A Homecoming to Forget

by Emily Camp

  “Uh hi.” I unfolded my cash with my blue-gloved hands. “Hot chocolate please.”

  “One hot chocolate coming up.” She sauntered away with my dollar.

  “Can’t remember anything, but you let him brand you again.”

  I turned toward Henry’s voice. He leaned against the concession stand, his arms across his chest, his head tilted. “Superstar is killing it out there. You must be his good luck charm.”

  Something inside me was excited to see Henry again, even if he was being kind of a jerk. I crossed my arms across my stomach as if to hide the jersey, even though he’d already seen it.

  “You two back together? How sweet.” He gave his order to a gentleman in a blue windbreaker. The man said, “hey Sawyer,” just like the woman had. So many people knew who I was, but was I supposed to know them?

  “Here you go, Sawyer.” The lady was back with my drink. “He’s playing great tonight. Be careful with that, it’s hot.” As if I wouldn’t know that hot chocolate was hot.

  “Thank you.”

  “Tell your dad I said hello.”

  “Okay,” I said then started to walk away.

  Henry snorted a laugh beside me. “You have no clue who she was.”

  “Not at all.”

  “That was Ryan’s mom and dad.”

  “Really? They seemed so nice.”

  This made Henry laugh. I was glad for that, though he seemed ticked I was in Trey’s jersey. He fell into stride beside me. The buzzer buzzed. It was the end of the first half. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through another two quarters. The football team jogged right in our path toward the locker room.

  “Hey creeper, see that number on her.” Trey shouted and pointed to his chest. His helmet hung by his side in his other hand as he jogged with his teammates. “She’s mine.”

  That comment didn’t sit right with me. Henry’s jaw clenched. The football team disappeared in the locker room.

  “Like I said, he branded you.”

  “You make it sound like I’m a cow. It’s a shirt, not a tattoo and I can take it off if I want.”

  Henry’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at me smugly. “So, you may have lost that memory of yours.” He pointed to his temple, “but you’re still the same Sawyer. Run to me one day for my attention, then the next you’re all about golden boy.”

  “I …”

  “Save it.” His dark hair fell in front of his face when he shook his head. “You only care about one thing, that is yourself and how other people see you.” Then he walked away.

  That was it. Henry hated me and I didn’t want to be at this stupid game. We were winning by three touchdowns. I’m sure it wasn’t going to hurt Trey’s luck if I left.

  From my car, I texted Nadia, thankful for gloves that allowed texting. She was so into the game, I’m not sure if she would even notice the message. I sat my hot chocolate in the cup holder. Tonight, I was thankful for car heaters. Mine was cranked to the highest setting. I went to put my phone down, when it slid out of my gloved hands, in between the console and the seat.

  “Dang.” I whispered to myself as I rooted under my seat. But instead of coming in contact with my cell, there was a paper. I pulled on it. It was just a little slip, a receipt of some kind. These days I didn’t take anything for granted. And I wasn’t disappointed I didn’t. I pressed my light on from above to get a better look. It was dated October 12. The day of the dance. I’d gotten gas, that wasn’t weird. What was weird, though, was the fact that it was in a town I’d never heard of in West Virginia.

  I did a quick google search to find out it was an hour and a half away. What was I doing an hour and a half away from here on the day of the homecoming dance? Upon further inspection, the time was right beside the date … it was morning, around 10 am. Which meant I would have had to leave my house by 8:30 at the earliest. I know I didn’t remember much about the last three years, but I hardly doubt that I got up that early on a Saturday morning just to go on a road trip.

  The next question was, was I alone or was someone with me, and if so, who?

  Chapter 20

  “You alright?” Benji peeked in my room where I sat on the edge of my bed, fully dressed in jeans and a sweater, staring at the receipt. It wasn’t a gas station I’d ever heard of. I hadn’t slept much all night trying to figure out what I would have been doing there. I hated my brain right now. All the pieces that were missing like a darn puzzle that couldn’t be solved.

  Trey had texted me asking why I didn’t stay at the game, then wanted me to come to the after-game party. I told him I had a headache. I didn’t like lying but I also didn’t feel like dealing with him last night when I was trying to figure this out. I had a feeling if I went to that gas station on homecoming morning he knew nothing about it. Now the question was, did anyone come with me? Did I make the journey by myself?

  I had the directions saved to my phone GPS. I just wasn’t sure if I should go alone or not.

  “What’s up?” Benji came into the room when I didn’t confirm I was okay.

  I sighed and stared at the receipt. I hesitated before telling him, “I found this under the seat of my car.”

  Benji stared at the receipt. “You bought gas? That’s not unusual if you drive a car.”

  “Look at the location and the date.”

  Benji tilted his head, his brow wrinkled. “What were you doing there?”

  I shrugged. “That’s what I’d like to know. Have you ever heard of Hill Springs, West Virginia?”

  “No.”

  “It’s an hour and a half drive.” I held up my phone, showing him I’d pulled up the directions. “I went there the morning of homecoming.”

  “Weird.”

  “Right.”

  “What are you doing now?”

  “I’m going to take a ride to that little gas station and ask some questions.”

  “No.” Benji said just as Mr. Whiskers meowed and circled around his feet.

  “What?” I tilted my head, I’m pretty sure he didn’t just tell me no like he was my dad.

  “You’re not going.” Benji ignored his cat who continued to cry.

  “You’re not the boss of me.” Now I was sounding like a first grader.

  His cat meowed again.

  “Pick your cat up or something.”

  Benji bent down and scooped Mr. Whiskers in his arms. Mr. Whiskers looked as if he was smug as he stared at me and purred. “It’s too dangerous for a girl to travel by herself. You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”

  “Yet I almost was killed, only it wasn’t in Hill Springs, it was here.”

  With Mr. Whiskers still cradled in one arm, Benji crumbled the receipt and shoved it in his pocket as if I didn’t still have the address and hadn’t ingrained the gas station name in my mind. According to the GPS it was right off the interstate.

  “I need some answers and I seem to be the only one who even cares about me getting my memory back, so you can just get out of my way now.”

  I began to go around him, but Benji stood solid like a door, blocking me from leaving. “Your dad expects me to make sure nothing happens to you.”

  “I’m not five,” I huffed. I was beginning to not like this having a big brother thing. I tried to shoulder by him, but he gripped my arm, right where the bruise had just disappeared.

  My heart hammered with every footfall. My lungs burned with cold air as I gasped for breath. The homecoming dress tore, but I didn’t have time to care. I had to get away. Just as my foot hit the ground wrong and twisted in my heel, a hand gripped my arm, yanking so hard it burned.

  A blood curling scream left my throat and Benji let go. “You’re okay. Sawyer, Sawyer.”

  My dad was in the room. “What did you do?” his voice bellowed through my terror.

  Now Janice. “I told you she needs help.”

  Only when my dad’s arms were wrapped around me did my heartbeat begin to slow.

  “Give us a minute.” My dad said to our
audience.

  Janice hesitated then, “Come on Benji.”

  “Tell me what happened.” My dad’s deep voice soothed me like when I was little and had just woken from a nightmare.

  “I think. I just had a memory.” Even though I knew I was safe now, my body shook.

  “What did you remember?”

  “Not much just running away from someone. I don’t know who.” I choked the words out. “I was so scared.”

  He frowned. Then said, “It’s okay now. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

  ***

  I don’t know how or when I fell asleep. I climbed out of bed and carefully made my way downstairs, the stupid cat following me like prey. They were reluctant to leave me alone before, no telling what they would do now. As I suspected, I could hear voices. I stopped at the top of the steps. Mr. Whiskers rubbed against my ankle. Even though I didn’t like him, I picked him up because I didn’t want him to start crying and alert anyone that I was listening.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Janice’s voice. “She thrives on male attention. She always has. She has you wrapped around her little finger, now Benji and don’t even I want to talk about what she’s doing to the poor kid she’s dating.” There was a stabbing pain in my chest as she talked about a version of me I didn’t remember. I wasn’t trying to get Benji’s attention. I seriously had a flashback.

  “She’s not faking. I know.” My heart swelled that my dad stood up for me.

  “Do you? She claims someone tried to murder her.”

  What was that supposed to mean? Mr. Whiskers began to squirm, so I pet him. He purred.

  “You don’t think I don’t know my own daughter?” My dad’s voice was louder now.

  Janice sighed. “All I’m saying is that you have a blind spot when it comes to her.”

  Part of me wanted to charge down the stairs and shout at Janice. She didn’t know me, she didn’t have a clue. Instead, I stood here frozen to the landing.

  “She’s been through a lot,” my dad said. Then Mr. Whiskers began to meow. Stupid cat.

  “They’ve been arguing since he came downstairs.” Benji’s voice behind made me jump.

  I sat the cat down, who then rubbed against Benji’s ankles.

  “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. I remembered something from that night.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “What did you remember?”

  “Nothing that helps give me any kind of answers. Someone was chasing me. I fell and they grabbed me.”

  “Do you remember any details of that person, what they looked like?”

  “Nothing. Can’t even remember if they were male or female. Just that I was scared they were going to kill me.”

  “Are you sure it’s really a memory?”

  “I …” Why wouldn’t it be? “I think so.” What else would it be?

  “I understand how important remembering is to you.” He ran his hand over his head. “My mom would flip if she knew I was going to do this. But I know I’m probably not going to be able to stop you, so if you want to go to that gas station we can.”

  “Really? Thank you so much.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down for a hug. He was significantly taller than me. Despite my previous break down, he hugged me back. He held on for a second longer than I was prepared for, given the insistence of his attention the cat wanted.

  Then I stepped away. “When do you want to leave?”

  Chapter 21

  “Anything come back to you?” Benji pulled up to the pump.

  “Nope.” Nothing other than a feeling of creepy dread. No wonder I was here in the day time. I started to climb out of the car when Benji began to fill up.

  “Don’t go in without me,” he said.

  I thought about protesting, but the more I looked at the building, I thought it wasn’t a bad idea to wait for him.

  Once the gas was pumped Benji motioned for me to follow. The door dinged when we walked in. The floor tiles were yellow but looked as if they should have been white. It smelled like dust and gasoline. I walked around the two shelves in the middle of the shop. Then made my way to the coolers filled with cold drinks, hoping that something would bring on one of those flashes. Certainly, there had to be something that would help me remember and make those memories stick.

  “I’m going to use the restroom.” Benji placed his hand on my back as he went by me.

  “Okay.” I took a water from the cooler, feeling bad about just coming in to scope out the place. It still boggled my mind as to why I had been here.

  I brought the water to the counter.

  A girl about my age looked up from her phone, cracked her gum, and glared at me under her frizzy hair. “I thought I told you never to come back.”

  She remembered me. I felt my face flush. Confrontation was not my favorite thing. “I don’t want trouble.” I lifted my hands in surrender and nodded toward my water.

  “You didn’t care about trouble last time.” She waved her head back and forth.

  “I honestly don’t remember ever being here before.”

  She glared at me. Her frizzy ponytail swaying with each chomp of her gum.

  “Hey,” Benji came up beside me, digging his wallet out.

  “I got it,” I said.

  “What’s up?” Benji held up his wallet.

  “Your girlfriend was here a couple weeks ago, flaunting her stuff to my man.”

  “For the last time, I’m not your man.” A tall, lanky guy walked up to the counter. “Can I help you?” He said to us. Then to her, “Go on your break, Alisha.”

  I looked at the frizzy-haired girl then back at the guy, both people who had seen me the last time I was here. The frizzy-haired girl glared at me again before she stomped off.

  “Sorry about that. Like I said before she hasn’t dealt with our breakup well.”

  “I was wondering ...” I began, then Benji’s hand fell on my lower back. “You’ve seen me before? On October twelfth.”

  “You were here a few weeks ago.” The register beeped as he rang my water.

  “Did you have a conversation?” Benji’s hand was awkwardly low on my back. I stepped a little to the left. His hand fell.

  “Well yeah.” Lanky dude tilted his head. “Why?”

  “I lost my memory that day.”

  “Wow,” he ran his hand over his hair, his eyes widened. He looked a little bit like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. “Like you don’t remember anything?”

  “Just the last three years are gone.”

  “You were looking for someplace …” he squinted at the ceiling then smiled and jerked his face back toward us. “Serenity Colony.”

  “Serenity Colony?”

  “Said your mom lived there.”

  “I was looking for my mom?” I looked at Benji, quizzically.

  “Hey, did you find it anyway?”

  “Amnesia.” I pointed to my head.

  “Oh right.” He bobbed his head. “That sucks.”

  “Yeah.” I paid for my water and Benji and I were back in the car. My water in the cupholder, my hands on my lap. I stared ahead at the road before us.

  “I wonder where this Serendipity Village is,” Benji said.

  “Serenity Colony.” I corrected. “I wonder if I ever found it and why I would go.” I looked at my phone.

  “Why don’t we drive a little bit further and see if the next place knows anything.” Benji turned the key.

  “Won’t that be a wild goose chase? We don’t know if it’s this way or that way, or if anyone would know for that matter.” I flopped my head back, bouncing it off the soft headrest. “This is useless.”

  “Call her.”

  “My mom? Last time I called, she acted like she didn’t want to talk to me.”

  Benji put the car in gear. “Do you want to drive around aimlessly, or do you want to know?”

  I sighed and pulled out my phone. “I only have one bar.” But I dialed anyway.

  “Yellow?
” A voice with a thick country accent answered. It was a different person from who answered last time. In the background there was a lot of talking as if I’d just called a party.

  “Can I please speak with Heather?” Her first name was all they needed last time, and I had no clue if her last name was still Montgomery.

  “Hold on a sec.”

  I waited as Benji sat in the driver’s side watching me.

  “Hello?” Her voice was quiet.

  “Mom?”

  “Sawyer, is everything okay?” The background noise faded, but she didn’t raise her voice any.

  “Did I see you the day I went missing?”

  She was quiet, almost to the point I thought I’d lost service.

  “Hello?”

  “I’m here.” She cleared her throat. “Do you remember now?”

  I shook my head even though I know she couldn’t see me. I looked at Benji, my eyes wide. I didn’t like where this might be headed. “I don’t. I found a receipt that put me somewhere here in West Virginia.”

  “Wait. You’re near?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Sawyer, where are you exactly? Is Henry with you?”

  Wait, Henry? Why would he be with me?

  “No, Benji’s with me.”

  “Where are you? No, don’t tell me.” She cussed under her breath. Then her voice got even fainter. “Meet me at The Filling Station just off the Harvest Hills exit. I can be there by ten.” She said in a hush and before I could respond she’d hung up on me. Ten? That was still a couple hours from now.

  “What?” Benji asked.

  “She wants to meet me at the Harvest Hills Filling Station.”

  ***

  We found The Filling Station which was another rickety gas station only it had a little diner connected to it that claimed to be open all night. We went in and found a table, which wasn’t hard because we were the only diners here. It smelled like grease and the coffee was horrible, but they let us wait. There was very little cell service here so I didn’t have social media to entertain me.

  By ten I was fidgety and ready for answers. Benji listened to my theories over and over again. I was now convinced it was not a coincidence I came here on the day of my accident. Like we hadn’t already been waiting two hours, she waltzed in at 10:30.