The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 10

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"It's hard when you miss people. But you know if you miss them, that means you're lucky. It means you had someone special in your life, someone worth missing."

Nikki Schiefelbein

"Hi, Steve," Garfield took a seat in the chair next to the man who was comfortably staring out the window with a blanket on his lap. He wasn't sure if he heard him considering the man didn't reply or chose to ignore him. "I brought someone I'd like you to meet." Garfield turned toward Raven who was standing at the door frame looking unsure of whether she should come in.

Steve instantly turned and asked, "Rita?" When he realized the girl looked nothing like Rita, he appeared disappointed and turned back to the window, deep in thought like he was stuck in his own little world.

"This is Raven." He signaled for her to walk over which she did and handed her the seat. Raven plopped down in front of the man uncomfortably.

Steve ignored them, normal for patients such as him who had completely forgotten a major part of their life due to traumatic circumstances.

"She's..." Garfield appeared to hesitate on how to introduce her, and he was admittedly embarrassed at the puzzled look Raven sent him. "A good friend of mine. And I care about her a lot."

Garfield reached over to place his hand on his adoptive father's shoulder, but Steve flinched at the action and suddenly turned his head in fear as if he hadn't seen them next to him. Garfield instantly pulled his hand back so as to not freak him out. "It's okay. It's me, Gar. Your son," his voice cracked at the last part, and he could see Raven staring at him from the corner of his eye.

Steve stared at him deeply, his eyes wide, and for a moment, Garfield thought he would recognize him. The tinge of hope that had always been there, settling in the back of his head every time he thought about his parents, seemed to grow and grow until it enveloped him whole, and he smiled.

But as quickly as Steve had turned he looked away, not saying a word. He didn't remember. He never did.

Garfield felt like a rope was tugging at his heart, wrapping around it and suffocating it like a noose. A heavy sensation weighed at the back of his throat, and he couldn't speak. Raven stood up next to him and pressed her hand on his shoulder. When he turned to look at her, she was watching him with a comforting gaze and a small smile as if to reassure him she was there. He wasn't alone. Not anymore.

"Rita..." the slightest of whispers came out of Steve, and Garfield turned in an instant. He kneeled down next to him and took his hand. This time, Steven didn't seem to even acknowledge the touch.

"Yes, Rita. She loved you so much, Steve. So much," he told him.

"Rita... Rita... Rita! RITA!" Steve pulled his hand from Garfield's hold and began to slam his palms against the window and bump his head against the glass.

"Steve!" Garfield jerked back in fear just as the nurse ran inside to calm him down.

She started muttering a few soothing words while grabbing both his wrists and pulling him away from the window. She sent Garfield a sympathetic glance before motioning them toward the door as if to say Steve wasn't in the best condition at the moment.

But he never was. Garfield knew that. He listened to the nurse and walked out to the main lobby with Raven by his side. The feeling of tears at the brim of falling was gone, replaced by an irrevocable emptiness inside him, a sort of weightlessness that made him feel like that's what it was like to die.