C H A P T E R - O N E

“No! No! Let him go!” Her screams echoed and his legs trembled. Pressed against his tormentor’s chest. Something cold biting under his chin. “Please! Don’t hurt him!” His sister’s screams ricocheted in his head, and all he could do was stare with blurred vision, breath held.

Her hair in tangles and eyes bloodshot, sobbing at their feet. Begging the man behind his small frame. The boy standing silent, heart thundering and knees knocking together.

“Get out of my house,” The man’s chest rumbled with the words, his sister staring up with wide eyes.

The sudden sting that cut through his spine had him flinch and jolted his senses. Gasping when a warm and sticky fluid flowed down the column of his neck. Grabbing at the cut, a scream escaping him as he collapsed to his knees, blood bubbling in his mouth, the sharp metallic taste overwhelming his mind.

“Ryan!”

Ryan clutched at his throat and gasped for breath, tumbling out of the covers following the flash of lighting outside his window. Falling in a tangled heap, kicking at the blanket, whimpering as he slid it away from him. Tears stinging his eyes and chest squeezing, a lump in his throat.

Looking around at the familiar setting of his apartment, he pressed his trembling palms against his eyes and tried to regain his composure.

“I’m safe,” His voice trembled. “I’m safe, I’m safe, I’m-” Mantra faltering at the sound of his ringtone.

Putting a hand to his chest, he scrubbed at his face and staggered to his feet. Reaching for the sleek device. Blinking away the blurriness of his vision, he sniffled at the picture displayed on the screen.

“Cooper?” His voice came out thick and strangled before he cleared his throat. “Everything alright-?”

“-Ryan!” The sound of his sobs had him straighten. “Oh, God, Ryan,”

“What happened?”

“I-she…they called me-sad it was an emergency and that she-and I-I-I-”

“-Cooper, take a breath,” Ryan turned on the lamp, searching for his shoes and struggled to put them on. Hearing his friend take in a stuttering breath on the other end. “Now tell me what happened,”

“Lucy’s been in an accident,” Cooper choked and Ryan stilled. “I…I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do, Ryan, I don’t…”

“Fuck,” Ryan exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose and tried to recollect his thoughts. “Okay. Okay, Cooper, where are you?”

“Eastern…Eastern State,”

“Why wasn’t she taken to Skyline?”

“I-it was closest to the crash site,”

“I’ll contact Dr. Walker and meet you at Eastern,”

Pulling on his jacket, he looked around for his car keys but cursed to know he didn’t have it available. Leaving him to take his bike in this storm. Steeling his nerves, he picked up the helmet and made his way to the underground parking.

The wind whipped at his drenched form, the rain obscuring his vision as he wiped at the windshield with his sleeve. The nearer he drew to the hospital, the harder was the downpour, feeling like a storm of tiny bullets towards the last mile. Pulling into the parking lot.

With hunched shoulders and clenched teeth, he rushed into the interior, pulling off his helmet with chattering teeth and wide eyes. Shoes squelching on the linoleum, searching for the familiar face.

“Ryan!” Cooper’s voice called out, tackling him in a hug, ignorant to his soaked clothes and burst into a broken sob.

He was led to the doctor, being informed that Lucy had gotten into a car crash. The collision resulting in the vehicle upturning and that the girl in question was currently in the operation theater.

“When she is out of surgery, she would be stable enough to be moved, correct?” Ryan asked the man before him.

“I can’t say,” The doctor shrugged.

“No, you don’t understand,” Ryan stepped forward. “From what I gather, the operation she is currently undergoing to is to repair major damage like broken bones and such. There is no internal bleeding. So she would be stable enough to be moved, correct?”

“If you put it that way, then yes,”

“Now, the moment she is out of surgery, kindly have her moved to Skyline Hospital. They have worked with her case for years and that is where her doctor is. So please make the required arrangements for her transfer once the weather lets up,”

“I’m sorry,” The middle-aged man squinted at the tuft of blue hair in front fo him. “But who are you again?”

“Dr. Ryan Forbes,” Ryan struck out his hand for the doctor. “The Dixon’s family doctor and therefore authorized to make any medical decisions regarding the two siblings as I see fit, doctor,”

The man took a step back with wide eyes, taking hold of the younger’s hand, giving it a shake before nodding. Turning on his heels and heading to take care of patient transfer.

“What will you do the day they ask for your credentials?” Cooper sniffled behind him, a smile playing at his lips. “What will you tell them then? That you’re a fourth-year medical student posing to be our family doctor?”

“By the time they get the common sense to ask for my credentials,” Ryan smirked over his shoulders. “I’ll have the paperwork to go with my words,”

Cooper shook his head at the words, wiping his nose with a breathless chuckle.

“Want to get some fresh air?”

Nodding, he followed Ryan out the front door, standing under the cover while the medical student reached in the inner pocket of his jacket, bringing out a sleek case. Clicking it open, he took out a cigarette, putting it between his lips and handed one to Cooper. Holding the fire up for the both of them.

“Have you told Amelia?” Ryan asked after a few silent puffs, watching his best friend nod. “What was Lucillia doing in this area anyways? It’s a long way from home,”

“I don’t know,”

“Doesn’t matter, she’ll be alright,” The blue haired boy blew out a puff of smoke, shaking his head. “From what the doctor said, she is fine and has only gotten minor injuries to what could have been,” Ryan tilted to look at the pale complexion of his best friend’s face, the man’s fingers trembling when he put the cigarette to his lips.

“So take a deep breath, Cooper, Lucillia will be alright,”

Cooper tapped away the excess ash, gaze lowered to the pavement and nodded to Ryan’s words. Swallowing the lump in his throat.

“How do you do it, Ryan?”

“Do what?”

“Stay calm in the face of such chaos?”

Ryan laughed at the words, holding the cigarette between his lips before grabbing hold of Cooper’s hand, placing his fingers against the racing pulse in his wrist.

“That’s my secret, Cap,” He took the stick out of his mouth, smiling to see Cooper scoff, laughing at his next words and the reference. “I’m always anxious,”

They waited for an hour before the doctor approached them again, telling them that Lucy was out of surgery and would be moved once the ambulance arrived.

“Can I see the medical report?” Ryan asked the doctor, resisting the urge to squirm at the wet sensation against his skin.

The doctor hesitated for a second before handing him the file, ignorant to Cooper’s smile.

Flipping it open, Ryan read the text and the results of the tests that had been taken.

“Ah,” He hissed and instantly Cooper looked at the file beside him, gripping at his forearm, fingers tightening against the limb.

“What? What’s wrong? I thought you said she’s fine,”

“She has bruised ribs and a sprained wrist,” Ryan said and flipped the page. “But suffered significant head trauma, she’ll have to get an ECG or MRI done to rule out any lasting damage. But don’t worry, Dr. Walker and I will take care of it at Skyline,” He assured and handed Cooper the file, heading for his bike.

Dr. Walker greeted them at the door, Cooper accompanying the nurses to the room that had been set up, while Ryan brought the doctor up to speed with the current situation. Handing her the file he retrieved from Cooper’s BMW.

“Rebecca,” Ryan stopped a few feet from the door. “Lucillia suffered significant head trauma in the crash and as far as I can understand, I’m afraid that that something might have happened to the temporal lobe, so-”

“-You want to rule out any brain injuries,” The doctor caught on. “I’ll have a MRI prepared,”

Walking into the room, Ryan found two nurses setting things around the bed, Cooper standing against the wall, silently holding himself and stared at his sister’s pale complexion that was littered with small cuts and bruises. A bandage wrapped around her crown, a spot of red blossoming at the left of her temple.

“Where is Dr. Walker?” Cooper asked once Ryan entered. “Did she say anything? Will she come to look at her? Is this going to aggravate her CGD?”

“Rebecca is setting up a MRI to rule out any head-related injuries, and then she’ll come to talk through things with you,” Ryan halted his questions. “She can’t say what effect it will have on her CGD until she’s awake. But she’s fine, Cooper. She’s alive and breathing, and that’s what matters,”

Cooper swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest before taking a seat beside the bed.

“I’ll be back,” Ryan informed and walked out.

Retrieving clothes and a towel from his locker, Ryan showered and changed into the burgundy scrubs. Running a hand through his tresses before pulling on the grey sneakers, returning to the room.

Inhaling once, he entered to find Cooper asleep with his head on the mattress, facing his sister’s unconscious figure with a dark skinned woman standing above him, gaze at the unconscious girl.

“Hey,” Ryan whisper and stepped further in, the woman jumping and turned her bloodshot eyes to him, giving him a feeble smile. “Just arrived?”

“Yeah,” Amelia sniffled. “Cooper was asleep when I entered,”

“You know him,”

“All too well,” She rubbed her eyes and walked over to Ryan, hugging him as he wrapped his arms around her, knowing she was just as fraught as Cooper. “How did this happen to her, Ryan?”

“It doesn’t matter how it happened,” Ryan exhaled and rubbed her back. “All that matters is that she is here, alive and breathing. Let’s take this like we do everything else,”

“One thing at a time?”

“One thing at a time,” 

Both of them turning when a knock sounded on the door.

The intrusion having Cooper inhale deeply and sit up, blearily blinking for a moment before catching sight of his girlfriend in Ryan’s hold and Dr. Walker in the doorway beside another attendant.

“The MRI is ready,” The man beside Rebecca informed. “I’m Ethan Mitchell and will be in charge of the scans on Rebecca’s request. She is a special patient of hers, I hear?”

“You can say that,” Ryan pulled away from Amelia and stepped forward, sticking his hand out in greeting. “Ryan Forbes,”

“Ah, the pediatric ward’s mister popular,” Dr. Mitchell smiled in recognition at the name that was spoken about a hundred times in the doctor’s lounge. “Or do you prefer boy with the blue hair, now?”

“Mister popular works great for me,” He chuckled in response. “This is Cooper Dixon, Lucillia’s elder brother, and Amelia Tucker, Cooper’s partner,”

“Mr. Dixon, Miss. Tucker,” He greeted and shook their hands. “Shall we go then?” Ethan asked after a moment of silence, all three assenting to the suggestion.

The hammering of the MRI machine was almost nonexistent behind the glass pane. Dr. Walker and Mitchell sitting before the screen with Ryan standing behind them and both Cooper and Amelia holding hands against the wall, staring at the machine opposite them.

Ryan biting at his nails and stared at every successive image that popped up on the screen, everyone’s attention being redirected to Dr. Mitchell when he let out a disgruntled sound.

“What?” Cooper instantly tensed, stepping forward and waited for the man to say something, heart pounding and squeezed Amelia’s fingers in his hand. “What? What’s the matter?”

He watched with wide eyes as Ryan peered over the doctor’s shoulder, watching each frame before hissing at something.

“What? Ryan! What happened? What’s wrong?” He pulled at the man’s shoulder, his stomach dropping to see his best friend’s lips pressed into a thin line and eyes glistening.

“I…” Ryan exhaled shakily, gaze darting to Amelia’s stunned figure, before looking back at Cooper. “I wish it wasn’t like this,”

“What happened? What is wrong with my sister? Ryan, please tell me,”

“I…She…she has amnesia, Cooper,”