Everyday Amnesia

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Ashton was seven years old. His parents had just gone in the grocery store, leaving him with his little sister Marie, who was four. He had been reading a Spiderman comic when a lady leaned into the window.

She was repulsive. Her nose was abnormally large, her hair a greasy black, and her eyes were small and shiny. Like she was evil. Ashton thought she was very ugly, but he knew it was rude to say so. She saw him and smiled really wide, her teeth stained brown.

"Hi sweetie," She says in a sickenly sugar-sweet tone.

"Hello," Ashton greets as politely as he can. His parents told him to always be polite. But then again, they did say not to speak to strangers.

"I'm your mother's friend, dear. She asked me to check on you. Can you please unlock the doors for me?" Well, if this was his mother's friend, then of course he should.

"Okay!" He unbuckles his seat belt with great difficulty and moves to the front of the car. He looks around, examining each and every button until he finds the right one and presses it. Instantly, the doors are unlocked. He hears a door opening and turns around to see a strange man grabbing Marie from her car seat.

"Hey! Don't touch her!" Ashton attempts to grab her leg but he misses and suddenly the man was gone. He turns back to the woman. She takes a pointy thingy and jabs it in his arm. He cries out and turns to smack her. But she's gone as well. Ashton starts to cry and scream.

His parents came back and when they saw what had happened, they both burst into tears. Ashton's arm was turning a pale blue and it burned like fire. He wanted it to go away. And then there were loud sirens, and a man in a uniform comes to talk to him.

He explains as best as he could whilst sobbing. Then he's going to the hospital, and suddenly, a man in a white uniform is holding a mask over his mouth and he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he asks a woman where he was.

"In the hospital," She replies curtly.

"Why am I here? Who are you? Who am I?" He asks, eyes wide and lip trembling. He was terrified, and he didn't know anything.

"Oh dear," The woman shakes her head and rushes out of the room, leaving Ashton confused and alone. He wants to cry, but he's a big boy he thinks, so he can't cry.

"Your name is Ashton Irwin, and you're seven years old. Do you remember what happened?" A man in white asks him. He shakes his head no. He's scared. He doesn't know who any of these people are.

"Okay. Let's go see your mommy and daddy," The man says gently. Ashton stands up and walks out of the room beside him to see a woman and a man. The man is dressed in a business suit and the woman is wearing a pretty polka-dot dress. They greet him with big hugs and smiles.

"He doesn't remember anything at all," The man tells them. Ashton scowls at him. But see, these people weren't his real parents. His parents had gotten in a lot of trouble for leaving their children in the car, so Ashton was taken away. He was going to live with these nice people instead.

"Oh, he's lovely!" The woman, his mum he supposes, exclaims. She wasn't really looking forward to having a foster child but she thinks she wants to adopt him. She'll talk to somebody about that.

"Hello," Ashton smiles, bowing his head slightly. He offers a wide grin, eyes shining and dimples prominent. It makes her heart melt.

"Hi bud, ready to go home?" His dad, he thinks, says. Since Ashton had lost his memory, they were to pretend they were his real parents. He nods and smiles again. He follows them outside to a car, and Ashton gets a tiny little flashback.

"I thought our car was black, not red!" He says, confused.

"We uh, got a new one," His mum looks uncomfortable. He shrugs and they help him get his seat belt buckled. Then they're off, speeding away from the hospital. Ashton fell asleep instantly, and the man and the woman talked in low voices.

"Daniel, we should adopt him! He's so polite and charming," She gushes.

"We'll see how it goes Hannah," He replies kindly. He's taken quite a liking to this boy as well. He was obviously well-behaved and besides, he hasn't seen his wife this happy in so long. They arrive at their neat, modern home and Daniel scoops up Ashton in his arms, carrying him to his room.

They found out the next day about how Ashton lost his memory every single night. After many therapy sessions and even a visit to a hypnotist's office, they accepted the fact that Ashton had everyday amnesia. They gave him several leather journals, and that was how he remembered things. At the end of the day he would write in his journal (he was surprisingly smart and neat for a seven year old) and the next day would read his entries to remember.

It was a bit harder with school. Sometimes he couldn't remember little things like his homework, or the day's schedule. Luckily his teachers were all kind enough to give him a very detailed schedule. And Ashton was intelligent. He had the mind of a college student and aced every year.

Growing up, Ashton learned about his past. Well, not a lot of it. Just that his parents were gone and Daniel and Hannah were his new parents, having adopted him. He loved them a lot, and they returned his love. Ashton grew to be very handsome and smart. He was charming, kind, responsible, and was always cheerful.

And here he was, in his senior year of high school. Life was perfectly fine. Until one day, everything changed. He wasn't sure how it happened, but it did. And he didn't know what he was going to do about it. Ashton's life was about to change drastically, and he'll just have to wait and see what happens.