Help Me Remember

Chapter 5

He stirred in his sleep from hearing loud beeping that grew louder and annoying every second. Wanting to turn it off, he moved his hands but winced in pain when he felt like something sharp was injected into his skin. He was fully awake by then, wondering where he was after seeing a machine making that loud annoying beeps, and a curtain enclosing him. He wanted to move and get out of there, but it felt like his legs were numb. As the second passed by, he was starting to become annoyed with that beeping that he was about to raised his hand when something besides him mumbled and stirred.

“J... I’m sorry, I didn’t meant to...”

He looked to the side and saw a boy whose head was resting just besides his arm. He mumbled again, muttering the same words that he had just heard. He didn’t know who he was, or why he was even holding his hand as if he was his dear life.

“Ngnn...” He groaned. He wanted to tell him to get off of him, but those were the only words he can get ou.

“J?”

The boy looked up, his eyes bloodshot red, and puffy as tears came running down his face. His eyes then started blinking rapidly, his face turning pale as if he had seen a ghost. He wanted to tell him to step away, but the color on the boy’s face came back and his lips curved into a smile. He didn’t know how to react back, or who he even is.

“J... are you ok?”

He nodded his head, still unable to say anything as he felt his lips were being shut by an unknown force; though he still didn’t know who he was referring to.

“J... why aren’t you talking?” The boy asked him with worry in his voice. The smile on his face disappeared and worry lines, something a kid shouldn’t have, were showing on his face.

He shrugged in response, glad that he can move his shoulders unlike his useless limbs. The boy then stood up and finally let go of his hand. He felt a little relief that the strange boy had gone off, but that feeling was gone when a man dressed in white, with a clipboard in his hand, came walking towards him with the boy coming back to his side. The man licked his fingers before flipping his paper and putting it back down.

“Matsumoto-kun,” the man started, “How are you feeling?”

He just shrugged again, not knowing who they were referring to.

“Hmm... it seems we have to do more check up on you,” the man mumbled before turning his head to the boy besides him, “Ninomiya-kun, if you don’t mind.”

The boy looked up, his eyes huge despite how puffy it is. It looked like he was wanting to stay with him, but he let his head back down before moving away and disappearing behind the sliding white door. After the boy had left, he felt a little bit at ease knowing that the strange boy won’t be holding his hand like a creeper.

“Matsumoto-kun, we’ll have to bring you to the x-ray machines. Can you move?”

He shook his head a little and showed the man that his legs weren’t moving. The man seemed to have understood, and pushed a button somewhere from behind him. The man was waiting for something to happen, and so was he, when a woman in a white dress, with a cap showing a plus symbol came towards them with a wheelchair. When the woman came besides the bed where the strange boy was earlier, she lifted the blankets off of him and his eyes grew wide.

On his legs were a bunch of bandages with a deep color of red tinged into them. They were wrapped around all over some parts of his legs, while the other unbandaged areas were purple or blue. For the first time, he opened his mouth and screamed as loud as he can. What was going on? What happened me? Where am I? Who am I? All these questions came running through his head as the woman tried to calm him down while the man was doing the same. He kept on screaming and screaming, kicking his legs the best he can after seeing how his arms were also the same condition as his legs. He didn’t notice the strange boy rushing in as the nurse took something out of his bedside, and soon, his eyes were starting to droop...

Just like when he woke up, he heard beeping but it was softer this time. He was being moved up and down, and something blinded him even is his eyes were closed. As he went down, he opened his eyes as wide as he can, and saw that he was in a small tube, while being strapped down. Then he remembered the things on his legs and his arms, a woman stabbing him with a sharp needle before he passed out. At the same time the thing moving him went up again, he trashed his legs around, and he was moving his arm to release the straps around him. But it was no use as he went down again, and the same woman and man came running towards him with worry on their faces.

“Matsumoto-kun, you should stay calm!” The woman told him as she tightened the strap around his wrist.

He didn’t listen to her and just kept screaming and kicking his legs to break free. The two of them exchanged glances before once again, he was stabbed by the sharp needle, and his urge of wanting to break free was of no use any longer...

It was morning when he opened his eyes again. There was no one around him, and he was back to where he was the morning he woke up. He thought it was all a dream but the moment he lifted the blanket up, they were still there. Afraid that something bad will happen to him, he started to take the bandages off of his arm and to his horror, they were even worse than having them on. But that didn’t stop him as he continued to take every single bandages off of him. Once they were off, he struggled to get out of bed but he fell down on the floor instead. His arms were of no use as well as his legs while he tried to get up on his feet. Just to make things worse, he heard the door sliding open and then yelling and footsteps coming towards him.

“J!” He heard the boy scream at the same time he felt hands grab his weak and flailing arms, and the other wound around his waist. He was helped up to his feet, but was instead gently thrown on the bed he was on. He tried to get up again, but the impact on falling down made the pain he felt worsen as he struggled.

“J, please stop moving around,” the boy told him in a soothing voice before putting an arm around his bloody arm, “If you want, I can stay here again when you need help...”

He pulled his arm away from the boy and glared at him. He was starting to get in his nerves, acting like he knew who he was, when he didn’t even know who he was. He saw the boy flinched after he did so, and he could see that his eyes were starting to water. Just as he was about to say something, the same man dressed in white came in, his eyes dark from the lack of sleep, and his clipboard in his hand. The boy besides him remained quiet while the man was looking through his papers.

“Matsumoto-kun, do you know where you are? Or how you ended up in that condition?”

He looked down at his bloody and multi-colored leg before looking at the man and shaking his head.

“Then...do you know who you are?”

He shook his head again at the same time he heard the boy besides him gasp. He felt the boy’s hand touch his, but he pulled away in annoyance. The man was about to say something again when a different woman in dull clothes came running in with teary eyes.

“Where is my son?! Where’s my Jun?!” The woman came running towards them, her hands clutching her chest as if she was also in pain.

“Are you Matsumoto-kun’s birth mother?” The man asked her once she came to the end of the bedside. He saw her nod her head before hearing the man sigh.

“I’m sorry, Matsumoto-san, but you’re son lost all his memories...”

The woman’s eyes bulged as big as it can, almost like they were going to come out of her head. The boy besides him gasped again before he heard his breathing become unstable as his.

“Matsumoto-kun will keep forgetting what’s happened to him until he doesn’t even remember a single strand on his hair. He--”

“No!” The woman sobbed, “This can be true...Tell me doctor, is he ever going to get better?”

The man shook his head. “We don’t know when that is going to be. As for now, he has to stay in the hospital to recover and we have to check him up from time to time...”

“But doctor,” the woman wept, “He’s my only son. I won’t let him know that woman his father married as his biological mother...”

“I’m sorry,” the man apologized again before heading to the door, “We’ll just have to wait.”

The woman cried even louder, making it all the worse to hear the beeping at the same time. She slowly made her way to where the man was before and held onto his hand, while the boy besides him did the same.

“I promise,” the woman held her hand to her chest, “I’ll be the best mom than I was before. I promise. Ninomiya-kun, please take care of him also.”

“Y-yeah...” the boy trembled, “J... J is important to me also...”

After the woman nodded her head in agreement, a loud ringing echoed in the room and the woman was soon out of the room leaving them alone. The boy besides him grabbed his hand again, but he pulled away.

“I promise,” the boy whispered, “I’ll help you...”

He didn’t know what he was talking about or the whole situation or who these people were. All he wanted was to sleep to make all this dream go away, and he can wake up the next day without all of these annoyance around him. Ignoring the teary eyed boy, he turned his head to the side and closed his eyes to sleep it all off...