fucked up • hemmings

Two

Omg i know this is shitty but hold on guys. gonna edit it sometime. don't hate me plz.

do you hate me?

PLUS, THE BEAUTIFUL NICOLA PELTZ (aka my queen and sunshine and bae and the lost goes on) IS CHARLOTTE SO. LOVE HER.

Chapter Two

"Anyways," I say trying to change the topic. "What should we do in this uh, social room?"

"Socialite" he says in a extremely comfortable way.

I'm not much familiarized with the being social thing. I never had friends, never went to parties. In my birthday parties I locked myself in my room and waited till everyone's gone home.

I purse my lips and nod in response.

"W-What is your diagnostic?" I ask shyly biting my nails. Calum remains in silence for a while, his smile has disappeared and he stopped looking at me. "I'm sorry. I sh-"

"Amnesia," he says, sighing right afterwords "and major depression."

I've read something about amnesia. People with amnesia cannot remember things, it's a loss of memory what they have. The last amnesiac died in 2043, at least, that's what the Internet says. Apparently it is wrong. However, this man forgot everything every 20 hours. Exactly 20 hours.

"For how- When do you- Wh-" I try to ask Calum when he forgets things. I couldn't finish the sentence. I don't know if it is because I don't find the words, or if I'm way too shy to talk to people.

"Two days," says Calum. "Look," he says rolling up his sleeve. He had a text written in his arm with messy handwriting. It read:

My name is Calum Hood. I was born in the 25th of January of 2046. I have __ years old. I have amnesia. I lose my memory every two days. I'm at Arizona's Mental Hospital for Teenagers because of my sickness. I also suffer major depression, but I nearly have it now. I had an accident when I was 14 at the hospital and now I have amnesia. My best friend is Josh Bloom. I like wearing a smile.

There was a blurry number 17 written in blue marker in a black line.

I don't know whether to ask or cry. I guess I can do both.

I start sobbing. I really don't know why I feel so sad. Was it pity? Compassion? I don't know this guy at all. But he seems sweet and I don't think he deserves to have that in his arm.

Calum puts his arms around me and pulls me into his chest. I get goosebumps. I don't like to be touched by strangers. I don't like to be touched at all. But Calum's arms are so warm and comforting that I decide not to complain. I open my mouth to speak but words won't go out, just sobs.

The tanned boy, who apparently is really smart, says "I've tattooed that when I was fourteen, after the accident. I read it every morning before I have a panic attack when I wake up. It's not as bad as you think."

"What was the accident?" I ask, now sitting properly without touching Calum me.

"I don't know. I don't remember. When I ask my nurse, she always answers the same thing, something really bad. I don't think I wanna know what happened to me, I will forget about it anyways," he says and shrugs.

I nod. "And who's Josh Bloom?"

"He's my best friend"

I scan the room, trying to find somebody who looks like being called Josh Bloom.

"But he is dead," he says too loud. I look at him and suddenly all eyes were on us.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know" I say looking down and blushing. "How do you know that? That he's dead?"

"I don't know how I know. I just do. That's the first thing I remember when I wake up. I picture a nurce not letting me talk to Josh. Then she tells me he's dead," Calum says looking at his bare hands. He's shaking.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable," I say tying to give him a smile.

It might be hard, I thought to myself. Waking up once every two morning, expecting to see your best friend and literally read your arm and find out that he's dead.

He nods and puts his hands in his pockets. Why does his jumpsuit have pockets and mines doesn't?

"Do you remember anybody in the room?" I ask curiously.

"Only that guy," he says pointing at the guy who is staring outside the window. The one thah didn't even hesitated when Maddie introduced me. "He's Luke Hemmings, he was here before my accident. He's not so friendly or talkative."

"What is he staring at?" I say turning to the boy. He's in the same position he was when I walked in.

"Nothing in particular, he's schizophrenic and paranoiac. He's scared of people, he sees us in a different way. He's trying to avoid us," Calum says also looking at him. "He's always crying. I've seen his face a few times. And I've only seen him crying. He trusts nobody. He stays the whole day there. Well, that's what I remember. He probably changed in 3 years, you know," he said shrugging.

I nod and turn to look at Calum. He's looking at me again. It starts to make me feel uncomfortable.

I look at my short bitten nails and start biting them again.

When I turn to look up, I find in front of Calum and I, a green haired boy and a guy with a red bandana.

"Hi," says the guy with the red bandana,"I'm Ashton. And this is my friend Mickey who's way too shy to talk to you."

Ashton is pointing the green haired guy who's name is Mikey, apparently.

"Shut up idiot," says Mikey to Ashton, playfully punching him in the stomach. Ashton giggles.

"I have panic and nightmare disorder," says Ashton raising his hand.

"Cocaine dependence and social anxiety disorder," says Mikey looking at his pale shaking hands, "I consumed cocaine to talk to people. Bad choice, huh? Look where I ended up"

Calum rolls his eyes and gives them a shy look. "Do we guys talk a lot to each other?"

Mikey and Ashton look at each other with a rather sad expression. "Yeah, yeah. We always do"

Sadly, Calum believed it. He smiled and said "whoa, that's cool. I have friends!" his smile gets wider as the seconds pass.

I give Calum a sad smile.

"Would you be my friend, um, Charlie?" Calum asks looking at me.

He remembered your name, said my subconscious amazingly. I always had this problem at school that nobody could remember my name. Not even the teachers. I had no friends. Never. I got used to it. But here I am now, with a boy with amnesia that has the ability to remember my name but will soon forget it.

I nod. "Of course, Calum."

I start thinking that it will be really hard not to treat Calum as a little boy. He is as innocent and harmless as one.

"What about that Luke guy?" I ask Ashton and Mikey. "He didn't even hesitated when I came in and Maddie made the announcement"

"He's way too scared to do that," Ashton says. "The only time I saw his face, he sort of passed out and fell to the floor."

"He's weird as heck. Nurses cannot take him to his room. So he spends like 12 hours a day in that exact position. He goes by himself to his bed at 3 a.m. every day," says Mikey staring at the boy.

"But he's not locked in his room then?" I ask looking at Ashton.

"What? Of course not. Why would he be locked?"

"My nurse locked me in my room while I was changing my clothes," I say shrugging.

"Yeah, they do that the first time you get her. It's for scaring you," says Mikey. "Nurses go home at 5 p.m. and they don't come back until 1 p.m. of the following day. But a woman comes at 7 to give us dinner. They get really bored."

"So we stay alone in a mental hospital?" I ask astonished.

"Yeah," says Calum.

I nod.

"So do you wanna meet the other crazy guys or not?"