

  We stepped out into the hallway.

  “How do you think she’s going to take the news about rehab?” I leant a shoulder against the wall and thought about it.

  “I don’t know. I just hope she doesn’t put up too much of a fight, she needs this.” I rubbed at my stinging eyes.

  “Miss Reynolds, may I speak with you privately please?” The nurse came out the room and looked at Kee.

  “That’s alright, Kee is like family.” I smiled over at her.

  “Okay then. The concussion we found didn’t look too serious so it’s probably nothing but I want to get her a few more tests. When talking to your mom, she didn’t seem very responsive to her name.” She paused there for me to take it in.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Are you saying she’s unresponsive?” I looked between Kee and the nurse who cleared her throat.

  “No, she’s plenty responsive. In fact, for what she’s been through, she’s perkier than what we could hope for. For patients that suffer from a concussion, we normally name drop and try to incorporate little everyday questions while doing routine checks just to make sure everything’s fine.” I nodded. “And she didn’t respond to hearing her name.” She hesitated before continuing, “Or yours I’m afraid. She was also hesitant when it came to answering the questions. Now don’t be too worried, it isn’t uncommon for this to happen, she might just need a little head jog but these routine tests should work out what the problem may be.”

  All the air rushed out of me and Kee grabbed my hand. “So what you’re saying is, she doesn’t remember who she is or who I am?”

  She looked at me before shaking her head.

  “I can’t say for definite, honey, but I would encourage you to go on in and talk to her. Maybe try and jog her memory a little bit. I’ll send the doctor down right away for those tests so until then, keep the rehabilitation program out of the conversation please, it may be a little too much to take in right now.”

  She squeezed my shoulder before taking off down the hallway.

  “Sam?” I kept staring at the floor and hoped it would swallow me up.

  “It’s just one thing after another, Kee. When’s my time to get a break?” I slunk down the wall and put my head between my knees. “I can’t have her not know who I am. She won’t be getting an award for ‘mom of the year’ anytime soon but she’s all I’ve got.”

  She sat down beside me and I heard her exhale. “I won’t sit here and pretend I don’t know what you’re going through. I do, except my mom chose to forget about me. So, if there’s some way you can jog her memory and rekindle your relationship, then you need to.”

  This was more information into Kee’s life than she had ever let on before. She wouldn’t look at me and I decided to leave it for another time. I stood up and looked at the door to my mom’s room, I should just go on in there; the sooner the better.

  I took in a breath and made my way inside, lowering myself into the same chair I’d just been in and waited for her to look at me. Her eyes were blank. Not the kind of blank they went when she was drinking but a confused blank.

  I didn’t miss a beat and asked. “You don’t remember me do you?” I took hold of her hand and she squeezed it while giving me a weak smile.

  “I’m sorry, honey, I don’t.” Her voice came out in a rasped whisper. “But the nurse tells me you’re my daughter.” I nodded trying to hold back the tears.

  “That’s me,” I choked out as she ran her thumb along the back of my hand.

  “Is there anymore of you? That girl?” A lump formed in my throat, now was not the time to bring up Tommy.

  “No, there’s just me. That was my best friend Keeley, we own the hairdressing salon in town.” I was trying to jog her memory but she just looked at me with those same blank eyes.

  “This must be really hard for you but I promise I will try my best to remember what we had.” She looked sincere but a dread settled within me. What if remembering who she was, remembering everything about her life, would do more damage than good?

  “Why don’t you tell me a bit about myself? Well that was strange to say.” She coughed when she tried to laugh so I gave her some more water to stall the conversation. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Well, you’re as stubborn as they come, I get that from you.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “And…Erm...You had a job interview that went well, you got called back for a skills test-” I stopped there, the skills test I told her she would be no good at before she went off and drank herself silly. I let go of her hand as if she bu
rnt me. This was my fault, all of this. I started panicking.

  “Are you alright? You look a little green.” She tried to touch my hand but I pulled it away. What had I done? I stood up and backed out of the room.

  “Sammy?” At that, I stopped.

  “What did you just call me?” She looked confused.

  “Sammy. Did I get it wrong?” I shook my head furiously.

  “No. But I didn’t tell you or the nurse that’s what my nickname was.” Forgetting my wobble, I went to her side. “Do you remember?” She looked more confused than ever.

  “I...I thought that’s what the nurse said your name was. It just came out instinctively.” For the first time since I walked in the small hospital room, I had hope.

  I pressed the red button on the wall and smiled down at my mom. “You’re going to be alright, I just know it.” A nurse came into the room followed by Doctor Young.

  “She just remembered my nickname, she never normally uses it so that’s a good thing, right?” Doctor Young and the nurse looked at each other and back and me with a smile on their faces.

  “It could be yes, great time to call us down too, we’re all ready to do some tests. Ms Reynolds, would you like Samantha to be in the room for this? Don’t worry, it’s nothing invasive, just a few routine checks followed by some questions.”

  She looked between me and the nurse, then back at me with a sympathetic look on her face. “If it’s okay with, Sammy, I’d like to do this alone.”

  I scuttled out of the room feeling hurt but hope still bloomed in my chest. Kee looked at me with an apprehensive expression on her face.

  “She called me, Sammy, I guess that’s a start.” She jumped up off the floor and gave me a hug.

  “See, that’s something.” Then she started on the barrel of rhetorical questions she’d built up. I tried to ignore them and shut my eyes. I’d had a few hours’ sleep but it still felt like I’d been up all night. Eventually, the doctor came out and I moved to him.

  “Good news is, I don’t think there’s any lasting damage. Concussion can bring on a myriad of symptoms; one of them being short term memory loss. At this point, we just encourage you to behave as normally as possible given the circumstances.” He waited for me to say something.

  “Normal for us doesn’t mean normal for you. I’m sure you’re aware of the state she was found in and we don’t have much of a relationship, not for my lack of trying, so I’m finding it difficult to act as if everything is fine.”

  He was deep in thought for a moment.

  “I don’t know if this will do more harm than good but I’m deeming it okay to talk about the rehabilitation program with her. I trust you will be as sensitive as possible but she needs to know that she was in serious trouble last night and it can’t happen again.”

  I felt all the weight pile on my shoulders. How was I supposed to convince someone, who apparently didn’t remember me, to go to rehab? “I’ll leave nurse Parker with you the whole time, just in case you need any support then she’s there.” I thanked him and turned to Kee before walking back into the room.

  “Wish me luck.”

  “You’ll do great, Sam.” Nurse Parker smiled at me as I walked in.

  “Okay, I’ve been told by the good doctor himself that I should talk to you about something.” Sitting down in the chair again, I froze. How was I going to say this? I didn’t just want to spit it out, or maybe that was the best way? Nurse Parker gave me a simple nod and I continued. “I know you can’t remember me, or you, or what happened last night. But what happened, well, it wasn’t the first time you’ve been in a state like that.”

  She gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. “It was definitely on a bigger scale but I need you to understand that it wasn’t the first.” She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m sorry to say that we don’t have a typical mother/daughter relationship but that’s not to say I don’t want to. I can’t lose you.” I grabbed her hand and she squeezed.

  “What have I done?” she muttered, more to herself so I chose not to react to it. I reached down into my purse and pulled out the pamphlet I’d been given earlier.

  “The hospital gave me this.” I handed it to her. “You don’t have to read it now, I just wanted you to have it. I realize this must be really hard to process but I really need you to do this.” Tears sprang to my eyes as she scanned the front page.

  “Rehabilitation? You want me to go to rehab?” I was waiting for the anger to kick in but none came. In place of the anger I was expecting, came acceptance.

  “Okay.” That was all she said.

  “You’ll go?” She looked into my expecting eyes.

  “Of course I’ll go. I may not remember who I am but I’m quickly learning that I don’t want to. I don’t want to be the mom that let’s down her daughter. I don’t want to end up here ever again.” She nodded, locking her decision in place. “When can I leave?” The nurse passed us both a tissue and stood up.

  “Health wise, if it wasn’t for the coma we had to put you in, you would be cleared to go within the next few hours but your body will start to feel the effects from the lack of alcohol within that time. Going cold turkey isn’t easy and although you may not remember being dependent on it, your body will. We’d like to monitor you over the next few days to make sure the withdrawals don’t affect you anymore than they should, then you could be on your way if all goes well. I can go and call ahead to arrange a place for you if you’re certain of your decision?” Mom nodded furiously. “Well, alright then, I’ll be back to check on you in a little while.” My mom lay there staring at me after nurse Parker had left the room.

  “Why do you look so shocked?” Now she was asking the right questions.

  “Remember that stubborn streak I was talking about?” The corner of my mouth lifted as she chuckled, she grew serious then.

  “I meant what I said, Sammy. Is it okay to call you that?” I hesitated, then nodded. “I will get better, for you and for me.” Although it was coming out of her mouth, I could hardly believe it. She’d told me once or twice in the past that she was going to change but she was never as determined as this.

  There was a knock on the door and Keeley came in. “Hi, Cindy, sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to tell Sam that Lewis was here. Oh sorry, I forgot you won’t remember who Lewis is. I’ll just shut up now.” Her face turned pillar box red and my mom burst out laughing.

  “That’s alright.” She turned to me. “Is Lewis your boyfriend? Husband?” Her face went ashen. “Oh my gosh! Am I a grandma?” At this, I started laughing too.

  “No. Don’t worry, there’s no chance of that happening anytime soon. Lewis is Keeley’s...friend?” I raised a brow at her.

  “Our friend, he came to see if we all needed anything and, Sam, it could be sooner than she thinks.” It was my turn to blush and I cursed her as she left quickly.

  “Is there something I should know?” She looked down at my stomach.

  “I...no, not at all. I’m not even involved with anyone, well...well, no I’m not.” I’d managed to put Connor to the back of my mind, until now.

  “You don’t seem too sure about that. Is there a certain someone?” I looked at her, it didn’t feel right talking to her about this. We’d never had this sort of relationship before; it was going to take some getting used to.

  “I guess you could say there kinda was but he left last night to go back home. There’s a lot you don’t remember and if you did, you’d know why it was for the best.” She looked up at the ceiling before answering me.

  “Do you love him?” This was beyond what I was comfortable talking about with her and I wanted to hightail it right out of there “I understand this is hard for you too but humor me for a minute. I could do with something else to concentrate on.”

  Still as sly as ever, even without her memory. I smirked. “I suppose I do but a lot has happened. We live in different places.” She drummed her fingers on the bed.

  “I hate to point out the
obvious but neither of you are trees.” I furrowed my brow. “You don’t have roots.”

  It clicked then.

  “It’s not as easy as that, he left last night for good.”

  She had a determined look on her face. “So what are you still doing here?” I studied her face, she was being deadly serious.

  “Well, now it’s my turn to point out the obvious; my mom’s in hospital after being in a coma, remember?”

  She gave me a sarcastic look. “Well aren’t you a smart ass. All I meant was, what are you still doing here, specifically, right now? I’m fine aren’t I? Unless they’re telling you something I don’t know?”

  I went to say something but found myself lost for words. “The way I see it, you have two options. Wait here in a hospital room until they ship me off to rehab, or you go fight for something you can change, instead of going back to regular life; alone. Don’t look at me like that, I’m entitled to say unwarranted things right now.”

  I still couldn’t form words. My mind went back to the widower from this morning. They were both right, I felt it deep down inside me, this was what I wanted. I looked at my mom and she smiled.

  “Go. I promise I’ll be okay. Says in this pamphlet I’m allowed phone calls once a week, just leave me your number then get on out of here.” I pulled out an old receipt and pen from my purse to scribble my number down and tucked it in her hand.

  “You may not remember before this morning, but I want you to remember this; this conversation has meant more to me than you’ll ever know and I have faith that you will come out the other side of this. I’ll come visit you as soon as I’m allowed and ring me when you can.” I bent down and kissed her forehead before making my way out into the hallway.

  Turning toward the nurses’ station, I told nurse Parker to call me if there were any developments. She seemed curious as to where I was going and what had happened but I didn’t elaborate because it was none of her business.

  I marched towards the entrance of the hospital with renewed purpose. I was really doing this.