Harry Who? Alternate Ending

“Harry who?” She asked and looked over my face carefully, and I felt like I’d been shot. I wanted to hold her in my arms, tell her everything would be okay. I touched her hand and tried to hold it, but she pulled away. I blinked away a few tears and tried to be strong for her, even if she didn’t know who I was.

“One year ago, I came into your bookstore because I was lonely,” I looked into her eyes for some kind of recognition. “You gave me ‘Anne of Green Gables’ to read, except this version had vampires.”

She stared back at me, her eyes wide and tinged with fear. “I don’t know who you are, and I’ve never worked in a book store.”

“Sir, she needs to rest,” the paramedic said, and I leaned back, still staring at Ellie.

We arrived at the hospital a moment later and she was wheeled out of the ambulance. I tried to follow, but they instructed me to go to the waiting room and contact her family.

First, Gemma and mum arrived, and by that evening Scott and her parents had joined us. It seemed like hours before the doctor had any news. No broken bones, but she had, as the paramedic suggested, suffered a severe concussion. She would not be able to see many visitors tonight besides her family, so we went home.

I did not get any sleep, and I was back at the hospital as early as could. Her parents and Scott were in the waiting room sleeping. Scott woke up when I approached him and said it was bad, and her memory did not seem to be improving.

“She asked for Glen,” Scott bit his lip, and it felt like I’d been hit by a truck.

“Her ex-boyfriend?” I stammered, and sat down before I fell over.

“To her, he’s not her ex.” Scott said quietly. “I think she thinks this is that first accident, back in college, where she broke enough bones to sideline her career.”

“But that was-” my voice failed me when I realized how many years were missing from her memory.

“Two and a half years,” Scott finished my sentence. “I’m so sorry.”

“Can I see her,” I croaked, blinking tears from my eyes.

“Are you sure? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I need to see her,” I stood up. I needed to see for myself that my own girlfriend wouldn’t recognize who I was..

“Okay, but I’m coming with you. I don’t know how she’ll react to seeing you,” Scott led me to her room, and the nurse said it was okay to visit, but don’t let her get upset.

The room was dark, and her eyes were closed. I imagined she would open them, and be the Ellie I had known yesterday. She’d smile, and say she missed me, and ask how filming was going.

But she did not. When she opened her eyes, she saw Scott, and eyed me warily. My throat was too tight to speak, so I let Scott do the talking.

“How are you feeling, Ell?” He asked, and she stared back at us with wide eyes.

“My head hurts,” she answered. She sounded the same, a bit tired, but still the same.

“Ellie, do you know who this is?” Scott asked and her eyes moved to me. They looked me over, and it was just like in the ambulance yesterday: nothing.

“Is he a friend of yours?” She asked, and I felt like I’d been hit by a truck again, over and over.

“Kind of, Ell, this is Harry,” Scott explained.

She stared at me blankly again. “Hi.”

I rushed toward her and tried to take her hands in my own. “Love, it’s me, Harry. Please, tell me you at least recognize me.” I wiped a tear off my cheek, and she pulled her hands away from me so I wouldn’t try to hold them again.

“I’m sorry, I don’t,” she answered, and she was starting to look scared. She looked back at Scott for help, so he glanced at me.

I took the hint and moved away from her bed, leaning on the wall near the door. Her eyes kept darting back over to me, and each time it was like a stab in the heart, over and over.

“Ellie, this might be confusing, he’s your boyfriend,” Scott said slowly, and Ellie scrunched up her eyebrows.

“What? No, Glenn and I have been together since freshman year, you know that. Where is he, anyway?” Ellie asked.

“No, Ell, we’ve been out of school for a couple of years now.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” Ellie was getting mad now, and the nurse came back in. I’d seen enough and slipped out the door. I was halfway down the corridor by the time Scott caught up to me.

“I’m sorry, man,” he said, and I wiped my eyes again.

“No, I should be apologizing to you. It’s my fault. She was distracted, looking up at me, when-” I couldn’t say it.

“It’s not your fault, you can’t put this on yourself. The doctors don’t know how permanent the damage is yet, so we just need to be patient.” Scott explained. He looked exhausted, and I doubt he’d slept much last night either.

“Let me know if anything changes, I’m going to go. I can’t be here, around her like that, and I’m probably not much help anyway,” I said, and left the hospital.

I visited her every day until I had to return to LA to finish filming ‘Dunkirk’ and each time she had the same reaction. She didn’t recognize me, beyond having seen me the day before. It was too much, too heartbreaking, to have to see her deny knowing who I was day after day. On my last day before I had to leave, I held nothing back.

She had been polite and apologetic about not knowing who I was, saying ‘sorry’ in that cute Canadian way she does. It was usually so endearing, yet now it was excruciating hearing her treat me like a stranger.

“Ellie,” I got on my knees next to her bed and held her hand in my own. She was hesitant, but let me hold her hand, though didn’t try to hold mine back. Tears streamed down my face, and she looked concerned and worried, yet there was no recognition in her stare. “Ellie, I’m begging you. Please, something...I must still be somewhere in that pretty head of yours.”

She shook her head, and pulled her hand away from mine. “No, I don’t know who you are. I don’t know why you keep coming back.”

As a last ditch effort, I thought I’d trying singing for her. Perhaps that would strike a memory better than me crying by her bedside. “I sang a song for you a couple weeks after we first met, nearly a year ago. Do you know the song ‘Hey There Delilah’?” I asked, and she nodded. That was a good sign, right? “If I had my guitar here I’d play it for you, but I’ll just sing it instead.”

“Hey there Elloise, what’s it like in New York City,
I’m a thousand miles away, but girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do,
Time square can’t shine as bright as you, I swear it’s true,
Hey there Elloise, don’t you worry about the distance, I’m right there,
If you get lonely give this song another listen, close your eyes….”

“Stop.” She cut me off. Her face was pulled tight with frustration or anger, I couldn’t tell, but she was upset.

“You remember?” I leaned forward and foolishly tried to hold her hand again, but she pulled away quickly.

“No, I don’t know why you think I should remember you, just stop!” She yelled, and I took a step back.

“I’m sorry, I just, I love you so much, and I miss you-” Tears streamed down my face, and I heard a nurse coming to check on her.

“I don’t know who you are, and I never want to see you again!” She sat up and threw her pillow at me, her heart monitor beeped and the nurse rushed in, asking me to leave.

“I’m sorry, but you’re upsetting her, she needs to rest,” she said and tried to calm Ellie down.

I left, not looking back toward her room, and tried to stop the waterfall of tears falling down my face. On my way out I bumped into Scott and her parents in the waiting room.

“I can’t, anymore, it’s too much for me,” I wiped my eyes. “If anything changes, you have my number. I’ll have her stuff sent home, since it’s clear she won’t be staying with me anytime soon.”

After a few goodbyes, that was it. I left, and did not ever plan on hearing from them again.

Notes

Sorry it’s so sad! It gets better, I promise! I got this horrible, terrible, wonderful idea and just had to go with it! There will be a couple more chapters, not sure how many, maybe between 3 and 5. Thank you for checking this out! : )