Page 49 of Help Me Remember
“I have to turn around?” I asked, then saw him nod ardently, so I took the next turn. I looked over, seeing how white he was. “You okay?”
“Please pay attention to the road and not me,” he groaned, wiping his face.
The time of day meant traffic wasn’t too heavy, so I spared him another glance. “You look terrified.”
“You are driving at highway speed on the main roads, we’ve been in almost five separate horrible wrecks, and there are assholes with guns coming after us, oh, and Russian guys who want us dead!”
I smiled at the cop joke. “All very good points.”
“And I’ve always hated being in cars,” he snapped, looking down at his lap.
“This is something I’ve forgotten, isn’t it?” I asked, finally slowing down after making it a couple of blocks. I had yet to see the sleek, red convertible the two thugs had taken from the woman and knew that erratic driving would only draw more attention to us.
“My mom died in a car accident,” Eric said in a tight voice, though I thought he was starting to relax.
“Oh, right, you mentioned that.”
“What I didn’t mention was that I was in the car. I was pretty young, so I don’t remember it. But I used to have dreams for years, horrible dreams. All this glass and blood everywhere, the smell of smoke and—”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. My eyes stung, and my arms ached from holding her close to me, but she never moved. She only grew colder. Those bastards had made this happen, had ripped everything away.
And I was going to make them pay. I was going to ruin each and every one of them, no matter what I had to do.
No matter what, even if it meant—
I shuddered, hitting the brake too sharply when I nearly ran a red light, almost barreling into the side of a moving truck. Eric yelped in surprise as he was flung forward, stopped only by the seat belt.
“Christ!” he snapped, turning to look at me. “What part of I’m terrified of…being in a…Dylan?”
I stared ahead, heart pounding, sweat breaking out on my face. I could feel my eyes stinging with tears over a memory that had come as only a fractured image. The horror, devastation, and rage still washed through me as I sat at the light. I barely noticed the angry honking of horns behind me until Eric put a hand over my arm.
“Dyl, the light is green, bud,” he said softly.
Nodding stiffly, I found the means to push the peddle and continue forward.
By the time we reached the next light, my heart rate had slowed, and I could breathe easier. Reaching up to brush my forehead, I winced at the amount of sweat. “How long did I lose it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even notice you’d lost it until you almost rear-ended that guy,” Eric said, his voice in direct contrast to the high and tight tension it had before. “What happened?”
“I think…my memory is starting to come back,” I said slowly, easing to a complete stop as the next light turned red. “It happened in the station too.”
“What happened?”
I shook my head. “It’s like…it’s like I’m in the memory. I’m not just remembering it. It’s like I’m there. Like I’m experiencing it all over again. I remembered…”
Glancing at Eric nervously, I licked my lips and pushed the car forward again. Eric leaned over, peering up at my face. “What? Remembered what?”
“A woman.”
“A woman?”
“Red hair, an almost evil smile, but she didn’t mean any harm.”
“Oh. That…sounds like someone you were, uh, into.”
“I think it was more than just kind of into,” I said slowly. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was reluctant to tell Eric about this. I honestly had no idea how long ago I’d known this woman. She had clearly been important to me, but right now, Eric was important to me.
None of this was helping me feel any better, only more confused and frustrated.