My Inception

"What are you in for?" She said as she plopped onto the couch next to me.

I looked at her and appraised her obvious youth and the bandages on her wrist that covered a deep colored bruise. "Everyone is telling me I am not who I say I am." I was hoping to be cryptic enough to discourage her curiosity but it had the opposite effect.

"Ooo, I love a little intrigue. I am Meredith," She smiled as she twisted her body to me. She was more present than most of the others here in this place. Her face inquired more detail, "So, who do you think you are, or they think you're not?" she answered just as convoluting as the question.

I sighed; her facial expression was clear that she was bored and would not be deterred short of violent shooing. "Why do you care? You are just going to say the same thing they tell me." I replied crossing my legs away from her trying to indicate I was not in the mood to hear how crazy and wrong I am.

"I have schizophrenia." She shared, "I know what it is like to not share the same reality as others. Today is a good day for me; I know the difference so far." She informed me, trying to get me to talk. "I've seen you around, you seem normal," She said appraising me. "You don't talk to yourself; that I know of. You just seem...lonely, so I thought I would come over to say hi when a good day came for me."

I couldn't help but be a little drawn to her now, "Ok then, I went to bed one night a 55 year old woman and woke up a 35 yr old a couple months ago and everyone around me was not who I remember them to be. I was told that the last 20 years of my life didn't happen and that my daughters were not 27 and 29 yrs old. Everyone I know is younger than I remember last seeing them, my brother is bald again and his wife's hair is blond, she dyed it a mahogany shade, pretty brown a couple days before I woke up. She is also not in the same amazing health that she was when I last remember seeing her. Her Kidney started functioning better and her health made a complete turn around and she was finally able to live a normal life.

"The worst part is everyone is telling me that my children are dead. That they died in a car accident 5 months ago, the same car accident that landed me in the hospital and in a coma for 3 months. It is very hard to believe they are telling me the truth."

I watched the girl; maybe my load would make her change her mind and not really care to know my problems. Her face was calculating though, like she was trying to solve a complicated math problem while keeping her focus on me. "And what do you say? Clearly you don't buy that the last 20 years are made up, what happened in those years that make you think everyone is lying to you?" the expression she made was one that understood my predicament. Perhaps she believed me.

I sighed, not to fond to go down this road again, "That's the thing nothing. I remember the accident but it wasn't as bad as they tell me. My daughters were fine, my youngest suffered a broken arm and me a mild concussion, but that was it." I shook my head a little trying to make it focus on and register that I am who I am. "My girls grew up, I aged like everyone else, and I even got a new boyfriend..." I stopped abruptly and tried to focus on his face but nothing came to me, I couldn't even remember his name.

Meredith registered my confusion, "You don't remember him." She stated sadly, her face turned down, "I know what that's like. I am really sorry." I looked over at her; she knew, she understood.

"I gotta go." I told her as I got up quickly, I needed to find him. Whoever he was, I needed know that he was real. His features were mostly faded; I didn't understand why I was so upset about this unknown man I couldn't recall. Clearly I didn't care for him enough to remember him, but the pain in my chest suggested otherwise. He was important to me, to my girls. He was at their weddings' for crying out loud, he was the one to walk them down the aisle. He was important to them.