Chapter One

Shawn

There’s nothing like a sunrise and an open road ahead of you to get the bad things out of your mind. Before this morning I’ve never experienced either, since I usually sleep until noon and I just got my driver’s license yesterday. But I had to wake up especially early this morning in order to be out of the house and out of town before seven am, when my dad will wake up from his drunken slumber and realize that his wonderful teenage son has stolen his only motor vehicle. If I happened to be within ten miles of the house when he discovers that, I’d be dead. Then there’d be no more sunrises for me.

I don’t plan on being within ten miles of my house ever again. Right now I’m on my way west… and the only thing this little road trip is lacking is a woman.

Not that I have much experience with women, or girls for that matter. Probably the best kiss of my life was with Sarah Sullivan in kindergarten, which may sound pathetic unless you’ve actually met her. She was hot even back then, before the boob job.

And it’s not entirely my fault that I don’t have much experience either. Like I said, I was only able to get my license yesterday, and it was a hassle to get without parental permission. Most people told me it would be impossible. But I’ve been known to accomplish the impossible before. Anyway, what was I supposed to pick up dates in, a ten speed bike? It’s kinda hard to get any action on a back seat of a two-wheeler.

Wow, I’m thirsty. It’s so friggin’ hot out. Who knew it could get so hot this early in the morning, even if it is July? In fact, the heat must be getting to my head, because that has to be a mirage of the most beautiful girl I have ever seen before in my life lying on the side of the road.

The closer I get to the girl, though, the more real she looks. What the hell is the girl of my dreams doing lying there on the side of an empty back road at 6 am when she should be waiting for me in California? It doesn’t make any sense.

I ease up on the gas a little and my father’s car slows down until it makes a complete stop next to the girl’s slender body. She’s not moving which scares the hell out of me until I notice that her chest is moving up and down as she breathes in and out. It’s a rather nice chest too.

I look at my watch. 6:13 am. Still a good 47 minutes or so before my father starts to track me, and I’m already 50 miles away from him. I can afford to make a quick stop to see what this girl’s deal is.

So I get out of the car and crouch down to begin my inspection. Besides the fact that her long brown hair is a complete mess and her shirt looks kind of ripped, she appears to be sleeping peacefully. And there’s a duffel bag next to her which, when I look inside, almost gives me a heart attack. That’s because there is more cash inside it than I have ever seen in my entire life. Stacks and stacks of it- and no small bills either.

I look at my watch again. 6:14 am. I was wrong, I’m sleeping until noon today after all and this is all a dream. What else could explain the appearance of the beautiful brunette and a bazillion dollars, just lying there for my taking?

That’s when the girl starts stirring. Her eyes open slowly. “Wh-what?” are the words that escape her lips.

“Are you okay?” I ask her. Am I crazy? Of course she is not okay. She is the furthest thing from okay. But I ask her anyway.

In response she narrows her eyes at me. Suddenly her eyes widen and I swear I can see fear in them. I’ve never seen true fear in anyone’s eyes before. “Where am I? Who are you? What happened? And…” She swallows. “Who am I?” she adds softly, in the kind of voice that makes you want to cry. If I were the type to cry, I mean. Which I’m not.

Jeez, this is like a scene out of a soap opera when the main character suddenly wakes up with amnesia. Not that I watch soap operas either.

Okay, like I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been known to pull some pretty impossible shit. And I know that answering this question quickly is very important. Because in the last two seconds, I’ve come up with the perfect beyond perfect idea.

You see, it just so happens that I only have 100 bucks to my name. I know that this won’t get me very far on my way to California. I had planned to save some more before I left on this trip, but something happened last night that made me decide that I had no choice but to leave this morning. I figured at the time that I’d come up with something on the way, and right now getting out was more important than the money issue.

And plus, like I’ve also mentioned, this is the most beautiful girl in the world right here, staring back at me, waiting for an answer.

I cross my fingers and hope to God, if there is one, that this will be one of those cases of amnesia that last for a long, long time. Like that thing I saw on the news once about a girl who had amnesia for 5 years or something. Because if this actually goes the way I plan it, it will be oh-so-worth it.

“It’s me, Shawn,” I say coolly. “Your boyfriend.”

“My…”

“Aw, come on, you really don’t remember? You must have hit your head really hard when you fell. Come on, I’ll help you back into the car.”

All she does is stare at me. Intensely. She has such amazing deep blue eyes. But when I start to help her up, she lets me. I guide her around to the passenger side.

“Wait,” she says suddenly.

I knew this was too good to be true. “Yes?”

“What’s my name?”

I smile back at her. “It’s Sarah,” I tell her, remembering the best kiss of my life. “Sarah Sullivan.”

Sarah

“Sarah Sullivan,” this guy Shawn is telling me, but the name doesn’t seem to ring a bell. But then again, nothing does right now.

“Here, why don’t you sit down? I’m sure you’ll feel better before you know it.”

Since I’m so confused, I’m kind of happy that there’s someone here with me who knows what he’s talking about, so I do what he tells me. And besides I feel too weak to do any fighting or arguing right now. My head is throbbing and all I want to do is be told what’s going on and have everything be fine.

Before I know it he’s sitting in the driver’s seat next to me and starting the car. “Where are we going?”

“To California, remember?” he replies. “We just woke up this morning and decided to go. We’re pretty spur of the moment people like that.”

I’m still feeling really drowsy and all I really want to do is fall asleep. Instead I ask him another question. “Shawn, how did I hit my head?”

He blushes a little. “Well, you see…” He smirks. “Okay, we were kinda fooling around, and I was chasing you around the car, and you jumped up onto the car and in your adorable klutziness, you fell off. And landed right on your head.”

“You don’t seem to be very concerned about my accident at all.”

“That’s because you’re always falling down. But don’t worry, I’m always here to pick you back up.”

“Doesn’t it scare you that I can’t remember a thing about you or myself?” Because it’s scaring the hell out of me.

Shawn shakes his head. “This isn’t the first time you lost your memory. It’s happened before. Twice. But don’t worry, you always seem to recover pretty quickly.”

I nod, but don’t take my eyes off of him. What choice do I have but to believe him? And why shouldn’t I believe him? He sure doesn’t look like a crazy person. In fact he looks kinda like one of those guys that should be on TV or something. Brown hair… blue eyes… tall... cute…

What the hell am I thinking? I’m sitting in here in a car with a guy that I can’t remember and I couldn’t even tell you my middle name if you asked me. Do I even have a middle name?

“Why is my shirt ripped?” I wonder next, fingering the tears by the button holes.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Shawn says, keeping his eyes on the road. “Like I said, we were fooling around.”

“Well, did I pack any other shirts in our suitcase?” I ask, reaching for the zipper of the duffel bag that Shawn has placed on the seat between us.

He pushes my hand away. “No, sweetie,” he says kind of quickly. “Don’t open that. There are no shirts in there. Just money. Remember, we just won the New York Lottery yesterday? That’s why we were able to take this road trip on such short notice. Just grabbed our money and left.”

“We didn’t pack ANY clothes?”

“Why should we when we can do plenty of shopping on the way? Come on, baby, you love shopping. Don’t you remember?”

“No!” I say, my voice coming out louder than I mean it to. “How many times do I have to tell you? I can’t remember a single fucking thing!”

“Shhh,” he says soothingly. “Calm down, please. I promise you, everything will be okay. And I never break my promises.”

Even though it’s really irritating me that this guy isn’t taking me seriously, there’s something about his voice that does calm me down. Something that makes me feel safe. And I realize that if I have to be stuck with anyone during a time of such great confusion, I’m glad it’s him.

I take a deep breath and lean back into my seat. Just relax, I tell myself. It will all come back in time.

But something tells me that even though I can’t recall anything about myself, I bet I’m not a very patient person.