Amnesia

Already Chester felt out of place. Everyone around him smiled as if it was illegal to frown. Chester stood up in his bed. He looked around this unfamiliar room he was in. “Who?” Chester was scared to say another word. “You’re awake!” The man in front of him yells as he runs over and hugs him. Chester pushed him away.

“Ask before you touch me!” He yells. The people gasp. “I didn’t know it was that bad.” The woman says. Chester looks to his side. There was a doctor, she had a worried expression. “He will be suffering temporary brain damage.” Chester then starts to recognize the room he was in. He was inside a hospital.

He sits up in the hospital bed. “What, happened?” He looks around frantically. The doctor looks him in the eye. “Your frontal lobe was damaged in the accident.” He feels his forehead. It was all patched up.

The doctor shines a light in his eyes. “He’s responsive to light. He’s going to stay here one more night for examination.” The people in front of him stop smiling. What accident?

“If you remember us, please say so.” The woman says. “That’s your family.” She says. Chester shakes his head. “I don’t believe that, they don’t look like me.” They didn’t.

The so-called “father” had dark brown hair. He had bright blue eyes and was wearing a business suit. The mother was blonde with dark brown eyes and long flowing hair. He wore a white wavy dress with flowers on it. The girl had light brown hair with hazel eyes and was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. A boy was a redhead and had bright green eyes. Chester looked at his outfit, the top of the hospital coat was covered in blood.

“I’ll leave you be.” The doctor exits. “Do you remember me? I’m Timothy your father.” The man says. “Well no crap, it’s not that hard to figure out. I may not have memory but I’m not retarded.” Chester crosses his arms.

“Young man, that is no way to speak to your father.” The woman says. “I don’t even know if you’re my family!” Chester yells angrily. You can’t blame him, he woke up with no memory and is being introduced to a family that doesn’t even have registration.

The little girl walks up to his bed. She was maybe eleven. “We don’t care if we have to drag you out of this hospital kicking and screaming. We will make you remember.” Chester looks her dead in the eye. “I don’t care what you say,” Chester says. The family sighs and leaves the room.

The young boy didn’t leave though. He looked up at Chester and frowned. “You used to be my brother. Now you’re my cousin. I’m confused.” The boy looked sad. Chester noticed he had hearing aids on. “You seem like the sanest person out of the whole family.” Chester smiles. The boy smiles too. “Bye!” He leaves.

“How was your visit?” A nurse says walking in. “It was alright,” Chester replies. She monitors his heart-rate monitor. “You will be good to go tomorrow! Keep that in mind.” She smiles happily. Though Chester knew, behind every smile, there was always someone completely different. “So about this accident,” Chester says. “I’m sorry, I was instructed to not speak of the accident.” She then leaves.

Chester sets his head back and closes his eyes. It’s most probable that I was in a coma. Around five days I thought. Now, what accident could put me in a five-day coma? Chester takes a deep breath and stands up. He stumbles back a bit but stays standing. He makes his way towards the door.

He opens it and a blinding light pierces his eyes. He winces and looks around. Doctors rushed the halls with people in need, they spoke clearly and always had clipboards on them. He looked around and instantly knew what he needed to do. He looked around and saw a person being rushed to the ER. Chester stepped back as they rushed by him. They stopped and started to yell: “One, two, three, up!” Chester was fascinated, yet worried.

He had never seen doctors work before, at least not that he can remember. He watched as they took a woman into the ER. “Vicenarian,” Chester whispers. “That’s a big word for a young man like you.” Chester jerks his head around to see a man holding a cup of coffee. He was blonde with light blue eyes. He was wearing a doctor’s outfit. “I guess.” Chester mumbles.

“Shouldn’t you be in your room?” He looks Chester in the eye. “Yes, I was instructed to be in the sun-light.” Chester lies. It was dumb but maybe just dumb enough to fool someone who has a doctor’s degree. “I see, respiratory infection? I would assume due to your wobble when you walk.” He says.

“Yes, I must be in the sun. Vitamin D reduces upper respiratory infections.” Chester then shakes his head. “Not like I would know, I’m only thirteen.” Chester smiles awkwardly. “Thirteen? You look like a fifth-grader!” Chester looks down at his hands. They were small and round. He had assumed he was thirteen due to his vocabulary.

Chester hides his astonishment and smiles. “Right, respiratory systems am I right?” He grins and walks in the other direction.

He notices the height difference, he was maybe five-foot while other doctors were around six feet. He looked at the map of the hospital. He was in the second-floor hallway, near the lounge. He takes a picture in his mind of what it looked like and went up to the window.

The doctor was looking at him, so he had to do it or raise suspicion. He saw the family that claimed him walking towards their car. They sat down but didn’t drive off. Chester, a little frantic, went back to his room.

“No! Help!” Someone screams from the other side of the wall. Chester knew people were scared of doctors, most people were at least. It’s for a good reason too.

You probably can name about two or more people you would put your life in their hands. Would you let a total stranger perform surgery on you? I would assume you said no.

Chester closed his eyes and dozed off. He let his thoughts slip away, and took a deep breath, and went to bed. Hours later, Chester was awoken to a doctor shining a bright light in his face. “Good, now can you tilt your head back?” Chester just woke up but quickly realized he was being examined.

He leaned his head back and the doctor looked at his forehead. He placed his finger in the middle of the closed wound. “Does this hurt?” Chester nodded slowly. “Hm, I guess you will be good to go tomorrow.” He grins and leaves. Chester lets out a sigh of relief until he remembers who he’s leaving with.

He looked out the window and saw all but a few cars were gone. One of them being the family’s car. The moon was just peering over the wall of trees that surrounded the hospital. He watched for a few minutes as the moon rose above the trees. It was a new moon.

He listened to the quiet chatter and footsteps. He got up and started looking around the hospital. He walked around until there was no one but him and the patients outside of the lounge. He put his ear up to the door. “Amnesia? He said he has an upper respiratory inspection.” A familiar voice said.

“He’s one smart kid, but that’s why I’m confused.” The doctor says. “He has no memory of anything but he knows all that?” The doctor groans. Chester takes a deep breath and opens the door. “Amnesia?” Chester puts on his most serious face. “You said it was temporary!” Chester clenches his fists.

“Bayoman! Back to your room!” A doctor yells. “No, I want the truth.” Chester stands tall. “It’s not time to play doctor.” One of the doctors smiled and tilted his head. “Don’t give me that crap. I’m not a six-year-old.” Chester grinds his teeth. One of the doctors stood up and escorted Chester out of the room. “I will find out the truth!” They slam the door. Chester lets out a long sigh.

He then makes his way to his room and then he hears footsteps. He ducks behind a nearby wall. Quiet and soft footsteps echo through the hallway. A voice was humming. He looked on the other side of the wall and he saw a woman walking unsteadily and singing.

“Hey! Be careful you might fall!” Chester stands in front of her. She looks down at him and laughs. “Pathetic child.” Then Chester recognizes that hair. It was the woman! Suddenly she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a knife. He jumps back a bit but doesn’t run.

“You know, the most commonplace for someone to die is at a hospital.” Chester nods slightly. “The most common place for murder is at home.” Chester takes a step back. “Do you know what another word for murder is?” Chester gets ready to run. “Homicide,” Chester replies.

“Yes! Smart boy.” She smiles at him it was his first word. She kneels down to his level. She whispers in her ear: “There is someone outside that has had their car parked for the last three hours. They visited you and I heard screaming. I want you to take this knife and stab me.” Chester shook his head. “No! Why would I do that?” She sighs and explains.

“I heard you have amnesia, a problem with the brain. I want the doctors to think something happened to the cerebellum.” Chester still shook his head.

He took the knife and placed it on the floor next to him. “If I don’t come back in three months, I’m dead.” He looks her dead in the eyes. “What might your name be?” She perks up and rubs the back of her head. “You can call me Seventeen.” She smiles.

“Why Seventeen?” Chester slightly tilts his head. “Long story, and your Chester right?” Chester nods. “Good, now you need to head to sleep.” Chester nods and walks to his room.

He lays in bed and looks out the window. The bright moon is just overhead. He smiled knowing he would see Seventeen even after he left. But then he thought about it. How would he leave? Maybe he would want to stay. But if he didn’t go back to the hospital Seventeen would think he was dead. Chester was so overwhelmed with thoughts he didn’t hear the chatter outside his room.

Suddenly people started crowding around his room so much it was almost impossible to not notice. I say almost because Chester was still thinking. “Move! Everyone move!” A doctor yells.

Chester perks his head up. “I need Chester Bayoman!” A doctor pushes through the crowd. Bayoman? Chester opens the door and several people fall back. They land on their back. Chester didn’t know what to do so he just raised and lowered his shoulders and said “Whoops!” He grabbed hold of the doctor’s hand.

He dragged him out of the crowd and towards an elevator. Chester has never been on an elevator before, or at least he doesn’t think so.

“Your family is here!” The doctor smiles and messes with his coat. “It’s two in the morning!” Chester says. “Yes, they came extra early!” Chester follows the doctor into the main room. “And what were all those people doing?” Chester asks.

“Paparazzi, more headlines for the newspapers.” The doctor replies. Chester walks outside and sees his family waiting by their car. The moon just starting to set. 3wsec “Chester!” The “mom” yells. Chester stands still. He looks through one of the windows and sees Seventeen smiling and giving the thumbs up.

Chester looks back at his mom, dad, sister, brother. Chester sighed and slowly walked towards them. “My sweet boy!” His mom pulls him into an embrace. “We’ll show you around our neighborhood!” His family smiled and brought him into their car.

Chester was expecting them to start acting horrible and evil once the car door shut but they didn’t. This is what Chester was afraid of. Most people would be happy to be in a loving family. Some would be happy to be in a family. But Chester made a promise he might not be able to keep. “So, what was it like at the hospital?” The girl next to him asks.

“Wait, whatever happened to my manners. I’m Kathren, and he’s Jackie.” She smiles. “I’m Chester.” He says. “We know that! Were not retarded!” She laughs. “Kathren!” Mom shouts. “What? Chester is only a year younger and Jackie is deaf!” Chester looked at Jackie. “You act like a six-year-old!” Mom exclaims. “I might be just a year younger but I might develop habits if you keep talking like that.” Kathren crosses her arms.

“You weren’t such a party-pooper before the accident.” Mom turns around and slaps her across the face. Chester flinched. That’s how it was most of the ride. The ride lasted hours. By the time they drove around the whole neighborhood Kathren already had a bruise on her cheek. Dad was trying to calm Mom down but she didn’t listen.

When they pulled into the driveway, Chester’s jaw almost dropped. They lived in a huge house! Around three stories tall and six rooms wide. It was huge! Chester walked through the front door and almost squealed with excitement.

Once you walked in you saw a staircase. If you went to the left you would see the kitchen that went into the living room. Then you would circle around into the dining room. The floor above was just bathrooms, bedrooms, and guest rooms. Chester followed his dad up into his bedroom.

His bedroom was on the second floor. It was painted light blue and bookshelves covered the walls. Chester smiled. It was exactly what he wanted. He looked around and saw a hatch that led to the top floor. It was strange but he didn’t question it, because he already knew what he would do once they left. “See that hatch?” Dad pointed to it.

“That leads to the top floor, don't go up there. Ever.” Chester was now curious. “I won’t, why would I disobey the day I got here?” Chester smiled. His dad gave him a look like: I know you’re thinking about it. Chester smiled reassuringly.

He left and Chester started to hatch his plan. But he stopped. This family was claiming him and taking him in and being kind, and all Chester wanted to do was snoop around and be an annoyance.

Chester sighed and changed. He put on a black sweater and jeans. He was about to open the door when he heard chatter from upstairs. He ignored it and assured the squirrels that they got in. But the louder it got, the more curiosity went on a murdering spree.

That was another way to say: Chester was getting more curious. Finally, he had enough and started up the stairs. He moved his bedside table under the hatch and lowered the ladder. He climbed up and lifted the hatch slightly.

He looked around and plasterboard was everywhere. About three layers of it! Chester looked around and saw his family sitting at a table talking. “We need to do it tonight!” Dad yelled. “We thought wrong, he's extremely intelligent according to the doctors.” Dad bangs his hands on the table.

“They might come to check up on him though!” Kathen said. “You don’t play a role in this.” Mom said. Mom then pushed her chair out and stood up. Chester jumped and closed the hatch quickly but quietly. He got off the ladder and pushed it back up. Chester let out a sigh of relief and sat on his bed. Now he had a harder task at hand.

He had to find out what his family was up to, and if they were even his family. The only type of access he had to the internet was his computer. But he didn’t know the password and assumed his family didn't either. And his phone was probably destroyed in the “accident”.

This case was like trying to guess someone's name just by looking at them. Completely possible but extremely hard. Chester's blood started to boil.

How could they just not tell him about what happened to him? He should know what happened to him! “I need to figure out what is going on with this family,” Chester mumbled to himself. He looked out his window, it was sunrise. “Now, what do I do?” Chester asked himself.

He was asking the wrong question. The question he should have been asking was: What time does school start? “Kathren! Wake Jessie up!” Mom yells from downstairs. “Ten more minutes!” Kathren groans. Chester then jumps up from his bed. He had fallen asleep. “Ten more minutes and you’re grounded!” Mom yells. “Whatever!” Kathren angrily throws her covers off and marches towards Jackie’s room.

She opens the door and gave him a gentle nudge. “Wake up!” She whispers in his ear. Chester scratched his eyes and went downstairs. “Oh, honey you don’t have to go to school.” Mom smiles. “I like school, I don’t remember it but I know I like knowledge so it’s most probable,” Chester says.

“Okay, if you say so.” Mom turns on the stove. “But you might want to cover up the injury. Well, cover up the thing that covers the injury.” Mom struggles to find the word. “Adhesive bandage?” Chester says. “Right!” She laughs to herself as she opens the fridge.

Chester runs upstairs into Jackie’s room. He was messing with his hearing aids. “Hey, you can hear me right?” Chester asks. He nods. “So, you need help with anything, can I assist?” Chester asks. “Nope. Thank you for the offer though.” He smiles. Chester leaves and looks for a backpack. “Hey, do I have a backpack?” Chester asks. “Not anymore!” Dad yells from downstairs.

He hears a mumble, that sort of sounded like: Don’t say that! Chester looks around the house a bit. Then he remembers the top floor. No one was around. He starts slowly climbing the stairs when-- Shink! A sharp object tears into Chester’s flesh.

He holds his mouth in order not to scream. Screaming did no good. Chester thought the only reason people scream was to notify others of their pain. If Chester wanted to scream, he would have. Chester looks at the wound.

There was a hole about half an inch deep. Chester then walked into the bathroom and grabbed a small towel. He wrapped it around his ankle as a tourniquet. He put a sock on and grabbed one of the shoes in the closet. He avoided trying to even set his foot down.

He went into the kitchen sat on the kitchen chair and waited for mom to prepare dinner. She had eggs and bacon on the stove. She had both pans in her hand. Flipping one and oiling the other. He was fascinated by this for some reason. He knew and did a lot of things for no reason.

A few minutes later mom was finished with both bacon and the omlet. She put the food down onto the table and called for Kathen and Jackie. They run downstairs and sit at the table. Chester was smiling even though he was sure he had tetanus. She grabs four plates from the cabinet and sets them on the table. Then swiftfully place the omelet and bacon on the table.

“Eat quickly! The bus is coming in ten minutes.” Dad cautions. Chester almost chokes on his food. “Bus?” Chester says. “Yessir, Mom is an accountant and I'm a lawyer.” He says. “Your jobs start just a few minutes after you leave for school.” Chester nods and starts eating.

The bus holds a total of three students in a seat. Buses are usually packed so he wouldn't have room to do anything but sleep. If he was fortunate enough to get the window seat. Eventually, the bus pulls up.

Kathren, Jackie and Chester all walk outside. The bus had graffiti all over it. Chester gasped. “Oh, our school supports creativity.” Jackie says. Chester gulps and steps a foot onto the bus.