Remember Me

The boy wakes up, gasping for air. He looks around in a frenzied panic.

“Where am I?” he says.

He takes off the blanket that was covering him. He then noticed it was cold, very cold. He gets up and is hit with a wave of dizziness. He looks down and is surprised to see his pajamas are stained with blood. There was blood on the ground too. It was sticky and made the air taste like metal. The boy ran to the corner of the room and threw up. What happened? What, who did this? Then a single thought came to his mind, who am I?

He cried. He sobbed. Tears were cascading down his face till they pooled around his feet. Who am I? Why can’t I remember? Then he noticed it; a simple leather bound notebook. The edges were slightly burnt, and judging by the smell, recently too.

He picks it up and opens it to the first page. It appears to be a journal. The writing was messy, but legible print. The boy read the journal for hours and hours. Each turn of a page brought tears to his eyes.

The journal told a story, a story about Hugo. He never felt loved. He was all smiles, but only on the outside. He had few friends and even less people whom he could trust. To him every day was the same. The only difference was each new day was a day closer to death. Then one day he gave up.

Hugo started to hate people. All he could hear were the negative things his mind would conjure about himself. He would beat himself up both physically and emotionally. He considered himself an outcast. The boy put the journal down. He pitied Hugo, wanted to comfort him. A photo fell out. It showed a handsome young boy, he was laughing with some friends. By the looks of it they were teammates of a baseball team. The boy assumed that this was Hugo. It brought a smile to his face to know that Hugo at least had some good memories. Then a mirror falls out. Out of curiosity, he peers into it and sees Hugo, except he was bloodied from a wound on his head. His hair was a mess, one eye was bruised. Only then did he realize that he was looking at himself. The boy was Hugo.

After sobbing at what he just realized Hugo put the photo and the mirror away. He looked at his scarred shaking hands. What did I do? Why did I do this? He asked himself. Nothing came to mind. His mind was empty. Only one thing was burning in his head. One idea that was clear as day; things have to change.

Despite knowing that he will only find more depressing entries Hugo continued learning more about himself. He had a friend. His name was Grey. He was the only one whom Hugo could trust. Grey was like an older brother to Hugo, at times even a father. He was 15 years older than Hugo, and a lot wiser. Hugo would tell him all about his life. He would paint his life as a tragedy, a sad story. One so sad he thought he would never get out of it, but Grey thought otherwise. He would show Hugo that his life wasn’t all bad. Hugo learned that the light shines brighter in the dark, that there is still hope.

Then things changed. Grey tells Hugo that he has to go. He told Hugo that he’s going to start working abroad. Of course Hugo didn’t want that. He was very against the idea. In the end he agreed. He knew Grey had better opportunities if he started working abroad. As Hugo watched Grey board the plane he remembered their last conversation.

“Remember me,” said Grey.

“How?” Hugo asked.

“Hope” he replied.

Months passed. Hugo followed Grey’s advice. He joined a new sport, football. He started to challenge himself; he would take studies seriously and make new friends. He started to trust people and soon he realized all those negative thoughts about himself were just figments of his imagination.

Hugo put down the journal and wondered to himself. If life was finally changing for the better then why am I here? Where am I exactly? He got up and started to look around the room. For the first time he noticed the room was very bare, almost no decoration other than the tall mirror in the corner. Hugo walked closer to it. It started at the foot of the wall and it went all the way up to the ceiling. It was shattered and bits and pieces were scattered all over the floor. Its frame was simple wood with scratches all over them. With closer inspection Hugo noticed it was just the same phrase over and over again, “Remember me”.

Just then a searing pain pierced his head and Hugo fell to the ground. Images were flashing through his mind: years passing, Grey coming over to visit, Hugo winning his first football game, Hugo and his friends having fun while having lunch. Then finally when everything slowed down and the pain subsided to a slow throb a single memory started to play in his head.

Grey looked sad. Only 27 and his hair was the same color as his name. He was already growing a stubble meaning he’s been too tired to shave. He sees Hugo and his face lights up, but only for a flash. He then asks Hugo how everything was. Hugo then begins to elaborate on how everything’s been changing. Hearing all the good news brought a smile to Grey’s face. After conversing with each other for quite some time Grey lets out a sigh.

“Hugo,” he says.

“Yeah?” Hugo replies.

“I have Dementia.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a sickness of sort. It’s when something happens to the brain and it makes it difficult to remember.”

“Well lucky you, I wish I couldn’t remember some things.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not nice at all.” Grey lets out another sigh. “Hugo, soon I won’t be able to remember how to get home. Soon I won’t be able to remember all these conversations we had. Soon, I won’t be able to remember you. It would be as if you never existed in my life.”

Hugo felt hot tears roll down his face. He remembers. He remembers now. It was horrible. He would visit Grey every day at the hospital. Every day Grey forgot something. They would talk. Every conversation was the same, but each experience was worse than the last. Soon Grey found it difficult to talk and would just hold Hugo’s wrist. All he could manage was, “Hugo, remember me.” Then one day it happened.

As Hugo walked into Grey’s room he noticed Grey’s eyes didn’t light up as they used to. When he asked Grey how everything was he didn’t smile and write down some silly adjective on a piece of paper. Instead all Grey wrote were these three words: Who are you?

Hugo ran. Running was all Hugo wanted to do. Run away from the pain, run away from the sorrow. He couldn’t stand it anymore. When he got home he dashed into his room and quickly locked it. He wanted this no longer. He wanted to forget. Forget that Grey lost his memory; forget the long days of sitting helplessly beside him. Out of frustration he punched the mirror and watched as the shards flew.

The rest of what happened hurt to remember. “How could I do such things to myself?” he said out loud. No, he thought, things must change.

Hugo tried opening the door, but it seemed to be locked from the outside. “What? I don’t remember the lock being outside.” He banged the door. Soon he heard footsteps come closer. The lock clicked and the door slowly opened. Shock hit him. Standing before him was Grey! He quickly rushed into him and gave him a hug.

“Do you remember me?” Hugo asked.

Grey’s eyes lit up and slowly he nodded his head.

“How? When?”

“Slow down, I can explain everything,” he said. As the pair walked away Hugo noticed that Grey looked older than he remembered, but dismissed the idea.

The door closed and it read: Patient: Hugo Bane, Recurrent Amnesia.

Finished 2015