A Love to Remember - Chapter 1

Jane....

It was all black and I was struggling with the view outside our car window. we were headed to my paternal grandparents ranch in a village for the first time. suddenly a truck from nowhere hit us and we went tumbling down the forest. I heard the screams of my sister Lilly, my brother Tim, and my parents too. I heard another scream and recognized it as mine and my eyes flew open. I sighed in relief that it was a dream, yet my heart hammered hard near my chest. I struggled with my vision for sometime and I heard the door open suddenly. I turned to my right to see the person but there was no door.

"She is up" a woman called out and before I could see her face she ran through the doors. she no way looked like my mother or not even my sister. the room I was in was not mine and it had some machines in it. I lifted my hand and it hurt. I saw some wires attached to it and wondered where I was and why. this place scared me and I couldn't see any of my family near me. then I heard someone come in and turned to see the person. there was a man who was about forty in a white coat with a woman who looked like a nurse. they both smiled down at me when I was staring at them clueless.

"Hello sweet girl" the man said "I am Dr. Luke and she is nurse rosy" he said. I smiled at them weakly and wondered what happened to me. my whole body was in pain now and I didn't show it out.
"You know your name?" he asked me and I nodded.
"Jane Kingsley" I said and he smiled wider than before.

Next, the doctor examined me and said that there was nothing to fear now to the nurse. I still didn't know what had happened and just listened to their conversation. I now knew that I was in a hospital badly injured and wondered where my family was. they would come rushing to me if they had known. I saw the doctor leaving the room and the nurse arranging something.

"Nurse rosy" I called her and she turned with a smile.
"Yes dear. anything you want?" she said politely.
"Um...why am I here? what happened and why I can't see any of my family?" I shot questions at her and her smiling face turned into a sad one. I immediately knew that it wasn't good news that she was gonna tell me. maybe they couldn't inform my family or maybe they too are at this same hospital being treated.

"Your family is dead dear" she said slowly placing her hand on the top of my head and I couldn't believe what I heard just now. she must be mistaken. how do these people know my family? I argued with myself looking at the ceiling and all fell into place. the accident I dreamt of a few minutes ago wasn't just a dream. it was what that had happened while we were happily heading to my grandparents ranch. tears started to roll down the side of my face and nobody was there to wipe it now. I asked god why he didn't have the curtsy to take me with them all. all I now had was no one except for my grandparents in some village and I had never been with them.

"How many days passed since the accident?" I asked the nurse again
"You have been in a coma for a year now" she said sadly and tears kept rolling down again. I had been here for a year now not knowing myself and about my dead family. I couldn't take in the fact that they were no more.
"Why did you get me here? I would've gone with my family" I said again and the nurse remained silent.
"The accident was all over the news since your dad was a top business man and your grandparents came searching for you two days after the accident" she said stroking my hair on top.

Now all I had was those two old people whom I barely knew. my father wasn't in touch with his parents after he left their ranch to be a business man in the city. he married my mom who was an orphan herself. my grandparents never liked my mom and always blamed her for something because they were angry that my dad didn't marry the girl they wanted him to marry. I had a brother and a sister, both older than me by five and three years. as years went by my grandparents accepted my mom and started liking her. they wanted us to come back to the ranch at least once. so, we decided to celebrate my brother Tim's 24th birthday with them. and that never happened. I came to reality and saw rosy now arranging flowers in the room. she turned back and smiled again.

"You fell asleep while talking" she said. "i agree you had quite a lot to take in" I looked around and saw no one except her again. where were my so-called grandparents?
"Rosy..where are my grandparents?" I asked her and she turned sad again. did they disown me now? how dare they. I cursed them to myself.

"Your grandparents are no more too. your grandmother died of a heart attack a week after the accident and your grandfather, just a week ago" and there was silence. I now cried for the two souls whom I never got to know well. "your grandfather came here everyday to see you hoping that you'll wake up. he talked to you many times but of no use. if he had lived just one more week, he would've been happy" she said and left the room.

Fred....

I slammed the door of my mother's house really hard that it would've been broken. how dare he? I cursed to myself and started walking straight to the bar.
"Wait Fred" I heard my mother's crying shouts behind me and just ignored it. I sat at my usual stool entering the bar.
"A beer" I shouted to Jagger, the bartender and owner and my best friend.
"You are so hot and angry" he said grabbing the beer and placed it in front of me. I didn't say a word and gulped it down emptying the bottle. Jagger stood behind the counter with raised eyebrows.
"What?" I snapped at him.
"You sure need to control your anger Fred" he said looking concerned.
"You will never lose your anger if you were me" I shouted back and everybody in the bar turned their heads to me. they all knew why I was here and because of who. this was a small village and everyone knew everyone damn well.
"Turn back your heads to your own business" I shouted back at them.
"Why do you turn your anger on them Fred?" Jagger said trying to calm me down but this time I couldn't. usually I come here after having a fight with my step-father Solomon and Jagger would calm me down.
"Am leaving" I said trying to be calm and walked out.

I opened the door to my house that I had bought just two days ago. the house had everything of its previous owner and I didn't need to change any of that. I sat on the steps in the back porch thinking how my life had changed from heaven to hell. I had loving parents who loved each other very much and my dad, a rancher died of an accident in the rodeo when I was just five. my mother was very much heart broken and would never talk to me.

I felt lonely coz I didn't have much friends or siblings. to save ourselves, my mother started working in a cafe and married Solomon, the owner, suddenly. I never liked him coz he was always rude to me when my mother wasn't around. he threatened to kill my mom if I utter any word about it. somehow my mom came to know of it and she sent me to my aunt's house in the city. that is where I grew up, studied and worked. but I wasn't satisfied with what I did and wanted to be a rancher tending horses like my dad and forefathers. my mom has a son George and a daughter Tessa apart from me. I like Tessa very much since she is kind and loving like my mother but George was exactly like his father. Solomon had sent his children to the city to study too since I was there. I stayed at our house till last week since I didn't have a separate home. I earned enough in the city before coming back. it was like a living hell with my step-father.

We always fought and I was no more afraid of him. it was a great relief moving into this house though we live in the same village.

"Your son is a useless man Macy" I heard him say to my mom when I went there to take my remains from that hell.
"He is good sol. you don't have to worry" my mom replied.
"You can see how arrogant he is like his father. all blood I should say" he said again.
"Never take my father in front of me" I shouted at him from the kitchen doorway. "You can see who is always being arrogant. you will never know my father or me. mind you" I shouted again.

"Shut your bloody mouth you fool. how dare you talk to me like that" he said getting up slamming his fist on the table.
"You have no rights on me you idiot" I shouted back and my mom was trying to calm both of us down which we both ignored.
"You can't take up a work successfully like me and my son and you say I am a fool. how funny" he said with an evil laugh.
"We all know why I came back and do you know I earned more than your lovable son?" I said back and my mom shot a strong glance at me.
"George is your brother Fred" she said
"He is not and never I will think him as a brother" I said strongly and she kept staring at me.

"Well well Mr. Fredrick Callahan, we'll see if your work succeeds and know that i'll be trying my best to spoil you" Solomon said with an evil grin.
"Sol" my mom said in a pleading tone.

"Shut up" he snapped at her and my mom remained quite. she was always afraid of him and I never knew how on earth she fell in love with him.
"You better start to write down the ways Mr. Solomon Flores" I challenged him my anger raging and gave my mom a hard stare and walked out slamming the door behind me.