Forget Me Not

Kevin and Steve tumbled into bed after a heavy night drinking. They made a clumsy attempt at sex, but when that failed they rolled together and slept soundly until just after sunrise. Kevin started tossing and turning so much it awoke Steve who looked towards Kevin, listened to his unintelligible mutterings and became concerned by his increasingly frantic movements.

“Hey buddy, what’s happening?” Steve asked as he shook Kevin awake.

“Mmm...what...oh this is terrible.”

“What is?”

“This disease that’s spreading around the world, killing millions of people, including my Gran. I miss her so much.”

“Sorry about your Gran, but I think you’re just dreaming.”

“Dreaming? No, we all have to be careful not to get infected.”

“Your dream must have been a rough one with all that thrashing around.”

Kevin looked at Steve and asked “Hey, who are you?”

“I told you my name last night, I’m Steve.”

“Steve...wait...I don’t think you are; at least you’re not my Steve.”

“That’s true. I don’t think a one night stand makes me yours, but my Mum calls me Steve, so must be.”

“Where am I, whose bed is this?”

“My flat and my bed. Don’t you remember last night?”

“Last night, what about last night? Hey where’s my phone?”

“Probably on the floor somewhere, you were so keen last night you peeled off your clothes as soon as we were through the door.”

Kevin crawled around amongst a jumble of discarded jeans, jocks and shirts till he found his phone. With trembling hands he just managed to select phone book then swiped down to G, selected the number and pressed call.

“Hello, can I help you?”

“Who’s this” he demanded “I want to speak to my Gran.”

“Well what a rude young man you seem to be. As you made the call I think it is incumbent upon you to identify yourself first.”

“I’m Kevin and I want to speak to Gran.”

“You’re Kevin, Daniel’s boy?”

“Daniel...oh yes, now why are you answering Gran’s phone what’s happened to her?”

“Nothing Kevin, she’s in the bathroom, she shouldn’t be long. In the meantime I think it’s appropriate for me to introduce myself. I’m Candida, your aunt, well a cousin actually.”

“Do I know you?”

“I’m your grandmother’s niece, cousin of your father so that makes us second cousins.”

“I don’t care who you are I just want to talk to Gran.”

“Won’t be long, I can hear the bowl flushing now. Wait up sweetie.”

After a short delay he heard “It’s for you Beryl, Kevin your grandson, is he always so rude and wound up.”

“That’s not like Kevin.” Beryl took the phone and said “Hello Kevin, Gran here, what’s wrong?”

“Oh Gran you are alive.”

“Yes Kevin, I’m alive, what did you expect? Sorry there won’t be any will reading today.”

“What... oh no I didn’t mean that, it’s just that I thought you died from this deadly virus spreading around the world.”

“No I didn’t die, I’m safe and sound here and Candida is staying with me for a while. She’s just come back to Australia after twenty years away, I barely recognised.”

A confused Kevin said “That’s nice Gran... I’ll go now that I’m assured you’re well. We’ll talk later. Bye Gran.”

 

As he hung up he looked at the stranger he slept with, who said “I couldn’t help overhearing, but that was a strange conversation, from this side anyway.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what’s happening. I feel like I’m in the middle of a pandemic thing and I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”

“I did warn you against taking those pills last night. You don’t know what they were.”

“I don’t take pills.”

“You did last night, just about everyone in your party did. Damn fools playing Russian roulette with unknown substances. You’re all mad. Now while you get your gear on, I’ll make some coffee, unless ya wanna pick up where we left off last night. I don’t think we got very far, you just went all limp, not just your dick.”

“Yeah whatever, I think I’ll take the coffee option, thanks all the same.”

Kevin dressed, followed the smell of the coffee to the small kitchen and perched on a bar stool.

“There you go, get that inta ya, will make you feel more human.”

“Thanks, now tell me how did we meet?”

“You really did get wiped out, didn’t ya? I was the stripper for your party at the Bottoms Up Bar.”

“What party?”

“It was a graduation party for your arty farty friends.”

“I’ve graduated, I suppose that’s good, but can’t remember it...Stripper?... My brother is supposed to the stripper at that bar.”

“Who’s your brother?”

“Ah...Jason.”

“He’s not a stripper, he’s the bar manager. In fact he owns the bar. Although, now that you mention it, I think he told me he used to strip before he bought the bar.”

“He owns the bar?”

“I thought you said he was your brother.”

“He is, but I don’t remember him buying the bar.”

“So tell me more about this dream of yours, sounds scary.”

“But it doesn’t seem like a dream to me, it still feels real. There is this virus, came from China and spread around the world to every country. Millions infected and so many people died. They just can’t stop it spreading.”

“Sounds like a sci-fi movie plot. So how does it end?”

 “I don’t know, it’s still going on as far as I know.”

“No...you’re awake now, so it’s ended.”

“Hey there was one funny thing happened. Donald Trump was the president of the US.”

“That rich guy from the apprentice show? What a hoot.”

“Yeah so I suppose it must have been a dream.”

“That must have been some seriously hallucinatory shit you swallowed last night.” But Kevin wasn’t listening, he was deep in thought.

“Wait...did you say what a hoot?”

“Yeah, means fun, lots of laughs and such.”

“I know what it means. Steve says that.”

“Yeah, I’m Steve and I just said it.”

“No, the other Steve, I think he’s my boyfriend.”

Kevin watched the images in his head for a few moments then picked up his phone, went to S in his phone book, swiped down a bit then asked. “Did you give me your number last night?”

“I don’t think so, why, do you want it now.”

“No, I’ve already got it, unless....”

“Unless what?”

“Where’s your phone.”

“Here in my pocket.”

“Just wait while I call this number...The number’s ringing but your phone’s not ringing.”

 

“Hello my man. I was about to call you again, been leaving messages all day.”

“Is this Steve?”

“Of course, my voice probably sounds a bit different over the satellite connection.”

“Where are you Steve?”

“London, I’m on a three day layover, but I told you that.”

“Oh...yes...I must have forgotten.” he lied.

“Anyway, how are the preparations going?”

“Preparations?”

“For our big day. Sorry to leave you with all this. I told them I didn’t want any long haul this month, but when Jeremy’s wife went into premature labour he stood down and I was on standby.”

“Yes, of course.” he answered, but the image of Steve’s explanation was still not focussed in Kevin’s mind.

“London’s just so beautiful this time of year. Wish you were here to see it. The roses are in bloom everywhere, the old buildings are a honey colour in the spring sunshine and even the Thames glistens in the midday sun. I can see the eye from my hotel room; I know you’d just love it. Hey, I know, we’ll come here for our honeymoon. It might be a delayed honeymoon by the time we make arrangements, but we’ll do it, hey!”

“Honeymoon?...yes of course.”

“Kevin, you sound a bit vague, are to all right?”

“Just tired and a bit hung over. Apparently I had a big night last night at our graduation party.”

“Apparently?”

“I don’t remember much of it.”

“Why don’t you take some Panadols and sleep it off.”

“Yeah, might do that.”

“I have to go now, the shuttle will be here soon and I haven’t even packed. I’ll be home Tuesday morning, Sydney time. Can’t wait to give you a big hug. Love you.”

“Yes... love you too... bye.”

 

“So?” asked Steve.

“Yes, that was my boyfriend Steve... he’s in London...I think he’s a flight steward...he’ll be home soon...we have a big day coming up... I think I’m getting married.”

“You think you’re getting married?”

“I’m not sure of anything at present. Just can’t get my head around who I am, where I am. One minute I’m in school, the next I’ve graduated from college. My Gran’s dead and then she’s not. My boyfriend is just doing his HSC and then he’s in London. What’s happening to me?”

“I think the first thing you need is to get some food and water into your system and try to neutralise whatever that shit was you took last night. Why don’t you make some eggs and toast for us. Everything you need is in the fridge. While you do that, I’ll call a friend of mine. He’s a nurse at a drug rehab centre and usually knows what’s going around town.”

“You think it’s the drugs?”

“Unless you have some other condition you’re not telling me about, then that’s my best guess.”

Kevin busied himself with preparing the breakfast and had it ready just as Steve returned to the kitchen.

“Well, I think we may have the answer to your problem. I just spoke with Will from Odyssey House. He always has his ear to the ground getting all the latest info on the drug scene. It seems there’s a new one circulating in Sydney. It’s a synthetic drug they call, forget me not, on the streets. They don’t know too much about it, but from reports they have it gives you an extreme high and a sense of euphoria while awake. Then when sleeping you have extremely vivid and convincing dreams. When users wake up they are usually convinced that their dream is reality, as you seem to be experiencing. They also suffer from memory loss of recent events, like a temporary amnesia.”

“How long does this amnesia last?”

“About three days before the memory returns to normal, but comes back in flashes when something familiar triggers a memory.”

“Like when you said ‘what a hoot’ it reminded me of my boyfriend.”

“Yes, and when I said I was a stripper, it reminded you of your brother. By the way, he’s a great guy. He runs the bar really well, takes no nonsense from drunks or bullies, but if you do your job he’s a top boss.”

“Thanks, I’ll tell him that.”

 “Now the other problem with this substance is they don’t know if there will be any long term effects. Because this drug is so new they haven’t been able to do much research on it. But if what you took is the drug Will is talking about then you should be clear in a few days.”

“Thanks for doing that Steve. I would have been more of a mess without your help.”

“I’m glad you were here for me to help and to get Will’s expert advice. Speaking of which, do you want me to arrange an appointment for you to speak to a users’ support counsellor?”

“Thanks anyway, but I’m not a user and I don’t want this on record... Now that you mentioned counsellor... I’m getting a memory that my father is a counsellor of some sort.”

“Well that’s good, will you talk to your father about it?”

“Probably not, if I were to seek help it should be from a stranger, but it sounds like I’ll be ok.”

“By the way, great scrambled eggs, what’s your secret, they taste much better than mine.”

“I don’t know if it’s a secret recipe or wether I just made it up from what was available. For what it’s worth as a recipe, I put in cheese and a little of that prepared mild mustard.”

“Ah that’s the taste I couldn’t identify. I’ll remember that tip, cheese and mustard. Now tell me more about your dream.”