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“Okay,” he treaded carefully. “Allow me to theorize a bit.”
“About what?” she sounded puzzled.
“I believe you saw a girl,” he said calmly. “But I might have a theory why you saw her, but there wasn’t any evidence of her.”
“What?”
Gene pulled into Amanda’s driveway and turned off the engine before turning to her.
“You hit your head, Amanda. I didn’t see any obvious signs of concussion or any other issues, but I could’ve missed something.”
“You think I imagined her?” she said, exasperated.
“I think there’s a possibility your brain created the image or memory to explain the accident.”
“So you agree with the police? I was hallucinating?”
Amanda’s expression made Gene feel like a jerk.
“Not hallucinating, no.” Gene explained, “It’s called confabulation. Sometimes after a head injury, the brain fills in gaps in memory with false information. There must be a reason you swerved the way you did. Maybe it’s a car malfunction, but you don’t know that. Maybe your head created this memory to make sense of what happened.”
“I didn’t make her up, Gene,” Amanda said. “She was in my headlights. I remember her expression. I could see the fear in her eyes. She was running from something.”
“I know this is hard to hear. But I would be remiss in my duty as a doctor if I didn’t consider this. I should’ve pushed you to get a CT to rule out internal injuries.”
Amanda sat straight in her seat, staring out of the windshield in disbelief, and scoffed. “Now, you’re my doctor again?”
“I care about you. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
Amanda pushed her door open, got out, and slammed it shut. Gene followed her, catching up with her on the porch.
“Amanda, please listen.”
“I thought you believed me,” she spat. “You lied to me!”
“I believe you. But we looked, and we didn’t find this girl.”
“So it must be my brain making shit up?”
Amanda pushed past him to get to the door.
“No. But it’s a possibility. I’m not saying that’s what happening now. We need to order more tests to make sure your brain isn’t more injured than I previously thought.”
“My brain is fine. I’ve had no complaint all day.” She unlocked her front door but spun back to him. “How funny you didn’t have any concerns about my brain when you were finger fucking me earlier!”
Gene felt the blow like a punch to the gut. He could metaphorically see the steam shooting out of her ears. He swallowed the guilt as he deserved her anger. She was right. He had no right to touch her that way before he talked to her about this.
“Amanda, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just want to make sure we didn’t miss anything.” He added, “Look, people are talking about you seeing the lady in the blue dress. If you keep insisting you saw this girl, who knows how worse the rumor is gonna get. If you do the CT, and we find nothing, then at least we can be more certain your brain isn’t trying to confuse you.”
“You better go,” Amanda said flatly, completely ignoring his argument.
Her green eyes shone with unshed tears. Disappointment was clear on her face.
“Amanda, please. If you don’t want to listen to me, then at least consult with Dr. Bloom,” Gene pleaded.
“I’m fine, Gene. I didn’t create this girl from thin air. She exists. I know she exists,” Amanda said, poking at his shoulder. “And I’m going to find her whether you or the whole town believe me.”
She stormed inside and closed the door in his face with a slam and the resolute sound of a double bolt.
