Remember Me Spain

Chapter 15

The day finally came for Ales' memory transfer, which had to be scheduled much earlier than we had anticipated. But it wasn't surprising. Since his entrance into the hospital Ales' condition seemed to have deteriorated much faster than Juno had anticipated. And no matter what they did the hospital could no longer sustain him. This was all enormously stressful for everyone. Due to the stress I had returned to smoking weed, which I purchased from a local stoner kid I had run into by chance. And whatever he grew gave me a good buzz and for a brief time would allow me to forget the events that were happening around me.

It was late spring and the day of his memory transfer was a stormy one. I debated whether to go or not. The rain pounded on the roof of the house, the wind howled and shook the windows. Despite the shitty conditions, though, I convinced myself to go after getting a call from Nathaniel. Before heading over, however, I rolled myself a joint for afterwards. No doubt I would need it.

After battling the storm I finally managed to reach the hospital. By the time I got there I was tired and soaked to the bone. Already, I felt like I needed a smoke. As I walked to Ales' room I pushed back my wet hair and wiped the water from my face. When I entered the room I found Nathaniel, Lysander and Sophia already sitting around his bed. With them, Juno was there attaching Ales to the machine, which was against the wall. The machine itself was big and took up a good portion of the room. Attached to its side was a large, black, container, which I guessed was used for the actual collection of the memories. Funny, I had pictured it differently.

No one looked at me when I entered. So I took a seat at the end of the bed and placed my hands in my lap. With the exception of the machines, the room was silent.

Finally, I had to break the silence. "Are you scared?" I asked, almost in a whisper.

Of course, the others glared at me. Well, mostly Lysander glared. Sophia and Nathaniel briefly glanced disapprovingly at me for breaking the silence. As usual, Ales remained calm.

Ales shook his head. "Not at all. We all have our time to die. Death shouldn't be something scary."

"I see," I told him, looking down at my lap.

Juno cleared his throat and stepped forward. "It's time everyone. Is there anything anyone would like to say?" She asked.

"You'll be missed Ales," Sophia said, placing a gentle hand on his arm and kissed his cheek. When she pulled away, she wiped away her tears with a Kleenex.

"Said everything I needed too already," Lysander grunted, taking a swig from a small flask. No doubt full of whisky or rum. I saw Juno ignore the flask. It was obvious that she was allowing him to break the rules just this once.

Nathaniel remained silent. Ales and Nathaniel stared at each other, again having another one of their silent conversations. This glance was held for several minutes before Nathaniel finally broke away. He smiled and patted Ales on the shoulder. This left the last of the final words to me. I would have to choose my words carefully.

I looked at Ales with soft eyes. Faintly at first I could hear the sound of my heart rising into my ears, my breath becoming shallow. I gripped my pants and bit my lip.

"I..." I began, twisting my hands together. "I..." There was a pause. "I love you Ales!" I blurted.

All eyes turned to me in shock. Even Ales' face looked at me with a slightly shocked expression. I gasped and bit my lip.

"Amaris..." Sophia began.

I leaned forward, my hands clenched tightly into fists. "I know I've known you for only a few months and you're dying, but you've brought up feelings I haven't felt in centuries. I see things in you that I normally don't see in others. And in a strange way, you complete me," I explained. "And already I feel like a piece of me is breaking away because..." I paused and looked down at my lap again. "You're my imzadi."