Lost Time

Sarah knew she was driving too fast for the condition of the road, but she was late for her appointment. The rain was coming down fiercely and the water was covering the road in places. The turn coming up was sharp but instead of slowing down, Sarah tried to take it at high speed. Her car hydroplaned across the road to the other side and into a deep ditch. The car's airbags failed to deploy and Sarah hit her head forcefully against the top of the door. Everything went dark.

**********

Sarah sat on her sofa wondering why she couldn't remember how she got home after the car accident. She remembered losing control of the car, but the next thing she knew she was sitting on her sofa sipping a cup of coffee. She took another sip of coffee.

I'll ask Jim what happened when he gets home, she thought.

Hungry she got up and walked to the kitchen to make a snack. Popcorn sounded good. She took a packet out of the cupboard, put it in the microwave, and set the timer. She poured another cup of coffee from the coffee maker. Odd she didn't remember making coffee.

She heard Jim, her husband, calling her from upstairs. She climbed the stairs wondering how she missed him returning home.

Their apartment had a bedroom and a bathroom upstairs. A hallway separated the two rooms.

She heard it again. Jim was calling her name from behind the bedroom door. She grasped the doorknob and twisted.

The door swung open forcefully to an abyss, dark as midnight. The emptiness tried to suck her in with strong winds like a hurricane. Her long dark hair whipped about her face. In the darkness, she could still hear Jim calling her name. She pulled with all her might and closed the door.

Terrified, she wondered what was going on. How was her bedroom suddenly a dark abyss?

A baby's cries echoed from downstairs. She hurried down the stairs wondering where a baby had come from. She looked around but couldn't tell where the cries of the baby came from. The cries stopped.

The microwave beeped. Her popcorn was done. Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore.

The sound of people whispering suddenly surrounded her. She strained to hear what was being said, but she couldn't make it out. Suddenly from nowhere, a face appeared in front of her. It had large bulging eyes and folds of skin where its mouth should have been. She tried to scream but nothing would come out. She tried again. At first, her voice sounded as if it were miles away then it started getting louder and louder. Then she was awake.

"Ah, you're awake," said the doctor who was bent over looking at her.

Sarah looked around and realized she was in a hospital.

"Where's Jim?" Her throat was dry and her voice was hoarse.

"Go fetch her husband," the doctor said to the nurse.

"He's been here every day faithfully," he said looking at Sarah.

Soon Jim came in with a little girl in tow. Sarah was confused, who was this little girl?

"Sarah!" Jim said rushing to her side. He grabbed her hand and kissed it, then kissed her mouth.

"Mommy, you're awake! Finally, we get to say hi to each other!" the little girl shouted with glee.

Sarah looked at Jim. "Mommy? How?"

"You've been asleep a long time mommy," the little girl said.

Sarah looked at Jim. Remembering the appointment she was rushing to before the accident, she asked, "I was pregnant?"

Jim nodded.

She looked at the little girl. "Sweety, what's your name?"

"Anna."

"How old are you?"

"I'm six mommy. You missed a lot of my birthdays."

Tears started running down Sarah's face.

"It's okay mommy," Anna said then gave Sarah a hug. "You won't have to miss anymore." Anna gave Sarah a big smile.

Sarah sobbed as she held tightly onto Anna. "I won't. I promise I won't."