Sam! Sam! Please wake up- Sam, it's me Brayden please wake up" Brayden yelled amidst tears.
The ambulance siren wailed above us, shrill and relentless. The world outside blurred into streaks of red and white through the back doors.
I couldn't feel my legs.
I could barely move my hands.
But I could feel him.
His voice.
Panicked. Cracked. Breaking.
"Stay with me, baby. Stay with me."
Something cold pressed against my chest. Hands moved quickly over my body. Voices overlapped. My head hurt so much, why am I here? what's going on? Is that blood on my hand? My vision became blurry, voices were muffled out. I could feel life slipping away from me.
"Her BP is dropping."
"Get oxygen on her."
"She's losing too much blood."
The words floated above me.
Not to me.
Above me.
Like I was already somewhere else.
"Sam! Stay with me!"
Brayden's voice sounded farther now.
Like he was underwater.
Or maybe I was.
The siren became a long, stretched note.
My chest burned.
Then—Nothing.
Darkness.
The next thing I heard was a steady beeping.
Slow, Rhythmic, Annoyingly consistent.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
My eyelids felt heavy, like someone had stitched sleep into them.
When I forced them open, bright white light stabbed into my skull.
A ceiling, White, Unfamiliar.
I tried to move.
Pain shot through my body like electricity.
"Mom?" I croaked.
A chair scraped against the floor.
"Sam?" My mother's voice cracked. "Oh my God, she's awake." I turned slightly to my right I saw my dad looking down at me with sorrow in his eyes.
" what happened" I asked, why am I here ?
My head throbbed. I lifted a shaky hand and froze when I felt thick bandages around my scalp.
As mom was about to speak another figure entered into the room.
"Baby! Baby! Oh Sam you are awake"
A man rushed towards me, eye swollen from crying. "I'm so sorry. I lost focus. I'm so sorry. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't make it"
He grabbed both my hands, holding them tightly
I stared at him for a minute.
Then I looked at my mum, then at my dad.
"Excuse me, I said slowly. who are you?"
The room went silent.
My parents looked at each other
The man in front of my stopped crying and looked at me
"Baby what do you mean, it's me Brayden. Your fiancée"
I looked at everyone surprised and I laughed
" fiancee? How? I laughed, I'm not engaged, am I dad? Mom? Why is nobody saying anything? Who is this man?" I said
My mom started crying and my dad walked out of the room to go get the doctor.
The man in front of me just stood there.
Frozen. Like he was the one who had just woke up from a nightmare.
The doctor came in after a while to examine me, he asked a couple of questions, made some jottings and turned to face my parents and the man standing beside them who I came to know as Brayden.
Dr. Harper cleared his throat. He was tall, calm, with eyes that had seen far too much pain.
"I'll be honest," he said slowly, "Sam's surgery went as well as we could have hoped. She's out of danger physically."
Relief washed over the room. Her mother's shoulders sagged; her father wiped sweat from his brow.
"However…" the doctor continued, and the room went quiet. "There is some memory loss. It appears to be retrograde, affecting recent events — the last few years of her life. She remembers who you are," he said, nodding to the parents, "but… she may not remember people she's met since that time, or certain life events."
Her father stiffened. Her mother's hand trembled against his arm.
"She won't know Brayden," the doctor said gently. "She won't remember her engagement, or her relationship with him. It may return gradually, but it's impossible to predict how long it will take or what she'll recall first."
Brayden, who had been standing silently at the door, felt his stomach drop. His knees felt weak.
"She will recognize herself, her work, her family… but you'll need to be patient. She may react with confusion, fear, or frustration. She may not even remember you initially."
The doctor's gaze softened. "I know this is hard. But she's alive, and that is what matters right now. We can help her, step by step.
Her mother let out a shaky sob. "Alive… yes. But… how will she know regain her lost memory."
Dr. Harper's lips tightened. "It will take time. She'll show you glimpses of her old self first, then the rest may come slowly. Please… prepare for moments that may feel like starting over."
Brayden felt his throat tighten. He couldn't move. "Starting over?" he whispered. "She… she won't know me?"
The doctor's expression was solemn. "Not yet. And possibly not for a while. But you can be there for her. That's the most important thing."
Silence once again.
My parents followed the doctor out of the room and it remained just Brayden. He looked at me and I think I saw for a brief moment hopelessly in his eyes.
He looked so sad and defeated, he held my hands. " this is all my fault he cried, I should have never picked that call, I should have protected you, I'm sorry Sam, I really am. I'll make sure you remember all our memories together I promise." and with that he left the room.
My heart ached while watching him leave and I wondered why.