Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 14:38:09 -0800 (PST) From: Jo Jo Subject: Angst Episode 23 "The Memory" Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not write about frank sexual situations, nor do I have any desire to. This is a story about teen love and discovery. Still though, it is a gay work of fiction. If such work offends you or you are not old enough to read in your area, then do not continue reading. Please do not copy and paste onto another website without emailing me first. In most cases I'd be glad to let you post on another site, as long as you ask first! Episode 23 "The Memory" "John...wait a second....you don't wanna do this," "Oh really? And why not?" "You said you aren't crazy....and if you do whatever it is you're about to do, people will think you're crazy. Gino, will think you're crazy." "Like they already do because of you," John replied. "Look, if you let me go, I promise I wont press charges," I bargained. Anything not to have to die tonight. "Too late for that," John replied, covering my mouth with the tape...................... .................Beep.......beep.....beep.........beep.................... I shot up gasping for air. What the.......where was I? "Brandon.....oh my god you're up!" this strange boy spoke. He rushed over to me and tried to kiss me! I smacked him across the head and pushed him off of me. "Ouch! What the hell?" the boy said, rubbing his head while getting up off the ground. I stared at him with apprehension. "It's me.....Adam," he said. I continued to stare at him. Was that name supposed to mean something to me? And where the hell was I anyway?!? "I'll go tell the doctor...that you're ah....that you're up," Adam said, still rubbing his head. Doctor? What was that? I watched as the boy left the room. I looked at the table next to me. There was this sharp thing on it. I grabbed it just in case this "doctor" thing was dangerous. This was all so weird. It was like a strange new land or something. I felt so confused. So- Did I......I was.............almost...killed?........I think. Yeah....or something........ "Oh...oh honey!" This woman, same skin tone as myself, came rushing over towards me. I pushed her back. "Sweetheart, its me...your mother......" I said nothing. I just held up my sharp weapon. "Doctor, whats going on?" my mother asked. "I was afraid of this," the doctor replied. "What?" "Brandon has amnesia," "What? Oh my god!" "Yes....I'll have to run a few more test to see just how extensive the damage is....obviously it's worse than I originally thought........ *********************************************************************** "Any change?" Jade asked. She, Alex, Krystal, and Gino were waiting in the hallway outside of the room where one of their best friends had been in a coma for over a month. Adam ran his fingers through his hair. "Ah,,,,he's up now...." "What!" Alex exclaimed. Gino, who was huddled up in a corner, still distraught, suddenly came to full attention. "Only....there's something wrong....." Adam replied. "What do you mean there's something wrong?" Jade asked. "He.....ah.........doesn't remember me...I think..." Adam strayed. He was still reeling from the whole thing. The coma, the fact that he was up, the fact he'd pushed him away. "We have to go see him," Adam stopped Jade. "His parents are in there with him. They're talking to the doctor." Gino put his hand on his forehead, holding it almost as if he had a headache. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. His best friend. The boy he was in love with, was in a coma. And it was his fault. If he had just listened to Brandon when he'd told him that John was crazy........ "Come on," Jade said. She, Alex, Krystal, Adam, and Gino walked into the hospital room where their best friend had just awoken from his slumber. Jade noticed that Brandon's mother was crying. "Ah.....maybe we should talk outside," Dr. Foster spoke. I watched as the good doctor and my mother and the other man left. Meanwhile however there were a batch of other people in my room, including the guy from earlier. "So amnesia huh........I take it you don't remember me then?" Alex spoke. I said nothing. What was I supposed to say? These people were so new to me. Jade walked carefully over to the side of the bed I was lying in and sat on the edge. "I'm Jade," she started. Jade......she was pretty. "That's Alex," Jade said pointing to Alex who nodded. "And Krystal, Gino, and.....well you met Adam." I looked over in the boys direction. For some reason, he struck a nerve in me. I didn't know why. Gino turned to leave. "I can't do this," he said, quickly exiting the room. "Uh....what's wrong with him?" I asked. Jade sighed. "He blames himself.....for what happened to you." I looked at her. "And...what exactly happened to me?" I asked. Jade looked at Krystal, then Alex and Adam. "It's a really long and complicated story......I don't know if we should get into it- "Please?" Jade looked into my eyes, the sighed deeply. "Well......ah.....Gino had met this guy, John, at driving school," Jade started. Adam shuffled a bit, continuing to stare at the ground. "You and John didn't exactly hit it off, and since you cared about Gino, you were concerned about what he was getting into." I continued to listen. "So you basically checked John out, and you found out....that...uh- "That he was a crazy son of a bitch," Alex picked up "Who was in love with Gino." "Only, none of us would believe you when you tried to tell us," Jade continued. She looked down when she said that. "So....its all of your faults, then?" I spoke bluntly. No one said anything. *********************************************************************** "So, is this amnesia permanent?" my mother asked. "Well," Dr Foster started. "We need to run some more tests before I can say." "But worst case scenario?" Dr. Foster sighed, deciding to be honest. "Early tests' show that between the damage to Brandon's cranium, and the amount of time he spent underwater, he might never remember anything ever again." "What do you mean?" my father asked. "Well there are two types of amnesia really. Basically your son might have a mixture of both, in which case not only would he never remember his memory before the incident, but even if you tried to help him remember, his brain wouldn't retain the information....like constant memory lapses." "Oh god," My mother shrieked, starting to cry. "I'm sorry to be so blunt. I just wanted you to get feel for what might be the case here," Dr. Foster spoke. Gino, who was standing outside by the soda machines, had heard everything. He ran off, fighting back tears. *********************************************************************** "Look, Brandon-" "Actually......I don't wanna be called that," I interrupted Jade. These people SAY that my name is Brandon. But that was who I WAS. Now I wanted to be called- "Austin...call me Austin," I spoke. Jade, Adam, and Alex exchanged glances. "Okay...Austin.......look, I...we, all realize now that we were wrong not to believe you from the beginning," Jade spoke. "Obviously," I spat out. "But, we could never in a million years expect what was going to happen...to happen........" I stared at Jade. "Sure, whatever," I replied. Jade looked down. I stared at the Alex boy. I had this funny feeling welling up inside me. It was strange...but it was almost like.....like I liked him or something. It could have been, after all, he WAS a pretty good looking guy. But then again, Jade and Krystal were pretty good looking girls. And then there was the Adam boy. For some reason I had another feeling towards him as well. Like hate. And I didn't know why. After all, I had no idea who he was. Other than the fact that he liked boys or something because he DID try to kiss me.............. "Hello all," Dr. Foster spoke walking into the room along with my mother and father. "Oh, Mrs. Jameson, is Brandon gonna be alright?" Jade asked. "We'll know for sure when the doctor finishes his tests," Mrs. Jameson replied. The woman came towards me, in which I quickly dodged her. "Brandon...it's me....." "Ah.....he wants to be called Austin," Jade spoke. "Ah, if you could all just wait outside while I ah-" "Right, of course," my mother spoke. "We'll be right outside Bran-Austin," Adam spoke. I didn't really give a shit whether or not HE'D be outside. "Bye Alex," I spoke. Alex smiled. Alex on the other hand.......... Dr. Foster shut the door. "Hey...where's Gino?" Krystal asked. Everyone looked around. "Maybe he's getting a soda or something." Alex responded. "Mom!" Jaime exclaimed. My parents hugged my sister. "I came as soon as I got your message," Jaime spoke "Is it true? Brandon's up?" "Ah, yeah its true...but-" "Well where is he? Can I go see him?" Jaime asked. "The doctors are in there running more test," my father spoke. "What? Well.....why?" Jaime asked. "Ah.........." "He has amnesia," Jade spoke up. My mother put her head on my fathers shoulder and started crying. "Amnesia?" Jaime asked, shocked. *********************************************************************** "What is that thing?" I asked. "It's called a blood pressure synthesizer," Dr. Foster replied "Were going to use it to inject a little Nimodipine into your blood so we can see if it'll help you retain any of your old memories," Dr. Foster replied. Whatever. It didn't matter to me any more. I just wanted to focus on the here and now and forget all about the John guy and whatever else might have been holding me back. "Okay, now Brandon you're going to feel a slight pinch," Dr. Foster spoke, holding my arm. *********************************************************************** "I'm so glad we don't have to see that hospital anymore," Alex spoke "All my clothes were starting to smell like sick people" "That's why you wash them, Alex," Krystal spoke. "Yeah, thats a good one," Alex laughed "Washing my own clothes." I had been out of that 'hospital' for two days now, and form what I heard, all of these people who were my "friends" lived with me now or something? I guess it had something to do with the whole, having to regain my memory or something. Adam looked over at me with concern from an opposite sofa. He couldn't understand the reaction he'd gotten at the hospital from the boy that he'd fallen in love with. He might have had amnesia....but............ "Okay, so what movie will it be today? The Godfather or Charlie's Angels?" Jade asked. "Definitely the angels...sweet, sweet angels," Alex replied, rubbing his hands together. "You just wanna see Cameron Diaz in a bikini," Krystal spoke. "I'm sorry," Alex spoke "I believe I missed the point in your statement." I stared at Alex. "Was that my favorite movie, Alex?" I asked. Alex got up and sat next to me. "Not exactly," he replied "It was more like Latter Days." "Oh, for the hot girls right?" I asked. "More like.....uh," Alex strayed. "Can I talk to you?" Adam asked. Somehow, I'd missed seeing him get up and walk over to me. "I'm kinda talking with Alex here," I replied. "Can it wait?" "Please?" Adam begged. Well damn. If the loser was gonna beg.... "Save me a spot next to you Alex," I replied, getting up and leaving with Adam. "I think Brandon might have a crush on you Alex," Jade spoke. "What? No, he just remembers how good of friends we used to be," Alex replied "That's all." Krystal and Jade exchanged glances. Then the doorbell promptly rang. "Oh, ah, I'll get it," Krystal replied, jumping up. She opened the door. "Gino? Hey," Krystal greeted, letting him in. "Hi.......how's.......how's...." "He's good....well, accept for the whole amnesia thing," Krystal replied, smiling a little. She realized that it was the wrong thing to say, and the wrong way to say it. "Ah...where, where is he?" Gino asked. "He's talking to Adam," Krystal replied. Gino sat down next to Alex. He had been purposely avoiding Brandon all week because he didn't want to face him. It was too painful. But he finally realized that if he was ever going to get Brandon to forgive him, he was going to have to face him sooner or later. And he had opted for sooner. "So we haven't seen your face in a while," Jade said, sitting on a couch opposite Gino. Gino diverted his eyes down to his hands, as if suddenly finding them to be the most interesting things in the world. "Yeah...I've been busy." "Too busy to visit your best friend." "Look I never wanted this to happen!" "None of us did," Jade replied. "But at least we've been here, dealing with it." "And you think I haven't?" Gino had been dealing with things his own way. And that way just so happened to include staying as far away as possible, In his mind, he kept telling himself that he was giving Brandon space. But he realized that wasn't what he was doing at all. He was avoiding him, and now he felt ashamed. "I'm here now," Gino replied, after a long silence. "I wanna make things right." He didn't want to to lose a friendship again. Not like the way it happened, ending with his friend getting amnesia. He was going to make sure that he never made another mistake again as far as being a good friend was concerned. ******************************************************************* "Okay, so you got me alone," I spoke. "What is it?" Adam sighed. This was a little hard for him. He hated the fact that his boyfriend not only didn't remember him, but was showing an extreme amount hostility towards, seemingly, only him. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm really glad that you woke up," Adam started. "Yeah, well thanks," I said. "I'm glad I'm up too." "I know you don't remember.....but, you and I....we were...a couple," Adam continued. "What?" I asked. "Yeah....and I hurt you really bad before the whole John thing and-" "Wait are you sure?" I asked. Adam stared at me. "Yeah...I mean, you and I had a great relationship." Adam replied. I was pretty sure by now that I must have been attracted to guys and not girls. Why else would I feel so funny around Alex and so uncomfortable around Adam? Maybe he and I did date. And something happened. I caught him cheating on me or something. It would explain why I felt like I hated him so much. "It just seems like you...I don't know....hate me or something," Adam spoke. Yeah well he wasn't too far from the truth...... "Hey, let me ask you something, is Alex....seeing anyone?" I asked. Adam was shocked. Did he really just get asked that? "Brandon- "Austin," I corrected him. "Austin, Brandon, whatever..........did you hear a word I just said!" Adam exclaimed. "This must explain why I don't like you," I started "Because your so hard to get along with!" "What?" Gino, Krystal, Jade, and Alex could hear Adam and Brandon shouting. It was then that Gino realized something. Brandon hated Adam. And he had no clue that he'd found out that he was gay. Which meant....that he had the perfect opportunity to get Brandon this time around. "Maybe I should go break that up," Alex spoke. "No, let me," Gino replied. This was this best thing that could have ever happened to him. *********************************************************************** A/N So in my crazy little mind, this would actually be the start of a new season were it to air on t.v (you all know about the chapters being 'episodes' by now), so its a lot shorter and slower than usual, but I promise things will pick back up. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has taken the time to send me the encouraging emails. I love talking with readers and all of you have been really kind and can hold intelligent email conversations, lol. Special shout out goes to Maddy A. Nifty's most prolific female writer! Questions? Comments? Complaints? Email them to crossingboi2004@yahoo.com. I always reply.