The Annual Anniversary by momkey (top 100 novels of all time .txt) 📕

He slept like a baby, although he wasn’t aware of sleeping at all it. When he awoke he found himself in an unfamiliar territory. A wave of heat, fear, and confusion swept over him. There were so many raw, powerful emotions that the sheer co-existence of them all at the same time almost froze him. After taking a moment to compose himself he examined the room. Everything seemed quiet, given he couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his beating heart. He was completely unaware of, not only where he was, but also how he got there.
The bed he awoke in was made for two. There was an indentation where the other pillow lay, and after closer examination he found a strand of hair. He determined that it was, indeed, a human hair. This only raised more uncertainty in him. He took a moment, then arose from the bed. The amount of courage it took to do so, was tremendous, so much in fact that he almost felt proud of himself. Realizing that now was not the time for such action, he resumed his examination of the room. Every square inch of the walls were covered with photographs. He walked to get a closer look at them. When he arrived at the wall he was immersed by the same wave of heat, fear, and confusion from before, but to a lesser extent. He was in every single one of the photographs. There were in, what looked to be, chronological order. The photos at the far left side of the wall were in black and white and as he moved down the wall the quality of the pictures increased. At the far left side there were pictures of him as a child, he moved down. He saw pictures of him in, what looked to be, the military.
He didn’t remember joining the military. He thought to himself: “It might be someone who looks identical to me?” He continued to move right, he saw a picture of him in a suit, next to him was a blonde woman, of about the same age he was when the photo was taken. She was wearing a white dress. They looked happy. He again thought to himself: “Do I have an identical twin? If so, am I in his house?” At this point he was about halfway down the wall, when he herd a sound coming from bellow him. He was again struck with a wave of emotions. This time he was overwhelmed by them and was completely frozen. He didn’t know what to do. He then remember the courage it took for him to rise from the bed, it wasn’t so bad, he thought.
He began to move towards the door, slowly and quietly. He arrived at the door and saw a staircase leading down. He took a deep breath, and step by step he made his way down the staircase. The room that was at the bottom of the staircase, had windows on each wall, and with the sun shinning through, he had to shield his eyes. The room only had one door, therefore he only had one option. He went through the door and was startled by what he saw, he was so startled in fact, that he instinctively jumped back. In what looked to be a kitchen, there was a woman. He chuckled when he realized that he was startled for such a silly reason, they were about the same age. He chuckled louder than he expected, and the woman herd him. She turned, and greeted him “Charles, darling, good morning.”
After hearing her response Charles, unintentionally, gave her a dirty look. He didn’t recognize her. She looked just as confused as he did for a moment, then responded: “Didn’t you see the pictures?” Still just as confused he answered: “Of course I saw the pictures. I just don’t understand the relevance of them.” She responded: “Sorry, darling, it’s just normally when you she the pictures you remember.”
He started to get impatient, and when she noticed she gave him a card. “What is this?” he responded. “Read it, just read it.” “Happy 50th anniversary, here’s to 50 more years.” He stops reading, “I didn’t know they made an anniversary card for 50 anniversary’s.” “You still don’t remember, do you?” “Only as far as I can guess. I don’t have any recollection of you. So, for starters, what’s your name?” She seems uneasy, by his lack of memory, then response “I keep the pictures up in the bedroom, in chronicle order, to help you remember your past, and normally it does.” “That was uncompromisingly forthright and not to mention very blunt. And you ignored my question, from before, you know the one about your name.” “Well after 50 years of living with you, I’ve learn to be straightforward and as clear as possible. On a side note, I’m glad you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” “So now what?” “Well, my name is Lila. Follow me I have something for you.”
They walk through a couple of rooms, then arrive in a dark, poor lit closet. She shuffles through some boxes then pulls out whatever she was looking for. “What is that?” “You’ll find out in good time. Just follow me.”
They walk back through the rooms, past the kitchen, and into, what can be characterized as a living room. There is a television in the center of the room. It looks like that is her destination. She arrives at the t.v. and puts the a VCR tape, the object she was carrying from before, into the VCR machine. “Have a seat, this might be difficult for you.” He sits down, then she continues, “hell, it’s probably going to be difficult for me.” She sits down. Then presses play on the remote. The tape is poor quality as if it was filmed by one of the first home camera-corders. It is christmas and there are two boys, who are twins, gathered around the tree, they look excited. One of the children gets up and takes the camera-corder. He turns it so that he is recording his parents. In response to what he is seeing, Charles responds “That’s us?” “Yeah, 42 years ago.” They looked happy, they looked in love. The child gives back the camera-corder and the children are preparing to open their presents. They are jumping with excitement and joy. They start opening their presents. “You always knew exactly what to get them,” responded Lila. After not hearing a response, she looks over to him, he is crying. “I remember. I remember everything.” Not knowing exactly how to respond she says, “I’m sorry you have to go through this.” The alzheimer's is taking its toll on both of them.

He slept like a baby, although he wasn’t aware of sleeping at all it. When he awoke he found himself in an unfamiliar territory. A wave of heat, fear, and confusion swept over him. There were so many raw, powerful emotions that the sheer co-existence of them all at the same time almost froze him. After taking a moment to compose himself he examined the room. Everything seemed quiet, given he couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his beating heart. He was completely unaware of, not only where he was, but also how he got there. He had no recollection of the days past events.

Publication Date: 03-30-2011

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