Chapter 12

Annabeth

I woke up blearily, my eyes adjusting to the bright light from the windows. I am lying on my back, on a bed I don't recognise.

Shooting up, I panic, wondering where I am.

"Annabeth?" a blond haired man hurries up to the side of the bed. Automatically I flinch away, pushing myself backwards. "Annabeth – I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't mean it – I can understand if you – "

"Wait..." I pressed a hand to my throbbing head and blinked the spots out my eyes. "Where am I? Who are you?"

His eyes flash suddenly with...fear? Loss? I haven't a clue what's going on. I stumble backwards and rip the covers off me, pressing my back against the wall. My heart thumps loudly in my chest.

He steps towards me, but I make a bolt across the room.

A hand grips around my arm, pulling me to a stop.

"Let me go, let me go!"

"Annabeth, it's me," he tries to say, moving his hand down to mine. I jerk away, because he must be lying. I've never seen him before in my life. "Don't you remember?"

"Get away from me," I step backwards again, knocking over a wooden stool. "I don't know who you are."

"I'm your boyfriend," he says pleadingly. "You...you hit your head and your memory must've gone – "

"I don't have a boyfriend. I don't know you."

"Annabeth, how old are you?"

My eyes widen at the question. Rude. He's rude. And a pervert. "Why should I tell you? Just let me go home."

"Answer the question."

"Sixteen. I'm sixteen."

He sighs heavily and brushes a hand through his hair. "No you're not. You are twenty two years old and you – "

I stumble away. "You're lying. I'm sixteen years old. I don't know who you are."

Get out of here whilst you can.

"Annabeth, please believe me. Look – look at the year on my calendar."

I look up and find the date.

No...

This can't be happening.

I shouldn't be sixteen. Six years have passed since then.

"I'm your boyfriend," he says again. "Please, I only want to help."

"What about my Dad? Can I see my Dad?"

His expression looks troubled. "Annabeth...you told me you never wanted to see his face again – you told me you hated him."

The words felt like a blow to my heart. How could I ever have said such horrible things? I love my Dad; I could never, ever hate him. He's always been there for me – especially with the deaths of my mum and brother. He must be lying. His calendar must be fake – he could've bought one six years into the future.

"I would never say that," I say with determination. "Nothing could make me hate him. I want to go home. Just leave me alone."

He looked close to tears and something inside of me whispered 'It's genuine'. "Don't do this Annabeth, I couldn't live without you. I love you."

What if he was telling the truth? What if I loved him and...It would break his heart to see me walk away. I couldn't do that to someone.

"Stay with me," he continued. "Maybe your memory will return."

I looked wildly for sincerity in his eyes. To my surprise, all I saw was love. True love. I've always wanted to know what it felt like – maybe I did, but those memories 'apparently' have gone.

"I'll stay...for a week."

"If I can prove myself, will you stay forever?" he gave me adorable puppy eyes.

Something tugged at the back of my mind...damn it, why can't I remember? I...I recognise that look. I squeezed my eyes shut but all I saw was black.

"Maybe..."

I can't give him any promises.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Your orchestra starts in 15 minutes – you don't have to go – "

"Wait...I'm in an orchestra?" I pushed my palm to my head, feeling slightly faint.

"Yes, you're the soloist," there was a hint of pride in his voice and the thought made butterflies erupt in my stomach.

"Is that my full time job?"

"Yes. I can understand if you don't want to go today – "

"No, I do. Maybe it'll help...you know, with my memory loss."

He seemed nervous all of a sudden. "Be careful, ok?"

XXX

I stared out of the window, watching the streets pass by in a greyish blur. I've never been to London before...at least I don't think I have.

"So let me get this straight...I moved to London a year ago, I joined one of the biggest orchestras in the country and somehow I'm the soloist," I looked hesitatingly at the violin by my feet. It is different from my normal one – more expensive and finely crafted. What if I can't play as well? What if I disappoint everyone...?

"Yup, you're the soloist. And a pretty damn good one at that."

I breathed in, trying to picture the thought. "And your name is Luke Castellan and you are twenty three years old."

"Correct. Your conductors name is Chiron Brunner – except you have to call him 'sir'. You have a friend called Hazel – she sits next to you," he hesitated and started up again. "There's a girl called Drew Tanaka, you don't like her at all. You're playing the solo part for three of the pieces – "

"You know a lot about me, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"How long have we been going out?"

"About two weeks."

"That's not long."

He shrugged. "It has to start somewhere."

"I suppose..."

The car stopped outside a large building, with glass doors. I stepped out and looked nervously inside, hoping that I wouldn't make a fool of myself. If this guy...Luke...was telling the truth, all these people here will know me.

I scrunch my eyebrows together. I still feel sixteen. Not...twenty two.

"Good luck," Luke says, waving me goodbye. He leans in closer, as if to kiss me but I step back and wave instead.

I'm not kissing a stranger – even if he really is my boyfriend. Maybe when I trust him more. "See you later."

I push open the doors and follow the corridor; I can hear people tuning their instruments somewhere. There's a strange feeling of exhilaration inside of me – I've always wanted to play in a professional orchestra, from the day I started learning the violin.

The room was warm and full of chattering, a grey haired man stood assorting his music sheets on his stand – that must be Chiron Brunner. There's a group of gossiping girls with high pitched laughter.

A curly haired girl – in her early twenties, rushed up to me with an excited expression. "Annabeth, can you come to my party this Saturday? It's for my 23rd Birthday – I would absolutely love you to cone."

This must be Hazel. Although Luke failed to mention her surname. "Yes, of course I can come."

She put a piece of paper in my hand, with all the details written neatly onto it. "Great," she then leaned up to my ear and whispered: "Don't think I don't know what happened in the girls toilets the other day."

I laughed awkwardly, hoping to go along with it naturally. But inside, I am honestly curious – what did happen in the girls toilets? Oh god...it could be anything. Heat rose to my cheeks.

"Aww, you're blushing – I knew it!" she squealed. "But you're perfect for each other – you two just look right with each other."

I have a feeling she's not talking about Luke – by the way she keeps glancing at the tall, black haired man at the piano.

"Oh Annabeth!" she gasped, bringing me out of my stupor. "Your head! It's bruised – there's a cut. What did you do?"

"I – I don't know..." I said rather feebly. "I think I must've hit it on something. Can I be honest with you?"

"Sure."

"I don't know who you are," I say bluntly. Her expression crumples slightly and instantly I feel bad. "I mean, I don't know who anyone is here. I- I think I've had amnesia and I feel like I should be sixteen...a-and..."

She hugs me suddenly and pulls away. "So you don't remember anything since you were sixteen?"

Apart from a stunning pair of green eyes giving me a puppy dog expression, no. But I can't tell her that – she'll think I'm even crazier than I already am.

"No, nothing. It's just like a massive gap."

"So...you don't remember...Percy?"

"Percy?" the name feels almost natural on my tongue...but I haven't a clue who he is...unless he's related to the girls toilets incident. "No, who's Percy?"

"Your ex-boyfriend!" everyone turns to look at us.

Silence.

The guy by the piano captures my gaze and smiles warmly at me. It seems familiar...somehow. "That's Percy?"

"Yes. And the point is that you still love him and he loves you!"

"But I'm going out with Luke," I say dumbly.

She shakes her head in disbelief. "So?"

"So it doesn't matter. Luke obviously loves me – "

"I know he does. But relationships are meant to be two sided. It doesn't work when one person doesn't love the other – you'd end up miserable and regretful if you ever married him."

I frown, feeling protective of Luke because all he has shown me is kindness. "Look, just give him a chance, ok? He's been really sweet and caring – the sort of person I would fall in love with. Maybe I will eventually."

"Eventually," she mutters under her breath.

"Annabeth?"

I spin around and stand face to face with the black haired pianist. He's young – about the same age as me. He's handsome, I'll give him that. But there must be a reason why we're not together – maybe I didn't like his attitude.

"Hi...Percy."

"Are you free this evening? Ebony has been begging me all morning to see you."

"Um...Ebony?" I reply, feeling incredibly stupid. Too many names...too many people. This whole life is making my head hurt.

He looks kind of hurt. "Yes, your daughter – "

"Percy – "Hazel cuts in, giving him a glare. "She's recently got amn- "

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," I splutter. "I have a daughter?"

"She hit her head and has amnesia – hopefully it won't last forever," Hazel explained. "She only remembers her life up to the age of sixteen."

"Sixteen?" the black haired guy whispered...almost in horror – his expression look far more tortured than Luke's could ever be. "We met at seventeen – "

"Excuse me, but I have a daughter?"

He nods.

My head starts to throb painfully. The heat of the room is nauseating and dizzying, I can hardly stand. This must be a huge prank – I promised myself that I would never get pregnant before 25 and I would marry first before ever having sex.

So I had a baby...with him?

"I-I must go."

I ran out the room, putting a hand to my head where the bruise is.

"Percy, follow her," someone shouts behind me.

But I don't want him to follow; I just want to be alone. I need to let things settle in my head because half of me still thinks that I'm a teenager.

I pull the glass doors open and run into the courtyard; breathing in the fresh morning air and the cool weather clear my head of my jumbled thoughts.

"Annabeth..."

"What do you want?" I snap, feeling my head throb again.

"I want to help."

"Then leave me alone. I just want to be alone."

He took my hands gently. "You don't want to be alone. You want someone to comfort you, someone to listen to you."

"How do you know what I want?"

"Because I know you better than myself. All your likes and dislikes, your inner feelings in every situation. And you never like to be alone when you're upset or scared. You would always come to me and we'd hold hands and watch the sun set – it was your favourite time of the day."

A lump rose to my throat.

"I should go now..." I mumbled.

I reached in my pocket, hoping to find a phone in the coat but there was nothing. The black haired man smiled tentatively at me. "Do you want to come to my place – to get to know each other again?"

Should I risk it? What if he hurt me? What if he is using my amnesia to his advantage?

"No, I'll just...um..." I didn't actually have anywhere to go. I don't even remember the way back to Luke's house and even if I found it, he wouldn't be there and I have no keys. So basically, this Percy guy has led me into a trap. "I'll go and explore London..."

"Do you want company?"

"No, I'm alright."

He looked at me with a dizzyingly familiar expression...

Green eyes. Long black eyelashes. Come on Annabeth, remember.

"I know you," I blurted out, staring desperately into his eyes, trying to regain even just one memory. "I...know you..."

"You remember me?"

Green eyes. A strange flutter in my heart. A long forgotten feeling. "Just your eyes. I know that you're my ex-boyfriend, but I seriously don't remember anything else."

He gave me a small, sad smile – one where the sides of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly. "Maybe one day you'll remember."

I paused. "Tell me, what happened in the girls toilets?"

"Huh? Oh right, we kissed, that's all. Hazel likes to over exaggerate everything. I didn't mean to kiss you; it meant nothing by the way. We're just friends now."

God, why do I feel like he's just issued my death sentence?

"I guess that's ok..."

"So do you want to come home with me, or not?" a devious smile played across his features. I felt a strange urge to kiss him right now, right here. "I promise I won't take advantage of you."

I frown and step back. "You're still of complete stranger to me, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

I allowed myself to smile. "You're not going to give up, are you?"

"No."

"Well...I guess its ok..."

He grins and makes a loop with his arm in a gentlemanly manner. I slide my arm through and roll my eyes at his strangely endearing ways. "To the car, mon ange?"

"Bien sûr, mon cher."

XXX

I sat on the plush white sofa, staring at the dozens of pictures on the wall. Pictures of an adorable black haired girl with sparkling green eyes. That must be Percy's daughter...our daughter. Ugh, I still can't get over that fact just yet. It feels impossible how I remember nothing. I don't remember ever meeting this Percy guy, having a relationship, getting pregnant, giving birth or any of it.

I wonder if he's a good person – there must've been a reason we dated. I hardly ever date a guy until I'm pretty certain he's the one for me. I never date and hope for the best. I always have a plan and apparently this plan failed. Epically. Just great.

I feel like I should be back home, in my tiny little village, studying for my exams and practicing for concerts with my string quartet. I shouldn't be here, I don't belong.

What would Luke say if he saw me here? Would he think that I'm cheating on him? I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that when I open them, I'll be back in my room safe and sound.

"Hey."

My eyes snap open and I find myself looking at the dark haired man in front of me. "Hi."

"I've got your tea..." he starts, sitting down in front of me. "I brought this...maybe it'll refresh your memory."

He handed me an A5 sized red leather book, its pages full and colourful. Carefully, I opened the first page and realized its a photo album. With pictures of me.

The first one is me with my arm around a pure white dog, sitting in front of a stream with summer flowers growing around me. I flick through the pages, me and him, me and him, me and him, faster and faster the pages turn. How could I have forgotten all of this? But I can't remember any of them, nothing is coming back to me.

I pause on the very last one. It's a picture of us kissing underneath an apple tree at full blossom and a sunset in the background. My arms are around his neck and his are around my waist. Something about the photo brings water to my eyes. I should remember this but I can't.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

Percy smiles in understanding and my heart does a sudden leap.

"Why did we break up?"

He smile fades away and I feel like I've stepped on dangerous ground. His jaw clenches slightly and suddenly I feel awkward...did I cheat on him? Oh please say I didn't. Maybe he cheated on me? No...He's been so kind to me today – just like everyone else, he doesn't seem like the person that would cheat.

"You...you don't need to know."

"Tell me, I don't mind what the reason is."

His beautiful green eyes look tormented. "Look, I did something bad. Terrible in fact. I – I didn't want you to find out because it would hurt you..."

"What did you do?" I ask again softly.

"Something bad," he repeated quietly, his voice full of remorse and shame. "You'd hate me if you found out. Maybe it's best...maybe it's best if we don't see each other again..."

"Like ever?"

"Yeah."

I frown and take one of his hands impulsively. I don't know why, but it feels natural.

"Look, people all over the world do terrible things and they feel no guilt, no shame or anything. But it takes courage to admit it and to me, that shows a lot about you."

He stares at our intertwined fingers. A million thoughts seemed to be going through his head. You care for him already, don't you? Yes, I do care for him.

"Thanks Annabeth."

I smiled. "De rien, mon chou. De rien."