Forgetting love

There’s this boy, he sits beside my bed every day, yet I don’t know who he is. He sits on that chair for hours telling me stories about a girl named Alayla and a boy named Tom, they were in love. This boy tells me that Tom loved Alayla with all his heart and would give anything and everything to be with her in peace, but no. Tom and Alayla had to fight for their love; they had to overcome obstacles such as parents and friends whom did not want to be together. I enjoy these stories a lot; it’s the only thing I have to look forward to in my boring life. What amazes me almost more than the stories are the emotions, the joy, the pain and the helplessness that flicker across the boys face when he tells them. At night, when he is gone, I feel so alone. I don’t know where I am, they have all told me, the people here, but I forget a lot of things these days. I sleep restlessly, dreaming I an Alayla, but knowing I couldn’t ever have a life like that, a fairy tale life. Every morning, he comes and my heart flies, I feel so alive again. Today the boy looks sad, I ask why but he didn’t answer. He takes his seat and asks if I wanted to hear a story today, I smile and nod my head. Yesterday the story finished happily, Alayla and Tom finally over-come their problems, they were together and nothing was stopping them, I wanted to hear more about the happy times.

‘“Come on, love” Tom says to Alayla, they were out with friends for the day. “Lets go” Tom whispered in her ear. “Ok. Where are we going?” Alayla asked. “I want to show you a place I love to go.” Tom took Alayla’s hand. He led her to his motorbike. “You know I hate that thing” She protested. “I know, but hold onto me tight” Tom reassured teasingly handing her a helmet. She took it and placed it on her head, “So how horrible do I look?”
“Not horrible at all, the total opposite, you look very smart” Tom swung a leg over the bike and started it with a loud roar. “Hop on” He said, Alayla carefully got on the bike, only losing balance for a second. Tom kicked it down to first gear once Alayla had a good grip. They were off. Alayla let out a small squeal and squeezed her arms tighter around Tom. She started to relax and actually start to enjoy it at one point, maybe she was touched by some of the elation that Tom felt. The bike was speeding up and Alayla held on tight, pressed her face into Toms back and squeezed her eyes shut. They were just about to go around a bend when suddenly the road disappeared, It was a shear drop. Tom pressed on the brakes and spun the bike around, stopping it just before it went down, but Alayla lost her grip and fell off and down the cliff. Tom jumped off the bike letting it crash to the ground; he peered over the edge, afraid of what he was going to see. Thankfully, it wasn’t very high, but Alayla wasn’t moving, Tom raced down the cliff face, at a bit where it wasn’t as steep, and got to her. He shook her shoulder but still she didn’t show any signs of life…’

The boy had tears in his eyes when he stopped talking, his face was crumpled in pain, he put it in his hands and started to weep. I reached out and touched his shoulder, I understood, the story had made me sad too. “Hay…” I stopped in mid sentence, I realised that I didn’t even know his name. “What’s your name?” I asked, feeling very silly. He looked up, “My name is… Tom” he said, still in pain. I gasped, “Tom… Like Tom in the story, Tom? I ask. Not wanting to believe what I knew was true. “Yes, I am that Tom.” He said through tears. “Oh my I am so sorry” I whispered, feeling his pain as if it were my own. I lent over and kissed his cheek, like he had done for me so many times. He grabbed my hand and held it close. “Hay, wait a sec, what happened to Alayla then?” I ask. “Oh, sorry, that was inconsiderate; you don’t have to answer if you don’t want.” I realised it would hurt for him to explain. Tom laughed meekly, “It’s ok, you deserve to know” he said, “The ambulance came and I was still lying over her crying, I thought she was dead, they had to pull me off her, but they told me that she was still alive, just. I was so very relieved. They took her to the nearest hospital and I road in the back. They cleaned and mended all of her internal and external wounds so that she was as perfect as always, apart from the concussion. It took her months to wake up, and I came to her every day, waiting and hoping for the day she would wake up. I had almost given up all hope, when she woke. The doctors asked her all these questions, they determined that she was fine, physically, but she was asking where she was, who I and every body else were, and even who she was. The doctors said that the questions would last a week or two at the most, but after that long there was no change, she didn’t remember a thing about herself. They hospital did some sort of scan and found out that she had damage to the memory part of the brain, they couldn’t tell whether it was permanent or not though”. Tom slumped in his chair. “I… I’m so sorry…” That was all I could say. My head was full of images from the story. “I have to go now” Tom said. I looked out the window and saw that the sun had almost set, I hadn’t realised how late it had gotten. “Will you come back tomorrow?” I asked, Tom got up, kissed my head and nodded, “I’ll be back, like always”. He promised. He walked out the door. I let my head hit the pillow and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke the next morning earlier than usual, I had been dreaming, about Alayla and Tom, my Tom. I sat up and heaps of memories came rushing into my head, my friends the good times I spent with them, Tom, his fingers caressing my face, The feeling of wind in my hair before we turned that corner that lead to this. They were all Alayla’s memories, they were mine, I was Alayla. I had memories, I ran through them, so happy, practically jumping out of my skin, waiting for Tom to arrive.

“Tom!” I screamed when he walked through the door. “Yes…” He asked cautiously, wondering what could have made me this excited. “Remember that time when you sneaked into my room at night, to take me out? Cause I do. What about the time when we were standing at the school gates after school, the first time we kissed? I remember that”. I watched Toms eyes widen as I spoke. If I could, I would have jumped out of bed and ran to him, but it seemed I didn’t have to, Tom ran to me instead. And to my utter surprise he kissed me full on the lips…