Few minutes later outside the room, Luke and the girls stopped the doctor who was walking by. Luke asked him:

“What kind of disease is this?”

“Are you talking about the patient inside?”

“Yes, Henry. What kind of disease is this? He claims that he does not remember anything, but on the other side he knows how to speak, the concept of living in cities and having parents”

“These things are stored in the subconscious. Skills such as speaking, walking and even driving; these are in the subconscious. He remembers all these. What you need to worry about is his identity. He cannot remember anyone including his parents”

“How can he be cured?” Ellison asked.

“If you all can help him remember, remind him about his past, then there is hope”

“That’s not something easy” Luke spoke.

“Well. There are other therapies as well”

“How soon can we, I mean how soon would he be released?”

“Well he needs to stay for one more week at least. His injuries must recover. There has been a lot of internal bleeding”

“Oh God” Ellison uttered.

“Alright thank you” Luke said to the doctor.

The doctor left them walking away.

That day’s evening, I was lying all alone in the room. I jumped out of the bed and walked in the room. I asked myself:

Should I escape from this hospital? But who will guide me further? I don’t know anyone.

I walked towards the door and through the short window on the door, I peeked outside. There was no one outside. I wanted to escape this place, I had to escape, I could not stay here any longer. But there was no way out. Even if I could escape, I had no one to guide me about who I was and where I came from.

Few hours later, I tried something that was as if trying to push a building with a man power of just two or three men. I tried as hard as I could to remember my past. I was digging a hole inside my mind. Trying to remember the last thing I could. It wasn’t quite realistic. It simply wasn’t happening.

How did this happen with me?

Meanwhile outside the hospital’s building, Ellison and Linda were seated on the footpath. They both were having coffee even though it was around midnight. Luke came by their side and said:

“How are we going to execute our plan further?”

“Just forget about it now” Linda answered. “Right now we must think what we should do with Henry”

“You know I’m still confused about his disease. How is this possible? I mean how can someone know how to talk and…”

“…Look we have been through this before” she interrupted him, “it is pointless, absolutely pointless to ponder over these details. Let’s just give ourselves a rest and then focus on what we need to do with him”

“Yeah, well we can’t leave him here and run”

“We don’t have to. We will simply wait for the right moment”

Three Days Later

The three of them were there in my room. I was seated on the bed like a normal person. There were fewer bandages on my head. Linda said to me:

“You know something Henry? I actually envy you. I surprisingly envy this situation of yours”

“How come?” I asked.

“My life has been really painful. I really want to forget some of my darkest memories. I sure there is everyone who wants to delete some of their memories. You are among lucky people. Trust me there are many out there who envy your condition”

I chuckled courteously.

“How are you feeling?” Ellison asked.

“Well I am not feeling the pain that I was feeling initially. But I still cannot remember anything. Although I feel as if I do know a lot, but as far as events of my life are concerned, my head is just empty”

“What are you referring to? I mean what is it that is still in your knowledge?”

“I know that I live in USA. I know that I was studying in some institute”

“What institute?” Luke asked. “Do you remember the name?”

I thought for a while and then spoke:

“No, I don’t”

“What program you were enrolled in? Do you remember that?”

I gave that a thought and still couldn’t remember anything.

“You what Henry?” Linda spoke. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Trust me, you will be fine”

“Yes of course” Ellison added.

Linda continued:

“We will help you recall everything. Your mind needs a therapy or something. But trust me everything will be fine”

“Thank you” I spoke.

After a little pause, I asked them:

“So where do I live?”

“You live in an apartment on rent” Ellison answered. “Your parents are not here. They live in Los Angeles”

“Oh God. I can’t even remember my parents. I didn’t even think about them”

The three of them looked at each other as the situation went awkward.

Let me tell you something that people around me know very well about me. But surprisingly I do not know these. Why? Because my memory has been washed away like stains that are washed from a piece of cloth.

Terrorism has never been a part of my life. I have always been away from activities that are related to it in anyway. Arms and gun sets have never attracted me, in fact these have always repelled me. But why have I been told that I am familiar with this stuff.

Either I am being trapped and misused or losing memory is way different than how I perceive it.

The complications of my disease are quite difficult and way different than usual diseases. People with expertise in medical science can only understand these. To make it brief and comprehendible, I’ll just state that I have no memory about my past, but my skills are still active and knowledge about some concepts of world is still there.

The day I was released from the hospital, I had conversation with Luke while the two of us were seated at the backside seats of his car. His driver was driving the vehicle.

“We’re headed towards your apartment” Luke said to me

I did not pay attention to his words as my attention was in seeing what was outside the car. The city. I was watching the city and to my surprise things seemed new. I asked Luke:

“Shouldn’t my memory get in action as I see stuff? Why isn’t it?”

“You will not recall stuff quite immediately. It will take some time”

I got disappointed and I turned my face back inside the car.

“Some things just have to repair themselves” Luke spoke keeping his hand on my shoulder.

I nodded my head.

“In the meantime” he continued, “just be happy that you have been discharged. You are out of that place, out of that hospital”

I realized that he was trying to cheer me up, so I smiled casually.

“And secondly, you are not alone” he said looking straight at me.

I nodded courteously.

After a long pause, I asked:

“What about my parents? Who are they? Should they know about me?”

“Trust me Henry, you don’t want to add more stress on your mind, do you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked getting curious.

“Just let it go for now” he said. “We’ll sort matters one by one with appropriateness of time”

I wasn’t satisfied with has answer but I also could not disagree with him.

Few minutes later, the two of us stepped out of my car. Luke said to me:

“I’ll walk with you to your house”

“Ok”

“I’ll drop you and then you can manage inside, right?”

“Sure”

We walked towards the building, Luke was leading the way and I was following him. I was looking at everything around and everything seemed new.

We climbed up the staircase and as we finally reached the apartment, he handed over the key to me and asked something new and unexpected:

“Do you know about auto pilot system of an airplane?”

“What?”

“Do you know how the auto pilot system works?”

“No”

“Oh, well I was just testing your memory as I was told that learned skills are not lost in this disease. But apparently the case seems opposite”

I had nothing to say.

“Anyways, I’ll leave now. We’ll meet tomorrow”

As he walked away, I looked at the door of my house. I spoke in my heart:

I’m finally about to discover who I actually am.

As Luke walked away, I looked at the door of my house. I spoke in my heart:

I’m finally about to discover who I actually am.

After inserting the key, I unlocked the door. I entered inside, and without even taking a glance at the room, I locked the door. I was not terrified, but I was preferring privacy for the moment.

Now I turned and finally took a glimpse at my house. Nothing was ringing a bell. It seemed as if I was seeing this place for the very first time. I walked further inside, noting the fact that it was not quite a large apartment.

The kitchen went by my side as I was walking straight. I was headed towards the bedroom, which I was expecting was mine. It was an average sized room. It had one bed, one computer table, a short book rack and two sofas.

No bell is ringing. I uttered.

I walked towards my bed and then sat on it. After a while, I lay completely on it looking up at the energy saver bulbs.

Who am I? I spoke keeping my hands on my chest. Where did I come from? Where am I headed in future? How did I get stuck in all of this? Who can answer my questions?

I was very much depressed. This anxiety had overcome my mind and I was getting really terrified every next second. Scary thoughts were attacking my mind and were not letting me focus on getting answers to my questions.

I sat up immediately so I could change the mode of my thoughts.

I saw the drawers of the computer table as I stood up. My mind was successful in distracting the thoughts based on suspicion, but it gave birth to another thought that was eventually meant to tease me.