He woke up feeling extremely displaced. There was a swimming pain in his brains and his tongue felt like sandpaper abrading his raw throat. Slowly, as he regained some semblance of consciousness, the smell of disinfectant hit him. He almost regretted waking up his senses for he hated the astringent stench- it made him nauseous.

So he struggled up and tried to run for the bathroom to throw up. However, pulling pain restricted him from moving anywhere. Studying his surroundings, he was distracted from the giddiness he felt by the unfamiliarity of the place he was in. Baffled, he gazed helplessly at the situation he was in before some knowledge from the corner of his mind registered and told him that it was IV tubes embedded into his flesh that kept him bonded to his bed. Combined with smell and the whiteness of everything assaulting his visual, he knew he was in a dreaded place called the hospital.

Staring at his hands, he was shocked to see swelled lines running amok along his forearm like railway tracks heading in all directions. Gingerly, he touched his head and there was a bandage holding a piece of gauze stuck to his forehead in place.

The door opened then and a young nurse with straight light brown hair swishing down her shoulders walked, no, glided in. He smiled tentatively, a little frightened of the lovely, foreign face. Her eyes lit up when she saw him sitting up on his bed and hurried over to his bedside.

"That’s fast; we were expecting you to wake up later in the morning. I’m Anne Lear." She beamed while she fussed over him, recording some statistics into the paper on the clipboard she detached from the foot of his bed. Finally, she set the clipboard down on a vacant spot on his bed and retrieved a thermometer from her side pocket. Slipping a plastic sheath over it, she motioned for him to put it in his mouth.

He obeyed, glad for something to be preoccupied with as he tongue-wrestled with the thermometer which kept threatening to slip out from his mouth. Common sense floated to him- directing him to use his hands to hold on to the escaping entity. He must have been pretty noisy for she turned around from whatever she was doing with a curious look on her mien and he blushed.

"Don’t worry. I can imagine how flustered you must feel. You’ll settle down in no time so take it easy." She spoke softly with a comforting smile. Strangely, he did feel better and even in his confused state of mind which was thick and heavy with cotton wool, he could tell she must be a very kind person for her loveliness radiated from a warmly glowing source that seemed to reside within her- she set him at ease.

The thermometer beeped and she retrieved it from him. Frowning, she recorded the temperature down and poured a glass of water for him.

"Sip it slowly, don’t hurry. You may not know me, Elijah, but I do know who you are. Isaiah’s on his way and he’s ecstatic that you are alive and well. I’m a close friend of his… Elijah? Are you all right?"

He narrowed his eyes and held the glass tightly with both his hands, frustrated for he could not decipher her coded message.

"Are you all right?" She asked again- her face a mask of stark concern.

He stared blankly at her and finally realized why his mind was so fogged up. He closed his eyes to try and remember things and was hit by a sudden sense of fear and need to run away. Other than the fear, his mind turned out blank.

Gasping for breath, he dropped the glass of water and its liquid contents spilled over his lap which was covered in woolly blanket. Pressing a palm to the gauze on his forehead, he pounded hard at it but he could not recall anything.

Anne hovered over him with grimly set features. She gently extricated his hand away from his wound and pressed a bell next to his bed. Moments later, a doctor arrived.

***

"Amnesia? My brother can’t have amnesia! What kind of sick fate is that?" Isaiah rose up angrily and felt a surge of rage rushing through him. Whenever he thought of the man Elijah had become, his faith took a beating. It was not that he did not believe in God- he just could not believe that God would let life torture his brother so. And he could not believe that a demonic man like his father could be a creation made in the image of the Almighty.

So he questioned and lamented. His heart sank when he believed that everything was pointless until Bayport Police contacted him. By a stroke of blessing, Anne had been placed in charge of Elijah and she recognized his name which they gotten from his driver’s license found on him. Joy brought long overdue cheer to his cheeks. He rushed down all the way from Manhattan to Bayport armed with daily rehearsed heartfelt apologies and hopes that everything would turn out for the better finally.

Doctor Mersing calmed him down and Lynn pulled at his arms, her luminous black eyes pleaded for him to sit down. Had it not for Lynn, he would have told God that His wondrous creation was going to hell. But through Lynn, God saved him. Lynn restored his faith in the trust that there was still some goodness in the world to fight for. She brought love and hope back into his life. Looking into her worried and reproachful mien, Isaiah saw the love behind and his anger at the Almighty disappeared. Before him was a blessing beyond measure. One day, he would find the right way to let her know.

"It is highly possible that his condition is only temporary. Elijah will regain his memory slowly and in the meantime, you should offer whatever support you can. He could get forgetful, agitated and confused. He needs a lot of care and understanding." Dr. Mersing spoke to Isaiah in the tone adults used with misbehaving children. Isaiah bit his tongue for a moment- embarrassed by his anger at everything and everyone for Elijah’s amnesia.

It was perhaps better for Elijah to forget about his past in totality so he could start anew. Then it dawned upon Isaiah- this could be his one chance to be the brother he was not. Now, he thanked God furiously and prayed that Elijah would be so much happier now that the baggage of the past was literally out of his mind.

Isaiah had not realized that there was an elated grin on his face. When his sight refocused onto Dr. Mersing, he noticed the poor man was shocked. Lynn looked at him oddly as well and he shook his head, wiping that beam off. They would not understand. Lynn knew Elijah was badly abused as a child and the aftermath of the torment marked each step he took in future. However, Lynn did not know the gory details and he could not unload it to her. The visits to the three women- the three Fates-had revealed Elijah’s guarded secrets to Isaiah. With them, Isaiah constructed a childhood so horrifyingly inhumane that even evil would bow down to in awe.

Isaiah only took comfort in knowing that somewhere deep down inside, Elijah’s soul still managed to survive though it struggled almost futilely to claw its way out of the quicksand and into the sun. After all, Elijah saved the girl when he did not have to. At that instant, the ice thawed and he was Lijah again.

"I’ll like to see him now." Isaiah spoke quietly though his flaming green eyes commanded the request be granted. Lynn peered sincerely into the doctor’s eyes in support of her husband’s demand. The doctor, knowing a lost cause when he saw one, nodded his permission and they left his office to see Anne waiting for them outside. Lynn smiled strenuously at her. Isaiah could sense the discomfiture Anne had towards Lynn as well.

"Ready to see him? I just chased the police officers away." She spoke to Isaiah with a shaky smile, trying too hard to be casual. Lynn took Isaiah’s hand and held on to it tightly as Anne indicated the way to Elijah’s ward.

"Ready" Isaiah smiled with as much mirth as he could to ease the tension and he gripped Lynn’s hand firmly and reassuringly. For all her spunk, Lynn had feelings of insecurities that he could not quite comprehend.

Anne nodded and led them down the hallway and up a flight of stairs. When Isaiah entered Elijah’s room, he found Elijah sitting up on his bed, flipping through a comic book which was resting on the bed’s attached table. He laughed softly- a sound so familiar and yet, sweetly new. Isaiah felt peace for the first time- a real kind of peace. Now, he was convinced that amnesia was good for Elijah. Very good indeed.

"Elijah, somebody’s here to see you… your brother…" Anne chimed while she softly walked over to Elijah and patted him on his shoulder. Elijah, so terribly engrossed in his readings, broke away from the comic and gazed up at Isaiah with a smile. Soon, the smile faded into something regretful and sad- and Isaiah thought his heart had sunken into his stomach.

"I can’t remember you… " Elijah apologized as his deep blue eyes hooded over with guilt. For the first time in many years, Isaiah saw raw emotions in Elijah’s eyes. Joy, amusement, some faint hope and now, guilt. Whatever it was, it was definitely better than seeing twin, indifferent stars.

"I’m so sorry… I just can’t seem to place… never mind. I told the police officers the same things. I hope they don’t suspect me… I just remember running away from someone or something..." Elijah summarized his experience with the police, biting his lower lips in both apprehension and frustration.

Isaiah hurried over to his brother’s side and Anne stepped aside to make way for him. He stroked the white blond hair that had grown since he last saw Elijah lovingly. Elijah had shaved his head bald then.

"Take your time, you can’t hurry these things." He advised gently, smiling encouragingly at the heartwarmingly genial mien.

"I just feel funny… oh well, it’ll all come back to me. You guys look like good people. Good people are meant to be remembered." He grinned at all of them happily. Isaiah stifled down a choke.

"Say, I’m just wondering…" Elijah pointed at the comics, "do I used to like these things? I’m so drawn to them…"

"You did… you loved them to death when you were a child." Isaiah replied softly- almost unable to find his voice.

However, Elijah did not notice the somber tone. He snapped a finger and exclaimed jubilantly, "Ah! That explains it! This is my third digest since I woke up… wait… who’s that girl by the door?"

Lynn was slacked-jawed the entire time she was observing the scene but Isaiah saw her straightening immediately after Elijah noticed her. Isaiah knew where her shock came from- Lynn had not known Lijah. The Elijah she knew had left a most distasteful impression on her though she knew the reasons behind his drone-like characteristics.

After mustering up a smile, she hesitantly walked over and stood next to Isaiah. "I’m Lynn, Wen Li- Lin. Your sister- in- law."

"Wen Li-Lin… Li-lin?" Elijah repeated her name with precise Chinese diction and once again, Lynn was shocked. Not only her but Isaiah and Anne as well.

"What?" Elijah looked at them, perplexity lacing his arched brows.

‘You spoke Chinese…" Lynn gazed at him in blatant amazement. Elijah scratched his head.

"Was that Chinese?"

"That was certainly Chinese unless I am mistaken all my life."

"Well, all right..." Elijah began cautiously. "There’s no need to get too excited… you must have heard me speaking it before…hey! Did I learn Chinese from you?" He grabbed Lynn’s hands suddenly and asked her in all earnest. Lynn could only shake her head and smile.

Elijah had the widest smile on his face. "At least I’m remembering something…"

As he rambled on in his jubilation at having some of his previous knowledge back, Anne had walked out of the room. Isaiah listened to all that Elijah had to say without hearing anything but that of the beating of his own heart in relief and release. Had he less control over his overpowering emotions, he would have keeled over with crippling tears.

Only he did not know if it would be tears in pure, adulterated joy.

Anne came back a few moments later and dumped more comic books onto the table, shutting Elijah’s chatters up finally as his eyes devoured the digests hungrily.

"You’re certainly very chatty now!" She chided him sternly but chuckled when his face fell, almost ashamed.

"I’m sorry… I…" He shrugged and Isaiah saw Elijah’s cheeks turned crimson. Heightened intuition told him that Elijah had a growing affection for perhaps the first person, as he remembered now, who showed him some form of concern.

"Is Chinese difficult to master? Did I learn it with ease?" Elijah got over his embarrassment as quickly as it started and asked Lynn and Isaiah hopefully. Lynn nodded while Isaiah fumbled for a generic answer for his brother while his eyes strayed over to Elijah’s hands. The long sleeves were rolled up and he gazed upon the scars with morbid fascination while his answer came out almost trance-like.

"I think you learned it pretty well."

"I must be very smart." Elijah’s voice was gleeful with childish delight. Anne laughed. Even Lynn giggled.

"How consoled we are!" Anne teased him. Isaiah looked up then from the hypnotic scars just in time to see Elijah’s alabaster cheeks flushing another deep shade of pink.