THE BACK BENCHERS

1.Who's Duke?

The smell of syringes, Ugh! and why is it pitch black here? Oh!, maybe I forgot to open my eyes. "He opened his eyes" shouted someone in front of me and ran out of the door. My head was propped on a pillow. My body felt heavy, after numerous attempts I lifted my head. I stammered to sit up. A hospital! Why am I here?

A guy came running inside, with a doctor behind him. The guy have a worried look in his eyes, while the doctor examined me. And not to forget his black patches all over his face, his maroon coat burnt with holes, he seemed like a guy who has just escaped from a torched building. He called someone named "Duke" behind me, I turned and couldn't find anything behind me, other than a big white wall. He continued talking " parents....died....building....fire..." something as far as I could hear. Anyway that's none of my business. After a few minutes I realized that the big guy had been talking to me, all this time. My head started to ache, I kept my hands on my bandaged head. I reassured, turn back only to see a white wall still staring at me. Whatever he talked met no point.

The doctor who was going through some reports, which was probably mine, patted the big guy on the back, signaled to stop his rant. He took him a few meters away from my bed. The big guy's eyes grew bigger and bigger as the doctor went on talking. Woah! he looks huge now. After their small chat, both of them approached my bed. The huge guy was so grieve-stricken. He started to say something, but devoured it inside. He was breathing heavily, his chest raised and dropped fast. Somehow he gathered words from his brain and asked. "Could u remember me?"

Of course I couldn't! Who are u big guy? I clicked for the search button in my brain, but found no documents to search for. Pretty empty and clean. Well, if u have some stuff to search, u search. When there is nil stuff in my head, my obvious answer would be no. I found it hard to speak, my jaws were tight, but still I managed to tell "no" because somewhere I feel this guy is too much worried for me. The big guy kept his big hand on his forehead. A shocking look spread on his face. Another guy, in green kurta, white pants came to me and mentioned the same name "Duke". He said "Duke, I'm sorry to see u like this, friend".

Ok! Enough is enough. "Who' Duke?" I blurted out. The green kurta guy's eye shrunk, his eyebrows met, and his mouth twisted resulting his face in a questioning look. He turned his shocked face to this huge guy and told "Nope. Tell me he has not lost his memory". The big guy nodded his head helplessly. A devastated look on this green kurta guy. I felt guilty for hurting these boys. All I could tell was these too guys really cared for me, genuinely. Then again, they went out to have their small tea-chat with the doctor. I got thoroughly irritated, I struggled my way to stand up, only to find a big bandage on my leg. Well! I'm having a great day, am I?

Some how I staggered myself to the mirror. Maybe I could remember something, but all I could see was a boy with huge rat eyes, small nose, cheek covered with burns with a medium built body staring at me back. Is this me? I tried to remember how I got here, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember at least a byte of memory.

The thinking made me dizzy, the world swam around, I crumbled to the floor. The big guy, green kurta guy and the doctor came rushing to the room, hearing the thud. I can feel, they are helping me to the bed. I couldn't open my eyes but I could hear the doctor speak "He needs rest. Don't pester him with questions for a while, let him recover completely. He's having a serious condition off amnesia". Well, that explains the emptiness in my brain. Wait, then the name Duke must be mine. My name is Duke? I don't remember having this name. Nope, this is not because I have amnesia, I remember having some another name...