Olivia's POV
The darkness isn't the emptiness of oblivion I expect. Instead, it's the darkness of a starless night sky I find myself staring at. I'm lying on my back on a rough yet cold surface while clutching something inside my right hand. My head and my left side are pulsing in an agonizing rhythm, but they are nothing compared to the excruciating pain ripping through my left forearm. I try to open my mouth and let out a loud scream, yet all that comes out is a small gasp.
"Girl?" A male voice floods my ears. "Can you hear me?"
With every bit of strength I possess, I turn my head to the side and find a big guy kneeling beside me. The first thing I notice are his chubby cheeks, which are followed by his big lips and an even bigger nose. Although I'm able to see only the top of his body, I know he is a large man.
I want to open my mouth to tell him I can hear him, but my muscles refuse to cooperate.
"Damn it. Don't move, okay?"
I'm not able to form a single thought before he jumps up and disappears out of my view, leaving me on my own.
In the blink of an eye, the dark sky disappears and I'm back inside our house. I'm lying on my back, but instead of the hallway ceiling, Mom, Eliza, and Anya are now leaning over me.
"Olivia? Can you hear me?" Mom taps my cheeks.
"The paramedics," I force the words out of my mouth. "The paramedics said I was found by an old couple."
"What?" Mom blinks at me. "We're not calling the paramedics. You're already awake, so your injuries are obviously not life-threatening."
"We need to go to the police station." Despite the pounding inside my head, I grab onto Mom's hand and lift my upper body into a sitting position.
"No." Mom shakes her head but doesn't stop me from getting up. "Hospital. The place where you take people who are hurt is called the hospital. Not the police station. How badly did you hurt your head?"
"No." With her and Anya's help, I rise into a standing position. "We need to go to the police station. I remembered who the driver from the accident was."
"What?" Mom, Eliza, and Anya ask at the same time.
"You said the paramedics told you I was found by an older couple." I turn to Mom. "I remembered a twenty-something man leaning over me and asking me if I can hear him. It can only mean that he's the one who hit me and then drove off without calling for help. I need to tell the police what he looks like."
"How in the name of the world did you chose this moment to remember something about the accident?" Mom shakes her head at me.
"We can take my car." Anya steps in and picks up the crutches. "We can go first to the police station and then to the hospital."
"You don't need toâ" Mom begins.
"It's the least I can do," Anya cuts her off. "I'm, after all, the one who opened the bathroom door and caused Olivia to fall."
*
If this was any other day, I would have savored each moment spent in the sleek black sedan Anya owns. I would have gushed about the leather seats, the smooth sound of the engine, and the additional gadgets, like the dash camera hanging below the rear-view mirror. However, the moment Anya stops the car in front of the police station I have no other choice but to take one last inhale of the new car smell and slip out.
"I'm sorry I can't come with you," Anya says through the open window, while Mom and Eliza finish climbing out of the car.
"We understand," Mom says. "I know how important your job is to you. But you should definitely think about setting some boundaries. It's not normal to be called back to work at seven in the evening."
"We can talk more about it at my next appointment at the hair salon." With one last wave, Anya closes the window and then drives off into the dark street.
"She really needs to get a hold of her workaholic nature while she's still young." Mom shakes her head at the disappearing car and then follows Eliza and me into the tall building of the East Precinct.
Once inside Mom heads to the reception to state our purpose, while Eliza and I go straight for the room where the officers' desks are located. The big room is filled with identical gray desks shuddering under the weight of all the papers, files, and computers. I don't pay it much attention though, because in the middle of my sweep across the room, my eyes land on the officer who had taken my statement after I woke up in the hospital.
"Officer Wright." I head straight for his desk.
The officer looks up from his computer and our eyes lock. Although I smile at him, he continues to look at me with a blank expression. Only when his eyes slip to the crutches does a glimmer of recognition ignite in them.
"Hello again." I stop a step away from his desk. "I came here toâ"
My words are cut off by another police officer, who stops beside officer Wright. "Wright, have you seen this?"
The officer has his eyes glued to a piece of paper in his hands. He's a small dark man, probably not much taller than me, but what catches most of my attention is the fact that I know him.
"Mr. Davis?" I ask.
The officer snaps his eyes away from the paper and gapes at me. "Olivia?"
"You two know each other?" Officer Wright glances between the two of us.
"I'm friends with her father, Peyton, so we've met a few times." Mr. Davis, or should I say officer Davis, turns to me. "What brings you here? Is everything alright?"
"It's about the car accident," I say, finally able to state the reason why I'm here.
"Car accident?" Officer Davis turns from me to officer Wright.
"She was in an accident almost a week and a half ago," officer Wright explains. "I think you called in a sick day, so you weren't here when we got a call about a hit-and-run."
"Hit and run? Did you find the bastard?" officer Davis asks.
"That's why I'm here," I cut in. "I couldn't remember anything about the accident, so they weren't able to catch the driver. But that's not the case anymore."
"Your memories are back?" officer Wright asks, but then jumps to his feet. "Where are my manners? Please, sit down."
I sit onto the black plastic chair positioned in front of his desk and rest the crutches so they're leaning against my shoulder. I feel Eliza standing close behind me, but since I'm in the company of other humans I force myself to ignore her.
"You said your memories are back," officer Wright says once we're both seated.
"Not entirely." Almost unconsciously I reach to the back of my head and run the tips of my fingers along the patch of dried blood where I hit my head during the fall. "But I remembered seeing a big guy in his early twenties crouching next to me and asking me if I can hear him. And he's definitely not the man from the old couple who found me lying on the road."
"Really? What triggered the memory?"
I open my mouth to explain, but the sound of my name cuts me off.
"Olivia?"
I turn around and find a guy with tousled bed-hair standing a couple of steps behind me. While he at first stands right beside Eliza, the said Guardian looks him up and down and then moves to my other side. But I don't really notice her. Most of my attention is focused on the fact that despite having met the guy only once, I immediately recognize him.
"Nick?"
"What're you doing here?" He glances from me to officer Wright.
At the way he and the officer share a silent look, it finally dawns on me that at the café Nick introduced himself as Nick Wright, which also happens to be the officer's last name. And as I glance from one to the other I can't deny the similarities of their features.
"You two know each other?" officer Wright asks.
I open my mouth to answer him, but Nick beats me to it. Instead of an awkward explanation of our disaster of a blind date, he says something entirely different.
"You're bleeding."
He points at the back of my head, at which I immediately reach up and cover the injury with my hand.
"It's nothing but a small bump. I fell at home and while I was lying on the ground I remembered the guy leaning over me."
"Why didn't you go to the hospital?" officer Davis asks.
"I'm going to the hospital right after this," I assure him. "First I wanted to give officer Wright a description of the driver, so I don't forget a single detail. After that, you can be sure my mother won't allow me to go anywhere other than the hospital."
"You're right about that." As if on cue, Mom enters the room. "I got momentarily swayed by the cunning devil my daughter is, but you can be sure I'm taking her to the hospital right after she gives her statement."
"Mrs. Han." Officer Wright greets her and then turns to his son. "Nick, you can go home, while you, Olivia, can start telling me everything you remember about the accident."
Before I can begin my explanation, Nick once again cuts me off. "I'll leave as soon as you tell me what's Olivia doing here."
"I want to know that as well."
The last comment comes from my other side, and I don't need to turn around to recognize who it is. But I still do, and I find myself staring at Samuel, who is standing right beside Eliza.
"Why are you at the police station?"
***
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