The Gift Of Time

by Allan Alexander

of things. Then he asked the woman to step out with him. I could hear them talk. The cop was asking the woman if this had ever happened before. The woman said no he was fine till last night, I went out early in the morning and I thought he left for work but he came back this way.. I walked out and asked the cop what’s going on and why was he not asking the woman where my family is. The cop turned to me and said Josh don’t worry everything will be alright we have called the paramedics. I looked at him and said do you not believe what I am telling you I just gave you my ID and you are calling me Josh, my name is John. The cop handed over the ID to me and asked me to have a look. The picture on the ID was mine but the name was not, it said Josh Brooks. I dropped the ID and said this is all a lie and I can prove it I ran towards the neighbor’s house calling him out. Rick came out, I looked at him and said god I am happy to see a known face, please tell these cops who I am and who all I have in my family. One of the cops asked Jeff do you know this man. Jeff replied; yes I know him, his name is Josh Brooks and he and his girlfriend Cathy live next door.

  When I heard this I lost it I caught Jeff by his collar and asked him why he was lying, both the cops caught me and pulled me away. I kept screaming why are you lying, why are you lying, where is my family. Suddenly I felt a prick on my shoulder; I turned and saw this paramedic had injected me with something. Before I knew it I got dizzy and dosed off.

  The cops and Jeff got me to my bed. The paramedic spoke to Cathy, he asked her if anything like this had happened before. She explained that this was the first time she saw anything like this happening. The paramedic then said that this could be a one-off episode due to stress sometimes we lose track of reality and Josh should be fine when he wakes up. If he is not we will take him in for a few tests and then the paramedic left. I slept like a log while Cathy and Jeff stayed up in the hall room and the cops were outside in their car. Cathy called up someone from the land line and said dad can you come over its urgent. The voice on the other end said is everything alright, where is Josh. Cathy said he is here, please come over its urgent. The voice said I will be there within an hour and hung up.

  I started to hear voices as I was coming around. When I opened my eyes I saw Jeff sitting on a chair next to the bed and as he realized that I was awake he called out to Cathy. I sat up and asked please tell me what is happening, where is Abby, where is Carol. Cathy came in and said see who has come, this old man walked in, I could not believe my eyes as it was my father. He said, sunny boy, how are you? I looked at him and did not know how to respond as I saw my father standing in front of me knowing that I had buried him over a year ago. He again said sunny boy are you ok or shall we get a doctor. I said; how are you alive, I buried you, this is not possible, you died, what is happening to me. He came to me and said don’t worry everything will be alright this is just all in your head don’t worry you will be fine soon. As I dozed off again I could hear my dad tell Cathy, let’s take him to the hospital it’s for the best.

  Next, I woke up in a hospital bed, my head hurt like I had a hangover. I was not sure what had happened. Just then the doctor walked in and asked me how I was feeling. I told him about the headache I had, and asked about my family, about Carol and Abby. The doctor said that that the headache was because of a drug they found in my blood stream. He even said that because of the drug I was hallucinating and may have formed false memories. I asked him what he means by false memories, he said one second and he called in my father. My father stood by the bed, while the doctor asked me do you know who this man is. I said Dad, but it can’t be him he died a year back. The doctor said and yet he is standing here in front of you; if he was dead how this could be possible. Your mind is playing tricks on you. You have digested a strong hallucination drug which has reacted badly with you. But don’t worry all these false memories will go away in a couple of days and you will be back to normal. This was when I thought maybe they were right, maybe I was hallucinating. My dad came and sat next to me he asked me how I was feeling I did not know what to say, Carol, Abby it all felt so real. My dad said get well soon next week you and Cathy are supposed to go fishing with me now don’t forget that. I looked at him as I remembered that I used to go finishing with him but Carol used to be with us. I told him I wanted to rest. He said ok sunny boy you rest it out, Cathy and I will be waiting outside.

  As I lay there I tried hard to remember Cathy, but all I could think of was Carol and Abby. Later that evening, Cathy came in to meet me. She asked me if I remembered her, I didn’t know how to say yes or no so I just said that I only remember fragments and nothing is clear yet. She said not to worry she will stand by me and in a few days, everything will be fine. Next morning we went back to the house. Dad left for his place and Jeff also went home. Now it was only Cathy and me in the house, everywhere I saw it reminded me of Carol and Abby. I went through all the pictures in the house and I couldn’t find any with them in it. Most of the photos were of me and Cathy. My eyes caught the table clock sitting on the table next to the bed. I asked Cathy from where we got this, because what I remembered was that Carol gave this to me as my birthday gift. She said that I bought this back from one of my trips to the south. I asked her what she meant by one of my trips. She told me that I work as a photographer for a magazine and that I travel quite a bit for my shoots. I remembered that as a kid wanted to be a photographer but I moved towards the cooperate sector for a more stable career. By now I knew that she was not lying but I was also not able to accept whatever was happening. Days went by, everyday Cathy trying to remind me of the things we did. I could not remember any of that all I remembered was the time I spent with Carol and my angel Abby. I even tried to track down Carol’s friends and family but it was like they never existed. Cathy even helped me every time I said that I could prove my memories were real she would travel with me, talk to people I thought I knew but no one knew John Brooks they only knew Josh Brooks. The doctors said that all the memories were made up from whatever I experienced that’s why all the names were similar like Cathy became Carol and Josh became John. I tried to forget and live as Josh but I was not able to. Time passed, days became weeks, weeks became months. Now Cathy was even losing patients with me, she wanted me to remember her truth and forget mine and trust me I tried but was not able to. Every time she tried to come close I would think of Carol, I would feel like I was cheating on Carol so I would push Cathy away. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, meeting anyone. I tried finding the answers to my problems on the internet but all I would find would be some bullish reasoning like time travel, aliens, and multiple universes. Everybody had a theory but no proof or any way to help me understand what was real or not.

  One day Cathy asked me to clean my cupboard saying that I had only been wearing the three pairs of clothes I had kept out. So while she was watching tv in the living room I started to empty the cupboard underneath a pile of shirts and t-shirts I found a blue jacket. As I was checking all the pockets I came across something in the left pocket, I took it out and it was a sock, as I saw the sock I knew it was Abby’s sock I had kept in my pocket all those months back. I knew I was not mad as I had found proof of my memories being true. I shouted out to Cathy to some and see this. She came running into the bedroom I had tears in my eyes but I was happy. I shouted and said see this is Abby’s sock I remember keeping this in my pocket and it is here. See I am not mad Abby is real, Carol is real, and I need to find them. Cathy looked at me and shouted that enough is enough now you have to choose between your false memories or me, I can’t take this anymore. I looked at her and said Abby is not a false memory she is my baby girl. Cathy turned around; the next thing I saw was her leaving with her bag. I did not try and stop her and neither did she stop. I went down to the police station to lodge a missing person complaint about Abby and Carol but they would not. They asked me to show some proof that they existed, when I showed them the sock, they asked me to go back home and rest. I had already tried searching for Abby and Carol every way possible I did not have any p
ictures of them but I could see them clearly in my memories. I went back home and did not know what to do, the excitement of finding Abby’s sock, soon became into sadness. A few more days past and all I did was drink while sitting on the bed thinking of Abby and Carol. All I wanted was to be able to see them once.

  I heard the doorbell; when I opened the door it was my father. He came in and sat next to me on the bed, he asked me how I was doing now that Cathy had left. I picked up Abby’s sock and handed it to him. I said this is your granddaughter’s sock and I am going to find her. He looked at me and said son, in your memories I was dead right. How did you feel when it happened? I said I remember getting a call at work that you had a heart attack and were serious. I rushed to the hospital but I was too late, you were gone before I reached. I felt like my world had stopped and I could feel all the pain in it at. My father said; that’s how I feel when I see you like this. You need to leave these memories behind and make a new life for