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“Moain

I climb over bricks that used to be walls and stumble on what is left of my bed

I pull myself up onto my hands and knees and peer over what seee

And then the earth quakes again

It rumbles, low and loud, and I hear several pops and cracks from beneath me

I don’t know if it is a strong aftershock or another earthquake, but I hear Gavin yell and feel soht before there is a sharp pain in ht

And then there is nothing at all

Chapter Six

So me

This is ht because it takes me a moment to place what it is

So me

And then I realize that it’s er

It’s

I try to open my eyes, but lued closed I try again and then again, and finally, finally, they open

Slowly

And the light hurts my eyes

I can’t focus

Everything looks like blurry shapes and fuzzy outlines and I blink, trying to clear things up It doesn’t help I blink again and it is so incredibly, frustratingly hard My eyes don’t want to cooperate After a few htly clearer focus, but it’s not perfect

But it’s enough to see a figure sitting in a chair by the

It’s a woman

Her head is bowed and I think she is asleep

I have no idea where I am

“Mia!”

She wasn’t asleep The figure jues to my side Her face is anxious, frantic, hopeful I stare at her in confusion

Because I don’t know her

And then I realize so else

I don’t know me

Alar me to panic

“Who are you?” I ask her wildly “Where am I?”

This can’t be happening because I don’t knoho I a to burst

HolyHell

HolyHell

HolyHell

I grab her hand and look into her eyes They are green and startled and instantly concerned

“Who are you?” I beg her

A tear drops from the corner of her eye

“I’m your mother,” she answers uncertainly and she reaches for the call button She presses it, but then runs for the door, calling for a nurse And then she stops at a sofa on the way back to my bed, and she shakes someone’s shoulder

And I realize that so there A man And I didn’t even see him before I wipe at oop I wipe at theain and my vision clears a little

The man approaches me with my mother, the mother that I don’t remember and don’t know, and he looks concerned He’s tall and dark and has silver at his temples

And I don’t know him, either

“Mia,” he begins “Do you knoho you are? Do you remember what happened?”

I’ their wings against et out too

“No,” I answer uncertainly “Who are you?”

“I’e man answers calh the door When she sees that I a oop away and now I can see

Mythe nurse that I don’t know her

And the nurse looks at me

“Do you knoho you are?” she asks gently

I shake my head and my mother cries harder

“Do you re that happened?” the nurse asks

I shake ain

“It’s alright,” she tells ht”

Will it?

Becausenext to me and I don’t seem to remember them And I don’t remember me, either

And I don’t see how in the world that can be alright

I’ very, very panicky

A doctor comes in a few minutes later He pokes and prods at me, too, in all the same places as the nurse

He looks into my eyes and listens to my heart and nods

“I hear that you don’t remember very much,” he tells me I nod