Reminiscing Memories

*Liam’s POV*

Two days since that unfortunate night. It was so hard to think after witnessing such a thing. I held the drawing in my hand, thumb gently brushing over the name.

Hazel Anna Morgan
xx/xx/xxxx

I knew it the moment I read the name, there was something familiar about her to me. Memories of the night came flashing back before my eyes. The sound of brakes as my body would crash up against the seatbelt. The loud thumb that rolled across the hood of the van. The pounding of my heart as I rushed out with the rest of the boys and quickly recognizing Hazel lying on the asphalt. My knees quickly going to the ground next to her as I reached over to brush the hair away from her face. Her body balled up in pain as blood covered my hand and puddled on the ground. The tears streaming down her cheeks as her hazel brown and green eyes never leaving my own. My screaming cry of desperation as she slowly slipped away from reality.

I honestly thought she died.

I brought a hand to my face, trying to stop the sudden overwhelming of emotions that came over me. Because of that night, our management decided to give us a two month’s leave. The tour dates were jumped, but I could care less about that now. I somehow felt all of this was my fault, and I knew the guys were feeling similar to what I was feeling right now. Because of that concert we had, she had to stay away from home. Because of how late we stayed out, she was running past curfew. Because of us wanting to go back to the hotel and sleep, she got hit.

An arm rested on my shoulder. I looked up, seeing Zayn next to me. “Mate, don’t let this run you down. We finally got the call from the hospital, she’s awake and very much alive.”

Though the news was relieving, it didn’t settle the guilt on my shoulders. I shook my head. “I can’t get it out of my head, Zayn.”

Zayn’s voice became quiet as he looked down at the drawing in my hand. “I know. None of us can.”

I heard footsteps as three more boys made their appearance. Harry was staring at his cell phone before he looked up to speak to us. “They said they’ll be allowing outside visitors in a few days, but for now she needs her rest. I asked if anything was wrong, but they’re restricted in giving out information. Something… something doesn’t feel right.”

Louis placed an arm over Harry’s shoulder. Harry brought a hand up to rub his face, his eyes rimming red with tears threatening to spill.

That accident affected every single one of us. With a girl we’ve just met who impressed us with her skill, how can she simply just get hurt like that? I clenched my jaw, staring down at the drawing. Could the five of us visiting her make much of a difference? I wanted to go and apologize. I wanted to apologize for everything. The pain she had to experience, the damage that we may have caused. I just wanted to do whatever I could to make everything right.

The day we got to visit her, we had lots of stuff. We had bouquet of flowers, cards, and Niall even brought his guitar to sing to her. We checked into the hospital, the receptionist seeing who we are and showed us down the hall into the rooms. We saw a familiar face before the doors, a girl sitting outside on a bench, face buried in her hands.

“Pandora?” Niall asked.

The girl looked up, shocked to see the five of us. “You… you’re here?” She asked.

“What’s the matter? What’s going on?” Niall continued, taking a seat beside her. He put an arm around her and it only seemed to make her break. Tears began to fall down her face.

“She… she doesn’t remember…”

“What?” Harry asked, going to her other side. “Explain what’s going on.”

“The doctor said she had a case of amnesia. She remembers all the basic stuff: her name, birthday, and stuff. She remembers her mom and dad… I thought I would be no problem. I thought maybe it was just some of her memories, but no… The moment I walked in there, she didn’t recognize me. She… asked who I was. Her expression held that of a stranger! My best friend and she…”

Niall held her close as she cried into his shoulder. The rest of us guys looked amongst each other. “If that’s the case…” Louis started.

“I doubt she’ll even know us…” Zayn finished.

“We have to try.” I said, looking at them. I had the drawing in my hand. “We have to at least try.”

Niall was rubbing Pandora’s arm. “Why don’t we go in together? You’re her best friend, you should stick by her side no matter what.”

Pandora nodded as she stood up with the blond boy. Louis opened the door. He looked back at the rest of us guys as he began to walk in. I was third to step in, Niall, Harry, and Pandora behind me. We all held flowers in our hands, ready to gift them to her. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as we made our way around the bed with the girl staring up at her unexpected visitors. Pandora left Niall’s side to sit on the chair next to her friend. “Hazel…”

Hazel looked at Pandora, eyes holding confusion. “Do any of these boys seem familiar to you?”

I think I could understand the shock Pandora had earlier. The first night we met, her eyes held a bright light of bliss and her smile was full of fervor. Now her eyes held that hint of confusion and distance as she looked at each and every one of us. Harry poked my back, getting my attention. He pointed at the picture, whispering. “Show her.”

Zayn and Louis stepped out of the way as I moved to where I was on her other side. I squat down some, trying to make myself seem less petrifying. I even offered a small smile as I turned the picture to where she could see. She took it out of my hands, staring down at it. “Do you remember drawing this?” I asked. “You made a drawing of me and each of the other guys after you came to our first concert here last year.”

Her eyes slowly gazed over the paper as she gently rubbed her thumb over her name, something I’ve done so many times over the past few days. “I don’t remember a lot.” Hazel said, staring at the drawing. “I’m sorry. I want to remember, but there’s nothing to trigger it.”

She handed back the drawing she has given me. Our eyes met. I couldn’t bring myself to look away, nor she. “You were the one I saw. During the accident.”

I blinked at her. “Do you remember Liam!?” Pandora asked, excited to find some progress.

“No… I mean, just the eyes.” Hazel explained, looking at her friend. She looked over at me. “The doctor said I was in an accident, but the only thing I could remember was a pair of brown eyes. Was you there?”

Her hand found my own, grasping it. I looked down for a moment to see our hands together before looking back up. I looked at the guys at the end of the bed. “Tell her.” Zayn said. “She deserves to know as much as she can.”

“But… won’t it be painful for her to remember?” Niall asked.

“Right now she doesn’t remember much. Because of us, her memory has faltered. We have to help her remember as much as we can. Liam, tell her. You were there by her side the whole time. You can explain better what happened that night than any of us put together.” Louis said, eyes travelling the rest of the boys before resting on me.

I looked over, waiting for Pandora to speak. Pandora’s eyes were filled with worry for her friend. I looked back at Hazel, who was patiently staring at me. I set the drawing on the floor, allowing my now free hand to overlap over other hand. “I was there on the night of the accident.” I swallowed, looking up at her. “All of us boys were. We were heading back to a hotel room in a van. You had a curfew to beat, so you were running home…”

I swallowed again, preparing myself of what to say next. “None of us saw what exactly happened, but our van ended up hitting you…”

I felt her hands tightened around my own. I squeezed back, feeling even more hesitant in telling. A hand rested on my shoulder. Zayn squatted down next to me, his arm around my shoulder as his free hand rested on top of our own. “You were on the ground.” Zayn said, hand squeezing my shoulder. “Liam was down by your side the whole time, making sure you were okay. Harry called an ambulance. It… was really hard to see you like that. I’m not sure how we could explain it.”

Hazel’s eyes looked into Zayn’s. She nodded. “Thank you. I… from what you told me… I’m not even sure I want to remember…”

“No!” Pandora said, jumping up from her seat. Hazel’s eyes widened a little before looking at her. “I… I can’t stand by and let you just forget everything. Haze, I know you don’t remember me, but I want you to remember everything. I’m going to do what I can to help.”

Hazel swallowed a little. She looked down, keeping her eyes away from us. “Mom won’t tell me what’s going on. I don’t know why, but I feel like she doesn’t want me to remember anything. I don’t know how you can bring it back, but I do want to know who I was before. Pandora, you say we were best friends, yet I don’t remember. If we were what you said we were, I want to remember. You guys too. I want to remember my friends.”

The guys and I looked at each other. We’ve only known this girl for a few days, yet none of us could bring ourselves to tell her the truth. We were actually strangers, and it was our guilt that brought us here. “Yeah.” Louis spoke up, taking a seat at the end of the bed. “Even now, just think of us as your new friends.”

“So, instead of being all mopey, let’s start over.” Niall said, smiling some as he took a seat near Pandora. “From this day forth, we’ll introduce ourselves and call each other friends.” He raised his hand in the air. “I’m Niall Horan.”

Niall hit Louis’s shoulder, and the boy seemed to catch his drift. “I’m Louis Tomlinson.”

Louis looked up at his best friend. The curly haired boy offered Hazel a smile. “I’m Harry Styles.”

Zayn’s hand rested on Hazel’s arm. “I’m Zayn Malik.”

Zayn looked up, seeing Hazel’s friend next to Niall. Pandora reached out, resting a hand on her other arm. “I’m Pandora Lee.”

Everyone’s eyes settled on me. Hazel’s eyes soon followed as we stared at each other for a brief second. A small smile came onto her lips. I offered one of my own smiles. “And I’m Liam Payne.”

Perhaps it was the first smile she has broken into in the past few days, but the mood lifted in the room. “It’s nice to meet all of you.” She said, looking at everybody. “Please take good care of me.”

We would. I knew we would. Hazel Morgan was a girl who needed our support, and we would do everything in our power to help her as much as we could.