Can't I Touch Your Heart?

Chapter 64 I Don't Want to Remember

Ember stood at the podium before the storyboard team and presented the presentation behind him. He explained to them their budgets as Madison pressed few flyers in front of each one of them.

"Now, in this segment," Ember explained as he felt the stabbing pain in his stomach. He pressed his stomach and continued speaking with a smile. The meeting was almost over, he could handle the pain till then, he told himself. Suddenly, Loraine and Maple barged into the room.

Everyone turned towards them and they walked towards Ember. Loraine grabbed Ember's hand and pulled him out of the room with Maple following them.
"What the hell are you doing? That was an important business meeting-"
"Does it look like I care about shit like that?" Loraine turned towards him.
"Leave me!" Ember freed his hand and moved a step back "Can you stop interfering with my work!?"

"Your work will kill you!" Loraine shouted. Ember looked at him as he pressed his stomach. Loraine smirked "It hurts, doesn't it?"
"No, it doesn't. I'm okay,"
"You're not okay," Maple looked at him "Stop lying to yourself, Ember,"
Ember fell on the floor and clenched his stomach tightly.

"Ember!" Maple picked him up in his arms and turned towards Loraine "Call Chuck, we're heading to the hospital. This is serious,"

. . .

What are the disadvantages of having a photographic memory? That you cannot move on. That you can never forget how your past has been. The past that would beat inside you like a second heart that will weaken you before you know it. It isn't an ability, it's a disease and such people need to be treated not used. Because in the end, God has given us the ability to forget because of some reason. Ember didn't have that ability. He couldn't move on from his past and now all that stress was taking its toll on him.

But to think about it, isn't he too young to run out of time?

Ember slowly opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling above him. He was inside an empty room, lying on a white metal bed with a table kept beside him. He was under IV drops. He smiled as he looked at his hand.

Soon, an old doctor came inside the room. He smiled at Ember.
"Hello, Ember. How do you feel now?" He asked in English with a dominant Indian accent.
"What happened to me?"
"You fainted, boy. Not having proper meals, huh. You know that your heart almost collapsed right now. Few seconds late and your family could have lost you,"

"How is that related to me not eating?"
"The muscle mass of your body has fallen tremendously because of your extreme weight loss. This has affected the muscles of your heart too-making them weaker. So, you're basically on the edge of life. But don't worry. I've prescribed you some supplements. Eat this along with your food, have a good diet and drink lots of water,"

'If I could eat, I wouldn't be here,'

The hospital discharged Ember around noon and Maple did all the paperwork. Maple didn't say a word and neither did Ember initiate any conversation. Chuck had been waiting for them outside the hospital. They reached Nason and Maple followed Ember to his room.

Once they were into his room, Ember turned towards him
"Tell me everything," Maple ordered. He looked serious.
"I'm having few digestion problems"
"Like what?" Maple raised his left eyebrow.
"It's a vicious circle. I eat, throw up, faint, regain consciousness, eat and throw up again. Each time I throw, the pain intensifies. I'm scared of that pain. Even the painkillers don't work anymore. So I decided to avoid eating altogether," Ember explained.

"For how has this been going?"
"About two months now,"
"And you didn't feel like telling me?!" Maple shouted and Ember trembled. It wasn't usual for Maple to be angry but he was the worst when he was.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to worry about me"