To Remember Me Is to Remember Us

For the second time in her life Mena woke from a buzzing sound and she panicked. Memories rushed at her and just like that she couldn’t remember them any more. It was like they were there are the edges of her mind, but when she tried to grab them they evaded her. Just as she was settling back down her mind rushed with the memory of how she got here and she started to get upset again. She didn’t know how long she been here, but one thing she knew was that she needed her son, “Zayah,” she called out.

Pushing herself to setup she called out her son’s name again and pushed the call button for a nurse. Not long after a nurse walked in, “Is everything alright,” she asked.

“My son, I need my son. Where is he,” she said her breaths getting shorter with each intake, “I need my son,” she repeated as she thought about what was happening to him.

“Calm down ma’am,” the nurse said to her.

“I can’t calm down until I see my son. Now where is he,” she asked again with tears in her eyes.

The nurse to a look at her vitals, “I’ll let your family know that you’re up and that you are asking for your son. Just hold tight and calm down,” she said before she walked out the door to leave Mena to her own thoughts.

Leaning back into her bed Mena closed her eyes as she waited for her mother or sister to walk in with her son. She didn’t know how long she laid there, but she was on the verge of going back to sleep when the door opened. The first thing she saw was he son facing towards as he was held with he back against someone’s chest and his legs were supported by one of the arms as if he was sitting down.

When he saw her he started to bounce and make grabbing motions. When he was close enough to her she reached out for him not caring about the IV or the clip that was on her finger that monitored her heartbeat. All she cared about was the now wiggling body that was in her arms. It was like he was trying to get under her skin and stay there. She didn’t know how long she had been out of it, but it must have been long for her son to be acting this way. He never went long without being with her.

“Hey baby,” she cooed to him as he finally calmed down to settle his head under her chin and gripped her tightly, “I know I was away for a long time, but I’m here. I’ll always be here,” she told him as she held on to him tightly. After she was sure he was calmed down she looked up to see who brought him in. What she saw when she looked up was the face of the man who had put her here. His face was so much like Zayah’s that she knew without having to ask that he was her son’s father, “Thank you for bringing him in,” she said as she looked into his green eyes.

Zacky stared right back at her, “You still don’t remember me do you,” he finally asked after a while.

“I’m sorry,” she answered as she drew Zayah closer to her. Wanting to know why he came back she asked her own question, “Why are you coming after me now,” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I was told that you knew what happened to me and that you didn’t care. You never came to me,” she told him.

“Mena,” he started, “if I knew you were hurt I would have been there. I would have. I loved you so much,” he told her.

“Did you really,” she wanted to know about them.

“Yes,” he simply answered.

“Did I love you back,” she asked wanting to know as much as she could.

“Yes,” he stated again, “Loved me enough to leave your family and marry me against their wishes. Loved me so much that I think you loved me more than I loved you.”

She heard his words and knew them to be the truth, “Then if I loved you so much why did you doubt? Why didn’t you dig until you found out what happened? Why didn’t you keep fighting,” she questioned him.

“Maybe because I thought that you really did leave me. Maybe I thought that you were tried of me being gone all the time. Before l left the last time for tour you started asking me all these questions about if I think we would make it. So, when I found out that you were gone I wanted to give you a while to figure things out, but when I tried to get in contact with you your family kept saying that you didn’t want to be with me any more,” he explained, “I came to the house a few times, but I was refused access to you. They never told me a damn thing,” he shouted the last part.

Mena held Zayah tighter to her when he started to wiggle after Zacky shouted, but he didn’t make a sound. Instead of getting upset at the loud out burst he turned back to her and started playing with her hair. Looking back into Zacky’s eyes she asked, “What do we do now?”

“You and Zayah come home with me were you belong,” he told her.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“You have no real choice Mena. I was told I can take your parents to court to get custody of you and Zayah. I don’t want to have to do that Mena. I just want both of you back with me. And who knows since I was told you can’t remember your years with me maybe being back with me you’ll get them back,” he said as he ran a hand through his already mussed hair.

Taking her eyes off the man in front of her Mena looked down it her son’s face. He was preoccupied by a chuck of hair that he was rubbing into knots. As she looked at him she knew what he choice was going to be. She just hoped it was for the best not only for her, but for her son as well.