The Other Ann by Amy Cross

Author:Amy Cross [Cross, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

When I open my eyes, everything is dark.

I blink, and for a moment I don't know where I am or how I got here. I wait for everything to come rushing back, but instead I feel as if there's a hole in my mind. This is like the very few times I ever got drunk, except that I know I haven't been drinking. I wait a moment longer, just in case the memories return, and then I try to sit up.

Gasping as a sharp pain runs up my right arm, I roll onto my back and see a familiar shape high above, and I realize that I'm in my bed. I stare at the light fitting for a moment, as I try to remember how I got here, and then I hear footsteps coming closer from somewhere in the house.

“Are you awake?” the other Ann asks, and suddenly she leans over me. She looks worried. “Can you hear me? Say something.”

“What happened?” I ask, still trying to break through the block in my mind.

“Do you know your name?”

“What?”

“Tell me your name.”

“Ann. Why are you asking me that?”

“When's your birthday?”

“July the seventh, but -”

“Who's the current President of the United States of America?”

“What?”

“Just answer.”

“Butler,” I reply. “Chance Butler.”

She lets out a relieved sigh.

“Okay,” she says finally, “that's good. Those were the three questions the book said to ask when you woke up. Do you have a headache?”

“No. Why? What's going on?”

“Nausea?”

“No. Tell me what's happening!”

“That's good,” she replies, “I don't think you're concussed. You're lucky.”

“I don't understand any of this,” I say, before trying once again to sit up. Again, however, I feel a sharp pain in my arm, and I have to really struggle for a moment before finally I manage to sit on the side of the bed. As soon as I try to put any weight on my right foot, however, I feel a burst of pain.

“Careful!” the other me says, kneeling next to me. “What do you remember? How did you fall?”

“Fall?”

I'm about to ask what she means, but then I remember being out on my run. I was watching the lake, and then I felt something slam into me from behind, and then I fell.

And then?

“I think you got mugged,” the other me explains. “I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. When I found you, your purse and phone were missing. You did take those with you, didn't you?”

“I did,” I reply, “but what do you mean? You found me?”

“I was so worried when you didn't come back from your jog,” she tells me. “By the time it got dark, I was seriously freaking out. I didn't want to go crazy and call the police, so I took a flashlight and headed out along the path I used to take when I went jogging. I figured you'd probably gone the same way. I used to sometimes go on what I called a 'mega run', but I always made sure to be back before dark.

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