Stuck Down Memory Lane

“Ready, set, go!”

The words echoed in Graham’s head as he took a running start, his heart pounding and his breathing heavy. He felt the wind blowing through his air and stinging his eyes as his excitement grew. He jumped and grabbed the rope tied to the oak limb, the fibers rough and scratchy under his palms. He held tight as he swung, and as he swung up-ward he loosened his grip and flipped into the lake. The water was cold and refreshing, and as he swam to the top, he could hear Miller shouting on the shore.

“That was so cool!” he cried as Graham’s head popped out of the water. “You’ve got to teach me how to do flips like that man.”

Graham smiled and swam towards the shoreline. “I can’t teach you,” he breathed, grabbing the protruding tree root in the muddy bank and pulling himself up. “If I did, I wouldn’t have any way to impress all the girls that we’ll meet.”

Miller rolled his eyes and tossed Graham a towel. “Ha ha, very funny,” he cackled sarcastically. “You know, high school is going to be way different than middle school; it’s going to take a lot more than flips and tricks to impress girls.” Graham slung his towel over his shoulder and walked towards his bike. The two friends were going to be going into their first year of high school, and the summer had gone by in a blur. Over break, Graham and Miller spent all the time together that they could- which was not unusual for two boys that had been best friends since kindergarten- but this summer was different. Between Graham’s 8 cousins, they made it clear that when you went to high school you never saw your friends from middle school anymore. Having classes together was nearly impossible, and you slowly went from never seeing each other, to never hanging out outside of school, to never even speaking anymore. The thought terrified Graham, and he was determined not to waste a single second before then. Now that the first day of school was already tomorrow, he felt like he was going to throw up the pizza they had for dinner.  

“I can’t believe we don’t have any classes together this year,” Graham said, picking up his bike and swinging his leg over the seat. Miller came over and pulled his bike up next to Graham. “Hey, that’s not true,” he exclaimed, his smile widening. “We have homeroom together!” Graham huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, for a whole ten minutes” he scowled. He didn’t understand how Miller was always so happy about things. When the two first got their schedules in the mail, Miller had simply laughed and joked about how they would have to find new ways to skip class together. Graham on the other hand had been an anxious mess, and the ball of nerves in his stomach tightened more and more every day.

“Loosen up, man,” Miller said, shoving Graham playfully on the shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay. Don’t be so nervous.” The pair began pedaling towards the woods, heading towards the worn path to their houses. They talked about their plans to go to the movies the next weekend, and the two were arguing over which movie to see when they came to a fork in the path.

“Okay, okay,” Miller laughed. “We’ll talk about this later- I have to get home.”

“Meet on the corner at 7 tomorrow?” Graham asked.

“You got it.”

*           *           *

The next day after school, Graham ran in the front door of his house and slammed it behind him. Hearing his mom call out, he yelled a quick apology and ran upstairs to his room. Throwing his bookbag onto his bed, Graham quickly undressed and slipped into his swim trunks. He slipped into the hallway and pulled a towel out of the linen closet, then ran back downstairs. As he rushed into the kitchen, only to stop abruptly when he saw his mom washing dishes in the sink. After Graham had slammed the front door minutes ago, his mom definitely wouldn’t be happy to see him running in the house.

“Hey honey, how was your first day of high school?” she asked over her shoulder. She began to turn around. “Did you make any new frie-” She stopped when she saw Graham and sighed. “Going to the lake again today?”.

“Yeah” Graham said, not meeting his mom’s eyes. “I mean, it’s the first day, and I don’t have any homework, so why not?” He shrugged his shoulders. His mom smiled softly and shook her head. “Okay, but be back by dinner,” she said, walking forward and ruffling his hair. “And I expect a full report by then!”

Graham ran out the back door, smoothing his hair down before picking his bike up and hitting his heel against the kickstand. He hopped onto the bike and rode quickly into the woods, thinking about the day’s events as he pedaled down the path. After homeroom, Graham hadn’t talked to anyone else for the entire day. He had been on edge for most of the day after getting lost on the way to third period and walking into class late. The feeling of everyone staring at him stuck with him until he made it to seventh period. When he finally tried to make conversation with one of his classmates sitting nearby, he ended up chickening out and just feeling awkward. He wished Miller would have been there with him all day; he always made Graham feel much better, and much more confident. Graham knew that if Miller were there today then none of those things would have even happened. He shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts as he ducked to avoid tree branches. He knew he needed some alone time, but he was also rushing out of the house before Miller had a chance to come over. As much as he wanted to be with his best friend after a long day, right now Graham really couldn’t handle Miller giving him a pep talk about how ‘tomorrow would be better’ and that ‘the people aren’t really so bad’.

Graham finally rode out of the woods and saw the lake coming into view. He rode across the small field and locked his eyes on the old oak tree. As he rode closer, he pulled on his brakes and came to an abrupt stop, nearly riding over Miller’s bike laying in the grass. Graham’s eyes began scanning the water and searching the field, but Miller was nowhere to be found. He turned to look into the woods when he heard a loud splash in the water behind him, making him jump. He whipped around just in time to see Miller’s head pop above the water.

“What the hell, Miller!” Graham yelled, clutching his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack! Where were you?”

Miller swam towards the shore of the lake. “Well, I was up in the oak tree,” he said. “I had to do something new, since you won’t teach me your flips.”

Graham chuckled, then sighed and helped Miller out of the water. “I guess you want to hear about how the first day went, huh?” Graham asked. Miller climbed to his feet and paused. He stared at the ground for a few moments, opening his mouth and closing it again. Finally he turned to Graham and smiled. “Nah, I’d rather watch you do another one of those tricks.”

Graham smiled, and he turned and jumped onto the rope. He used his legs to propel himself back and forth, feeling his anxiety melting away and feelings of joy flood his chest. He went back and forth until he finally swung up over the lake and towards the sky. He closed his eyes and let go of the rope, and he began to flip: and he kept flipping, and flipping, and flipping…

*           *           *

“Is he finally stable?”

“I think so.”

The doctor scribbled notes onto her clipboard, only half watching as the nurse fiddled with the IV drip next to the bed. Male; age 35; open wounds located on the forearms, thighs, neck, and torso; possible neck fracture; unresponsive. She flipped the clipboard shut and hooked it onto the end of the bed, staring at the patient in front of her. The monitor beeped steadily, breaking the heavy silence in the room.

“Has the family been notified?” she asked.

The nurse nodded. “They’re the ones that brought him in,” she said. “They said that a close family friend died in a car crash yesterday, and that he had been drinking ever since. He stumbled out of the house earlier tonight and disappeared for hours. When they went looking for him, they found him out by a nearby lake.”

“They found him like this?”

“No. When they got there, he was hanging by a rope swing trying to flip into the lake. They said that he slipped, and when he fell he flipped towards the shore and landed headfirst onto a tree root.”

“How much do they know?”

“Nothing- they’re waiting in the lobby for an update now.”

The doctor sighed and told the nurse to call in the family. Coma patients were always difficult to manage and to treat but speaking with the family of the patient was even harder. There was no telling if the patient had brain damage- and how bad the damage was- until they woke up, if they ever did wake up. She hated having to explain details to the family members, seeing hope drain from their eyes only to be replaced by fear and worry. Although, she was intrigued by the coma patient laying before her; the man showed signs of brain activity, which was very promising. He displayed the usual signs- small finger twitches and subtle responses to stimuli such as temperature and pressure- but he had one very irregular symptom in particular: every so often, he would mutter under his breath. The first few times she heard it while their team was trying to stabilize his vitals. He made a few mumbled noises while they were giving him an IV and she thought she was imagining things. After his heartbeat returned to normal and his wounds were all stitched up, she heard it again. It sounded like the same word, almost like he was trying to say ‘trips’ or ‘flips’ or something.  

How strange, she thought as the tearful family filed into the room. It’s a miracle that he’s able to perform any non-essential motor functions in this state. Damage or not, his brain is most definitely active- he’s probably seeing some interesting dreams right now.

Well, either dreams or memories.