The Pact - Season 1: Episode 4

Two days later, the phone rang, and it was David. He apologized for not having called me the previous day, but he had been really busy, and was very tired in the evening. I was so happy that he had called, that I couldn’t let him know how I had waited for his call all day the day before.

“Anyway, I was wondering if you are free tonight?” Of course I was – I would be free anytime for David. So I said yes, and he told me he would come and pick me up about 8.

He drove to the park, and at first we walked aimlessly about. We talked about a lot of different things, but I could sense that David was nervous about something, and didn’t seem his normal cool self. It was as if there was something on his mind, and he couldn’t quite figure out how to say it. He finally led me to the swings, and as we were sitting down, he said,

“Michelle, I really like you – I mean, really, really like you. But there is something that I have to tell you about me, before things go any further.” So this was it.

“What?” I asked.“I’m so afraid that you would run away, or see me as a freak like Ellen did, when I tell you. But I’d rather tell you now, and then if you decide to leave, I will understand, even though I would really like you to stay.”

“David, whatever it is you have to tell me, and whatever I decide to do, I promise you I will not think of you as crazy or a freak. After all, everyone has strange things going through their minds as some point or other, don’t they?” He took a deep breath, and started his story,

“Remember how last time I told you about that guy, Tyrone, and how my life had changed since I met him?” I nodded. “Well, that wasn’t the proper order things happened. I started changing quite some time after. At first, there was something else.” I looked at him, and he went on, “At the beginning it was great hanging out with him. But then after a few days, the nightmares started. I would wake up screaming at night, sweating terribly, and afraid to go back to sleep. At first, this happened about once a week, but then they started occurring more frequently, until in the end it was every night. I don’t remember any of my nightmares, except for this one particular detail. I see Tyrone in the dream, holding a gun in his hand, except it’s not really Tyrone, it’s a boy of about eleven. But I just know it’s Tyrone; you know how dreams are. And I also know that somebody has just died. It’s terrible. And it’s always the same dream.”

“So you think this Tyrone is a killer?” I asked. He shook his head.

“No, I’m not saying that I have a sixth sense or anything. But there is something else which I haven’t told you. When I was younger, around the same age as the Tyrone in the dream, I had a terrible accident. I fell off my bicycle, and hit my head. I was in a coma for more than a week. When I came back to, I had lost most of my memory. My mother took me to a psychologist, but they realised that it was not because of the accident, but it was rather my mind shutting off some terrible experience. They knew that when I fell off the bike, I was running away from something, and so they thought it would be better if I did not remember.”

“So what does Tyrone have to do with your accident?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know. But I somehow feel that seeing him triggered off something in my mind. And that boy, and the gun, and the nightmares, they have something to do with my forgotten past. Anyway, I tried to avoid him for some time, and the nightmares seemed to stop. Then when I met him again, I was back to screaming at night. So I decided to stop hanging out with him. But during all this time, I had started changing, and Ellen, my ex, could not handle the situation very well. She was always little Miss Perfect, and now suddenly there was something wrong with her boyfriend, and she could not accept the fact. And the rest of our story, I told it to you last time.”

“But you said you broke up because you wanted different things, and not because she thought there was something wrong with you.” He sighed,

“Yes, that’s true. But somehow, I feel that all this change that had come over me, was somehow all tied to my childhood – the childhood that I had forgotten, and that I can’t remember, but that Tyrone had somehow triggered off.”

“But are you happy with this new life now?” I asked.

“Yes, I am. Happier than I’ve ever been. There are only a couple of things that are bothering me. The first one is Tyrone. When I get back to University in October, he will be there, and I’m afraid the nightmares will start all over again. And the other thing is that now that I want to be me, like you said the other day, I need to know my past. I need to know who I am, and where I am coming from, to help me understand better. But I’m also afraid that my past is too dark, and I would not be able to handle it.”

“Can’t you ask your parents?”

“I’ve tried once, but the only answer that I got, was that if they had felt it was for my best, they would have told me about it long ago. The fact that they never told me, just proves that I’m better off not knowing. But I don’t know if they’re right. And my sister Lynn holds their views too. So I guess, I have to find out things on my own.” He stopped talking, and we were silent for a few moments. Then he got up, and started walking around the park again.

I followed him, until he sat down on a bench. He remained silent, and would not even look at me. I could understand his pain right at that moment, and I wanted to assure him, that everything was ok.

“David, I am not going to run away from you. If you really believe it’s better for you to remember your past, then I’m going to support your beliefs. I just want you to be happy.”

He smiled at me, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“You’re amazing, Michelle. And you can’t understand how happy you have made today. Thanks for understanding.” I sighed.

“Isn’t it ironic? You don’t remember a past that you have lived, and I remember a past that everyone insists I have never lived.” He turned to look at me, a confused look on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I have all these vivid memories of my childhood, but everyone insists they never happened. My brother says he doesn’t remember any of it, and my parents tell me that I’m talking nonsense. No one seems to remember Sherwood, and that’s strange, because I was ten around that time, and so I should know better than to have imaginary friends by then.”

“Sherwood? I thought you were from Texas!”

“That’s what everybody says. But I know that I was ten when we had moved to Houston. Before that I remember us living in a small village in England named Sherwood. My brother doesn’t remember any of it, but I have even researched the internet, and I know that this little village does exist, and I could recognise some of the landscape too, although I should imagine that some of it might have changed in the past eight years.” He laughed uncertainly.

“Wow, we’re two of a kind. It’s funny how fate sometimes has a way of setting these things up, doesn’t it? So you remember everything that happened there?”

“I used to, but not anymore. By the time I was twelve, I had gotten so much used to everyone telling me that it was all in my mind, that I started believing it too, and so the memories started fading away. But sometimes, I really have some strong memory, like I would be shopping in a supermarket, and somehow remember the open-market that was held in the street behind our home. Or maybe on days like these, when I am in a park, I somehow have flashes of the woods near our house there. But I can’t remember much of it. Maybe I have dreamt it all, or only lived there in another life,” I laughed. He looked at me seriously.

“Or maybe they have tried to erase your memories for some strange reason. Did anything strange ever happen there?” I was tempted to tell him about Steve, but I figured it would not be fair to him, since he was not present. I shook my head,

“Not to me, but to my brother. But I’d rather not talk about it now. It just might do him worse you know."

“Geez, you sound just like my parents.” I nodded my head.

“That’s why I can understand you. I don’t know what happened to my brother, but I know that probably he’s better off like this. Not unless he wants to know. I said I would support you, only because you want to remember.” We held each other like that for a long time, without saying a word, both of us lost in our thoughts. I was thinking how strange everything was so suddenly – so many people with strange childhoods that they can’t remember – or with imaginary childhoods – and all these things seemed to have happened around the same time, because Steve was the same age as David.