The last thing she remembered were the jingling sound of keys as the man lifted her from the ground into his car. She had struggled to see his face, but her eyes felt too heavy to open, and all she could get was a glimpse of his freshly cut beard, and the thudding sound of his heartbeat as he called out to her to stay awake. The man had driven like a maniac to the hospital, and she could only hear him say his first name, "Peter", before the darkness engulfed her.
Ten years has passed, and Anna still wasn't able to let go of the past. She spent years in therapy, just so she could regain her memory from that very day. She wanted nothing more than to remember the face of the man who had saved her life when he had no reason to. Every detail of the accident was still vivid in her head. From the moment she had angrily left the house, and tried to cross the road without looking at both sides, to the moment the truck driver sped off after realizing that he had hit someone. She was lying there, half-conscious, hoping that someone would find her before she dies. Then the mysterious man pulled up his car beside her, and rushed to help her. He could've easily gone on his way without a second glance at her, and no one would blame him for that, but he helped her. He had saved her, but she couldn't remember him, and it broke her heart. She had tried everything possible to remember him, including visiting the hospital to ask for a description, but the nurses and the doctors weren't of much help. Even the cleaners who had claimed to have a sharp memory, all they did was to give her a description of any regular man one would see daily.
Today as she was coming out of her office, she heard the jingling sounds of keys from somewhere nearby. She suddenly froze as if in a trance, and an image flashed in her head. It was quick, but she recognized it immediately. She got into her car, and drove to her therapist office.
"I saw something that I remember seeing that day." Anna said, pacing the room.
"Calm down Anna, and tell me what you saw." The therapist replied.
"I saw a scarred hand. And I remember seeing a huge scar on his hand when he lifted me into his car."
"And you're sure you're right?" Anna nodded to the question. "Did a jingle bring back this piece of memory?"
"Yes. But isn't it strange? I've jingled keys and bells, loud enough to deafen me, but I still don't remember anything. But why would an abrupt jingle of keys bring back my memory?"
"I've given that some thoughts too, and I think it's that way because that was the only vivid thing you remembered after the incident."
Some weeks later, Anna went on a drink date with her colleague from work. While she drank from her wine glass, she caught sight of a man holding a bunch of keys. Something stirred up in her, and she stood from her table and ran towards him, but he was gone before she could get to him.
She ran out of the bar, but he was nowhere to be found. Anna was sure she had seen her savior, but she couldn't get to him. Her colleague came out of the bar, and saw her crying.
"Anna, you can't keep beating yourself up like this."
"It was him." She replied, still crying.
The man walked closer to her, and patted her softly on her back, bringing comfort to her.
"With time, you'll find him." He said.
Three more months passed, and gradually, Anna started giving up hope of finding the man. She even quit her therapy. One day, after a stressful day at work, Anna lazily walked out of her office, and walked towards her car that was parked across the street. As she was about to open the car door, her leg slipped, and she was off balance. Before she could fall to the ground, a huge arm caught her mid-fall.
"Careful ma'am, you don't want that fall." The voice said.
Anna stood to her feet, and stared at the man. There was a bunch of keys clipped to his trouser, jingling with every move he made. A huge scar was running across his wrist, and when she stared up at his face, she saw the freshly cut beard, just like it had been ten years ago. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and the man got confused.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" He asked her, looking concerned.
"Peter." She whispered his name.
"Do you know me?" He was more confused now.
Anna threw her arms around him, and hugged him close.
"Finally, I found you."
The man couldn't speak, but he wondered what she might be talking about, but then Anna kept talking.
"I'm the girl you saved ten years ago after a truck accident. You took me to the hospital, and yet again, today, you've saved me."
"Whoa! You've grown so big. I came back to the hospital, but I was told that you got transferred."
The two of them had dinner together, discussing Anna's efforts to find him. Anna was happy to have found her savior, but she was more glad that though she lost most part of her memories, the memory of his jingling keys were embedded in her mind, and because of that, she was able to regain most of her memory.
Sending great vibes and Ecency votes your way.
That reunion was beautifully done. It felt earned, not rushed.
It definitely was earned... thanks for ewas
Thank you for sharing this beautiful story in The Ink Well, @jennyzee1. Please be sure to use the #fiction tag for fictional stories and the #creativenonfiction tag for nonfiction stories, as we describe at the top of each prompt post. Thank you!
Wow nice story, if not the jingling sound of keys she will find it difficult to remember the man
Yes, it would've been difficult for her