Uncontrollable Happenings

Sirens are flooding the streets of downtown Boston, more than usual. Cars pulling over to let ambulances and police through. A dark stormy sky above, pavement saturated in rain, windshield wipers moving faster than an animal getting chased by its predator. The buildings seeming higher than usual to Marleigh. She woke up in a panic with EMT’s above her. “Why are you here? I must have fallen asleep, I’m FINE!” as she forces herself off the ground in her sopping wet clothes. As she was getting up an EMT had to get her and sit her back down. “Ma’am sit down your head is bleeding, we need to take a look.” As Marleigh is getting her head examined she starts to feel sick and before she knew it, she fell down from her sitting on the ground to now, again, laying on the ground.

 ***

Marleigh woke up in a beautiful hospital room decorated with flowers and her artwork, surrounded by her family, including her mom who she hasn’t spoken to in years. The confused look on her face worried everyone. She thought to herself “Who are these people?” 

“Marleigh, do you know who these people are?” Dr. Craftsman asked with a smile on her face. Marleigh just looked at everyone, dazed and confused. “No, get them out of my room.” Instantly her family all talked over one another saying who they are, which in turn was only making Marleigh more frustrated. She was in a room full of people who to her were strangers. Dr. Craftsman escorted them all out as they are all begging to stay. 

“Marleigh do you remember what happened?”

“No, I don’t remember anything, who are those people? Why am I here? Do I even own a house? How old am I? I have no recollection of anything.”

“We’re going to run some tests and do some scans on your brain, you hit your head pretty hard, you were in a car accident, the driver of the car got you out of the car and fled the scene, police are looking for him now. Do you remember who you were with? I also need to ask if you have been doing any drugs, we have done a Tox Screen and found some things.”

“I would NEVER do any of that, this is ridiculous get me out of here!”

The doctors brought Marleigh to get an MRI and bloodwork done. While she sits and waits for the doctors to come back, she starts remembering things, but unusual things. Marleigh viciously clicks her “Call Nurse” button on her bed until a nurse showed up. She very quickly starts explaining to her nurse that the things she is remembering don’t seem right. She explains that everything she’s “remembering” does not add up. All she keeps seeing is a big beautiful house, with light grey walls and a big TV, 2 kids running around yelling “I’m telling mom!” and a man she doesn’t recognize but those kids are calling him dad and to those kids she is mom.

“Do I have kids?” Marleigh asks with a shake in her voice

“As far as I know from being told by your family, you do not, you’re 23 and live with your best friend in South Boston and have been moved out since 18 and have not talked to your mom since you were 16.”

“All I’m remembering is me having 2 kids, can you explain this?”

Her doctor was at a loss for words and wanted to run more tests to get second opinions.

Marleigh anxiously waited for more test results to come back, its been 6 days now, a long, boring, confusing 6 days in this hospital that now feels like home because she doesnt know what her old home feels like. Dr. Craftsman walked in the room with a smile on her face “You get to go home today!” Marleigh looked at her slightly concerned, “Why am I going home if I dont even know what home is to me?” Her doctor explained to her that she was going to go back to her dads house and he was going to take care of her and watch her and help her try to remember the past. Marleigh feels like shes going home with a stranger because she doesnt even remember her father, she slightly remembers some things, but not all and its only because he had the doctors show her pictures and videos from her childhood to help her remember.

“You ready kiddo?” her dad, Mike, cheerfully asked.

“No, but I guess I have to be.” 

***

Mike showed Marleigh all around the house, it was nothing like she had in her memories, her memories had a big house with light grey walls. The house she was brought to had musty yellow and white walls and it was much smaller than the house she kept having memory of. 

“Dad? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure thing, what’s going on?”

“Every memory I have, or at least that I think I have seems more like a goal than a memory, it seems like I’m living in the future with my memories, not the past. I pictured a different house, different colors, 2 kids and a man who MY children called Dad, but I don’t even know who he is.”

“Well Mar, that’s why you came home with me, the doctors suspected memory loss but they are unsure of where all these ‘memories’ are coming from, so I took a few weeks off from work to keep an eye on you to make sure you’re going to be okay. None of us are sure where these ‘memories’ came from, but the only thing they could think of was something was triggered in your brain when you got in your accident and it made you see what you have as a perfect plan for the future.”

Marleigh didn’t know what to say, she walked away into what apparently used to be her bedroom.

As she laid there staring at the ceiling fan she dozed off until her father called her downstairs for dinner.

***

Three weeks have past and Marleigh keeps having ‘memories’ of new things, none of which add up with what her father knows. In her memories, they got a puppy, she doesn’t know its name, but its a boy and he’s a Lab.

“Dad, I’m going to that restaurant down the road for lunch!” She yells across the yard while hes repainting his shed.

Marleigh sat down by herself and ordered a glass of water, a cup of French Onion Soup and a House Salad with Balsamic dressing. As she’s taking a bite of her soup she can’t help but stare at a man sitting across the restaurant, tall, black hair, glasses, a beard and mustache. It clicks to her that this is the man she has been seeing in her memories. She thinks of ways to approach him but doesn’t want to approach him and say you’ve been in my memories. She finally builds up the courage once she’s done eating and paying her bill to walk over to him. 

“You sitting alone? Can I join?” She asked with a smile on her face.

“Can I at least get your name first?”

“Oh, excuse me I’m sorry my name is Marleigh, and you?”

“Keegan, now sit down lets have a coffee.”

Marleigh can’t help but blurt out “I’m sorry I know this is strange and I know you probably won’t believe me, don’t think I’m crazy but I was in an accident and I suffered from memory loss and have no recollection of the past and all I can see is what I can assume to be what I hope for in my future and you look exactly like the man in those ‘memories’ I sustain.”

Keegan looked at her confused but with a smile on his face. “I’m terribly sorry you were in an accident and suffered that memory loss, but what is even more crazy than that is IF that future you’ve been dreaming of has me in it, I would love to be in it.”

Marleigh didn’t know what to say, she was speechless that he had just said that. She didn’t know whether to be happy or scared, afterall she doesn’t know this man at all besides a sip of coffee and blurting out about her ‘memories’. “Oh, I have to go.” She said as she wrote her number on a napkin, “Call me!”

It’s been two days and no word from Keegan, she wondered if she had done or said something wrong. “Did I scare him off? Did he just say he wants to be part of my future because I sounded crazy and he wanted me to feel better?” She thought to herself. 

“Hey Dad, I’m going to take a nap I’ll be down for dinner later!”

Before Mike could even respond she shut her door, put her headphones on and fell asleep.

“Marleigh, it’s 10 a.m you slept all night!” as he knocks on her door.

“Marleigh?” He gets no response. He opens her door and finds her on the ground unconscious. He rushes her to the hospital.

Luckily, Marleighs doctor was there, she took her right away, she was still unconscious and had a light pulse. They put her on oxygen and headed to an MRI. Mike impatiently waited in the waiting room to see what was going on. 

“Mike, Marleigh has a severe brain bleed she needs to go into surgery now.”

Mike didn’t know what to say so he nodded his head and called the family, scared, with no answers for anyone besides “She has a brain bleed.”

6 hours, it has been 6 hours. The whole family is there, worried, pacing around the waiting room, crying. 

“Excuse me, Mike?”

“Yes thats me.”

“Come with me.”

They walked down a long dark hallway into a conference room where she had no good news. 

“Mike, Marleigh passed away, the brain bleed was under control and we lost her once but brought her back, but unfortunately the second time, the bleed got worse and she lost all oxygen to her brain, we did everything we could, we are so very sorry.”

The room went silent, Mike didn’t know what to do, he went to say goodbye while the doctors informed the rest of the family.

The day of Marleighs funeral, a random man showed up, Mike asked him who he was and he said “I’m Keegan, I met your daughter at the restaurant down the road from here, she explained to me that I was the man in her ‘memories’ and I was supposed to call her and never did until yesterday. When she didn’t answer I was beside myself thinking I messed up by not calling sooner. I was reading the paper and found her obituary, I thought the least I could do was pay my respects to your family after she had told me I was the man in her memories and one day, we would have been family.” Mike didn’t know what to say, he reached out for a handshake but found himself giving Keegan a hug while crying.

“My babygirl didn’t get her happy ending she had wished for but I have some type of peace knowing that she found her happy ending, although she didn’t experience it, I could tell the day she met you, she was happier when she came home. Thank you for living in her ‘memories’. I would like it if we could get to know each other sometime, I will tell you all about her.” Mike couldn’t help but tear up, “I would love to, Sir.”

“Please, call me Dad, in honor of Marleigh.”