50. Samantha

                                    

                                          
"Hi, Samantha," a calm voice got my attention. I looked up from the spot on my bedroom floor I had been staring at. Dr. Angela was in my doorway. "I knocked, but I don't know if you heard."
"Sorry," I said. 
"Don't be. Is it okay if I come in?" She asked. I nodded. She came in, closed my bedroom door and came over to where I was laying on my bed. She turned the desk chair around to face me. 
"So," she started. "What's going on, hm?  Brendon said something about you remembering everything from the accident?"
I nodded. 
"Tell me about that. What happened? What was it that caused you to remember everything all at once?  I can see that was pretty devastating. So tell me whatever you can, and let's help you feel better. Okay?"
I sighed, took a deep breath and nodded. 
"I was heading into the cafeteria for lunch, and someone came up to me and hugged me. I didn't see who it was at first," I said. 
"Was that okay? The person just coming up and hugging you? I remember we talked about your assault last January."
"It was fine. I'd been getting hugs all day since it was my first day actually back at school," I said. "It was who it was that was what made it all come back."
"Oh," Dr. Angela said. "And who was that?"
"Ashton Bennington," I said. 
"I don't think you've mentioned him before. Who is Ashton Bennington?"
How do I explain Ashton?
"Well, Ashton was Brandi's boyfriend," I said. 
"Oh," Dr. Angela. 
"She broke up with him the day of the party," I explained. 
"Okay. So, how does Ashton figure into this?"
I closed my eyes, but the images from the accident and before started flashing again, so I opened my eyes.  I sighed. 
"So, Brandi caught Ashton in her pool house with another girl in class. He used to clean their pool sometimes, so he was in and out of their back yard all the time. Brandi was pissed at him. Not only because he cheated, but also in her own pool house.  When she picked me up for Dylan's party, she was mad. That's when I found out about Ashton."
"Okay. So far I'm following you. But I'm not understanding how this relates to the accident."
"At the party, Brandi and I separated for a while. I hung out with some of the girls on the basketball team and some of the guys, too. And a couple of guys in my English class, too," I explained. "You know. My friends."
Dr. Angela nodded.
"Around ten or ten thirty, I think, I started to go looking for Brandi. No. Wait, before that, I was hanging out back with friends just chatting and drinking."
"You were drinking?" Dr. Angela asked. 
"No. Well, not alcohol. I got my own drinks all night and had either water or Diet Pepsi. No alcohol. Uncle Brendon would be pissed," I said. "And while I was outside, Brandi came out and sort of came over to where I was, and I remember that she was kind of stumbling. But she only took an iced tea from the cooler, and she had smoked some weed, but that was earlier. Like, just after we got there."
"Okay," Dr. Angela said. "Then what happened at ten?"
"Then I went looking for Brandi. To see if she was ready to start heading out because I had a curfew and I could not miss that curfew by a minute. I was lucky Uncle Brendon let me go out at all!"