CHAPTER 6 — AVA'S MISSING MEMORY
CHAPTER 6 — AVA'S MISSING MEMORY
Ava woke up screaming.
Not because of pain.
Not because of a nightmare.
Because she remembered.
The hospital room was dark except for the faint light above the bed.
Her breathing came in short, frightened bursts.
She pressed both hands against her temples.
“No…”
The memory came again.
A road.
A black sky.
Headlights.
A woman's voice.
Then—
A car.
A second car.
Margaret.
Ava sat upright.
“Margaret.”
The name escaped her lips before she could stop it.
She looked toward the door.
Nothing.
Only silence.
But the memory remained.
For three years, her mind had been a locked room.
Tonight, someone had opened the door.
And what waited behind it terrified her.
Ethan arrived fifteen minutes later.
He had barely slept since meeting Daniel.
The moment he entered the room, he knew something had changed.
Ava was sitting upright.
Her hands were shaking.
Her eyes were wide.
“Ethan.”
He crossed the room.
“What happened?”
“I remember.”
His heart stopped.
“Remember what?”
“The crash.”
Ethan sat beside her.
“Tell me everything.”
Ava closed her eyes.
The memory returned.
She was driving.
The road was dry.
The radio was playing softly.
She had been thinking about Ethan.
She remembered smiling.
Then she saw something ahead.
A vehicle parked beside the road.
Hazard lights flashing.
A woman standing beside it.
Ava's breathing quickened.
“Who?”
Ava opened her eyes.
“Your mother.”
Ethan went still.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“What was she doing?”
“Standing beside a car.”
“Which car?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she see you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Ava's face tightened.
“She stepped into the road.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Was she trying to stop you?”
“I thought she was.”
Ava swallowed.
“I slowed down.”
“Then?”
“She moved.”
“Where?”
“Toward my driver's side.”
“Then what?”
Ava grabbed Ethan's wrist.
“There was another car behind me.”
“What kind?”
“Black.”
“Was it the SUV?”
“I don't know.”
“What happened?”
“It hit me.”
Ethan's face hardened.
“From behind?”
“Yes.”
“Then your car spun?”
Ava nodded.
“I remember glass.”
“Anything else?”
“Someone screaming.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“No. The other person.”
Ava froze.
Then whispered:
“Margaret.”
Ethan stared.
“She screamed?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Ava's eyes filled with tears.
“She said…”
A pause.
Then:
“I'm sorry.”
Ethan didn't speak for several seconds.
His mother had been there.
She had seen Ava.
She had watched the second vehicle approach.
And after the collision, she had apologized.
Why?
Ava continued.
“I remember trying to open the door.”
“Could you?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“Someone pulled it open.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Man or woman?”
“A man.”
“Did you see his face?”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
“He looked at me.”
“Then?”
“He asked me where it was.”
Ethan's heart raced.
“Where what was?”
“I didn't know.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“What did he do?”
“He grabbed my coat.”
Ava suddenly stopped.
Her face changed.
“My necklace.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What?”
“He grabbed my necklace.”
“Your necklace?”
“Yes.”
“What necklace?”
“I wore one that night.”
“What happened to it?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan remembered the photograph Daniel had shown him.
Arthur and Ava.
Three years before.
Ava wearing a small silver pendant.
He had seen it many times.
But he had never asked where it came from.
“What was inside the pendant?”
Ava shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Did your father give it to you?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Ava looked at him.
“Your father.”
Ethan froze.
“My father?”
She nodded.
“He gave it to me two days before the crash.”
“Why?”
“He said I would need it.”
“Need it for what?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he tell you anything else?”
Ava squeezed her eyes shut.
“He told me not to trust anyone.”
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Ethan immediately called Daniel.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then he received a text.
Don't come back to my house.
Ethan replied:
Why?
The response came thirty seconds later.
Because they found me.
Ethan's stomach tightened.
Are you safe?
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Ava watched him.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Something happened.”
“Probably.”
Ava looked frightened.
“I remember another thing.”
“What?”
“The woman with Margaret.”
Ethan stopped.
“What woman?”
“There was another woman.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did she look like?”
“Blonde.”
“Anything else?”
“She was wearing a white coat.”
“Doctor?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she speak?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Ava stared at the wall.
“She told Margaret that the girl was still alive.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“What girl?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Margaret answer?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Ava's voice became barely audible.
“She said…”
A long pause.
“Then we have to find her.”
Ethan felt a chill.
“Find who?”
“I don't know.”
That afternoon, Ethan went through every document his father had left behind.
He searched for the word girl.
Nothing.
Then he searched daughter.
Nothing.
He searched every business file.
Every personal letter.
Every photograph.
Nothing.
Finally, he opened Arthur's old computer.
It hadn't been used in years.
Most of the files were corrupted.
One folder remained intact.
A
Inside were dozens of documents.
Ethan opened the first.
Nothing.
The second.
Nothing.
The third.
A photograph.
Ava.
Taken six days before the crash.
She was standing beside Arthur.
The same pendant around her neck.
Ethan zoomed in.
The pendant had a tiny symbol engraved on it.
A circle.
Inside the circle was a letter.
S.
Sterling?
No.
Another possibility.
A company.
A trust.
Ethan searched the symbol.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a second object in the photograph.
Arthur's hand was holding a small envelope.
On it was written:
For Ava — only if I die.
Ethan's heart pounded.
He searched the room.
No envelope.
Someone had taken it.
At 5:42 p.m., Ethan returned to the hospital.
Ava was asleep.
A nurse stood beside her.
“Mr. Hale?”
“Yes?”
“Someone came earlier.”
Ethan immediately became alert.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“She said she was family.”
“Name?”
The nurse checked the visitor log.
“Margaret Hale.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“When?”
“About forty minutes ago.”
“Did you let her in?”
“Yes.”
“Did she speak to Ava?”
“Yes.”
“Was Ava awake?”
“No.”
“What did she do?”
The nurse hesitated.
“She stood beside the bed.”
“Anything else?”
“She touched Ava's necklace.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“Which necklace?”
The nurse looked confused.
“The pendant.”
Ethan rushed into the room.
Ava woke immediately.
“What happened?”
“Your necklace.”
Ava touched her neck.
Her eyes widened.
“It's gone.”
Ethan froze.
Someone had taken the pendant.
Margaret had been there.
And she had known exactly what she was looking for.
Ethan called hospital security.
The footage was reviewed.
At 5:01 p.m., Margaret entered the room.
At 5:03, she leaned over Ava.
At 5:04, she touched the pendant.
At 5:05, she removed it.
At 5:06, she left.
The entire theft took less than thirty seconds.
But then something strange happened.
At 5:07, Margaret stopped in the hallway.
She turned around.
And looked directly at the security camera.
Then she smiled.
Ethan stared at the screen.
“She knew.”
The security officer frowned.
“Knew what?”
“That she was being watched.”
Ethan called his mother.
She answered.
“You've been busy.”
“Give me the pendant.”
Silence.
“What pendant?”
“Ava's.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“You took it.”
“You have no proof.”
“I have video.”
Margaret sighed.
“You shouldn't have gone looking.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't understand what that pendant contains.”
“What does it contain?”
“You'll never know.”
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“From whom?”
“From you.”
Ethan's voice hardened.
“You drugged my wife.”
“I protected her.”
“You tried to steal from her.”
“I protected you.”
“You helped cause the crash.”
“I didn't cause anything.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Margaret was silent.
Finally she said:
“I tried to stop it.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“I tried.”
“Then why did you do nothing?”
“I was too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“To stop the man who ordered it.”
Ethan's heart pounded.
“Who?”
Margaret hung up.
That night, Ava remembered another piece.
She woke suddenly.
“Ethan.”
He was beside her.
“What?”
“The man.”
“What man?”
“The one who pulled me from the car.”
“What about him?”
“He said something.”
“What?”
Ava stared into the darkness.
“He said, ‘She wasn't supposed to be in the car.’”
Ethan felt a chill.
“Who wasn't?”
Ava shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
She closed her eyes.
Then gasped.
“The girl.”
“What girl?”
“The girl Margaret was talking about.”
Ethan's heart pounded.
“Who was supposed to be in the car?”
Ava whispered:
“I think…”
She stopped.
“Say it.”
“I think the accident was meant for someone else.”
“Who?”
Ava looked at him.
Then said:
“Your sister.”
Ethan couldn't breathe.
His sister.
The daughter his father had hidden.
The woman who had called him.
The woman Margaret had said was never supposed to come back.
Suddenly the entire story changed.
Ava hadn't been the original target.
She had simply been in the wrong place.
At the wrong time.
Wearing something Arthur had given her.
Something containing a secret someone was willing to kill for.
Ethan stood.
“We need to find your pendant.”
Ava nodded.
But before he could leave, her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Ethan answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Ethan.”
“Who is this?”
“You're looking for the wrong person.”
“Where's my sister?”
Silence.
Then:
“She isn't the one you should be afraid of.”
“Who should I fear?”
The woman breathed softly.
“Your mother.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“She didn't order the crash.”
“No.”
“She helped them.”
“Yes.”
“Then who did?”
The woman whispered:
“The man who has been paying your mother's lawyer for three years.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
“Who?”
The woman didn't answer.
Instead, she said:
“Look inside the original crash report.”
“What?”
“Not the copy.”
“The original.”
“Where?”
“The evidence room.”
Then the call ended.
Ethan looked at Ava.
She was crying.
“Do you think she knows?”
“Who?”
“My sister.”
Ethan looked toward the window.
“I think she's known everything.”
At midnight, Ethan entered the county evidence archive.
The security guard recognized his family name.
He shouldn't have let him in.
But money opened doors.
Fear opened others.
Ethan found the original evidence box.
The label had been replaced.
The contents were almost empty.
But beneath the bottom lining, he found a folded sheet of paper.
He opened it.
It was the original accident diagram.
Not the revised version.
The diagram showed three vehicles.
Ava's car.
The black SUV.
And a third vehicle.
A black sedan.
Beside the sedan was one handwritten note.
Driver identified.
Underneath:
Margaret Hale.
Ethan stared.
His mother's name.
But beneath it was another line.
Passenger identified.
The name had been scratched out.
Almost completely.
Ethan held the page under the light.
There were only three letters still visible.
RIC—
Richard.
He remembered Daniel.
The man with the black-stone ring.
The man who had supposedly died.
Ethan's father.
His mother.
His missing sister.
Ava's crash.
The pills.
The pendant.
And now Richard.
He photographed the document.
Then his phone vibrated.
A message.
You finally found it.
Another arrived.
Now ask yourself why Margaret wanted Ava alive.
Ethan stared.
A third message appeared.
Because Ava wasn't carrying the secret.
His heart stopped.
Then the final message arrived.
She was carrying the person who knew where it was.
Ethan looked at Ava's photograph.
And suddenly understood.
The entire plan had never been about a pendant.
Never about money.
Never even about Ava.
Someone had been using Ava as a living hiding place for a secret witness.
Someone who had survived the night of the crash.
Someone who had seen everything.
Someone whose identity had been erased from every official record.
Ethan whispered:
“Who was in the car?”
Behind him, the evidence-room door slowly opened.
A woman's voice answered:
“Me.”
Ethan turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
Dark hair.
Pale face.
And the same birthmark beneath her left ear as the little girl in Arthur's photograph.
Ethan couldn't move.
The woman looked directly at him.
“My name is Sophia Hale.”
She paused.
May you like
“And I'm your sister.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
