Memento || n.h.

#2- Awkward

(( A.N. I was going to update sooner, but then my internet went out because of the storm, so here it is now.

By the way, Elliot's character model is Ellie Goulding. Although I picture her slightly different than Ellie in several ways, some people have to have a character model so I provided one. ))

"Who are you?" He asked gently.

"What?" I stared back at him blankly for a few seconds before I realized what I was doing.

"Oh, I'm Elliot Pierce. Do you remember us...uhm, me?" I stammered, hoping that his answer would be different from Bella's.

He seemed to pause and actually think it over for a second or two before replying.

"No, I'm afraid not, but I'm Niall Horan. Are you new here?"

"Uhm, well, kinda...yes." I quickly blurted out, clearly fumbling up on the words. I was always getting awkward around people, and that seemed to mess things up for me quite often.

"Oh, that's cool. Where'd you come from?" One of his eyebrows slightly raised as he quizzed me with yet another question.

"America, but I'm from around here." As I said those words, I heard snickers and whispers form in the air around me. Maybe they were there all along and I just hadn't noticed them until now. I wasn't sure why, but I assume it's because I was the New Girl and they thought I didn't have any room to be making myself friendly with Niall. My cheeks burned red with embarrassment and I turned my head slightly to the left, away from them. I tried to fill my head with happy thoughts, but horrible, embarrassing memories began to flood back.

I have hyperthymesia, or "superior autobiographical memory". This means that I can remember an abnormally vast number of my life experiences in extreme detail.

I can tell you the date, time, and what my parents' outfits were on my 6th birthday as I blew out the candles, or the plot of every story I have ever read. This can be a very fun condition to have, especially during school, because you get to make teachers look stupid.

Let's say you're supposed to read all of page 394, and it is going to "take the whole class period to read."

All I have to do is glance at the page, shut the book, and now the image is in my mind, like an image is planted in a camera.

This becomes increasingly fun when the teacher gives you an odd glare and says, "You didn't read all of that!" And you can look them straight in the eye, say "Yes I did," and recite it by memory. The whole class, including the teacher, is gaping at you in awe. It's pretty sweet.

But along with all of the bliss of this talent, it has an Achilles' heel, a deadly fault, just like most seemingly perfect things.

What is it? Well, I can remember horrible memories, too. In perfect detail. People can't just say "It's okay, forget about it," because I can't. Sometimes I even get what the doctors would call "obsessive" and maybe that's because I'm forced to think about everything so much.

There's different sections that deal with different parts of my life:

General Days, Major Events, Bad Memories, and so on. A simple memory like a time I tripped could trigger a memory of another time I had fallen, to other embarrassing moments, but pretty much, eventually most of my thoughts and memories just run together and overlap. This is when it can get confusing, stressful, or just plain annoying. 

This was what was happening right now.

I shook my head and snapped back to reality, turning to look into his eyes. Ugh, they were just so blue. I was sort of jealous of the blue-eyed people. They seemed to allow you to see the ocean and the sky in a different way, a beautiful view it is.

Why did I get stuck with these crappy brown ones?

"America." The word seemed to slide off his tongue and lips carefully, and his eyebrows slightly knitted together as if he was trying especially hard to remember something, maybe something to do with America.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Elliot Pierce." He said with a bright, award-winning smile as he turned around, which left me with nothing to admire but the back of his hair.

That was the last we spoke, and the last I spoke all during the hour.

~ [ time skip ]

All through the day, I could think of nothing but him. Why couldn't he remember me? Maybe he doesn't care about me anymore...maybe it's the same with Bella. Maybe I'm just a nightmare that you want to forget, or a crumb that you sweep off the table and never think about again.

Maybe I was just wrong to think that we had anything at all.  I mean, we were like ten years old the last time we were in the same school, and even then we were pretty distant because of Hanna and her clique.

They tried to act like they were my friends and they slowly separated Niall and I, and then when that upset me along with their other ideas and opinions I didn't agree with, they kicked me to the curb like they were throwing away the trash.

They humiliated me in front of many, told me everyday how ugly I was, made me cry myself to sleep for nights on end, and then...I moved.

We moved to America, and that was that.

Now that I came back here, and I saw him sitting right there in front of me, I felt so overjoyed, it felt so surreal. I thought... I guess I thought we'd hit it off and it would be just like it used to and we'd be friends again. Maybe I'm overreacting. I do tend to obsess over insignificant things.

But it's just, I was so lucky to have him. Along with my hyperthymesia is another con, and that is that because of my over-obsessive disorder and my tendency to zone out and have my thoughts overlap, I'm kind of...socially challenged, to put it lightly. I don't make friends all too easily.

I was literally born awkward.

And now that I have lost that tight friendship we had when we were younger, I don't know if I'll be able to make another friend like that or make any friends at all. I just hope Niall and I clear things up and better things happen tomorrow. Maybe Bella and I will talk some more. Maybe I'll make friends after all, maybe I won't be so weird.

Maybe.

(( A.N. Soo, I really hope you're enjoying it so far! By the way, hyperthymesia is a real but rare condition! What are your opinions on everything so far?

If you are liking this, please share this story with some people. I suppose you don't have to, but it would be much appreciated!

Comment & Vote c:

Love you all,

- Lauren x  ))