by Geri Watson
Tristan snatched the tool out of Tony's hand and stumbled over to the other side of the car, listening to them yell at him the whole way. He hurried as fast as he could, with tears streaming down his face. Even if it killed him, Tristan was going to do everything he could to save her this time. He wasn't going to let her die on him. Not when they had everything left to live for. Not when he'd already saved her last time. He could do this. He was going to save Star, dammit.
He worked the metal as fast as he could, cutting his own hands in the process. He could feel the heat from the engine fire and knew he was running out of time. Trying not to break down into sobs, Tristan continued to work, refusing to give up. Even when Tony braved his way back over and tried to pull him away from the car, Tristan swung around and decked Tony in the jaw. When this was over, he'd apologize to him.
Finally, with a shaky sob escaping him, the metal came loose enough that he could pull Star out. They had already cut her seat-belt first. The fire was closer, Tristan could smell the gas, and the vapor was visible as he held her close against him. The pain in his side was excruciating, but he refused to let her go.
Star opened her eyes and looked up at Tristan as he tried to get away from the burning vehicle behind them. He almost broke down. "Hey."
"You saved me," she whispered.
"Yeah," he smiled, tears streaking down his face.
"I love you," she smiled back.
"Love you." He tilted her toward him and kissed her.
Then the engine exploded.
They hadn't gotten far enough away. Tristan felt the heat envelop them. He heard Tony, Kevin and Roger scream. Then everything went black again.
CHAPTER 41
There was a steady beeping that Star could hear and something that sounded like soft snoring. Her entire body ached, especially her right leg, and there was a stale taste in her mouth. She inhaled slowly and was met with an antiseptic overly clean smell that reminded her of...hospitals. Internally she sighed, that meant they'd made it out of there alive. Star slowly opened her eyes and moved her head to the side. Zack was holding her hand that was closest to him tightly, and his head was resting on her stomach. So that was the snoring she'd heard. But if Zack was with her...where was Tristan?
Her eyes roamed the room around her, and she took in her injuries. After feeling underneath the blanket, she'd discovered that her right leg was in a cast. The left leg covered in bandages. Her arms were reasonably scraped up with what looked like road rash, and when she touched her head, she'd found there was a bandage there. She was pretty badly banged up, no wonder she was in so much pain. At some point during her exploration of injuries, Zack had stopped snoring. With his free hand, he reached up and rubbed his eyes and then looked over at her with a sad expression.
That expression quickly changed when he noticed Star's eyes were open. "Oh my God!" He threw his arms around her. "You're awake!"
"Ow, Zack!" she complained. "Be gentle."
"I'm sorry," he looked at her again and almost looked like he was going to cry. "I'm so happy you're okay." He leaned in and kissed her cheek softly, never letting go of her hand.
"I'm not okay. I've never hurt so bad, and how the hell am I supposed to get up to our apartment with this?" she tapped at her casted right leg.
"You may have to get used to being carried around a little," he cringed. "And being a gimp on crutches."
"Ugh. Neither," Star protested with disgust. "I say we move instead for however long I'm stuck in this thing, and I take a vacation."
Zack shook his head. "I warned them you were gonna be difficult...do you want me to go get a nurse? You said you were in pain," He started to get up out of his chair and she pulled him back toward her instead.
"Where's Tristan?" her eyes searched his for the answer.
He swallowed and turned his eyes away from hers, but not before she saw what looked like pain in them. "I should let them know you're awake, Star. You've been knocked out for a long time."
"Zack?" Star pulled his hand, and he took his other hand and removed hers from it. Then he walked out of the room leaving her alone. The machine monitoring her heart rate started beeping faster, and she looked down at her hand that Zack had been holding and saw it was shaking. Something was wrong. Really wrong if Zack wouldn't look her in the eye. She heard someone knock on the door and an unfamiliar face greeted her.
"Hi, Star. I'm Dr. Harper, I'm in charge of your case," the lady informed her as she flipped through a chart in her hands. "How are you feeling?" she asked in a friendly tone as she looked up.
"I'd feel a lot better if someone would tell me where my fiancé is," she scowled in return.
"Well let's take care of you first and then I'll see about your fiancé, alright?" The doctor smiled, unfazed by Star's attitude. "What would you say your pain level is from 0-10?"
Star sighed. "An 8. My head hurts, my leg hurts, my arms are sore, and my mouth feels like I've been eating cotton balls."
Dr. Harper checked the vitals on the machine and took Star's blood pressure. "You've broken your right leg; we set it while you were still unconscious. As for your head and your arms, from what the paramedics told us, when the engine exploded you and your fiancé were thrown a good distance. We were able to bandage you up fairly well. There shouldn't be any major scarring."
"How long was I unconscious?" Star asked out of curiosity.
The doctor looked at her watch and then at the chart. "Almost two days. You were lucky to make it out of that accident alive."
"Do you know if my fiancé is alright?" she asked, her eyes pleading for any answer.
"I'll send a nurse in with something to manage your pain." she paused at the door. "What's your fiancé’s name?"
"Tristan Montgomery," Star answered. She saw recognition flash in the doctor's eyes.
"Arthur Montgomery's little brother?" she asked.
"Does that mean you know how he is?" Star's voice raised in hope.
"I've got this one, Natasha," a deeper voice said on the other side of the doorway. "Thanks for taking her case, babe. I appreciate it."
"You owe me, Artie. I shouldn't even be tending to patients." She threw him a look as she handed him the chart.
"I'll find a way to repay you, don't worry," he said smoothly.
"So sleeping beauty awakens!" Arthur walked all the way into the room and sat down on the chair Zack had occupied before.
"Please don't mess with me, Art," she groaned. "Tell me he's alright."
Art rested his elbow on the mattress and rubbed his forehead. "You know, I've spent almost a whole day trying to figure out what I was going to say to you when this time came, and I still don't have an eloquent way of doing it."
Star struggled to sit more upright than she was but failed because of her cast, her heart monitor betraying her again. She winced. "What's going on?"
Taking her hand in his, he rubbed at his mouth with the other. This was not the overly confident older brother that she'd always seen. Her fear of something being wrong was quickly becoming a reality with the way that everyone was acting around her. Now even his own brother didn't want to tell her what happened to Tristan.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "How do I do this?"
The love of her life was dead. That was the only conclusion that her mind could come up with. There would be no other reason that everyone would be tiptoeing around her like this. Star sniffed and felt the tears as they cascaded down her cheeks. "He's gone, isn't he?"
Art's head snapped up in surprise. "Oh no, no, no! It's nothing like that. He's about as banged up as you are. They had to pull a large piece of metal out of his abdomen; he needed about 30 stitches. Apparently, when he pulled you out of the car and carried you, it dug into him more. But between the blast and the way he landed..." he shook his head. "He's got a lot of road rash, and we had to stitch up a pretty big gash on his forehead. Then there was the concussion to contend with...hell, I don't know how you two made it out of there a
live as you did."
"Well if he's not dead, then why is everyone walking on eggshells around me when I ask about him?" Star blinked in confusion.
Her head was starting to hurt worse than before. A nurse came in and gave her some pills then that she swallowed while eyeing Art suspiciously. She was going to get to the bottom of this. When the nurse left again, she raised an eyebrow at him and stopped when it hurt. "So?"
Arthur ran his hands over his face and looked her in the eye, releasing a massive sigh. "He doesn't know who you are, Star."
"He has amnesia?" she questioned.
"No. He knows me, he knows our parents, he knows Emily, Tristan remembers everything else," he stopped and his forehead creased. "Well, almost everything else."
"I'm confused." Star looked at him oddly.
"Join the club," he laughed shortly.
"What did you mean by almost everything else?" she asked.
"He doesn't know Zack either." He shook his head. "It's the damnedest thing."
A sickening thought ran through Star's mind. If Tristan remembered everything else and all he forgot about was her and Zack..."Art, has Dr. Walker been to this hospital?" she asked, grabbing his arm and hoping her thought was wrong. If he remembered Dr. Walker, then there was still some hope left.
"Oh yeah, the professor that showed up at your engagement party? He was here. Tristan didn't remember him either. That was the other person. Yeah, that was odd." he blinked in confusion. "Why'd you ask that?"
"Could you go get Zack for me?" Star collapsed back against the pillow. "I'd feel better if he was still here."
"Sure, Star." Arthur got up and then straightened his lab coat. Before he turned to go, he seemed to think twice and turned around to place a kiss on an unbandaged part of her forehead. "We'll get this mystery figured out. I still want you as my sister, and you're the best thing that ever happened to my little brother."
"Thanks, Art." She looked up at him sincerely.
Once she was alone, Star closed her eyes. The medicine hadn't kicked in yet, and her head still ached. Tristan doesn't know who I am. The weight of those words was more than she could take. That was as bad as him dying. He'd still been taken away from her. She started crying. It made her head hurt more, but she didn't care.
She heard Zack's sneakers squeak against the tiled floor as he ran into her room. He climbed into the bed with her as much as he could and collected her in his arms. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he murmured over and over again, rocking her soothingly and kissing the top of her head. "I couldn't do it. I didn't wanna be the one to..." he rested his cheek against her head as he held her. "It's not fair."
"Why?" she choked out against his chest.
"Dr. Walker thinks that when Tristan saved you again, and you both got knocked out by the blast that it cleared the slate," he tried to explain. "To Tristan, it's like he never saw you that day and never kissed you to make you remember him."
"But Zack, everyone else knows me. Everyone else knows about our relationship. We're engaged. I can't walk away as if nothing happened," she sniffed and looked into his crystalline eyes. "What am I going to do?"
Zack smoothed her hair and tucked the loose strands behind her ears. Then he placed his hands on each of her shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. "Star, honey, you've got to make him fall in love with you all over again. Except this time, you won't have the past to help you."
AKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank the DeviantArt community for their constant feedback when I was initially writing Star-Crossed Memories in 2010, especially the following members: InyrilJace (Jenny, my favorite fan!), Ash-moon, inkdeathLJlover, LyanAvalin, Hottie2cool, greatestbunny4ever, Alnia, Kendecia, Joanne-Goulty-Cullen, LostSoul330, triskaidekamania, and GeneralJess101. For my son, Hunter and my husband, Tom; I don’t know what I would have done without your support on this long journey. To Joey, who was a fast fan and believed enough to pester me long after I’d given up publishing this work, there are not enough words. To my own Dr. Walker, a huge thank you for encouraging me to continue writing, in the past and present, and for the permission to use your likeness in this novel. I would also like to give special thanks to the musical artists that played the soundtrack for this book in my mind as it was being written and edited: Placebo, Red, Parachute, Within Temptation, Robbie Robb, Marianas Trench, and Set it Off.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Geri Watson lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, five dogs and cat. She has enjoyed writing since she was in high school and used it as a form of stress relief. Her story, “Can’t Go Home Again”, was included in the anthology Kicking and Screaming: a collection of short stories compiled by A Taylor Douglas. She has also published a collection of her earlier written literature titled Weltschmerz: Musings of a haunted mind.
