Books by Elizabeth Reyes
Desert Heat
Defining Love
Moreno Brothers Series
Forever Mine
Sweet Sofie
Forever Yours
When You Were Mine
Always Been Mine
Romero
Making You Mine
Tangled—A Moreno Brothers novella
5th Street Series
Noah
Gio
Hector
Abel
Felix
Fate Series
Fate
Breaking Brandon
Suspicious Minds
Again
Rage
His to Guard
Uninvited
Boyle Heights Series
Lila
Beast (2017)
Looking Glass Series
Girl in the Mirror
Girl in the Mirror
Elizabeth Reyes
Girl in The Mirror
Elizabeth Reyes
Copyright © 2017 Elizabeth Reyes
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Editing by Theresa Wegand
Cover Design by Amanda Simpson of Pixel Mischief Design
For my PITA, everything really does happen for reason.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
What’s next?
Also by Elizabeth Reyes
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1
The beeping sound and the feel of someone’s hand in mine was the only proof I had that I was alive. I couldn’t feel or move any other part of my body, and I couldn’t see anything. I had no idea where I was, but something told me I was safe. I was being taken care of, and then it dawned on me. Who was I?
A wave of terror swept over me. I felt my eyelids flutter in response to the overwhelming emotion. I don’t know how, but I managed to control it and attempt to open my eyes, but I couldn’t. The fluttering was erratic; then I heard a gasp.
“Maggie,” a woman’s voice that I didn’t recognize whispered anxiously. “Maggie, can you hear me?”
Maggie? Was that me? I felt my throat constrict because I hadn’t the slightest idea who Maggie was. I fluttered my eyelids again, feeling the warmth underneath them.
“Maggie,” the woman said again; then I felt her hand on my cheek. “It’s Mama. I’m right here, baby. Don’t cry. You’re gonna be okay.” I heard her sniffle as her words became more emotional. “Can you hear me, darling? Squeeze my hand if you can.”
I did and she gasped again. “Thank you, Jesus!” she said, and then she was crying.
I fluttered my eyelids until I started seeing specks of light come in and out. But I couldn’t make anything out.
“Did you call for a nurse?” I heard another woman’s voice ask.
‘Yes!” the woman who said she was my mama cried out. “She’s waking.” She squeezed my hand. “And look. She’s crying.”
I heard more voices and beeping sounds, and then I started to feel more of my body as other parts were touched in different places. A big blur neared my face and spoke softly. “Maggie, this is Deandra. I’m your nurse. Squeeze your mother’s hand if you can hear me.”
I squeezed the hand holding mine again.
“Yes!” the woman said again, still sounding very emotional.
“Are you in any pain?” Deandra asked. “Squeeze once for yes and twice for no.”
I squeezed twice. How could I be in any pain when I couldn’t feel anything? I wondered if maybe I was paralyzed. My eyelids fluttered nonstop in panic now. I needed answers.
“Do you know where you are?” Deandra asked, and I could shake my head but just barely.
“Do you remember the accident?” I shook my head again and this time managed to open one eye.
A petite blond woman leaning over me with sunken, tired eyes, held her shaky hand to her mouth as her face crumbled. “Hi, baby,” she said through trembling lips.
It was all too much to take, and then I realized I could feel my face now too. Like her, I felt my face crumble, and my lips were trembling. “Oh, baby, don’t cry,” she said, wiping tears from my cheeks.
A tall dark-haired woman stood on the other side of the bed. “Do you know where you are?”
The warm tears streamed down my cheeks as I attempted to shake my head again, despite the pain of doing just that. “Don’t try to move,” Deandra said quickly and I stopped. “Just squeeze your mama’s hand.”
I did—twice. “She said no,” the petite woman said.
“Do you know your name?”
Even though the other woman had called me Maggie, I still wasn’t sure if that was really my name, so I squeezed twice.
Deandra nodded at the other woman as she brought her other hand to her mouth. “That’s normal,” she said in a reassuring voice then turned to me and smiled. “It’s normal, sweetie. You’ve had some head trauma. Do you have any idea how long you’ve been out?”
Again, I squeezed twice, feeling more panicked with each question. She nodded again with a smile. “All normal. You’ve been through a lot. Sometimes it’s better that you don’t remember right away. Are you able to speak?”
I tried in vain to even move my mouth, but I had so little strength I couldn’t, much less acquire the words from within me. So, I squeezed twice again.
The woman clutching my hand and trying to hold it together shook her head. “It’s okay,” Deandra said. “Don’t exert yourself. It’s still early. But tell me. Do you know who this is?” She motioned to the woman holding my hand. My eyes were on the woman who was supposed to be my mama, but I didn’t recognize her. I squeezed twice, feeling the tear slide down my cheek again.
Deandra wrote something down on the clipboard she’d lifted from somewhere to the left of me. “It’s okay,” she said even as she continued to write then check her watch. “You’re gonna be fine. You suffered a major head injury, but the doctors do believe, with time and the right therapy, you’ll make a full recovery.”
She said something else about swelling in the brain and then me being in a medically induced coma for weeks. All I could think about was I didn’t recognize my mama in the least. And I couldn’t remember a single thing about
me or my life.
After filling the complete blank in my head about who I was, I learned a few more things before succumbing to exhaustion. I was just shy of nineteen years old. It was the summer just after my high school graduation, and my ability to speak and the memories would come with time. I just had to be patient. Before I knew it, everything I worked so hard to do was gone when the exhaustion overcame me. I was back to black.
Each time I woke, I stayed awake a little longer. And each time, I made more progress. I was opening both eyes now, but I still couldn’t talk. I could listen and understand everything my mama told me. I’d been in a car accident where I was thrown from the car. Aside from the head injury, I had a few broken bones and many bruises and scratches. My entire body felt like one giant bruise. The pain was everywhere, but otherwise, the doctors were calling it a miracle that it wasn’t worse.
The day I was given a mirror so I could see what I looked like, I cried. I knew now my mother’s name was Loretta. Since it was still so hard for me to see this stranger as my mom, she’d become Loretta to me in my head. It felt less weird than thinking of her as Mom.
Loretta assured me I was still banged up and didn’t normally look this pale with such sunken eyes. But that wasn’t why I was crying. I cried because I hoped the day I looked in the mirror it would jolt a memory of some kind, but it didn’t. I’d never seen the girl in the mirror. Just like with my mother, I didn’t recognize anything about me.
I could nod now and point and sit up with the help of the adjustable bed. I could feed myself and walk to the bathroom with the help of the nurses and my mom. Albeit I was still in a world of pain, but I was grateful for the progress, even if it didn’t sound like it with all the moaning and groaning I did with every tiny movement. I had broken ribs, a broken collar bone, and a pelvic fracture that I was told was much worse in the beginning. I could walk now, but it still hurt like hell. My broken foot was in a cast, but I could walk on crutches; though I still got dizzy a lot. But I still couldn’t talk, and I had so many questions. I got frustrated some days and cried often. They all kept telling me to be patient—that my progress was coming along better and faster than they’d anticipated.
As the days passed and Loretta sat and talked to me, I began to get the distinct feeling that she wasn’t telling me everything. Was I alone in the car? Was anyone else hurt? As somber as she seemed sometimes, I had the ugly gut feeling someone had died.
She stared at me strangely sometimes. I didn’t know if she was trying to evaluate me or what, but I was certain she knew something I didn’t. Maybe my injuries were worse than the doctors were letting on. Maybe the doctors had told her to keep a close eye on something specific about me. But what?
While I’d managed to feed myself, I still didn’t have full command of my hands and fingers. The therapist came every day, and we’d do exercises to strengthen my grasp. I was humming now too. I did it a lot because I wanted my voice back. The physical therapy for my hands and my humming and trying to figure out how to get the words to my mouth were the main things I focused on. Whichever came first would get me what I wanted—communication—whether by writing or talking.
One night, I woke in the middle of the night. A feeling of utter dread consumed me. I didn’t know what to make of it, only that something was very wrong. I’d begun to hum days prior. It had been the closest I’d come to being able to talk. I was now beginning to make other noises besides just humming.
Humming again, I moved my mouth out of sheer frustration. “Muuuah!” The sudden sound out of my mouth startled me, and I brought my fingers to my mouth. “Muuuuuaaaah.”
The excitement drowned out the dread, and I did it over and over. Soon the noise coming from my mouth started to sound like words. “Tah . . . taah . . . taahk . . . talk.”
It took me a moment to figure out the foreign feeling in my face was a smile. I glanced around and saw it was only two in the morning, but no way could I sleep now. I continued to practice speaking. I didn’t do it in front of the nurses because I still couldn’t form sentences and I feared they’d insist I not exert myself. By the time Loretta arrived that morning just after eight, I was completely exhausted and ready to pass out. I’d finally been able to string a few words together, so I knew I wouldn’t pass out. I couldn’t. I had too many questions.
“I . . . can . . . talk,” I said as soon as she put her things down.
Loretta froze, staring at me, then brought her hands to her mouth. Her eyes welled up, and she smiled, even as her brows pinched together in undeniable emotion. She rushed over and hugged me gently, mindful not to hurt me. “Oh, baby, I knew you would. I told you to be patient.”
“Mom,” I said because it felt rude calling her Loretta, even if in my head that’s who this stranger was to me—Loretta. “I . . . don’t . . . rem . . . member.”
I felt her go tense, but she squeezed me one last time before pulling away. “It was a bad accident, Maggie. You sustained a significant head injury that the doctors assure me you’ll recover from. But of course, things are still going to be fuzzy. The doctors said it would take some time.”
I shook my head as she smiled at me sympathetically. “I . . . don’t . . . rem . . . member anything,” I said, frustrated that the words came so slowly. “Not . . . fu . . . zzy.” Her eyes widened as what I just said seemed to sink in. “I . . . don’t . . . rem . . . member . . . me—at all.”
I felt the emotion overwhelm me because, for as much as I’d said it in my head, hearing the words made it so much more real. I brought my hands over my face but pulled them away just as quickly. I couldn’t waste time crying. I could feel the exhaustion pulling me under, and I still had so many questions.
Her hands were at her mouth again, and she shook her head, staring at me wide-eyed. “You really don’t remember anything?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t panic, okay?” I could see her trying to stay calm, but her eyes looked as anxious as I felt. “I’m sure this is just temporary. It was a pretty nasty injury you got.”
“Was . . . I . . . alone?”
The horror in her eyes was my answer. I wasn’t. There were others. Who? And how were they doing? Was it family? Except for when she’d gone home to sleep at night, she’d been here with me every day. So, did that mean that they . . .?
Something started beeping on one of the monitors. Loretta turned to it, looking worried.
“Who . . . else . . . was . . .?” I shook my head even as I felt my heart thumping, when another beeping sound started and distracted me, throwing my wording off.
The nurse on duty today, Keisha, rushed in. “Ms. Maggie, what’s going on?”
“It’s her blood pressure, I think,” Loretta said anxiously, staring at one of the machines.
“Sure is,” Keisha said, frowning at the machine, then rushed to pull something out of a drawer. “Not good.”
“Who . . . else?”
Keisha froze mid-stride and stared at me. “You’re talking.”
I nodded but turned back to Loretta. “Who?”
“She doesn’t remember anything,” Loretta informed her, “not me, not the accident, not even who she is.”
Keisha continued to administer something into my I.V., turning back to my mom then to me.
“She’s asking about the accident,” Loretta added, her words full of apprehension.
Keisha’s eyes went a little wide, and she shook her head. “I don’t think—”
“Who . . . Mom?”
I don’t even know why I was crying or why I needed to know so badly. Just like the strangers Loretta said were friends and neighbors who came by on occasion to visit me—the ones with their faces etched in pity—whoever else had been in the accident with me I’d likely not remember anyway. I could only conclude that my getting so upset and worked up was because of my lack of sleep. Exerting myself to talk wasn’t helping because I could barely keep my eyelids open. Then Keisha clarified why I was suddenly so tired.
&nb
sp; “I gave you something to sedate you a bit. It’ll help bring your blood pressure down and . . .”
Chapter 2
“What day is it?”
Loretta glanced up from the tablet she was reading on. “Still Wednesday. Only it’s evening now. You’re talking faster now.”
I thought about it for a minute then smiled. Only it was fleeting. The recollection of what we’d spoken of last came to me.
“Maggie, before you start . . .” She set the tablet down on the chair next to her. “The accident you were in was a bad one. The details of it will be very upsetting to you, and the doctor said telling you about the accident must be done with care and with a therapist present but later. Your brain is still in a very fragile state. Think of how far you’ve come. You don’t want any setbacks, do you?”
As bad as I wanted to know, the last thing I wanted was to go back to the frustration of not being able to move or talk. Grudgingly, I nodded. “I have other questions.”
She stared at me, her eyes full of apprehension again. “If it’s anything that will upset you—”
“I don’t think it should.” I shook my head, even though I wasn’t entirely sure about that. “Do I have a father? Siblings?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, as if she was willing to give me this one. “We’re all alone, honey, just you and me. It’s why I’ve been so terrified you might not be okay. I’ve been a single mom since you were born. Your dad has never been around. My parents are both gone. My dad died when I was just a little girl, and grandma passed a few years ago. The only sibling I have, I haven’t seen in years. Her husband is in the military, and they move about the world all the time. Right now, he’s stationed in Okinawa. She has small children and can’t make the trip, but she’s been in touch via the Internet.”
So, it was just Loretta and I? “What about friends?” The friends who’d come by to see me didn’t feel intimate at all. “Don’t I have close friends?”
She nodded. “We’ll talk about that when you’re better.”
My heart thudded. That was a clue. Maybe my friends were in the car with me. Maybe they were dead, and that’s why they couldn’t come see me. I nodded back to show I understood.