Mason Book 3

BOOK 3

People say love is a beautiful thing.

But when love becomes too much, it can feel like a burden. And when it feels like a burden, resentment starts to creep in.

Everything can turn bitter, and the inevitable happens.

Love is like standing on the edge of a cliff, not knowing when you might lose your balance. But you choose to trust anyway. You give your complete faith.

No one ever really prepares you for love. I know I wasn’t ready.

It hit me so unexpectedly that it felt like a dream. I was scared I’d wake up one day and find it all gone.

That was my fear from the moment I fell in love with Mason Campbell: that I would lose him. But I didn’t let fear win.

Mason loved me without fear of loss, because he loved me so easily, so effortlessly. Everything that came after was simple. We had each other’s loyalty, support, and trust.

We were so perfect together that it felt unreal—like something fake—but it was just two broken people trying to heal each other’s childhood wounds.

Just two people trying to give each other what they had lost.

But life had other plans. It moves forward, but some people get stuck in the past. Some people get caught up in the moment. Life goes on, even when it’s turning someone else’s world upside down.

When Ginny came into my life, I thought it was cruel. When someone pretending to be my father showed up, I thought it was cruel.

Life had played games with us so many times, knowing exactly where to hurt us, and so many times, we had lifted each other up. I could always get back up, because Mason was there.

I could never fail with him by my side. I never let life drag me down. I fought to protect my husband.

Life is funny in a way. It gives you countless chances to get back up, but one single moment can change everything.

My life changed in an instant—in a chaotic scene filled with sirens and flashing red and blue lights.

The wrecked car. The shattered glass on the road. The yellow tape. I knew a single moment could change someone’s life forever, but I had no idea it would happen so fast.

I had no idea I’d lose everything in an instant.

***

LAUREN

I woke up to a loud beeping sound. I didn’t know where it was coming from, but it was annoying. The pain in my head—and my body—was so intense that even the slightest movement hurt.

I wanted to move to stop the beeping. Despite the throbbing pain in my head, I tried to move my fingers.

My body felt heavy and stiff, like I’d been beaten to the point of not being able to move. I tried to shift my body a little, scared that I might be paralyzed. It moved, but it hurt.

The beeping continued, adding to my irritation. All I wanted was peace. All I needed was for the pain to stop.

Why was I in pain? Where was I? My head was splitting and everything seemed foggy.

I forced my eyes open. My vision was blurry at first, but after a few seconds, a bright room came into view. It hit me like a punch to the skull. My head throbbed.

The first thing I noticed was the white ceiling, and all I wanted to do was close my eyes again and wish the pain away. But I couldn’t.

I managed to move my left finger. I clenched the sheets, enjoying the feel of the soft fabric against my skin.

Next, I tried to ask for water. My throat was as dry as sandpaper. It felt like a thousand scratches were burning in my lungs.

I desperately needed water, but my mouth was as heavy as the rest of my body. It took a while for the words to come out, and they were scratchy and rough.

My tongue felt too big for my mouth. I tried to speak again. This time, the hoarseness was unbearable.

I tried to clear my throat to ease the itch, but it was so painful that I closed my eyes. The burning sensation was intense. It brought tears to my eyes.

I took a slow, deep breath and turned my head from side to side. My eyes landed on the machine—the room, the bed, the IV drip, and the windows. I was in a hospital.

I looked around the room again. It was empty, but there were flowers on a table, arranged perfectly.

My eyes moved to the door. I didn’t have the strength to get out of bed, but I had to try. I had to get out of this room to get some water.

If I stayed here, I might die of dehydration, and who knew when someone would find me?

I started by moving my arms, pulling at the needle attached to my skin. It hurt to pull the IV out, but moving hurt even more.

I bit my lip to stay focused on my movements. I rolled to the side with a groan. My left foot touched the cold floor first, then my other foot, before I managed to sit up.

A wave of dizziness washed over me, but I shrugged it off and tried to stand. It didn’t work.

I collapsed to the floor, knocking over a tray in the process. It clattered to the ground, and the tools scattered everywhere.

I wanted to cry because I couldn’t seem to make my body work, but I blinked back the tears and grabbed the edge of the bed to pull myself up.

After four tries, I managed to stand, but another wave of dizziness made me collapse again. I heard noises from the door before it opened, and then footsteps.

A face appeared in front of me, startled to see me on the floor. It was a middle-aged nurse. She helped me up and back into bed.

“Oh my! Why didn’t you press the call button?” she asked, flustered, as she helped me back into bed.

The call button. Right, I forgot about that.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? Can you hear me?”

I winced. I nodded, exhaling. The simple movements drained me. “My head hurts,” I croaked. “Water.”

She quickly poured me water from a bottle I hadn’t noticed on the stand—probably because I was in too much pain to see it.

The nurse helped me sit up and held the cup to my lips. I drank two glasses before my throat felt better.

“Th…thank you.”

She gave me a warm smile. “You’re welcome. I’m going to call your doctor to come check on you. While we wait, I’ll get you some painkillers.”

She left the room and was back in less than three minutes. I was glad she returned quickly because my head was still spinning. I had no idea what had happened to me.

“I’m Nurse Ivy,” she said, introducing herself. She hooked up a new bag to my IV, explaining, “This will help with the pain faster. Please, don’t remove it this time.”

I nodded, not really in the mood to talk. My head was still pounding. Nurse Ivy checked my vitals, but I wasn’t really paying attention.

I was just focusing on breathing in and out slowly. My eyes were heavy, but I was afraid to fall asleep.

“W…what happened to me?”

“You were in an accident,” she answered. “You hit your head pretty hard. Don’t you remember?”

“Accident?” I echoed, trying to process her words. I didn’t remember any accident. I tried to remember, but my mind was a blank slate.

I didn’t just forget the accident, I couldn’t remember anything. Nothing before waking up here. I tried to keep my panic in check.

I touched my forehead and felt a bandage wrapped tightly around my head. I noticed bruises and scrapes on my arms.

I lifted the blanket and saw bandages on my legs that I hadn’t noticed before, along with more bruises. I looked like I’d been through a war.

“Don’t you remember anything?”

I shook my head at her.

“That’s okay. It’s normal to be confused after being unconscious for two weeks. It’s a good sign that you can move and the headache is normal. You’ll be back on your feet in no time with some rest.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Two weeks?” I stammered. “I was in a coma?” I was stunned. I had been lying in this bed for two weeks? The shock hit me like a ton of bricks. The heart monitor started beeping faster.

Just then, the door opened and a doctor with gray hair walked in. He looked at me with kind eyes as he approached.

“It’s good to see you awake, but you need to relax so I can examine you,” he said. “I’m Dr. Benedict. You’re in good hands, I promise.”

I tried to calm down, but the realization that I had been in a coma for two weeks was too much. What kind of accident had I been in? What hit me? Did anyone else get hurt?

I had so many questions, but I couldn’t ask them yet. I needed to calm down first.

Dr. Benedict asked me to follow his penlight with my eyes and touch certain parts of my body to make sure I could feel them.

But that wasn’t enough for him. He asked me to recite the months of the year and name objects in the room. When he asked me my name, I couldn’t answer.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My heart pounded in my chest.

“I…” I was breathing heavily. The heart monitor started beeping rapidly again. I looked at Dr. Benedict with wide, scared eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know my name.” The words echoed in the room.

“It’s okay,” he said, trying to calm me down. “What do you remember?”

Again, my mind was blank. My heart was racing. I tried to remember anything, but all I saw was darkness. There was nothing but emptiness where my memories should be.

I felt a tightness in my chest. The panic was threatening to take over. There was nothing in my memories. It was like a blank page.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Your name is Lauren. You were in a car accident. You were in a coma because you hit your head hard.

“I know this is a lot to take in, Lauren. Your memories might take some time to come back, but the important thing is that you’re awake.”

“Will they come back?” My voice was shaky.

He hesitated for a moment, and I saw it. That moment of hesitation turned my world upside down. That moment told me that Dr. Benedict didn’t know either.

The pain in my head got worse. My vision started to blur. I couldn’t hear anything. Their voices sounded far away. I was breathing hard, clutching the sheets. My vision started to fade.

Dr. Benedict injected something into my IV and I fell asleep almost instantly. I didn’t know how long I was asleep, but when I woke up, there were two people in the room.

It was a shock to see them all staring at me with a mix of worry and relief.

The only woman in the room, who was standing closest to my bed, tried to hug me. I flinched and she stopped, pulling back.

My head was still hurting, but not as much as before.

“W…who are you?” I asked, looking into her eyes as if I could remember her just by looking, but even her green hair didn’t jog any memories. She had olive skin and a lip piercing.

“You…” She hesitated, looking scared. “Don’t remember me?”

My heart pounded in my chest. “Do you know me?” I asked instead.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” a man on the other side of me said. I looked at him—a lean man with dark hair. He gave me a gentle smile, but I couldn’t return it.

“Friends,” I repeated. I tried to remember these people who claimed to be my friends, but there was nothing familiar about them. I felt nothing. There were no flashes of memory.

“You really don’t remember,” the girl said, as if she was just now accepting it. There was a sadness in her eyes that was on the verge of tears.

“We’ve been friends for over four years. I’m Athena, and this is Aaron. Don’t you remember any of those names?”

“Athena,” Aaron said, his voice gentle. “Remember what the doctor told us. We can’t rush her. Her memories will come back in their own time. We’re just happy you’re awake, Lauren.”

He reached out to touch my hand, but I pulled away. His shoulders dropped a little.

“Lauren. That’s my name?”

“Yes, Lauren C—”

“Hart,” Athena cut him off. “Your name is Lauren Hart.” She shared a quick, secretive glance with Aaron. He didn’t look too pleased after she spoke. I wondered why, but didn’t ask.

“Okay.” I nodded, then a question popped into my head. “How did I end up in an accident?”

They exchanged another look. This time, Aaron was the one to answer.

“You were hit by a truck. It happened so fast. The details aren’t important. We’re just glad you’re okay and awake.”

“Um, me too.” I pulled the sheets up to my chest and looked away, out the window. Lauren Hart. That was my name.

But it didn’t trigger anything. No rush of memories, no sense of familiarity. Nothing. It was frustrating.

My head started to spin, and I closed my eyes. I felt so tired, even though there were so many questions I wanted to ask.

“Lauren? You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled, wincing in pain. “Are my parents here?”

Silence. I opened my eyes to see Aaron avoiding my gaze, looking uncomfortable.

Athena took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Your friends and family have been here since you were brought in.

“Dr. Benedict said we shouldn’t overwhelm you with visitors, so Aaron and I came to see you first. But as soon as the doctor gives the okay, you’ll be able to see everyone.”

“Oh.” It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. My heart sank. I pulled my hand away from Athena and hid it under the sheets. “That’s fine, thank you. Could you leave, please? I need a minute alone.”

“Sure,” Aaron said. “Rest up. If you need anything, just press the call button and Nurse Ivy will come.”

I didn’t respond. I just turned to the side and stared at the wall, listening to their retreating footsteps.

“Wait.” I turned back around, wincing.

Aaron had already left. Athena paused in the doorway, her hand on the knob.

Something stirred inside me. I found my voice. “Was…was anyone with me when the accident happened?”

Her hand slipped off the knob. My heart slowed. “No,” she said. “You were alone.”

Her voice was tight when she said it, and her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“That’s great.” I gave her a small smile, then turned away.

Dr. Benedict came to check on me again. He asked me to rate my pain on a scale of one to ten, and I told him it was a four.

Nurse Ivy gave me some medicine that helped with the pounding in my head. Now it was just a dull ache. My legs were still adjusting to the painkillers, though.

“How badly was I hurt?” I asked him.

He sat down next to my bed. “You had two surgeries, one on your head and one on your leg. You had some tissue damage, and your arms and thighs were cut by glass.

“It’s a miracle nothing hit your abdomen. The cuts weren’t too deep, so we cleaned and stitched them up. Luckily, there was no damage to your organs.

“The rest of your injuries are minor, but the head injury was the most serious. We had to give you thirty-two stitches.”

“That bad?”

“It could have been worse, Lauren. All the stitches have been removed, of course.

“The bandage should have come off two weeks after the accident, but you kept pulling at one of your stitches while you were unconscious. Now that you’re awake, we can take it off.”

He carefully removed the bandage from my head. I wanted to touch it, to see if there were scars, if they had shaved off any of my hair. But I was too scared.

I didn’t remember what I looked like, but I didn’t want my first look at myself to be when I was all beat up. I didn’t want that image in my memory.

“You say I’m lucky, and I’m healing, but there’s no cure for amnesia, is there?” I asked, tears welling up in my eyes.

“How am I supposed to know what my life is like? Some people came to see me earlier, but I didn’t recognize any of them. Is that what it’s going to be like? Will everything be foreign to me?”

“Lauren.” He sat down as tears slipped down my cheeks.

“Amnesia is common with head injuries. It’s not permanent. You’ll start to remember things in a few days or weeks.

“All you need to do is let your body heal. Don’t stress yourself out trying to remember.”

I wiped my tears away. All I wanted was to remember my past, to know who I was and where I came from.

I didn’t like feeling so vulnerable.