Daddy Dearest

Chapter Sixty-Seven

BEN

The hospital room is bathed in the soft, eerie glow of the emergency lights as the word "Meredith" continues to echo in the tense silence. Melody's dark eyes are wide, brimming with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Meredith," I repeat, tasting the word on my tongue. There's a strange sense of familiarity to it, a comfort that soothes the throbbing ache in my head.

Melody runs a hand through her long, dark hair, her gaze distant. "I don't... Umm..." Panic flashed on her face. "Don't think about it too hard. The doctor said you shouldn't overexert yourself. Or your brain." She cleared her throat after saying this.

A pang of disappointment seizes me. I'd hoped that the name, this mysterious link to my past, would offer some answers. But instead, it only deepens the mystery.

"You should ask Auntie Wave," Melody suggests, her voice uncertain.

I nod, although the idea of confronting Waverly with this information leaves me with a hollow feeling of dread. In the little time I've known her, she's already shown herself to be emotional and fragile. The last thing I want to do is hurt her further.

I catch sight of my reflection again. The stranger in the mirror still wears a mask of confusion, his blue eyes clouded with fear. But there's a glimmer of something else now, a spark of hope. The name Meredith, however unfamiliar it may be to Melody, holds a key to my past. And I am determined to unlock it.

With a newfound resolve, I turn to Melody. "Can you get Waverly for me?"

Melody hesitates for a moment, but then gives a small nod. "Okay, Uncle Ben."

As she leaves the room, I find myself alone once again with my thoughts, and the ghost of a woman named Meredith. I hold on to that name like a lifeline, repeating it over and over in my mind. It's a beacon in the fog of my lost memories, a small shred of hope in the desolate landscape of my forgotten past.

The door creaks open, pulling me out of my thoughts. Waverly steps inside, her green eyes wide with concern. "Ben, what's wrong? Melody said you needed to see me."

I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the storm that might follow. "Waverly... do you know a Meredith?"

Waverly's face pales at the question, her eyes filling with a wild terror. "Ben," she whispers, her voice trembling. "Where did you hear that name?"

Before I can answer, the room plunges into darkness once again. A second blackout in the span of an hour, the timing a cruel joke of fate.

As the emergency lights flicker back to life, casting long, ominous shadows on the walls, I realize that the journey to rediscover my past won't be as straightforward as I had hoped.

***

"Soul Mountain," I utter the words, rolling them around my tongue like a curious taste, a distant echo from the past. The sterile room vibrates with the resonance of those words, their presence seemingly larger than life.

"Soul Mountain?" Waverly repeats. "Are you remembering something, Ben? Is that a place..."

Melody's eyes widen, her mouth falling open in a silent gasp. "Soul Mountain... That's not a place, Uncle Ben. It's... It's a book."

"A book?" I question, perplexed. I'd been sure it was a place, a location etched in the craggy landscape of my forgotten memories.

Melody nods, her dark eyes clouded with confusion. "Yes, it's by a Chinese author, Gao Xingjian. It's my mother's favorite book."

A surge of pain throbs at the base of my skull, like a pulse of raw energy. Memories flash before my eyes - words on a page, the feeling of a book in my hand, the laughter of a child, a woman's voice narrating tales of a faraway land - all as ephemeral as a mirage.