Broken Memories

Chapter 12

                                                                         Chrissy

I do decide to sprint to the address, again a dumb idea. But I've decided to make it the new theme of my life, or maybe it always has been the theme. Just a bunch of dumb ideas piled on top of each other.

In the end, my fast pace sprint turned into a slow, painful walk. The running, and the sound of my pounding feet did something to me. Gave me this foreboding feeling. I don't like running, I like the adrenaline coursing through my body but I don't like the feelings it gives me.

When I finally reached a coffee house my phone beeped, signaling that the cozy, slightly run-down street is where I was meant to go. Fantastic.

I take in my surroundings, these buildings are nothing like the ones near my school all these buildings are either apartments or run-down shops barely making it by the next set of bills. Graffiti covers said buildings, gang signs, and artwork are some of the designs decorating the walls, not to mention a puddle of vomit close enough to smell the stench.

It is not a nice place to hang around, and yet an ominous letter had sent me here and told me to find a guy named Miles. I can't help but wonder if Miles is part of one of those gangs listed on the walls of graffiti behind me.

I bumble into the coffee house, hesitantly. Slowly making my way to the counter whilst scanning my surroundings to make sure no coffee-making serial killer jumps up at me.

"Hello, welcome to the greatest coffee house in all of America. We love to serve coffee even though it can get tediously boring. What can I get for you?" A tall teenage boy says from behind the counter whilst he fills up a jar of cookies. Throughout his speech, he never once looks up and instead intricately places a pile of cookies in the jar trying to make them perfectly symmetrical.

"Are you meant to say it can get tediously boring to paying customers?" I ask him. Unsure of what the protocol is for coffee house workers.

"Well, what my dad doesn't know won't hurt him." He says whilst placing the last cookie and then looking up.

His eyes lock with mine. He gulps. He blinks.

"Chrissy?" He asks shakily like he's scared I'll disappear at any minute.

"Yes?" I question back, confused about how he knows my name.

He jumps over the counter knocking the cooking jar off the counter and shatters onto the ground, I grimace at the mess but he just ignores the noise behind him and instead wraps his arms around me. He lifts me as I'm squashed in his arms.

"Where have you been!" He exclaims, gently slapping her arms once he put her down to the ground.

"Are you Miles?" I ask.

"Chrissy? Are you on drugs? Of course, I'm Miles." Miles says in a duh tone, his now a hundred-dollar smiler slipping off his face.

"Miles I was in an accident," I say as a tear slips down my face. "I don't remember much of anything from before that." 

His smile is now fully gone. He puts his hands up to my face and then shakes my head up and down. "What are you doing?" I ask the strange boy standing in front of me.

"Trying to get your memories back," Miles informs me, frowning.

"I don't think that's how it works." I try to tell him as he continues to move my head around.

"It has to." Miles starts, "I don't know how you'll live without remembering me."

"Okay, please just stop now." I plead. My neck is starting to hurt from Miles' antics.

He lets go and then drags me to a booth. 

"Hello," he holds out his hand. "I'm Miles. Your best friend in the whole wide world, who, you ditched over the summer."

"I'm Chrissy." I smile at him as I grab his hand and shake it. "I'm here because a strange letter told me to find you."

"Thrilling." Miles tells me. 

"Oh and I'm also trying to get my memories back." I tell him matter-of-factly.

He gasps, "Excuse me, don't you mean we are trying to get your memories back!"

"You'll help?" I question while smiling over at him.

"Of course."

                                                                              Eric

I tell my dad I'm going to stay sitting on a roof for a bit longer and that I'll get a taxi home instead. He agrees but tells me not to catch a cold. 

Being up above all those buildings and people makes me realise how small everything actually is. How meaningless everything could seem from an outsiders point of view, but to me, to most people who live here. It's all we've got, all we know. And we'll do anything to make sure our lives here are the best they can be. 

The wind flows past me as I sit on the edge looking out into the night sky, it got dark faster than I could comprehend and as I sit perched on the side of the tallest building in this large town that almost borders the size of some cities I realise I should probably start to head back. I have school tomorrow and an apology to make.

Slowly, carefully, I stand up and jump down of the ledge back to safety. The door is slightly ajar, so that it doesn't lock. And as I walk back into the building I close it fully and start my descent down to the elevator.

The taxi drive home takes a while because of an accident on one of the main roads, I feel bad for the family that might've just lost a daughter or a son. A father or a mother.

Once I've arrived back home I unlock the door to find my parents, siblings and Daniel playing charades. Daniel probably forced then to play, he loves making us play board games and watch different tv shows or movies together. He come around to ours a lot, mainly because his parents fight.

He hoped that the move would fix the probably. He hoped their family could start anew. Sadly it didn't work out like that, so instead he leaches off us, not that i mind him. Even if I pretend it can get annoying.

"Sup." Daniel says to me as I walk into the living room.

I nod back. Then I sit down next to Lucy and start to guess what my mum is horribly trying to act out.

***

The next morning doesn't fill me with dread like mornings usually do when I wake up from my alarm and have to go to school. If I even get to sleep to begin with. Which I did last night, a full six hours.

With a smile I get up, turn my alarm off. And then I showered, got dressed and went to eat breakfast with my family, including Daniel who had slept over.

They ate, a happy family who were making jokes and smiling and for once the light from everyone else made him smile throughout the whole of breakfast.

Once he'd dropped off Lucy and Caleb at school Daniel and him drove off towards their own school day. Daniel sung to the radio the whole way, and he hummed along.

The halls were littered with people talking- gossiping, laughing and walking to lessons. Just like any other day, any other week.

But today was different. Because he was different.

He was happy.