The Night that Changed Everything

I sat away from both my mom and Rose. Rose sat on a chair adjacent to me while my mom sat directly across me. The air was heavy and filled with tension as I stared intently at both of them. None of them dared to start talking just yet, so I initiated the conversation.

"So, Rose, let's hear what you have to say. What do you know about what happened years ago?"

Though hesitating at first, she replied,

"Jake, look, you really shouldn't feel any sort of hatred towards your mom. I was the reason why..."

Again with this 'apology mechanism'. I immediately cut her off in hopes of learning the whole truth, not settling for anything else.

"Rose, please, stop beating around the bush and just cut to the chase already. I'm tired of hearing apologies. I need the TRUTH!"

Folding her lips inward into a sort of a lip-bite, she started tearing up as well. This whole time, my mom had her head down facing the floor as she clasped her hands together and fidgeting her fingers around with each other.

"I was the reason you went out that night. I was the reason why you ran outside in the middle of the night, on a heavy rain, and I was the reason your mom had to use a beat-up car just to look for you. And I was the reason she hit you and caused the accident that made you lose that particular portion of your memory due to shock. It's all my fault."

"I know about it already. Do you know anything else about it? Why didn't you visit me at all after the first visit you paid me on the night of the accident?"

I could see she was having a hard time answering my question. I glanced at my mom who now had both her hands opened up and used as her headrest as she leaned her head on her own hands covering her face especially her teary eyes. Rose still hasn't answered my last question, so I try to pry into that more, but she doesn't give me a clear answer. It seems she can't bring herself to say it to me, so I ask my mom. Even she couldn't answer me. I was getting extremely frustrated with the way things were progressing. Both initially told me that they would tell me the truth and explain all the things happening in my life right now, but it's evident that they both can't answer why Rose hasn't visited me once since her first visit.

At the back of my brain, though I would like to think and believe that it was not the case, I couldn't deny the possibility of it. Thoughts of my mom convincing Rose to not visit me. And seemingly answering the questions I had in my mind, my mom started talking.

"Jake, I asked Rose to stop visiting you. I believed that it was the best way for you to recover fast especially since the doctor asked us to make you stay away from the things that could cause you trauma and could reignite the traumatic experience of that night."

THE NIGHT OF THE ACCIDENT, IN THE HOSPITAL, POV: Jake's Mom

As I rushed my son to the hospital, I figured that I had to let Rose know about this. I decided to call her and tell her what had happened. As I await the doctor's statement and report about Jake's status, I anxiously sit outside the emergency room while feeling and seeing my trembling hands.

"I'm the reason why this happened. This is all my fault. What if I killed my own son? What if he falls into a coma? What if he doesn't remember me? What if he hates me? What if he never forgives me? No! No! I won't let that happen. Right, he doesn't need to find out the truth. It will probably only hurt him. Right. Besides, this is not JUST my fault. Yes. It's partly Rose's fault. If she hadn't asked me to let her leave earlier, this wouldn't have happened. That's right, she's not innocent either. I'm not the only one to blame. Right."

These were the thoughts in my brain as I roughly drag and rub my fingers and my hands across my hair. I felt so anxious and so guilty that I started blaming others as well. Two hours passed by as I was being paranoid outside the emergency room. Rose has arrived in the ER, looking so drenched, most probably a mix of sweat and rainwater. She looked quite frantic and it seems like she ran all the way here. As she arrived, the doctor treating Jake also came out to update us.

And the rest is history.