Chapter 3

Shane entered the apartment he rented five days ago, two hours after his visit to Sam. He walked in to the big empty kitchen looking for something to eat, but then he remembered that he was supposed to go buy some groceries.

"Damn it!" He shouted angrily.

He forgot about everything the second he saw Sam again. When one of his old friends called him two weeks ago telling him that he saw this woman in a café that looked so much like Sam. He took his car and drove about six hours from San Francisco to L.A just to know if it really was her. Shane wouldn't have cared but when his friend said he heard her friend call her Thia, he knew it must be her. He was the only one that knew she hated her name and that she asked him to call her Thia. When Shane asked her why the name Thia she answered him saying that it was the name of a young woman in her favorite book.

Shane closed his eyes and threw his head back remembering those days when they were happily in love, when they first met, when he first told her he loved her, when he proposed, and even when they stood next to each other in church vowing to always love each other.

"Love? She didn't mean those words that day. She would have never left if she really meant them," He thought sadly "I have to remember one thing; she left me without saying a word. I'm only here so I can get a divorce and move on with my life" Shane was trying to convince himself he was only here so he can get a divorce. But he couldn't get her picture out of his mind.

"Okay I'm a liar. I came because I wanted to know why she left me. For god's sake why?" Shane felt like he was going to lose his mind trying to find one good reason, one thing that had drove away. But for two years he'd asked himself the same question over and over without finding one good reason. Sometimes he said she might have been in love with another guy, but then he would take this thought out of his mind saying that she was an honest person and that she would have told him the truth.

Something happened that day after the wedding. Something he hadn't been able, until this moment know what it was. And it seemed he would never know as the only one who knew why was Sam and right now Sam is not the old Sam "oh that doesn't make any sense" Sam's memory is gone and he'll have to deal with that.

"Gone? I need to know what really happened. Was she telling the truth when she said she had an accident?" Shane asked himself.

After she'd told him about her accident he left quickly without saying one word. He heard her call his name but he wanted out of the place fast. But he turned around before shutting the door and asked her.

"What hospital?"

She told him the name of the hospital and he left right after that.

Shane looked around the empty kitchen "I have to go to the hospital and ask" he grabbed his keys and left the apartment.

"Hello would you please tell me where to ask about an accident that happened two years ago." Shane asked one of the nurses that were standing in the entrance of the hospital.

One of the nurses that were looking the other way turned to look at him when he asked his question.

"Shit" He cursed in a low voice.

"You again!" Said Thia's friend, moving to stand right in front of him.

"Hi you're Sa- Thia's friend." He said wishing she wouldn't be bitchy to him like the other day out side the club. He hoped she would help him.

"Yes I am and I'm a nurse here, what do you want?" she asked rudely.

"Can I speak to you alone?" He said and quickly continued as he saw signs of refusal started to show "please, I really need to talk to you."

Ann hesitated for a moment then turned to the other nurse she was talking to before, and said something then looked back at him and said "Come on let's go to the cafeteria" she walked past him and he could see how much she didn't like him.

Shane followed Ann looking around him, wondering if that's how the two of them met. Was Ann a nurse here when Thia had her accident?

"So you were working in this hospital when Thia was moved here?" It was more like a statement than an answer. And he already knew the answer to that question.

She looked at him for a while without answering "Why do you want to know?" she asked and it seemed Annie as he read her name on the name tag she was wearing, it seemed she didn't like him at all.

"Look Annie,"

"Ann, I don't like people calling me Annie." She said a little bit aggressively and it made him wonder why. They sat down at one of the tables in the corner of the room. It seemed Ann didn't want anyone listening to what they were about to say.

"Ann look..." He took a deep breath then said "My name is Shane Wilson and..."

"I know your name. Just tell me, what do you want from Thia?"

"Look Ann you may be her friend..."

"Best friend!" she corrected.

GOD she is a... Shane tried to calm down "Fine, you may be her best friend and I'm sure you care about her but there's something you need to know. I'm Thia's husband." He really found it hard referring to himself as Thia's husband.

"You are what?" She asked in astonishment.

"Thia is my wife. Well sort of my wife..." He didn't know how to explain it.

"You're lying. How can she be your wife when she's a virgin?" Ann said leaning across the table, smiling at him as if to tell him "I caught you"

"Well I know that," Shane said wondering if she still was "We went out for almost a year and a half before I proposed and she wanted to stay a virgin till we get married"

"Well how do I know you are not lying?" She asked suspiciously.

"Didn't you find a ring on her finger after the accident?" Shane asked not knowing how to prove this.

"No we didn't find a ring and..."

"Wait" Shane stopped her "How did YOU know she is still a virgin?"

Ann looked at him and a sad expression covered her face, she shrugged her shoulders and slowly said "I don't know why I'm telling you this but if you're really Thia's husband then I have to tell you something Thia herself doesn't know or doesn't remember."

"What is it?"

"When Thia was found on the road 24 hours after she was hit by a car," she stopped and looked at her hands "she was found almost naked and it seemed that the one who hit her tried to rape her first but due to what seemed like her strong resistance he couldn't. So after he tore off most of her clothes he hit her on the back of her head with a stone and left her on the ground thinking she was dead already then he ran away quickly"

Shane felt hot tears burn his eyes but tried as much as he could to control himself. He tried to speak but his voice didn't come out. He cleared his throat and tried to speak again "Did they find out who did it?" He asked slowly.

"No they didn't. Thia never knew the truth. When she woke up we were supposed to tell her the truth but then the doctors thought it would be a terrible shock to her so they asked me to tell her after a while. But then I couldn't, I couldn't tell her the truth. She still thinks that she was hit by a car."

"They didn't find him! How can that happen? They were supposed to find him." That's all he could think about. The guy who did that to Thia is still out there.

"You blame them for not catching him, where have you been all that time?"

"Back home in San Francisco"

"And it took you two years to come look for her?"