Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Little Liars
Author's note: Alright, this is the second fanfic I'm putting on here. I wasn't planning on writing another one until my first one was finished, but the idea just came to me and I just went with it.
As you have read, this story is about Aria getting memory loss. I am not a doctor, so I do apologize in advance if some things aren't 100% medically accurate.
But anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this first chapter (and hopefully many more).
Information about the story: Aria is 22 and has just finished college. She has been together with Ezra since she met him in the bar that day. They have been living together in Ezra's apartment ever since Aria graduated high school. The whole -A problem has been resolved and doesn't get mentioned anymore. Ella and Byron never learnt to accept Aria and Ezra's relationship, so because of that Aria doesn't see them anymore. Mike got very sick when Aria was 18 and he died. (RIP Mike!)
Happy reading!
It was a stormy night, inside their apartment Ezra and Aria were having a discussion about their future. Aria, who had just finished college, had gotten a job offer at a publishing house. The only problem was that the job was in Manhattan, so they would have to move.
"Look Ezra…this job offer is a huge deal for me. If I take this job, I can literally do anything I want after that", Aria explained. Ezra took in a deep breath and rubbed his temple as he exhaled, "So, I'm just supposed to give up my job then?". Aria sighed, "Come on Ezra, it's not like you can't teach anywhere else". "It's not like you can't get a job somewhere else either, like around here", Ezra replied aggravated. "No Ezra, I can't. This job will launch my career in ways other jobs couldn't", Aria replied. "So what you're basically saying, is that it doesn't matter what I think, we're just going to do what YOU want", Ezra said getting seemingly more upset. "Of course you have a say in this, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you", Aria said. "But you're not…asking me, you're telling me. You've already decided you're taking this job. You decided that the second you applied for this job", Ezra said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "Ezra, I really want this. It's a huge opportunity", Aria tried explaining to him again. "So you keep saying, but….I'm not moving, that's final", Ezra staid sternly. "Fine, be that way. If you don't want to move, that's your decision, but I am", Aria said seemingly upset. "Oh, come on. Don't be so childish", Ezra snapping at her. "I'm childish? No Ezra, YOU'RE the one who's being childish.", Aria said madly. Aria grabbed her purse and she took her car keys of the kitchen counter and said, "I… I need to get out of here". And she headed for the door. "Aria, wait! Don't go!", Ezra pleaded. But it was too late, Aria had already walked out the door.
Aria walked outside of their apartment building and headed for her car in a hurry, because it was storming really bad outside. She got in her car and just sat there for a minute, not knowing where to go. She didn't really have a place to go. Ezra was all she had left. Hanna was in New York working in fashion, Emily had become a professional swimmer and Spencer was working at a big law firm in San Francisco. And then there were her parents…they still lived in Rosewood, but she hadn't talked to them in years. They never accepted their relationship and had tried about almost everything to try and break them up. It broke her heart when she told her parents she wanted nothing do to with them ever again, but as much as she loved her parents, she loved Ezra more. Ezra, whom she just had a fight with. Ezra, whom she would do anything for. And who would do anything for her, or so she thought.
She clenched her right hand into a fist and hit the steering wheel in front of her, yelling "Dammit!". She started to sob. She felt so alone right now, no one to talk to, no one to comfort her. She took her cell phone out of her purse and scrolled down her contact list. But soon she was at the bottom and she had no idea who to call. It had been so long since she had heard from anybody, they had all been so busy. She wiped the tears out of her face and started the car. She drove away from the apartment, destination unknown. After driving for about fifteen minutes, the storm started getting worse. The rain was falling from the sky so heavy, she couldn't even see what was right in front of her, even with her windshield wipers at full speed. She decided to slow down her speed, but it was already too late. Aria lost control of the car and it slid further down the wet road, until she crashed at high speed against a tree.
A couple of minutes after the crash, Aria regained consciousness. Her head was hurting so bad, it was the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. She kept dozing off and waking up startled, her breath was ragged and she was shaking. She reached for her purse with a trembling hand, and felt for her phone as her vision was blurry. When she found it, she felt the buttons and pressed 9-1-1 and then the green phone button. She wanted to bring the phone to her ear, but her arm felt so heavy she couldn't move it. She heard someone say "911. What's your emergency?", but it seemed so far away in the distance. Aria tried to speak, but all she could mutter was a soft "help", before losing consciousness again, and dropping the phone on the floor.
Not too long after, an ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital. The hospital called Aria's parents, who risked the stormy weather and drove to the hospital to see their daughter. When they got there, they talked to a nurse at the nurse's desk to ask where Aria was. The nurse told them that they should go sit in the waiting area and that a doctor would be with them soon. About half an hour later, that seemed like forever, the doctor came over to them and said, "Are you Aria's parents?". Ella looked up at the doctor from her chair and got out of it saying, "Yes, we are. Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?". Byron got out of his chair as well and put his arm around his wife, she clearly needed to be comforted. The doctor spoke again, "Your daughter was in a car accident this evening. She is stable for now. We are currently running some tests to see if there is any internal damage. She took quite a blow to the head, so we're also checking if there's any swelling or bleeding in her brain. Don't worry, it's just standard procedure in these cases. After the tests are done, she'll be taken to her room and then you can go see her". Then the doctor walked away to continue his work.
Ella started sobbing and Byron held her in his arms, saying "It's going to be okay. You heard the doctor". "I don't think I can go through something like this again. I can't lose another child, Byron. She's all we have left", Ella said between sobs. Byron got upset and said, "But we don't really have her, now do we? All because of that…pervert. And here our daughter is lying in the hospital, and he's not even here". Ella stopped sobbing and looked up like a light had turned on inside her head. She said seeming worried, "What if he was in the car too?". "We should be so lucky", Byron replied. Shocked by her husband's answer she walked over to the nurse she spoke earlier and asked, "Excuse me? Was there anyone else in the car with my daughter?". The nurse replied, "No. Your daughter was the only one in the car. Why do you ask?". "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that her…partner… isn't here yet, so I thought he might have been in the accident too", Ella explained to the nurse. The nurse looked up something on the computer and said, "I just checked and you and your husband are the only two people on the list we need to contact in case of an emergency. If you'd like, you can give me your daughter's partners number and I'll contact them for you, if you feel you're not up to it yourself?". Byron, who had been listening in on the conversation from a distance, walked towards them and said, "No, that won't be necessary. Thank you". Byron grabbed Ella by the arm and gently pulled her back with him to the waiting area. "Byron! What are you doing? Our daughter is in the hospital, we need to inform Ezra about this", Ella said. "No…No, we don't. Or do you not remember that he's the reason why we haven't seen or talked to our daughter in years?", Byron asked her with bitterness in his voice. Ella looked down at the floor, sighed and shook her head, before saying, "Fine".
After some more had passed, the nurse walked up to them and said, "She's in her room now. The doctor's waiting for you there. I'll take you there now, just follow me". When they arrived at the room, they saw the doctor standing at the end of her bed, her chart in his hands. The doctor saw them come in and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery", nodding a hello. Ella and Byron walked in, both gasping at the sight of their daughter. After all, they hadn't seen her in years, she looked so grown-up. They were also shocked to see her in a hospital bed like that, with a foam neck collar and with bruises. Aria was lying in the hospital bed, seemingly asleep. The doctor saw the worried looks on their face and said, "She's still pretty out of it, so she's mostly asleep, but she wakes up from time to time. We did some tests and there's some swelling in her brain, but no bleeding, so that's good. No other internal bleedings either. No fractures. It appears your daughter is going to be fine, she just needs a lot of rest". "Fine? You just said she has swelling in her brain!", Ella said panicking. "No need to worry about that. It's very common after what your daughter's been through. The swelling is just temporarily and it will be completely gone in a few days", the doctor explained. Ella seemed to calm down and was about to say something, when all of a sudden she heard her daughters' voice.
Aria opened her eyes and heard beeps and she heard someone talk. Her vision stopped being blurry and she saw her parents at the end of her bed. She had no idea what had happened to her or why she was even here. Finally she spoke, "Mom…Dad…What happened?". Ella rushed to the side of Aria's hospital bed and asked, "Honey, how are you feeling?". Aria cringed a little, everything sounded so loud. Aria replied, "It's so loud in here..my head hurts…what happened?". Ella got a worried look on her face again, she spoke softer now when she said, "You don't remember sweetie? You got into a car accident. You're in the hospital now, but you're going to be okay." Aria looked confused, she couldn't remember a car accident at all, or getting in a car for that matter. "Is everybody else okay?", Aria asked. Ella was confused now too, and said, "What do you mean by everybody else sweetie? You were the only one in the car". "But what about the driver then?", Aria asked. "You were driving the car. You don't remember that?", Ella asked getting more worried. Aria was really confused now, how could she be driving the car, "But…I'm not old enough.. to drive a car", Aria replied.
Ella turned to the doctor in the room and asked, "What is going on here, why doesn't she remember? And why does she think she's not old enough to drive a car?". The doctor replied, "It's quite normal for her not to remember the car accident. Being in a car accident is a very traumatic experience and most people just block out the memory of it all together. But it is strange that she doesn't think she's old enough to drive a car". The doctor walked up to Aria and asked her, "Aria, how old are you?". Aria looked up at the doctor and said, "I'm fifteen. Why?". "What's the last thing you remember?", the doctor asked her. Aria was getting a bit annoyed, why wouldn't they tell her what was going on? "The last thing I remember is being in Spencer's barn, with my friends. And Ali tried to hypnotize us", Aria told the doctor. Ella gasped and put her hand over her mouth in disbelief. The doctor looked at Ella now and asked, "Do you know when this specific memory happened?". Ella looked up at the ceiling with tears starting to form in her eyes, then she looked back at the doctor and said, "The summer when she was fifteen. How is this possible?". The doctor replied, "Well, there are two options. Either the swelling in her brain is causing this, and she will regain her memory when the swelling is gone. Or she is suffering from partial memory loss due to the traumatic brain injury, and there's a possibility she might never remember anything that's happened during those years".
Aria was really getting annoyed by the fact that they were talking about her like she wasn't even in the room. "Come on guys! What is going on?", she yelled out annoyed. The doctor turned to Aria and said, "Well, it appears you have partial memory loss. Your memory might return in a few days, a few months or maybe never". Aria was shocked, exactly how many years was she missing? How old was she? The doctor saw the shocked expression on Aria's face and continued, "Don't panic, but you are missing quite a few years. You are currently 22 years old, so that means you can't remember anything from the last 7 years". The doctor said don't panic, but that was easier said than done. Aria was really getting upset by this. She's 22! And she can't remember anything of it. She didn't remember graduating from high school with her friends, going off to college, and who knows what else she's missed out on! The doctor saw that Aria was freaking out and told her to get some rest and not think about it. Forcing herself to remember things would only make her recovery go slower. She needed lots and lots of rest and then everything would be fine. He also told her parents that Aria had enough excitement for the day and that it's best they leave now and come back tomorrow. Then they all left the room and Aria followed the doctor's advice and tried to go back to sleep.
On the ride home from the hospital, Ella and Byron didn't say a word to each other. Ella was too worried to talk, and Byron was off into his own little world coming up with a plan. When they got home Ella said, "I'm going to bed" and walked towards the stairs. "Wait!", Byron called after her. Ella turned around and said, "What is it Byron? Because if this is another one of your angry rants, then it'll just have to wait until tomorrow". Byron sighed, but realized his wife was right, he hadn't been the most enjoyable person to be around today. "No, it's…about Aria. I've been doing some thinking and I think we should let her move back in", Byron told Ella. Ella looked surprised and said, "And what makes you think she'd want to move back in here?". Byron smirked and said, "Because…as far as she knows, she's got no other place to go". "What exactly are you saying here?", Ella asked him.
Byron replied, "I'm saying that life has given us a second chance for us to be a normal, happy family again. She doesn't remember any of our fights, we can start over again. And most important of all, she has no idea who Ezra is, and as far as I'm concerned, she never will".
So…that happened! So that was chapter 1 of my new story, I really hope you liked reading it as much as I loved writing it! So please review and tell me what you think of it so far! Thanks!