The Forgotten

Chapter 4: More Questions, Less Answers

Hugo took a few days off, which then quickly turned into a week. staying home and not even leaving his room for anything aside from getting food, though sometimes he considered if he even needed it or if he could just live forever with the pain of starvation since he was, as he perceived from the world, already dead. He hadn't questioned how Karl had said he'd help Hugo keep up with schoolwork, but he didn't have the energy to care. Hugo thought that this time would be healthier for him than not, however, the more he sat in his room, the more questions he had that went unanswered. It was almost worth questioning if he would've had less questions if he had gone back to school, but even time this thought arose, Hugo reminded himself that it was what it was, there was no changing things for the better for him, as life had already made quite evident. He hadn't heard from Samma after his last meeting with her, she'd been silent to him for this whole week. Hugo tried to wish it into being that he could meet with her again, however, every time he did, he just ended up losing sleep, which naturally led him to stop trying to do it himself. Finally, the day had come when he'd decided that he would go back to school. He followed his usual routine of getting ready in the morning, however, when he picked up a beanie, he held it for a moment, then looked at himself in the mirror. Without a word, he shook his head at himself in the mirror, then put the beanie down and walked downstairs to his car without breakfast once again. Uncle Joey was gone as expected already. His morning went as it usually did after he left the house. He arrived at school and walked to his first class without a word to anyone while receiving a few glaring looks and whispers as he went by.

"Ah... Hugo, right?" Professor Verheim said. Hugo nodded. "Good to have you back. Oh and, you've been kept up to date by Karl I assume?"

"Huh?" Hugo said, suddenly turning around. "What do you mean?"

"Oh well, Karl told me you weren't feeling good, so I assumed that he was helping you recover or something. Has he kept you up to date on what we are doing?" The professor said.

Hugo just stood there for a moment lost in thought. Karl wasn't kidding when he said he was going to help keep Hugo up to date?

"Hugo? Are you there?" The professor said again.

"Y-yes! My apologies, I will recollect what I've missed in the coming days. My apologies." Hugo said, forgetting to answer the actual question. The professor looked at him with a confused stare, but paid no heed, shrugging and looked back to whatever he was working on. Hugo went and took his seat in the class, but as class started, he glanced around the class and noticed something. Karl wasn't in his seat.

He wandered around the campus during lunchtime, being sure to steer clear of hallways which he normally knew were filled with students. However, as he wandered, a sudden thought, a realization, came to mind. Before, Hugo normally wandered the halls aimlessly without a certain place or destination he sought to find or arrive at. However this time, he realized that he wasn't wandering around for nothing. For the first time since all this had happened to him, and so surprising to him that he almost doubted himself, Hugo knew that he was subconsciously looking for someone.

After school that day, he decided to go to the school library to get some work done. He stepped inside and approached one of the empty single-seat desks, and as he sat down to get settled, he happened to look up and across the room to which the sight of Maggie, who appeared to be reading a book, met his eyes. Hugo had a brief moment of silent reminiscence to himself as he remembered when he and Maggie would sometimes come to the library together after school to do homework, or in Maggie's case, read. Maggie always had a new book, and whenever she'd finish, she was no slowpoke to picking up another to begin reading. Even just looking at her now, Hugo could just imagine himself sitting across the table from her, they both engaged in their own activities while occasionally throwing a comment or two at each other. After he enjoyed this brief moment in his mind, his mind spaced back in as his thoughts were brought back to his present body, but as the thoughts returned, his feelings of happiness faded from his head as he remembered what had happened weeks prior when he'd approached Maggie. He sighed quietly to himself, then took out his schoolwork and began working on it. As he worked silently, he couldn't help but let go a tear as he remembered his past memories with Maggie, and the recurring thought that he might never experience such fond memories again.