A mistaken identity

Chapter 1- The Distance.

"Thank you for coming," her voice cracked.

"Don't thank me yet," Jason paused, and with a heavy sigh continued. "No one is going to be happy that you are out."

"I know" she breathed and grabbed her side.
"Are you in pain?"
"It's nothing."
"What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it. I deserve it."
"Can you tell me what happened that night?"

As she put her head down her eyes welled up with tears. And her mind went to earlier that morning.

"You are dead to me!" She felt her body crumble from a heavy force that shook her whole being and passed out. Then she woke up back in the cell.

She sighed and looked up at her psychologist. "I.. I... was... drunk... "

"Again?"

"Yes."
"Do you know how many times you were in here previously because of that same situation?"

She put her head on the cold table and tried to retrace the past.. How could she not remember.

Tires screeched to a stop.

"You just ate a stop sign." Adam, snorted.

"YOLO!" She yelled out the window.

Adam turned back to see the young guy half dazed, "You better hang on!" He yelled.

There was cheering and laughter.

Then there was a flash. And lights went out.

"Adam! Adam!" She saw his lifeless body on the ground. "Adam, talk to me." She caressed his bleeding forehead. Adam laid there lifeless, his body thrown out the car like a ragdoll. I'm going to call 911, please just stay alive!" She cried. She went to grab her cell in frantic, not remembering where she left it. At last after what seemed like an eternity she found it in the back seat where the other passenger was. "No, No, No!" She screamed.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Um, Um. Ahh... Help us please! It hurts real bad."

"Okay. Can you tell me where you are?"

She looked up and stumbled for a moment. Her head throbbing like crazy.

"Hello, Hello?"

Her knees buckled as she dropped to the floor. Her eyes opened at the sight of Adam still lying there unconcsious. She could hear the woman on the other line, but she couldn't respond. She just laid there, still holding the phone.

"We are sending help. Stay awake and where you are."
Her red hair covered her eyes. She felt so cold. A hand touched her lifeless body. She tried desperately to wake up but she couldn't. She just felt a sharp pain in her left side. Then she passed out again.

"This one is alive!" A paramedic yelled to his team.
"Looks like something punctured her side."
"We need to get her on the ambulance."
Her thoughts raced 'Ambulance? what happened? Why can I not move? what's going on? Why can't anyone hear me?'
"She's lost a lot of blood. Her pulse is very low. If we don't get out of here now she won't make it"
The paramedics carefully hoisted her up on the stretcher and onto the ambulance.
"Hang on girl, it's going to be one hell of a ride."

She could hear mumbling in the distance but couldn't make out the words.
There was so much moving in the ambulance and it felt as though the earth was going to swallow them up alive. Where in god's name were they?

"Hang on!" the driver yelled to the back.
Too late. She fell down with a loud thud
"Ow!" She cried as the piece of metal pierced deeper in her side.
"Miss are you okay? Don't move. We got you!"
"Stop the ambulance!"
The pain was so much she just fell in the paramedic's strong arms.
"We are losing her!"

They rolled into the emergency room with doctors on their heels administrating medication for stabilization shining bright lights into her eyes but this time her mind went blank. There was nothing there. Her body jolted with every bolt of electricity. Until there was no more pulse and silence was all that was heard throughout the room.

The doctor exhaled deeply and was about to call it when she heard a soft beep of a heartbeat. The whole room held their breath as if scared that she might slip again. So they acted quickly to stabilize her and monitor her.

She looked up from the hospital bed and shut her eyes again. The light was so bright it pierced her skull. She moaned as she tried to sit up in bed. And a beeping sound blasted through her ears. Gosh. There was so much commotion she could barely think. Just as soon as she thought she couldn't take it any longer a nurse walked in with a policeman.

"I'm sorry young lady, but this is officer Dalton..."
A confused look crept on her face.
"I'll take it from here." Officer Dalton made his way towards her.
"What's going on?" Her voice quivered.
"You were in a car wreck. And I need to ask you a couple of questions."

Her heart raced and her breath quickened. "Wh- What? No." Well, that explains a lot, she thought. Still, she couldn't comprehend the words coming out of the officer's mouth and on top of that in a car wreck. She finally mustered up the courage to ask the impending question. "What happened?"

The officer, not at all surprised with her response, briefly answered, "That's what I'd like for you to tell me."

Jason sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his neck gently brushing past his sandy blond hair and then moving across and down towards his face. "So what did you tell the officer?"

She remembered how shocked she was and couldn't respond. She dreaded how he walked out of the room and came back to tell her she had been drinking and driving and that she had killed one of the passengers while severely injuring another. All this was too much for her to bear. She felt like she was a dead man walking. Her past was all blurred.

"I couldn't tell him anything, I didn't know what happened."
"Now you know."
"How can I forget," she said.

Flashes of how she got out of the club twirling and dancing. She had never been happier, drink in one hand and the other on Adam's curly locks; she pressed her lips on his and grabbed his keys to drive. "We all know I'm the better driver." Adam stumbled to the back seat of the car, but she motioned him to come to the front. "He can sit in the back," pointing to the younger guy that came with them. They both laughed as they made their way into the car while the rain poured down. She remembered music blasting. And she grabbed her head as she heard the tires screech. "No!" She shook her head trying to erase those haunting thoughts.

"It's okay, it's okay, you can't fight it, you have to let it play through and take its course."
"I can't take it anymore I need to see him, it's been too long."
"You know you can't, it's been too hard for his family. You remember what happened at the hospital. You tried to go see him and Adam's dad shoved you outside the door of his bedroom."
"I have to, he has to know. It's been a year already. He could have asked about me. We always talked."

Jason's face felt hot. There was so much he wanted to say but was not at liberty to disclose personal information. "You just can't" Jason's heart tightened like a fist. Why was he doing this? This is hurting her. But He was paid to do his job, even if it meant keeping her away.

Chapter 2 Happy Birthday

She sighed and looked through the glass. She barely recognized herself. But still, she was afraid to get close to anyone in that room. It was his birthday. And she broke all the rules. She jumped as a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Hey, sorry I didn't mean to startle you."

Her heart stopped, and she felt a chill down her spine. Her body froze and she felt like she couldn't move. Her thoughts raced. She knew that voice. What if he recognizes me? I'm sure everyone told him I am a threat to his existence. She caught a glimpse of him in the reflection of the window.

His black curly hair. His dark blue eyes, his scar above his lip. Her lips parted as she remembered those nights of lingering passionate kisses. A tear fell down her cheeks. Her phone interrupted her thoughts. She answered.

"Where are you?"

Click.

She breathed in deeply.
"Sorry, Jason. I can't do this anymore,"

"What?"

Crap, did I say that out loud? He heard me? She held her breath, and responded, "Sorry, I need some air."
"Let me walk you out." Adam gently touched her shoulder.
It sent her in a daze and she whirled around and their eyes locked. His hand still on her shoulder rested so heavily she felt like she felt immobilized.
"Adam!" A girl jerked her out of her dream. Tina. Not the person she wanted to see and the last person she hoped to be noticed by. So she quickly snuck out the back.

Adam, not at all amused with Tina, just half grinned.

"Who was that girl?"

Adam thought for a moment and realized he didn't know who she was. "I don't know."

The thought startled her. She blinked half frozen and half melting. Tears fell down her face and she put her hand over her mouth to cover her whimpers.

"How can you not know, baby?" Tina smirked. "You had a hand on her and were with her for a couple of minutes".

It's as if a knife pierced her heart. She gasped.

Adam sighed. "I don't know her, but her eyes. I've never seen someone who could look right into my soul."

"Well the party is over, everyone seems to have left. You want a drink?"

"Tina, you know I don't drink."

"You used to. Come on we used to drink all the time."

Adam turned his face towards the glass where he saw her last as if he knew she was still there listening. He couldn't remember much after the accident. He had a hazy memory of his parents but that was it. Something just didn't add up. He couldn't make it out. At the hospital, it was as if he was introduced to a whole new life; as if he started on a blank slate. All of a sudden, he had a girlfriend, a psychologist, and parents that seemed overprotective than usual.

Tina waved her hand in front of Adam's face, "Hey, Earth to Pluto," her voice sang. "How about tonight you and I have our own little party."

Adam's mind trailed off as he was being dragged into the kitchen and up the stairs to his bedroom. Tina took off into the bathroom and came out in a flash dressed in something cute. But it was as if Adam's mind was someplace else.

"Come on Adam, do I need to do all the work?"

Adam looked at her with a fake smile and did the usual with her. He wasn't the romantic type, but he tried to be a good boyfriend. He grabbed Tina and slid his hand down the small of her back, kissing her lightly and gently across her body. Then slowly moving his hand up towards her neck. Peppering her with kisses. Tina gladly received them. Opening her mouth as she closed in on his. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity to him. And he broke away.

"Adam, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine. Just go home."

Tina fussed with Adam until she reluctantly left.

Adam ran down the stairs and opened the glass door where he last saw the mysterious girl. He needed to see her. But she was already gone. His heart raced, and he pounded against the glass. Confusion and anger ate up his mind. Why can't he remember anything?! All his parents told him was that he was in a wreck. He hit his head pretty bad. His memory was erased. That part he got, basically because he couldn't even remember his birthday, he couldn't even remember what he was doing before the accident or who he was with. He closed the glass door and walked over to the couch and closed his eyes and lied down. Those eyes, he thought.

Adam awoke to the sound of the doorbell. He got up sort of groggy and went to open it. Outside there was a tiny package which read "Happy Birthday".

He smiled. This wasn't the first package.

Chapter 3 The package

She breathed a heavy sigh. And looked at her phone. Four missed calls, Four voicemails. She turned it on to listen.
"Hey, it's me, our meeting was 5 hours ago. Where are you-? She skipped to the next message
"You know the deal. You get out and you come see me and we talk, try to get you clean again-" Skip.
Her fingers began to shake as she reached in her pocket for some pain killers. Dang. First an alcoholic, now an addict. But it was the only way she could relieve her pounding headaches.

It's been a month since she has seen Jason. She looked in the mirror, and ran her fingers through her dark black hair then down her freckled face. She put on some lipstick and grabbed a box and started to put things in it. Tears flooded her eyes, questioning whether she should do this or not. The agreement was that she sees Jason for 6 months and she would be clean. Not a threat to society. Should she have stayed and endured the monotonous routine of bringing up the past that she was trying to forget? The fact that she killed one person and injured her boyfriend to the point where he didn't remember who she was?

She rested her head on the table and closed her eyes for a bit again to that frightful moment.

She jerked up from her daydream, to find she was still there heart beating and everything but the pain still lingered in her chest. She sealed up the package and walked out the door.

---

Adam sat down on the floor. Excitement raced through his body. Should he open it now or after he showered? He definitely hated morning sweat, but he just couldn't wait to open the second package.

He opened the box and read the note.

Hey Adam! I hope you liked your first gift.

He smiled. Of course he did. He went to his room with the box and sat on his bed. He opened his desk and pulled out a camera and placed the package in the drawer. It was nice. His hand traced the edges of the camera gently and without realizing it focused the lens and snapped a picture.

He stood up hastily and brought the camera to his face. His eyes were focused, his body in one with the camera and he looked through the lens.

Adam's earth stood still and he could hear the beauty in the laughter of someone's voice. But he couldn't make it out. He zoomed in further into the abyss trying to locate where this was coming from.

"Hey, turn around," Adam smiled.

She giggled and playfully ran away.

"Aww, come on. You are gorgeous!" He chased after her.

"I hate my freckles." She laughed and turned around.

"Gotcha!" Snap.

"Ah Adam! You could have warned me, you were going to take a picture of me! " She whined and let down her wavy hair, and threw herself at Adam. "Did you get my good side?"

"You don't have freckles"

He looked confused and Tina just rolled her eyes.

"Of course I don't silly"

"Why are you here?"

"You said we were going to meet up to eat breakfast." She looked at him up and down. "You aren't dressed or showered".

Adam groaned. How could he forget? "Baby, I forgot. Give me an hour to get ready."

"Fine, but make it snappy. I'm hungry."

She propped herself on the bed and watched him go in the bathroom. And when she heard the shower running, she quickly looked through his things. Okay if I were something suspicious, where would I be? She opened the drawer and noticed a note with the letters O-P-E-N. Aha! She put her hands on the box and just as she was about to open it the doorknob of the bathroom turned and she slammed the drawer real hard. Her heart skipped a beat. And she turned to see Adam wide eyed staring at her and she just as shocked right back at him.

Tina gasped as Adam stood there. Naked. She has never seen him like this before. The most she got out of him was a bare chest. But just as quickly as she saw him, Adam slipped back into the bathroom.

"You don't have to be shy." she giggled.

"That's not funny Tina." Adam responded rather nervous, He shut the door and starting putting his clothes on.

Tina quickly opened the drawer again and her hands slid to the opening of the package. She came to an abrupt stop, when Adam's hands grasped hers as he closed the package and the drawer with a loud thud. Tina turned around with a clearly embarrassed face into Adam's eyes.

"Time to go."

Breakfast was cut abruptly when Adam had to run some errands and dropped Tina off at home. He kissed her lightly on the lips and refused to go inside her house. And he just left.

Tina hurried to the door and closed it. She didn't know what to feel. Yes Adam's parents were really rich and paid her a great salary to keep quiet. She liked the idea of being the girlfriend to one of the son's a Martinez. She dialed Señora Alejandra.

"Hello Tina? What is it?" answered Señora Alejandra in her strong accent.

"Tenemos un problema"

"Que? What is the problem?"

"Un paquete."

There was a long pause

"Mija, pero, give me more details. What is in the package?"

"Cologne."

"Que marca?"

"Armani Code."

"That was his favorite cologne." Alejandra clutched the phone even tighter.

"Y eso no es todo Señora Martinez." Tina paused and deepened her voice. "He has a camera, and when I walked into the room he snapped a picture of me, and said that I don't have freckles."

"This is not good. Go to his house and grab the things, he cannot remember that girl. She is a disgrace and brought dishonor to us all."

"I know, Rh-," she was cut off abruptly by Alejandra.

"We do not say her name, for she has been a curse upon this family.. Upon my late son Mateo." Alejandra said in a stern voice. "She is dead to everyone, and shall have no name in this family. Bring me the camera and the cologne."

Tina hung up the phone and walked out of the house and drove to Adam's home. Noticing that the car wasn't there, she quickly opened the back door of the house and went upstairs to his room. She opened the drawer only to find the cologne missing along with the camera. Tina quickly walked out the door and jumped in her car and drove off.

She quickly called Alejandra.

"Señora Martinez,"

"Yes Tina"

"We have a problem... The package and the camera," she breathed quickly, They are gone."

***

Jason paced himself and tried to relax it has been a month since he has heard from her. He didn't know how long he would have to protect her from the press, from the hospital. Pretty soon he would have to declare her unfit for society due to lack of keeping up with her appointments. Damn, all she needed to do was four days out a month for six months. Why did you have to make me do this? As soon as he was about to make a call, he received a call.

"Hello, Jason, It's Alejandra."

Jason gulped. "What is it?"

"We need to talk"

Jason knew what this meant. And prepared for a long night.

Chapter 4 Regrets

It didn't take long for Jason to understand the tone in her voice. Señora Martinez was not someone to be dealt with. She never dealt a bad hand.

Her voice rang in his head. You promised me Jason. You promised that you would take care of it. At all costs. Jason stumbled to the kitchen. He felt as if someone was grabbing his stomach and squeezing it til he vomited. He groaned and grimaced in pain as he fell to the floor. Eyes closed and slow breathing he remembered that day.

***

"Señora Martinez." He greeted her with a smile.

"Jason." This time there was no smile in return. Only stale, cold eyes that would turn you into stone.

This cannot be good he thought. And his instincts were right.

"My son's girlfriend." she paused. "If you can't kill her, destroy her life. Make her as miserable as possible, make her regret she ever brought laughter into the Martinez residence. Make her pay for what she has done." And oh how she paid. Not only physically, but psychologically as well.

5 months into therapy, he thought he saw a glimpse of hope. She has been doing well keeping up with her appointments. Sure a slip up here and there where she had a drink once or twice or she just couldn't get Andrew out of her head or the accident. Suddenly he just stopped thinking, got up and walked to through his kitchen, onto the living room. Laughter seemed to echo in his house. He was confused yet still tried to reach for it.

There she was in the family room sipping some coffee. and laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You!" and she pointed to a picture of Jason with green hair and all muddy on top of a horse.

He walked nervously and placed the picture down.

"You weren't supposed to see that."

"It was on the coffee table." she playfully poked him in the side.

He leaned over and held her hand. "Rh-" a finger touched his lips.

"That's not my name anymore."

A puzzled look crept on his face. But quickly disappeared when the most beautiful woman with scars he has ever seen let down her dark black hair and parted her lips into a slight smile. The jacket she walked into the door with had somehow slipped from her shoulders and down to her thin waist. She leaned back and closed her eyes as Jason brushed his fingers along her arm and up to her shoulder and stopped at her neck.

"Mmm, why did you stop?"

Jason a bit furious, gently grabbed her neck and started kissing her neck passionately all the while she was resting her tired eyes. Her eyes still closed she turned towards him and grabbed his shoulder and sat on top of him and rested her lips on top of his and he inhaled the sweet aroma of her perfumed and the sweet minty breath as she kissed him intensly on the lips. Their hips rocked back and forth as she intensified the kiss with her tongue and his with his breathing. Both in sync. Both, in love?

Jason jolted from his nap. Sweating from head to toe. He looked at himself in disgust. And surprised he was shirtless. Nonetheless he put a shirt on and quickly cleaned up the mess he had and brushed his hair and washed his face. It was almost time. The doorbell rang and his heart stopped.

"Hey babe! Long time no see!"

The girl that he thought was innocent as a button until she accepted to be the "girlfriend" of the son of Alejandra and Jaime Martinez.

Her short auburn hair freshly washed and smelled like sweet citrus filled the room with its amazing aroma and it made Jason forget just a second what took about his whole night. He took a great deep breath in and slowly let it out.

"Tina."

"Jason." Her voice toyed inside his mind. "Oh how I've missed you."

He turned to face her and looked her dead in the eyes.

"Really?" He raised his hand and curled it to his lips. "Do you really? Cause you haven't been home for the past couple of days. Annnd, everytime you come to see me, which is not everyday, you come home and go to bed."

Tina smiled inside, it was true she hasn't been home the passed few nights. But she just walked to him and put her fingers through his dusty blonde hair.

"Come on baby, I'm not the only one who hasn't been home."

He let out a sigh.

"I've missed you" She was flushed, her body ached for Jason's arms to wrap around her waist and take her into the unknown.

"Did you sleep with him?"

Tina took a step back. Not at all surprised with his answer. "You mean, am I sleeping with him?" she paused.

"Remember this was your idea, you wanted to get out of the hell hole you were in, you weren't a promising psychologist. You just started your career. And no one wanted to offer you a job until the accident."

"Yeah, but how far is too far Tina?" He asked his voice a bit shaky.

"I don't know Jason, You tell me."

***

Rhu woke up startled and taken aback, as if she just had a nightmare. What in the hell was going on? Was she losing her mind? She woke up to grab some pills. She must be spiraling out of reality. She tried opening the bottle but froze as she stared at herself in the mirror. No pain, for the first time in a long time.

Chapter 4

She could only remember bits and pieces of the dream, or was it a dream? It felt so real. She walked down the hallway to the bathroom. What seemed to be a drag almost every morning felt a little light this time. She pulled out her favorite red dress with a slit up her right thigh, the fabric felt smooth to the touch. It's been a long time since she wore the dress, but she felt confident she pulled it off. She finished buttoning up the dress. Ah, last one she exhaled. And popped out of her fresh new apartment.

Her heart skipped a beat as the phone pierced through her ears on her morning walk. She sighed in relief as she saw it was an unknown caller.

***

Adam quickly got dressed and stared out his window from his hotel room. {What was Tina doing in that drawer? Why did she care about the packages?/i} Something was right. And he sensed it. Adam wasn't a man of many things so he just grabbed what he needed and left. Evidence. Evidence of something mysterious going on. He kept having flashbacks of a different life? Or was it dreams? He couldn't make it out. Last night he didn't dream, or have any flashbacks. It was just a foggy abyss. He looked down at the package he received on his birthday. It was a cologne. Armani Code. The other was a camera. It felt weird and at the same time natural to wear the camera around his neck. And well since he was going to head out anyway he decided to put some cologne on. He sprayed some on his clothes and closed his eyes. There was the laughter again. That sweet laughter that kept appearing in his mind, he couldn't make out who it was, except for the time he flashed a photo of a beautiful girl with long dark black hair and freckles. He opened the as he put the cologne back in the box to put in his backpack, a note fell out.

***

There is no sweeter place to be than where the sea meets the tree. Rhu walked some more and sat down under a tree to rest. Those words that were spoken were none other than Adam's. Early into their relationship he took her to an open field where there was tall grass and a path that seemed to lead to nowhere.

"Close your eyes" Adam whispered softly.

"This is a very long walk Adam." Rhu whispered back. And broke into laughter.

Adam looked deeply into her eyes. "Seriously, I mean it."

She wiggled a bit and twirled, "Fine." She pouted, this is what I get for eating salad on my date Her stomach growled.

"Hungry?" Adam patted her stomach. "Don't worry we will eat soon."

"Okay, now close your eyes and no peeking."

And they walked for what seemed like an eternity for her tired feet. But nonetheless, Rhu was excited. No one has ever done anything thoughtful for her like this. They came to a stop and Adam took off the handkerchief from her eyes.

"Open them"

There Rhu stood with her red dress flowing in the wind. The vast array of the beautiful sunset across the splashing waves of the sea and just to her left was a beautiful strong tree with a little basket and a blanket awaiting her arrival. Her lips parted into a sweet smile and tears rolled down her face. This was the happiest she has been in a very long time. She turned to him and held him in her arms and snuggled her face in his broad shoulders.

"There is no sweeter place to be than where the sea meets the tree." And they sat down and ate and rested til the sun hid itself from their view.

***

"Excuse me ma'am." A voice startled her. She looked up, this cannot be good. She knew this guy and she knew who he knew. She felt so good this morning she forgot to put her contacts in her eyes. "You are that girl that killed Señora Martinez younger son right?!" He taunted. "Why are you in the neighborhood? Aren't you supposed to be in jail?" She tried to stand up but David's arms pushed her back to the ground. She felt her back scrape against the tree she was leaning on. "That's nothing compared to what you did to his younger brother. He went to punch her but a hand shoved David's out of the way. "S-sorry officer." David laughed as he backed up with his hands in the air.

"Rhu Sun?"

Rhu lifted her head to a woman in blue uniform.

"Yes." she responded faintly.

"You're under arrest for trespassing on Martinez property."

Rhu knew not to fight it. It would only make the situation worse. She stood up held out her arms in dispair as tears continuously rolled down her cheeks.

***

Jason furiously walks to where Rhu was being held at.

"Why? Rhu? Why?!" He yelled. She jumped. And he pitied her. She looked so heartbroken, torn from the world, the only world she knew. "Rhu all you had to do was one more session with me." He couldn't contain his anger. "One More Rhu!" Again she jumped.