Chapter 13

The next second that Scarlett left his house, Zander made a call to Ryan. " She just left." He said and Ryan told him that he would be there in 30 minutes. Zander thought about the things that she said. How can a person act so calm when there was so much trouble that they were going through. Didn't people who lose their memory make a tantrum if they couldn't remember anything? Why was Scarlett's reaction so lethargic?

He took out a fresh notebook from his bookshelf and started writing down his observations, a habit from his archaeological brain. He jotted down points about her behaviour, social awkwardness, the way she reacted when they spoke of the term 'childhood'. The things she had just told him and that was when Ryan entered. Zander left the door open for him to get in.

" What are you writing down?" He enquired. " She told me some things, I'm literally under shock," Zander answered as he waved his hands in the air. " What did she tell you? " Ryan asked as he rubbed his chin with his thumb.

Zander handed him the book and asked him to read everything. His observation went up to 6 pages. Ryan took his time and read it while Zander made black coffee for both of them and placed a cup on the center table and sipped on his. " This is some serious stuff!" Ryan exclaimed. " I was sure that she had memory loss, but not to this extent."

" What can we do about it? I thought that I'll take her to Eduardo, he's a neurologist in the town hospital and maybe arrange some counselling session." Zander told Ryan who was listening intently. " According to me, you should probably make her go for counselling first. It might be helpful to trigger something in her." " But don't you think that it might become too late? What if it's better to take her to a doctor first?" He was right because if a trigger was what she needed then she should have been able to remember everything. Her family and pictures must have been a big trigger. Now that got Ryan, Zander was right.

" Let's go and meet Eduardo tomorrow. We'll ask him what to do." Ryan finally concluded and Zander agreed with him. Zander didn't know why he was having a bad feeling about this. He knew that he wanted to help her out, but would it be worth it?

Zander didn't sleep that night, he couldn't. Whenever his eyes closed he got a picture of Scarlett smiling at him, it was disturbing. Would he be able to preserve that cheerful smile of his brunette friend? He kept glancing at the clock and saw that the time was working against him, it didn't seem to get any late. He got up and decided to stroll around the small park in front of his apartment.

He slipped on his slippers and put on a shirt before locking his apartment from outside and walking to the park. He walked along the pavement and looked around at the sleeping locality. All the lights were off except for the street light on the farther end from the park.

" Zander! You're just behaving like an old man! Climb on the slide!" He turned around and saw Scarlett sitting on top of the slide. " You're going to fall down! Come here, Letta!" He whisper-yelled, not wanting to wake anyone. Something fell in his left eye and he shut his eyes shut and squeezed them. He wiped his left eye with his hand and looked back at the slide, she was gone. " Letta?! Where did you go?" He asked and walked around and found no one.

He was imagining her, why was his mind playing tricks on him? He sat on the small bench and gazed at the stars. He took his phone from his pocket and scrolled through the pictures on his phone, most of which were of him and his Letta. He looked at a few pictures and saw that she was genuinely happy in them. A smile graced his own lips as he saw the pictures.

A text message came through and the name 'Letta' flashed on the screen. He opened the message and it was a short one with three words. 'I can't sleep' He smiled furthermore and typed his reply.

Z: Same here...

Letta: In the park?

Zander was surprised, how did she know that he was sitting in the park?

Z: Yea... How did you know?

Letta: I guessed.

Z: Close your eyes, Letta... Sleep...

Letta: You too. Go back to your room and sleep.

Z: Ok, but u first.

Letta: After u go back to your room.

Z: Alright, your majesty.

Zander got up and walked to his apartment. He opened the door and locked it once he was in and went to his room.

Z: I'm sitting on my bed, now close your eyes.

Letta: Good... Good night, Zander :)

Z: Night :)

Zander placed his phone on his nightstand and lay down on his bed, closing his eyes he drifted to a long slumber with a smile on his face. The same expression was plastered on Scarlett's face as she closed her eyes.

" When was the appointment?" Ryan asked Zander as they sat in the waiting room of the town hospital. " 12 " Zander replied and chatted away on his phone with his father. " I'm starving! Why can't he let us in now?" Ryan whined and started pacing around, they were the only ones who were sitting there as they were visitors. " The visitors are allowed to meet the doctor only at noon. Calm down! It's just a matter of 15 more minutes..." " What are you talking about?! It's not just 15 minutes! It's literally 900 seconds!" Overreacting like always, hunger got the best of Ryan. Zander ignored his friend's hunger tantrum and laughed at the picture his father sent him, his mother was fighting with him, he was clicking pictures and sending it to Zander.

His parents made such a cute couple. He looked around and found Ryan munching on a chocolate bar. His left hand was clutching three more bars, he gave Zander a cheeky grin and asked him if he wanted one. " Don't answer that, I'm not giving you any of these babies. You mean, tall idiot." Zander had only opened his mouth to say no, but well, he wouldn't have gotten it even if he said yes.

" You're just jealous that you're short." Zander snickered and earned a nasty look from Ryan who had chocolate smeared all over his mouth.

" Zander! Ryan! How have you both been?!" Eduardo's voice stopped the two from anymore bickering. Zander gave him a firm hug. " Don't touch me with your sticky hands!" Eduardo shrieked as Ryan was about to hug him. " It's just chocolate!" What a baby Ryan was!

They went ahead and took a seat in a decent restaurant just beside the hospital, which happened to lift Ryan's hunger crankiness. " What happened Zander? What help do you need? I could have taken a day off after you called me today in the morning, but one of my important patients had an appointment with me today." " It's alright, Ed. I want you to help out my Letta." Zander said with a determined expression on his face.

" Hold it! Come again? Your Letta? Who is that? Your girlfriend?" Eduardo was smiling at Zander and wriggling his eyebrows. " No, she is my best friend," Zander said and slapped Ryan as he made a whistling sound. " Yea, just a friend who hides in his room every time someone comes to visit him," Ryan smirked. " Stop it! She's just scared of new people! You won't understand how she feels! Shut up shorty!" Zander burst out and Eduardo knew he had to stop this ruckus.

" How do you want me to help?" He asked after they ordered food. Zander gave him the notebook in which he wrote down his observations. " Read it, you'll know." He answered.