The Heir's Little Badass

45: WHAT IN THE NINE REALMS?

Amnesia.

Temporary, partial amnesia.

I slide down the wall next to room 109 and bury my head in my knees, the loud ringing in my ears intensifying.

I honestly don’t know who you are.

My head is throbbing as I try to wrap my mind around what exactly is going on. The doctors said due to trauma from the accident, physical and emotional, and seeing that his head was the biggest casualty, his brain went into shock and other medical terms I can’t pronounce.

Bottom line, he doesn’t remember me. I don’t know how much he forgot or how much he remembers, but he doesn’t remember me.

“Dylan!”

I raise my head up to see Kathleen and Steven rapidly approaching. I sniffle and push myself to my feet, just in time to receive Kathy’s fierce embrace.

“Thank you for being there” she mumbles against me.

I pat her hair softly, not trusting my voice to not break. I glance up at Steven and he sees the look in my eyes and frowns, he makes to say something but I shake my head, cutting him off.

He reaches forward and gently pulls Kathy back, “come on, he’ll be waiting for you”

I don’t have the heart to tell them his situation so I quietly follow behind them, stopping at the door.

Ethan glances up at the new intrusion, our eyes meet first but his fleet over mine like looking past a stranger.

His eyes fall on Kathy and my heart swells when they fill with recognition, at least he remembers her.

“Kathy?” he asks in surprise, “you’re so big now”

She lets out a sob and throws herself unto him, not bothering to be as gentle as I was. His arms wrap around her as she starts talking a mile a minute, only stopping to sniff a little.

I watch as Doctor Hammond pulls Steven to a side of the room and his lips form the exact same words he’d said to me. Temporary, partial amnesia.

Over the next couple of minutes, it becomes clear that Ethan doesn’t remember any of the recent events Kathy brings up, he says the last clear memory he has of her was when she broke her guitar string and almost screamed the whole house down, which was three years ago. The rest, he says, are little blurry flashes.

He remembers Steven from the first time they met when Ethan was ten, he knows who the president is and what school he attends, he knows who Ben Franklin was and how to solve simultaneous equations.

What he doesn't know however, is what grade he's in or how he ended up in the hospital or me.

As quietly as I can, I take my overnight bag and leave the room, the only person noticing being Steven who gives me a sympathetic nod as I quietly close the door.

***

The can of coke in my hand crumples under the pressure and the cool liquid overflows unto my hands but I pay it no mind, watching over and over again as the black SUV slams into Ethan’s Mercedes, I watch as the car topples over, then as a man in black steps out to check that the damage has been done. I watch him drag a half conscious Ethan out of the car, through the windshield, cutting him in the process. He whispers something in his ear and reaches for a large shard of glass. I watch as something catches his attention, he panics and heads for the car before speeding away.

I watch the footage over and over again before tears blur it away. I close my eyes tight, the image burned behind my lids.

Who exactly are you?