Life at the ranch was nice. It was fairly
routine: get up in the morning, eat breakfast, do a few mundane tasks, fixing
broken fences, chopping wood, shoeing a horse or two. Come in and eat lunch.
Drive to Dalewood the nearest town about fifteen miles away from the ranch to
get a couple things for the Thompson's. Then come back to the ranch, eat dinner
and go to bed.
In the morning it would start up all over again. Same old,
same old. Like an ever turning wheel of life. No variations just the same set
pattern.
He had come home from the hospital almost four months ago and he
still didn't remember a single thing from his life before his car accident. That
was all right, the Thompson's said. It'll come back to you in time, they told
him.
But it didn't and Zack or Adam as he was known, was starting to get
worried even though he didn't show it. His memories weren't coming back at all
and he was plagued by strange dreams.
Dreams of little kids about ten with
barcodes on the back of their necks, like the one on his. The kids had sad eyes,
eyes too old to belong to kids their age. He dreamed of breaking glass, flashing
lights, sirens going off, bitter cold, pain and an overwhelming sense of
failure. Failure to do what Adam didn't know.
But most of all he dreamed
about the girl. The girl with long brown hair and sorrowful brown eyes. The girl
who had said no, when he asked if he knew her in the hospital waiting room as he
was discharged from the hospital. And the feelings of protectiveness and
determination and love, he always felt when he saw her in his dreams.
She
was in his dreams very often, almost every night. Dreams of her happy and sad,
with blood covering her and with tears falling down her cheeks. With her laugh
ringing through the air and a happy light in her eyes. She haunted him, and Adam
for the life of him couldn't figure out why.
~~~
Adam moaned in his
sleep and turned over on to his side as he slept. The girl's face floated above
him. She was crying, her face streaked with tears and an expression of absolute
sadness on her face. She kept shaking her head and murmuring over and over
again, "I'm so sorry, please forgive me."
Adam felt a pang in his heart. He
didn't want her to be sorry for whatever she was sorry for. She shouldn't be sad
and be crying. She should be laughing and happy. He felt the feelings of love
and protectiveness wash over him. He started to reach for her, to tell her, he
forgived her. To make her stop crying and stop feeling sad. He didn't want her
to cry. He didn't want her to be sad.
Suddenly a loud ringing noise cut
through his dream.
Adam bolted up right. The alarm clock kept ringing. It's
glowing red numbers read six a.m. Adam reached over and turned off the alarm
clock. Pushing back the covers he got out of bed. He dressed quickly. From
downstairs the smell of coffee, eggs, bacon and toast drifted up.
Adam's
stomach in response rumbled loudly. Adam walked silently across the bedroom to
the door. He paused, his hand on the knob. Out of the corner of his eye he
caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. He was tall and lean He had blond
hair that was slightly mussed up from tossing and turning as he slept. His blue
eyes had a slightly haunted look in them.
Suddenly, his reflection blurred,
and in it's place, staring at him was the girl. Tears were rolling down her
face. Her brown eyes were stricken and begging. She was pleading over and over
again for forgiveness.
From somewhere far off someone was screaming. That
person was him. There was a sound of shattering glass, a shard cut him in the
cheek. Blackness flooded his vision.
