Peyton's Memories

Chapter 1

An oddly familiar smell filled her senses. She couldn't quite identify what the smell was. As the unpleasant scent seemed to increasingly swell around her she began to get the distinct feeling that she had bad memories associated with this smell. She slowly began to blink her eyes open. An ugly green color filled her vision, blinking a few times to clear her vision she was able to see the green colored wall in focus. Her eyebrows crinkled slightly in confusion. She would never choose such an awful color for her bedroom walls, and as she thought that the idea of red colored walls came to her and she immediately liked the idea. She was sure this wasn't her room, but that then begged the question of whose room was it. She turned her head to look at the rest of the room but as soon as she had moved her head she felt a white hot shock of pain ripple through her head. She immediately squeezed her eyes shut in shock and pain. Her hand went up to tenderly touch her head where the pain had been centered and she felt material on her forehead. Her fingers grazed the material and followed along it, finding it to stretch around her head. She began to feel panic rising in her as her eyes shot open. With her head turned she now saw the room she was inhabiting. A counter with a sink lined the wall, various cabinets were above the counter, the other wall had a large window in the middle of it with its shades pulled closed so she couldn't see outside, in the corner was a television mounted on the wall, and finally a closed door. Her panic rose as she realized the truth of her suspicion, she was in the hospital. She felt an overwhelming hatred for the place, but she couldn't put her finger on why. She closed her eyes again, and took a deep breathe, trying to calm her nerves. Being in the hospital unsettled her, but what upset her even worse than that was the fact that she had no idea why she was here. She was trying to recall what had happened to get her here, but she couldn't come up with anything, it was just a blank. The longer her eyes were closed the more she felt her body calling her to sleep. Giving up with trying to recall the memory of what got her in the hospital for the time being she allowed herself to slip back into unconsciousness.

She felt herself slowly coming out of the deep state of dreams, her hopes that waking in a hospital room had been part of her dreams quickly being dashed as she smelt the same scent wafting to her nose. She hesitantly opened her eyes. The room held all the same sights as she had observed before, only with one difference; there was someone sleeping hunched over in the chair beside her bed. Her eyes scanned over the weary looking figure, cheeks red and eyes blotchy alluding to the likelihood of having cried earlier. The woman's short, dark brown hair fell around her face, her neck bent in what she could imagine had to be an uncomfortable position. The woman wore little make-up, her gentle and naturally beautiful features not needing it. As she continued to examine the woman in the chair she began to wonder why she was here in her room. She did not recognize the woman, and wasn't sure how to react to her being here. She wanted answers as to why she had been hospitalized, and this woman may be able to tell her, but why would a stranger be sitting by her bedside? As she was debating with herself whether to wake the woman or not the brunet began to stir. She watched her carefully as she began to awake. The woman turned her neck in order to clear it of the kinks it must have had from that uncomfortable position. She sighed and sat up in her chair, still not having noticed that she wasn't the only one awake in the room. She stretched further and then bent down to gather up her coat that must have fallen to the floor as she slept. It was as she was rising from piking up her coat that the woman finally turned her eyes towards her. Brown eyes met green. The woman froze in shock. Neither woman moved for several long moments. The brunet let out a deep breathe watching her with wonderment as her eyes began to fill with tears. Suddenly the woman launched herself at her, throwing her arms around her, in a small whisper uttering words she only just made out as,

"Peyton. Oh Peyton." She was shocked when this woman suddenly lunged at her, and was now hugging her. She couldn't say she liked it very much, she wasn't a very touchy-feely person with anyone, let alone strangers. She felt increasingly uncomfortable as she felt dampness soaking into her gown, the woman had released the tears she had seen in her eyes earlier, and was currently spilling them all over her shoulder. She didn't know what to do. She wasn't hugging her back, but yet she felt a small urge to comfort the upset woman that was clinging to her tightly. This was all so confusing, and she was starting to get frustrated with the strangeness of the situation.

She gave the woman a small pat on the back and then cleared her throat getting ready to speak for the first time since she had woken in the hospital. She stopped for a moment wondering just how long it had been since she was here. Shaking herself out of her thoughts she continued to clear her throat and finally managed to croak out a question, though it wasn't any of the ones she was desperate for the answer of.

"Are you alright?" The gravely sound of her voice was barely recognizable, and she realized the immense dryness of her throat. Her voice seemed to shake the woman out of her state and she finally moved back away from her. She gave a nod in answer to her question, with a small smile on her face. Wiping her eyes hastily she went over to the sink pouring a cup of water, then bringing it over to her. She accepted the cup gratefully, bringing it to her lips and drinking it greedily. She felt the cool liquid slide down her throat, and sighed at the relief it brought. She looked back up at the woman and gave a small smile of thanks.

"Better?" The woman asked as she watched her intently.

"Yeah." Was the simple reply she came up with for the confusing but kind stranger.

"Oh Peyton," the brunet sighed again, "I'm so glad your awake and alright. You gave us all quite a scare. How are you feeling?" Her mind raced at the few things the woman had just said to her. She had said she was alright, so whatever happened must have been taken care of and wasn't to drastic at least, which was a large relief to the curly blonde laying in the hospital bed. But who was this 'we' she had referred to? Who had she scared? The woman apparently counted herself in that group, but why would she be scared for someone she doesn't know? And why was she acting as if she did know her? She had never seen this woman before, and she was starting to wonder about the woman's clarity of mind. Being true to her nature she decided to go the direct route.

"Who are you?" The curly blonde's scratchy voice croaked out. The brunet crinkled her eyebrows together in confusion, starring at her for a few moments.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, who are you?" The blonde asked with growing irritation. She couldn't help but wonder what was with this woman.

"Peyton, I don't get it." The woman said with increased confusion, her big brown eyes searching the other woman questioningly, hoping this was some of Peyton's famous snarky sarcasm. The blonde let out a frustrated sigh before responding,

"What is so difficult about that question? I've asked it twice already, don't make me ask again. And why do you keep calling me Peyton?" The brunet's eyes widened, gazing at her with a unreadable expression. She stepped away from the bed.

"You mean, you don't know who I am?" She asked slowly as if talking to a child. The curly blonde chose not to respond verbally, not trusting herself to not let out an even more sarcastic remark if she spoke, nodded her head in the affirmative. The woman closed her eyes and let out a heavy breath. When she opened here eyes again to settle on the woman in the hospital bed, her eyes reflected both fear and worry. Her reaction only fueled the blonde's confusion, but before she could say anything more the woman turned abruptly around and left the room quickly.

Several long minuets went by until the door opened once again. Only the person who entered wasn't the brunet, but was a doctor.

"Well, its nice to see you awake again." The tall doctor said as she walked in.

"How long have I been out?" The curly blonde asked anxiously.

"You've been out for about a week and a half." The doctor responded as she scanned over a clipboard that had been hanging on the end of her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over." She responded instantly, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth she cringed with a scary thought.

"Oh crap, is that what happened? Did I get run over?" The doctor than walked over to beside her bed.

"I see Mrs. Scott was right. You don't remember anything about what happened?" The

doctor asked kindly as she looked over her carefully.

"No, I don't. Why is that? And what did happen? Please don't beat around the bush." She shot out impatiently. The doctor offered her a small somewhat sad looking smile, sympathy written all over her face as she continued her questioning.

"Is there anything that you can remember?" The blonde couldn't help but roll her eyes at the doctor's insistence about not informing her about what had happened to herself.

"About what? What happened to me? No, I already told you I can't remember anything about it. So would you maybe mind-"

"No, I don't mean just about what happened to you a week and a half ago, I mean do you remember anything?" The blonde starred at her incredulously.

"Anything?"

"Anything." The blonde resisted the temptation to roll her eyes again, deciding to just go along with what the doctor wanted so that maybe if she gave her what she wanted the doctor would finally tell her what was going on. She paused for a minuet trying to recall any random memory to satisfy the doctors questioning. The blonde's eyebrows crinkled together and lips pursed. After several long seconds she squeezed her eyes shut in concentration. She felt confusion, frustration and panic overwhelm her. She couldn't think of anything. Nothing. She was drawing a complete blank. She tried harder and harder just to think of something simple, anything...but nothing came. Her history was a complete blank to her. She had no idea who she was. Her eyes snapped open and she starred at the doctor with wide-eyed panic.

"What's wrong with me?" The confused blonde asked just above a whisper, afraid of the answer. The doctor sighed slightly before answering her question.

"Now Peyton, I know this is going to be hard to understand, but you were in an accident the other week. You hit your head rather hard, which is why you were unconscious for the past week and a half. That blow to the head also seems to have caused you to have amnesia. This is something that we had no way of detecting before you woke up, it was only just now when Mrs. Scott came and reported that you were unable to identify her that we became aware of the situation. Because of this we don't know the extent of the damage or any details about it. However, now that we know, our next step is to run some tests and see what we can find out. I'll go get Dr. Bernstein and he'll talk you through more this, and ask you some more questions to see if he can't jog some of that memory." The doctor finished with her min-speech, offered one more small smile and walked out of the room again. The curly blonde sat there in shock. As soon as she had realized she was unable to recall any memory, she had feared that it had something to do with amnesia, but she had hoped she was wrong. Apparently she wasn't wrong, and this is one time she wished she was. Her brain spun with all the information the doctor had given her. She then swore under her breathe in annoyance realizing the doctor still hadn't told her what the accident was that she was involved in.

So apparently she had known that woman who was in here earlier. It was a very strange feeling knowing she should remember someone when she didn't. She wondered who the woman was to her. Was she a family member? A friend? She must have been someone close to her for her to have visited long enough to have fallen asleep beside her bed. She remembered the brunet's look of confusion and hurt when she hadn't known who she was. She wished she could remember...she just couldn't. She closed her eyes as the weight of everything began to suffocate her. This was to much to handle. She didn't know what to do. How did someone go about bringing back memories? She hoped that this Dr. Bernstein would be able to shed some light on how she was supposed to do that. She was putting all her energy into that hope, because if she didn't she could feel she would be completely falling into an abyss of confusion. She couldn't let that happen. She had to keep together. She had to be strong enough. She hated being weak. She wouldn't allow herself to be weak. And most especially, she would not allow herself to cry. This other doctor was going to be coming in soon, and she would be dammed before she was caught crying by anyone, let alone someone she had never even met... Then again, maybe she had met this doctor before, but she just didn't remember it. That thought was what broke her resolve, a single hot tear running down her cheek. She angrily brushed it away. But once the first tear had fallen it had opened the damn, and no matter how determined she was to stop them, they just kept pouring down her face.

X

The brunet turned around for about the fiftieth time, continuing her pacing that she had been doing for almost twenty minuets now. What was it about hospitals that made time seem to slow down to an absolutely torturously slow speed. Why couldn't people just get their butts in gear and move faster? She groaned out in frustration as she turned around again pacing back in the same direction she had just come from. A few minuets later she heard the sound of the elevator doors opening behind her, but she had learned to not hope that it was him, because she had gotten her hopes up only to be disappointed to many times to count within the last twenty-five minuets. But when she heard her name called, and instantly recognized his voice, she whipped around to be greeted by a frantic, but yet excited, look on her best-friend's face as he quickly approached her.

"Hales." He whispered as he pulled her into a tight hug. She hid her face against his chest as his arms gave her a brief sensation of safety and comfort, bringing her back to days when things were so much simpler and innocence still remained. He pulled out their embrace but stayed close to her, as if knowing she needed his presence to help keep her calm. He noticed the tears on her face and brought up a hand to gently brush them away. He looked at her understandingly, but then his face broke out into a huge smile.

"She's awake. Hales, its okay now, everything is going to be okay, 'cause she's awake." She looked up at him sadly. When she had called him to tell him the news she had only been able to get out that Peyton had finally woken up, she was about to tell him the rest but he had immediately said he was coming to the hospital right away. She hadn't even been able to get in another word before he had hung up. She saw the hope and happiness shining in his eyes in a way that she hadn't seen in a long time, and she hated the idea of seeing that leave his eyes again, let alone being the one to do it to him.

"I'm not so sure Lucas." She said quietly. He squinted at her in slight confusion, but his smile only wavered a bit in his confusion, seemingly not able to dowse his good spirits. She spoke again before he would ask what she meant, she would have to tell him, but avoiding it for even just a few moments seemed a good idea. "Where are the kids?"

"Nathan's with all of them. I told him what happened and he said he didn't mind watching them, as long as we didn't take to long for one of us to get back there so he could come see her too." She simply nodded.

"I'm going to go see her." He said quickly starting off down the hallway, but her voice made him turn to her again.

"You can't right now Luke, she's with a doctor, they're doing some kind of tests."

"What kind of tests?" He asked curiously, the first sign of worry flickering in his eyes since he had come back to the hospital.