Not Him

Part 3

"What all do you don't remember?" Mother asked me in a concerned voice. Aarohi had told her about my memory loss when I had failed to tell the parents about that.

"Hm..." I said. "Well..."

"Aunty," Aarohi said, "How can he answer that question? If he doesn't remember it he won't know that he doesn't remember it."

Yeah. But I don't want them to panic over that.

"It's okay. I guess I will eventually remember." I said.

"Is it amnesia?" Mother asked worriedly.

"As in movies..." Aarohi laughed. "No. He remembers most of the things, don't you?" She turned to me, "I mean you remembered the accident."

Yeah. The only time when Rahul Bhatt and I were together in one place.

"Yeah," I replied.

"See," Arohi said.

"Still there are things he does not remember." Mother said.

"Yes," it is safer to admit.

"Well..." Other Rahul's mom said getting up, "There are things in life that are best if we forget them. There is no use in remembering a painful past. You can start fresh." She turned to me with a beaming smile.

I expected her to be freaked out about that. But she was taking it better than I had imagined.

"And you should start going back to college, dear. You have missed too many classes."

College... Well, that is a whole other issue.

I can't go back to other Rahul's college. I don't know his studies. I will score zero in exams. Moreover, I won't even know the name of his friends or classmates. Amnesia seemed like a cool excuse then.

But I realized that I needed help. I can't deal with it alone.

I went back to my room and started thinking. What can I do about it? I heard a knock on the door.

"Please come in," I said. The door opened. Aarohi stood there. She walked in and closed the door and came to me.

"Okay, spill it." She said crossing her arms.

"Spill what?"

"Spill what is going on." She said. "Something is not right. I know that. I can feel that. Something is not right with you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to find a way out.

"What happened to you?" She asked. "Everything is different about you. Aunty just reckons it's because of the accident. But I think not. Something is fishy. Even amnesia does not explain this. Even the look in your eyes is different. Your attitude is different. The way you speak, even your body language is different. It's like someone else is inside you. A stranger."

I looked down. And stayed silent. After a moment Aarohi spoke again,

"I know that this does not make sense." She was speaking with caution, "But it feels like you are not you. That you are someone else. I know Rahul's eyes. This is not Rahul's eyes."

I looked at her.

"It's like staring at someone else. Like someone else is in there." She said.

"You are right," I said. Her eyes went wide. "I am not Rahul," I said. "At least not your Rahul."

She blinked at me.

"I don't know how I ended up here," I continued. I was not sure if she would believe me, but I was going to tell her anyway. "All I know is that I got into an accident. And when I woke up, I was in someone else's body. The other boy's body who got in the accident with me. Our souls got switched or something, I am not sure. Because I don't know where your Rahul is. If he is in my body or roaming around somewhere else or dead. I don't know. But I am not Rahul. Not Rahul Bhatt. I am Rahul Sharma. The one whose body lies in ICU."