Amnesia

Amnesia

Pia was driving on the way home, on a secluded country road. She was only 25, but had a very important position in her company. Her work required a lot of travelling, but she did not mind, she had no family, only few friends and no memory of her past. She had met with an accident three years ago and could not remember anything before it.

Rain was beating loudly against the car, the windshield wipers were moving incessantly, and she could hardly see anything in the pitch-black night. The headlights shone weakly on the muddy ground. The radio did not work here. Her eyes were tired, and she had great difficulty to keep them open.

All of a sudden she heard a loud scream. There was something on the road, it was a man, with all her strength she slammed on the brakes, but the wet ground made her car skid. Shortly before she could hit a tree it came to halt. She tore the car door,got out and ran towards the man. The engine and headlights were left running, it was too dark to see anything without the headlight. The rain was furious, in just a few seconds she was wet to the bone.

The man had closed his eyes when she reached to him and was bleeding from the head, arms and legs. Pia looked around but there was nobody, so she decided to bring the unconscious man to the hospital. Normally, she would have called an ambulance, but her phone's battery was dead and at least within one kilometre no soul was visible.

She lugged the man towards her car who seemed to be of her age, carefully laid him on the back seat, sat down behind the wheel and drove off. The rain had still not abated, as she stopped half hour later in front of a hospital. She left the car unlocked and ran through the automatic sliding doors of the hospital. Her clothes completely drenched in rain and the man's blood A nurse who had been sitting behind the reception desk, immediately ran up to her and asked her what had happened. But Pia could bring no sound on her lips, a lump was in her throat that prevented her from speaking. So she held the nurse' hand and ran towards the car. Medics were called and the man was immediately taken to the operating room.

Three hours had passed since Pia reached the hospital. She could barely keep her eyes open, was too tired. The nurse got her some coffee and a blanket, while she waited outside the Operation Theatre. Few minutes later the doctor came out. "Is he your husband?" inquired the doctor. "No," replied Pia. "His condition is severe, both his legs are broken. We have stopped the internal bleeding in his head but nothing can be said at this moment. His name is Prashay Singh. We found this driving licence in his clothes. I have called for the Police and would like to know what happened," said the doctor and held out the card. 

A bright flash of lightning pierced before her eyes and her head began to pain, she knew the name of this man, but where? Had she been a friend of Prashay before her accident? Was that possible? Would she finally get a hint of her past? The doctor repeated his question again and only now she answered him, "I do not know exactly what happened. I was driving the car on the way home and saw him lying on the street, and brought him to the hospital."

She trailed off again and looked into her steaming coffee, it was already her third cup, but she was still sleepy, even more than before. "Who is that man? Prashay? The name sounds too familiar," thought Pia. She could not wait to ask him if she knew her.

The sun had started to come up. Pia left the hospital for an hour or two to bring something from home. But when she returned, Prashay was no longer in his bed. She went to reception and asked for the room number of Prashay Singh. But was told that there was no such man in this hospital. "But I had brought him here last night, I was only gone for an hour or two. Where is Doctor Kapoor?" But this question was redundant, since she already intuited the answer, "There is no doctor Kapoor here."

Her heart was pounding heavily, her head was shaky and her throat was dry. Her mind was crumbling under questions but she turned without a word. The rain had stopped as she went outside, it was 7° clock in the morning. She ran towards her car, to the backseat, but it was clean of any blood stains. Suddenly there was a loud scream, she heard her name, "Pia." On the opposite side of the street, stood Prashay Singh. His gaze was fixed and sinister, he waved Pia and motioned her to follow.

Pia ran behind him through a dark forest and landed in a cemetery, in front of a grave stone. Slowly Pia went to it and read the inscription: 

`Here lies Prashay Singh, 15/12/91- 22/03/14' Again, lightning flashed in front of her eyes and memories came flowing to her mind. Now, she  knew what had happened 3 years ago: 

"Hey, Pia drive slow. It's raining too heavily."

"Don't make a fuss. I'm an expert now." 

The 22 year-old Pia Agarwal had just got her driving license and she took every opportunity to flaunt it. Her fiancee Prashay usually didn't mind it, but today the weather was stormy. The road was wet and slippery and they were miles away from home, in the area they knew no one. Suddenly there was a jerk and Prashay was thrown against the door. He had not worn the seatbelt. His head bounced against the glass, which shattered into a thousand shards. Blood ran down his face as he closed his eyes. Another jolt, the car door sprang open and his lifeless body was thrown into the street. Pia was still sitting in the skidding car, suddenly hanging over the slope of a mountain. She lost consciousness and awoke only when she was drawn out by a firefighter from the car and was asked, "Is she alright?" She gave no answer, for another questions tormented her. She knew nothing about what had happened before her accident. All she could think of was the name Pia. Everything which could give her a clue about herself, was still in the car, which had crashed a few minutes ago into the depths of the mountain. Pia was taken to the hospital and did not remember anything about her fiancee Prashay, who had died in this accident.

Slowly her memories returned, followed by the names and faces of her family and old friends, even the city in which they originally lived. And she remembered him again.