Burn Me Right

Chapter 53

Joel and Zyler stood there while the latter was shooting daggers at Joel. He was ready to kill the man.

"So, what happens now?" Joel asked, knowing he could not leave with Elaine. Zyler would hunt him down.

Zyler inhaled. "You aren't leaving. You will stay here, and my mom will get treatments from the doctors I choose," he passed an ultimatum.

"But......" Before Joel could finish his sentence, a groaning sound grabbed their attention. Elaine was waking up. Joel rushed to her. Zyler wanted to, but he didn't know if his mother would appreciate it. So, he stood a little far from the couple. His mind was a mess, a web of unsure emotions and pain.

"What happened to me, Jo?" Elaine rubbed her head, looking around.

"What do you remember?" Joel knelt next to Elaine.

"I remember walking at the pier and seeing a man killing........." her eyes moved to Zyler standing a little far from the couple. "You," she charged at him. "You killed him," she was about to slap him, but Joel stopped her.

"No, Elly," Joel calling him Elly made Zyler want to snap the man's neck. He wasn't ready because his mother had no memory of her past life.

"He saved you. He brought you here," Joel said, pulling Elaine back and making her sit on the couch.

"No," Elaine shook her head. "I saw what I saw," hatred spewed from her eyes, which crushed Zyler's heart like a barbed wire, twisting around it, bleeding it to the bone.

Joel sighed, "Remember how the doctor told us that your past might return in waves, and you might have Deja Vu?" Elaine nodded absentmindedly.

"This might be one of those incidents. This man here," he pointed to Zyler, and the woman looked at her son, unrecognizing him. "He brought you home safe." Joel fabricated the entire incident, convincing Elaine. She clutched her head and shook it in pain.

"It hurts, Jo," she closed her eyes shut, wrinkles lining her eyes.

Joel rushed to the cabinet and brought her medicine. Zyler was watching everything, shocked and confused. It was as if he was in a daze. Joel gave Elaine her medication, and the woman suffered for another 20 minutes while he rocked Elaine back and forth, comforting her. After crying and suffering for a while, she fell asleep. Joel gently put her down and walked over to Zyler.

"See, this is why I told you to stay away. This is why I took her away, and you want to get her memories back?" He accused Zyler.

Zyler's bloodshot eyes stared into Joel's. "She is my mother. You fucking had no right to do this to her, to me, to my family," he wanted to scream, but he didn't. His mother just fell asleep.

"She is MY MOTHER. UNDERSTOOD MY MOTHER?" he yelled with all the pain he had been hiding in his heart for so long.

"I did what was best for her," Joel clapped back with the same intensity.

"No, you fucking did what's best for you," Zyler controlled so hard not to end Joel's life. "If you didn't keep her safe and alive, I would've shot you thrice. I would've made your death the most interesting to the medical community," his cold gaze never leaving Joel.

He was exhausted from everything. "You will not leave. If you do, Mom won't be able to save you this time," he warned. And with one last look, Zyler left that house. He got into his car and drove to his home. He didn't know how he got there. All the moments were a blur. He needed her, to smell her, to allow her to calm him.

The mansion was silent by the time he reached it. He cleaned himself and ran to her room.

She lay nestled in the soft caress of moonlit sheets, a vision of serenity and grace. In her lace pajamas. The wind chimes above her bed danced gracefully in the breeze.