Can our love help you remember me? (Angel_Lina x DarkDreamer9110)

Coming back to her hometown of Madison, Nebraska, Maggie walked along the main street of her medium sized town remembering the love that she lost over the past couple of years. Taking out her smartphone, she opened up the picture that was taken about four years ago. Maggie was the blonde in the picture being held by the woman who still had her heart after two years of being apart. She kept wondering where her former girlfriend went off to. What was she doing now? How was she doing? Was she still all right? Those were the questions that were in Maggie's mind as she walked down the street.

Dressed in a dark gray Nebraska Cornhuskers T-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of black tennis shoes, she held her brown purse over her shoulder as her blond hair whisked in the wind behind her, the mood of the day was very bright but in Maggie's mind, it was filled with sadness. Walking along, she looked at the picture and at the redhead behind her hoping that one day, she would return in her life. Maggie regretted seeing her love of many years move away to do whatever it was that was in her heart. Maggie stayed at home going to the university of Nebraska to be an accounting manager and while she was in her classes, she remembered spending many days there trying to keep the sadness from her heart. She remembered trying a long distance relationship with her love but for some reason, the contact stopped. She had no idea why the contact was stopped as that was pressing in her mind for the longest time.

It took Maggie a long time to move on but no matter how much she tried to move on, she really couldn't. It felt as if she was missing a valuable piece in her heart... like she didn't feel complete without her love but what was before her eyes made her heart feel like it was skipping a beat.

While turning the corner onto a side street, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a disheveled redhead who looked like she was dressed in rags and almost looking like she was scared beyond belief. Only catching a glimpse of the redhead's face, Maggie knew in her heart that it was her love. She did not know the real condition that the redhead was in but that wasn't going to stop Maggie into running towards her love. Letting out a loud gasp, she couldn't resist running over in joy and concern as she shouted out on the way over to the redhead. "Oh my god! Hon? Is that... you?" She asked in her concerned excitement. "What... what happened to you. Where have you been?" She asked, wanting to hug her love but she was not expecting the reaction that was to come.

Kayla couldn't remember the last time she'd felt clean and calm. Two years, probably. Right around the time of her accident. The car crash had killed her family, and robbed her of all but the vaguest scraps of memory. Kayla had found herself on the streets after that, with no skills, no job, no money. The strongest part of her memory was a name: Madison. She didn't know how she knew, but it was a town, not a person. And in that town was someone she loved and who loved her back, someone who could care for her.

For two years, Kayla had wandered through state after state, one town named Madison after the other, running herself ragged as she struggled just to keep food in her belly and clothes on her back. Even those were seldom more than rags, and she couldn't even remember what hot, fresh food tasted like. She was a mess of rags, skin, and bones covered in dirt and filth. Worse than that, though, her mental state had suffered from the repeated lack of success in finding the right town and the right person. She honestly didn't know if she could take another failure.

The near-terror she was perpetually in out of fear that she'd never find the right person only grew as she half-noticed a blonde woman start running toward her. The rest of her attention was focused on her repeated mutterings, "Madison. Need to find my love in Madison." Over and over she muttered these words, the mantra that had held what sanity she had left together for so long.

So caught up in her rambling was she as she trudged along that she'd forgotten about the blonde until she ran right into her. "Sorry." She mumbled quickly, moving to walk onward when she caught a glimpse of the other woman's face. Something stopped her, and she thought about what she'd barely heard the blonde say. "Do ..." Her voice cracked as she tried to remember what she was trying to say. "Do you know me? Is this the right Madison? Is my love here?" She asked weakly.

Maggie couldn't believe what kind of state that Kayla was in. Even though Kayla was in rags and almost looked like she was starving, she somehow seemed to be able to focus on one thing... her hometown and her love. Maggie wished that she had something to help Kayla get warm. Though the weather was beautiful, the wind was getting a little brisk... even for Maggie's tastes. She couldn't imagine how Kayla must feel in all of her dirty and smelly clothes as she finally understood what Kayla was saying in her mutterings. Madison... love. This definitely was Kayla for sure. Maggie knew it in her heart as she answered Kayla's weak question while reaching out with her hand towards her newly found love.

"Yes, this is the right Madison.... and you found me, Kayla. I am here for you and I really missed you soo much." Maggie could barely hold back her tears as she really hoped that having Kayla look at her own face could help to snap something in her lover's mind. Looking back at Kayla, she softly inspected the clothing and the dirtiness that Kayla was presenting to her. The only thing that seemed to stay with Kayla was the fire red hair that seemed to transcend everything around them.

Maggie was not sure what happened and she really wanted to know but right now, it was not the time for questions. Right now, it was time to... hopefully, take Kayla back to her home and clean her up and get her some food. "Kayla.... I am not sure what happened to you and why you stopped talking to me... but right now... I think that you need some loving care. Please come with me and let me help you clean up and get you some lunch... OK?" She asked, still seeing what seemed to be a confused look on Kayla's face but she was hoping for the best that could be yet to come.

The woman seemed sure that she knew Kayla, and pain stabbed through Kayla's heart that she didn't remember her. She should. This was the right Madison, after all. The girl said so, and something tickled Kayla's mind as they spoke. She stared at the woman's face, all her scatterbrained attention for once riveted on just one thing. She smiled and tears filled her eyes as a memory snapped into place. "A girl!" She cried out suddenly. "Love was a girl! I like girls. I love a girl!"

At the woman's offer, Kayla nodded. "I don't remember clean. Not full, either. There's been nothing but dirt and filth and empty so long. Miss full. Miss clean. Can't remember, but I miss them. Just like love. Don't remember love-girl, still miss her." She said, the moment of clarity now past her, her thoughts scattering around again. She stared at the blonde girl who thought she was Kayla's love.

"Who are you?" She asked suddenly, unable to remember even now. She didn't even know if this was the right person; that connection still eluded her. But there was an offer of warm and clean and full, and Kayla wanted those feelings again.

If there was one thing that Maggie was, she was very smart and very quick in figuring things out. This seemed to be the case with Kayla as Maggie observed each of Kayla's words and mutterings, along with her lover's facial expressions. The one thing that Kayla mentioned that set things off was "can't remember" and that was what what triggered the awareness of what happened to Kayla. 'Oh Gods... she has amnesia! No wonder she never called! Baby steps, Mags. Get her to return to you... gonna take some time.' She thought to herself as she responded to her totally confused lover's question.

"I am Maggie. The girl that you met on the bench in the quad back in high school." She admitted, hoping that may bring back even the smallest of memories as she offered one more thing. "Can you trust me enough right now to take you to my home and clean you up?" She hoped as wondered that even in Kayla's state, who could say no to wanting to get cleaned up?

Kayla stared at her. "Maggie? Maggie? Was that the name? Was her name Maggie?" she wondered aloud, then shook her head and grimaced. "I'm sorry, Maggie. I don't remember you. Car went 'CRASH,'" She balled one hand into a fist and smacked into the open palm of the other for effect, "Mom and Dad and everyone else went 'HRRK,'" she sliced her hand across her throat, "I went "SMASH,'" holding her hand out flat, palm up, she smacked her fist into it again, "and all the memories fell out the hole in my head." she said, brushing aside the disheveled, filth-laden, matted red hair on the left side of her head to reveal a long, jagged scar.

"But you want to make me clean and full again. I want clean and full. Want to feel better, feel like a normal person." she said. "You offer me help. Need help. Need care. Can't do it on own. Came to find love for that. Love would care. Love would help take care of Kayla. Always would. Love was true, always faithful. Always there."

Maggie gasped aloud as she heard Kayla's tragic story about the horrific car crash that she went through. Things started to make even more sense now as she then saw the jagged scar on the left side of Kayla's face. "I am so sorry that happened to you, Kayla." She spoke in genuine concern.

She was glad that through all of Kayla's babble, Kayla was right about one thing. "You can't be more right about that. Come on, Kayla. Let's get you and your things to my home and get you looking normal again." She offered as she took Kayla's bag and put it over her free shoulder. Lucklily, her car was only a few feet away. In front of her, Magie saw the lights flashing on a 2005 gold colored four door Toyota Solara as she grabbed her keys out of her purse and remotely unlocked the doors and opened the trunk.

"Go on in. Nothing to be afraid of now. I'll drive really slow." Maggie encouraged, not sure if Kayla was afraid of being inside of a moving car or not after Kayla's accident. Deep inside, she hoped that things would go without a hitch and they would be on their way.

Kayla let Maggie take her bag, which admittedly held little more than a few scraps of food, a bottle of water, and what passed for a change of clothes for her, and couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of getting cleaned up and eating a good meal like Maggie proposed. This woman really might be the one; Kayla couldn't remember the last time someone had been so willing to help her, so concerned about her. Either way, whether she was or wasn't, Kayla didn't really care; she needed to be clean and full again. Maybe she could think straight if she felt comfortable again.

She stopped when she saw that Maggie wanted her to get in the car. "Don't like cars." she mumbled. "Cars hurt. Make you go 'SMASH.' Driving slow doesn't help; other car comes along, decides to go 'CRASH' into you." She reached out and grabbed at Maggie's hand, holding it tightly in her own; for some reason, it felt like Maggie's hand was a 'safe zone,' where nothing bad could happen. "Don't let bad things happen." she pleaded. "Promise you won't let things go 'CRASH' and 'SMASH.' Don't like that. It hurts. Life gone last time. Not been in car since. Maggie, promise it'll be okay." She needed to know that Maggie was going to be careful, that nothing would happen.

As soon as Maggie suggested that Kayla get into her car, Maggie saw Kayla's fears go straight into overdrive. Feeling Kayla's hands on her own, they felt like a feeling of completeness. She never wanted to do anything bad to Kayla so she offered a good sugesstion along with a sweet promise of comfort.

"I promise... in fact, I pinky swear that no car is going to make us go crash and smash." She promised as her voice sounded very genuine and true. "If you can do this for me for less than five minutes, than you won't have to get in a car again until you are ready. Okay?" She asked with an admission as she opened both front doors of the car. "Let me get in first and then you. You can hold my hand the entire trip if you like to." She offered as she slipped in the driver's side door but not turning on the engine until she knew in her heart and mind that Kayla was going to be safe and sound for the short drive back to her home.

Something about Maggie pinky swearing that nothing bad was going to happen to them made Kayla smile weakly. "Pinky swearing is good." she said, more to herself than Maggie. "Means world to people. Good promise."

She nodded. "Okay. I can do that. Just a short drive. Nothing bad gonna happen. You keep us safe." she said by way of agreement, getting in and closing the door behind her. She held out a hand for Maggie to hold, the other clenched tightly, her whole body rigid with tension. She forced herself not to close her eyes in fear, determined to watch everything, to make sure, if something did go wrong, she saw it coming. Something about Maggie inspired confidence in her, made her want to face this fear. She glanced at Maggie. "Let's do it." she said, forcing what confidence she could muster into her voice.

Seeing Kayla holding out her hand towards her, Maggie clentched the outstretched hand of Kayla as she reached with her left hand to turn on the engine. Just from how tightly Kayla was holding her hand, she started to imagine how truly petrified Kayla was. Deep inside of herself, she wished that she was there for Kayla back yhen in her time of need. Letting out a soft sigh, she heard Kayla's voice with whever confidence she had left telling her that it was time to go. "Right. Let's do this." she acknowledged as she put the car into drive while making sure that her seat belt was fastened.

The drive through town was short and sweet. It only took two minutes and one stop light and soon, they were out in the middle of the Nebraska cornfields on each side of the road. There were not any other cars on the road besides their own right now as another two minutes out in the fields passed through. Finally, Maggie slowed down and then made a right turn onto a dirt road. Looking over at Kayla while still holding her hand, she let out a soft smile. "Almost there." She admitted as just around a small corner stood a large white house with a two car g garage and a small barn in the back that was just barely out of view.

"Welcome home, Kayla. Does any of this ring a bell to you?" She asked in hope as this was the house that Maggie grew up in and remembering taking Kayla here many times during high school. She was hoping that having Kayla see the house could jog back some memories for her.

The drive had Kayla's heart pounding and sweat beading on her skin, even though it was completely uneventful. She had the nails of her right hand digging into her palm from how tightly her hand was clenched as she fought back the few scraps of memory from the time of the accident. She didn't remember much, just vague sounds of metal crunching and blood from her parents covering her, but even those had given her nightmares for months afterward. She still occasionally woke up in a cold sweat, the horrors leaving her terrified to close her eyes and try to sleep again.

When Maggie announced that they were home, she was jolted out of the memories that had her squeezing Maggie's hand with all her strength in sheer fear. The instant the car had stopped, she fumbled frantically at the door and her seat belt, scrambling out as quickly as she could. Trembling, fighting back nausea, she sank to her knees as soon as she was out, not even bothering to close the door. Tears of terror and relief filled her eyes as she knelt there, shaking uncontrollably. "Not again. Not getting in car again. Thought I was okay. Thought I could do it. Wrong. So wrong. Couldn't do it. Not without help. Not without Maggie's help, Maggie's strength. Too weak, too scared." she muttered, trying to force herself to breath normally.

A moment later, she tried to clear her head with a shake, and focused on Maggie's question, staring at the house intently, still on her knees, unable to stand. She shook her head and fought back a sob. "Not home. Not my home." she mumbled. "You lied. Not home. Not home! Yours! Not mine! Maggie's, not Kayla's!" Her voice rose in fear, betrayal, and anger as she looked at Maggie, her eyes, still clouded with tears, blazing with hurt and rage. "Why did you lie? You said this was home! This isn't my home!" she screamed, staggering to her feet. Before she could turn and start stumbling away, though, some of the gears in her head turned, and she stopped.

"Good feelings here." she said. "This was always safe place. Nice people. She was here. She made me welcome all the time." She stared at Maggie. "How did you know? How did you know she was here?" she asked in wonder, the pieces trying to connect in her head again, but just missing their mark, and then something else caught, lurching her train of thought onto a different track. "Wait. This is your home. But this is where she lived, where my love lived. Did you know her? Do you know her? Did she move on with you? Did she tell you about me? Did she know that I was looking and just not care? Did she turn her back on me to be with you?" She was fighting to keep her voice steady as the fear that her love had moved on crashed over her, threatened to overwhelm her. She burst into sobs again, unable to control the flood of emotional pain wracking her body as she broke, the ordeal from riding in the car having already weakened her emotional state to the point where she couldn't fight off the suspicion that her love had found someone else.

Maggie had no idea how bad Kayla's fears of being in a car were until she saw the reaction of heavy breahting and Kayla falling to her knees. She really wanted to hold her close and tell Kayla that everything was goung to be all right... but that was until the outburst.

"Oh gods... I confused her even more." she whispered to herself as she heard the tirade of lies. Sure it was a lie as she chewed her self out mentally for her bad choice of words. Letting out a soft sigh, she took the verbal punishment as she hoped that Kayla would put two and two together.

It seemed that Kayla did... sort of. That little instant of recognition lifted Maggie's heart skywards but once Kayla thought that Maggie was seeing someone else, she let out a soft sigh. The fear started to rise in her heart as Maggie moved softly closer. Her heart was pounding as she moved closer until they were side by side.

"Kayla? You may not believe this right now... but I am just as scared as you are. Your love... and me? We are the same person. Nobody else lives here... until now, but me. The woman you keep talking about... the one you cherish so much? She's... me! She's me!" She shouted while letting out tears of hope and joy. She wanted to really hug Kayla right now but she had to hope that Kayla could figure out that stunning revelation by herself.

Kayla stopped at Maggie's words, glanced at her. "You ... her? You're her?" she said slowly, stumbling over the words somewhat. "But ... I ..." she latched her arms around Maggie and buried her head in the woman's shoulder as a fresh round of sobs wracked her body.

"I can't remember." she mumbled through the tears. "I can't ... I want to remember you, Maggie. I do. But I can't! I'm sorry. I'm sorry I can't remember, and trying just makes it so much harder! Don't try to force me to remember, because it hurts to try!" she wailed. She couldn't stop it as the flood of tears poured out. Finally, they slowed, and she sniffled as she extricated herself from the embrace.

"I ... I just want to get cleaned up right now." she said. "I don't know how long I've gone without a shower. Weeks, at least. Probably months." She paused. "I'm ... I'm ... talking ... better." she said slowly, running it through her head. "It's just ... I hadn't talked to anyone in so long ... I forgot how to talk right. God, you must have thought I was crazy." She stared at the house. "The barn." she said suddenly. "There's a barn in the back. Can't see it from here, but it's there, isn't it? We used to take a CD player out there in the middle of the night, get some lanterns hung up for light, and we'd have our own private dances, wouldn't we? Just you and me?"

Feeling the hug and Kayla's recognition of her being the one, Maggie could not help but to embrace her newly found love tightly in her arms while tears of fear finally turned to tears of joy. She was ecstatic to see a piece of Kayla finally coming back and to her, that was a sign of a fresh start and some possible rekindling of some very fond memories.

Though at first, Maggie seemed to be a little distraught about Kayla not wanting to remember her, she felt a wide smile as the Kayla that she knew and loved was slowly coming back. She was just about to reply about how not crazy Kayla was but she was slighty distracted about Kayla remembering about the barn. Oh there were such sweet memories in that large wooden structure... so many of them that Maggie could only respond to the one that Kayla remembered.

"Yes, the barn is out back... hasn't been touched since you left." Her smile widened as the memory came back to her as well. "That's right. When my Mom was out in Omaha on business, we scampered out to the barn with my CD player and speakers... brought a whole bunch of CD's and lanterns and danced the night away... just you and me. I still have the picture of us outside of the barn just before it was dark and we were getting... very close to each other." she remembered as she let out a small giggle.

"I would really love to do that again later on... but right now, I that that it's time to get yourself cleaned up while I fix you the best lunch ever. How can you say no to that?" she asked, almost knowing the answer already but she wanted to hear the words from her love's sweet voice before going inside of the house that would hopefully bring back even more wonderful memories and maybe create some new ones as well.

"I want to remember, Maggie." Kayla reassured her. "But the ... the doctors said it was unlikely I"d ever fully regain my memory, even if parts of it did come back. They said not to stress myself, that if they did start to come back, it would be on their time, that some triggers might help, but just wracking my mind for them was extremely unlikely to work." she said.

Seeing Maggie's reaction to her mention of their dancing, she smiled. "See? That just came back to me." she said brightly. "And I didn't even try. I was just looking at the house, and I knew there was a barn there, and that we'd danced in it before."

She nodded. "I really can't. I want to be clean again, and get a nice, hot meal in me for once." She started walking toward the house, then turned back and remembered to close the car door. She looked at Maggie. "Could you give me the grand tour of the house?" she asked.

Maggie let out a wide smile as she helped to carry Kayla's bags over to the front door. In front of the house was a huge lawn that extended about 50 yards to their left and was surrounded by various fruit trees. An almond tree was to the left and an avocado tree was to the back of the yard. "Sure I would love to . Come on in." She offered as she unlocked the door to the house.

As soon as the door was opened, the first thing that was in plain view was the living room that had off-white walls and a large window that showed the back yard. They could see a small building off to the left of the yard as she started to explain. "Right in front is the living room. it is usually where I like to relax after a long day. Out in the back is my office. I work from home so I say that it is the shortest commute that anyone can ever have." She giggled softly. Off to their right was the kitchen. it looked a little old fashioned but it suited her tastes. To the left was a hallway that led to the bedrooms and the bathroom at the end of the hallway. As they walked forward just a bit, They saw the dining room off to their right and a large fireplace that was off to their left. Just slightly to their right was an old fashioned Hammond Organ that gave Maggie a smile. "That organ was my Grandpa's. He loved to play on it a lot and create music with it. I tried it a few times but I am not very good at it." She admitted as she led them out the door that was attached to the dining room out to the back yard. The lawn extended out left to right about 100 yards each way which led to the natural terrain that was Nebraska. There were a few fences in the back and a very large oak tree to their upper right. To the very far right, the barn showed in full view as she was glad to be living on a very large property.

"So many good memories that I have of us being out here. Like you said, you may not get them all back but if you can't remember them all, I hope that I can help to create some new ones for you, Kayla. I hope that this place isn't all brand new to you." She explained as she let Kayla soak in the views of the house, office and barn. She wasn't going to try to push her to remember as she was still learning what Amnesia patients were going though. Deep inside though, she hoped that a spark would go through Kayla's mind.... maybe a spark of a good memory or two?

Kayla looked on in wonder as Maggie led the way through the house. "I was here so much, wasn't I?" She asked, more for confirmation than anything. She could feel her familiarity with the house, could sense the ghosts of memories she could no longer recall here. She nodded at Kayla's statement of wanting to help her form new memories even if she never recovered all the old ones. "I'd like that, Maggie. I'd like to fall in love with you." She said. "But first, I think I'd like to take you up on that shower and hot meal." She walked back over to her bag and rummaged through it before pulling out a bunch of clothes, all of which were in no better shape than the filthy, dirt-encrusted rags she was already wearing. She shook her head and looked over at Maggie. "Maggie, do you have any clothes that might fit me? None of mine are clean."

Maggie let out a wide smile as she shook her head in affirmation to Kayla's question. "Yes, you were here quite a lot. I remember you trying to find excuses to your parents just to find a way to get over here and I think one of your excuses was, 'I left my school books back at Maggie's place.'. " She giggled softly, having a feeling that Kayla probably wouldn't remember that but it was a small shot but what what Kayla said afterwards send heavy pitter-patters in her heart. it only lasted a couple of seconds though as she knew that Kayla had to get cleaned up fist, especially after seeing the contents of filthy rags.

"I think that I do. Thank God I am such a pack rat. Let me check the garage and see what I can find for you." She admitted as she walked over towards the kitchen and went out a side door that led to a three car garage. Looking through a couple of boxes, she blew off the dust on top of them which led to a couple of coughs in her reaction. "Gods... been so long since I have been through these boxes." She admitted after the last of her coughs. Looking at the sides of the boxes, she was glad that she marked them all. Grabbing one box at a time, she brought out three boxes... one of them marked 'tops', another marked 'bottoms' and another marked 'shoes'. "Go ahead and go through the boxes. I am sure that I have a few outfits in there that can fit you." She admitted as she let Kayla rummage through the boxes to see what she could find in them.

Kayla chuckled at Maggie's recounting of one of her excuses to come over. "I really tried that? God, I must have been desperate to come over here." She said as she began going through the boxes. A moment later, a thought occurred to her. "They didn't know, did they? My parents, I mean. They didn't know about us, at least at first, right? Why else would I have to make up excuses to see you?" As she dug through the boxes, she smiled as she pulled out a low-cut white tank top with the words "These girls are for girls" emblazoned across the chest. "This was mine, wasn't it?" She asked, holding it up against her torso. It was clear as she did so that, were she not almost emaciated, it would fit her perfectly. "But I kept it here, right? I only wore it for you."

Maggie smiled softly as she heard Kayla's question as she saw her going through the boxes. "At first, your parents and my mom thought that we were really good friends. I think that my mom started to suspect something between us but before I could ask her about it... " She let out a loud sigh as this was a part of her past that she didn't want to remember. "Before I could ask her about it, she wound up in the car accident and... " Tears started to flow from her eyes for a bit as she saw Kayla digging through the boxes and finding her favorite shirt at the time.

"Yes, that shirt is yours... and you did only wear it for me. I kept it for you... hoping that you would come back." She explained as she wiped off the tears from her eyes as they were starting to turn towards tears of happiness. "When you wore that shirt, I felt so happy when you did. I remember you buying it and wearing it after my mom passed away... maybe three weeks afterwards and... truthfully, it was your love that got me through that terrible time in my life." She let out a soft sniffle of her nose in happiness. "Can you wear that shirt for me... again? Please... for me?" She asked in her hopes as she really wanted to hug Kayla at this special moment in time... but she hoped that after the shower, she could see more of the Kayla that she remembered.

Maggie's words and her tears were like a lightning rod for Kayla's memories, pulling a series of them forward. "We were at dinner. Me and my family. You called me, crying and sobbing as you told me. My dad asked what had happened, and I told him your mom was in a car accident, and that if we didn't get me to the hospital to see you, I was going to walk across town because you needed me. We got there, and you were sobbing, and I ran to you and I hugged you and I kissed you and just kept repeating that I would always be there for you."

She pulled Maggie into a hug. "I'm here again, Maggie. And I will. I'll wear it again for you. Always for you. Just for you." She said. "I want to remember what it's like to be with you. I wish I could remember everything." She stroked Maggie's hair softly. "I broke that promise. They made me move with them, made me leave you here. I didn't want to. I begged them to let me stay. They said family came first, that they needed me to move with them." She broke the embrace reluctantly. "I guess I should take that shower." She picked up the shirt and a pair of denim shorts. "You can go work on dinner while I'm showering."