The Concealed Memories of War

Midnight Session

"Tell me, do you ever wake up, uncertain if you are still in a dream?"

Steve woke up, only to find Dr. Markos, his psychiatrist sitting on his chair in his chamber. Through the window, he could see the street lamps lit bright. It was past mid-night, yet somehow he was with his doctor, or at least that was what he believes.

19th July 1967

Raqqah Syria

"How was your day, Steve?"

"Hectic as ever. Saved 2 lives" He walked past Claire, to the kitchen to have some pasta. "Boy am I famished!" In the adjacent room, was his 3 year old daughter, reading her poems earnestly. "Well there, someone got the 'Daddy-coming' signal. Now, it wouldn't be thanks Mommy dear, would it?" Jenny chuckled "No Daddy, Granny told me".

"Ha-ha, glad we have our Guardian looking out for us" His mother was on the balcony, cherishing the glad moments of Peace in the foreign land, especially at times of War.

"Always remember, we get what we deserve, Steve" Claire whispered.

.............................

24th November 1976

Minnesota, USA

"Steve, can you hear me?!"

Doctor Markos voice return back to Steve, and this time, he knew reality was here. "Tell me, what is the last thing that you remember?" "SAW A PART" came the reply. The doctor seemed to note down something in his diary.

"Where is my Family? They were with me in Syria. Where did they go??" the patient cried. Dr.Markos simply replied "Steve, tell me, which Doctor takes his family along with him to a war zone?" This puzzled him indeed. It made complete sense, yet he felt his memory showed him the contrary.

"Tell me all that you remember. I can help you only if you open up. Besides, I got all the time today "said Dr.Markos. And Steve revealed his vision, how his family was and how happy life was back in Syria. The doctor stayed silent, as if in anticipation for something crucial. Yes, he was a doctor, meant to serve him, yet Steve could sense some tension in the room.

"Okay then, we need to collaborate "said the Doctor.

But Steve started to feel dizzy, as if his memory had just unlocked another secret, and it was calling him out louder.

Everything suddenly seemed to be opposite, truth, justice, faith, hope, love, fear, agony... everything made no sense.

........................

"Somebody, help me!"

Dr.Steve opened the door to find a young man, critically wounded at the doorstep of the medical base.

Not giving a second thought, Steve took him into the house, rushed to get his kit. The youth was bleeding out, but Dr.Steve's experienced hands started to mend the wound. "You American?" asked the local. Steve looked into his patients eyes, the fear he had. "Don't worry, you are safe". His eyes showed him more than just his fear; it also reflected Steve, a man in his early thirties, confident and resolute, an unbreakable soul, having absolutely nothing to lose.

An hour later, the young man, was lying down on the sofa, sedation to let the wound heal. In the dormitory above, US soldiers were recovering; the War needed them, sooner than later.

The rest was a hazy vision, but Steve sensed three events clearly... bloodshed, massacre, violence.

"We get what we deserve" said the General.

............................

"Steve, Steve! Can you hear me?"

Dr.Markos drew him back to Minnesota, miles away from his medical base. "Tell me, what is the last thing that you remember?"Asked the Psychiatrist. "PART A SAW" said Steve. "Alrighty" replied the Dr.Markos, marking a tally in his diary.

"Doctor, tell me what's wrong with my past?" cried the patient. "Why am I seeing these things? Why is pain so sharp?"."Tell me, what did you see?" And Steve opened up, explaining everything. Saving a local, feeling pain intense, the dormitory. The doctor nodded his head, comprehending all that he heard.

"We are going to solve this together. This is my theory, pay close attention"Dr.Markos stood up, holding his diary in his hands.

And Steve prepared to witness the ultimate truth.

"You suffer from Psychosis. You are a man who believes in facts, like me, but what happens when facts we know are not what we want to accept?"Dr.Markos left the question hanging, and Steve knew what he meant to say.

"You have a mind that believes in the opposite of everything, to hide the truth. It reverses everything, not only what you believe in..." Dr.Markos shut his diary "...but also the words you keep seeing.... SAW A PART".

Steve thought about it, and then suddenly, everything started to make sense. The mind suddenly seemed to stop fighting his will, and gave in, as if the key opened his locker filled with his past. And the key was...

"WAS A TRAP" Steve revealed.

"Yes, you kept seeing the words SAW,A,PART every time you returned from your visions, so I started to maintain a diary with tally of the order in which you saw it, until recently I started to doubt its significance. You remembered WAS as SAW, TRAP as PART, literally reversing the word.

"Now, this is what really happened. That day, the young man you saved was actually the son of the Taliban leader, who had been badly wounded during the chaos and lost his sense of direction, hoping to find someone. And you saved his life. A doctor's duty is to save a life, not to take one. Yet, the soldiers in the dormitory recognised the youth, and killed him off immediately. Well, the news reached the Taliban leader, and the decided to attack the medical base. You were in shock, the heartless murder. Seeing the approaching attack, the General commanded you to leave the base. You were an excellent doctor, who saved countless lives. Loosing such a doctor would be unfortunate for the army. Yet, you were persistent to stay back."

"Yes "Steve said. Memory returns, slowly but steadily."I lost my family during a shootout in the US. I decided to go to Syria, hoping to die there. And I was losing that chance that day."

"Well, the general punched you hard, making you unconscious. Hoping you would wake up at another base, back to saving lives."Dr.Markos sat down on his chair. "But you did not wake up. You went into a coma. They sent you back to the US.

"Steve, you have been in coma for the last 9 years."

9 years. Steve laughed.

"It has been 4 months since you woke up. You used to get your flashbacks in the night, and they called for a psychiatrist. That is where I came in. In the nights, I used to come in, talk to you, find out what you could remember".

"Yes. We get what we deserve "said Steve, remembering Claire's and the General's final words.

"You are awake."

The End