Remember Me – Chapter 1
Rick sat at the restaurant table, staring blankly at the woman opposite him babbling on about nothing of importance. They had met in a local supermarket one week ago when he accidently bumped into her, breaking a cartoon of eggs that were in her hands. He offered to pay for a replacement for her but she had taken an immediate liking to him and was interested in other things.
She suggested that instead of buying her another cartoon of eggs that he should take her out for dinner sometime as an alternative. He looked at the young woman. She said her name was Tracy Lange and she's blond, pretty and could be about 25 years old. She was smiling at him so he decided to indulge her.
It's not like it will go anywhere or he will be seeing her again after. She was immediately excited at his response and asked for his phone number. When he told her that he didn't have a cell phone, she let out a little huff of surprise.
"So how will we meet? How will I get into contact with you?"
"What is your favourite restaurant?"
"Sanre Amourna Restaurant in St Croix."
"Ok. Meet me there in exactly one week from now for 7pm."
"Do you know where it is?"
He ignored the question.
"Reservations will be made in your name."
Tracy eyed him suspiciously.
"Ok. I will be there."
He smiled politely and left. Now here they sat and she has been talking non-stop ever since. He was bored with her and as an immortal, there wasn't anything new that she could say that would impress him…no life experiences she had that could capture him. After all he was 600 years old but didn't look a day over 35.
He came from a long line of immortals that have walked the earth for centuries and saw the true nature of man. He was disinterested in life and nothing mattered to him anymore. People didn't interest him and till this date he hasn't found someone who held his intellect or heart for decades.
He has seen unnecessary wars, man-made famines and unchecked genocides of millions. He has seen rapes, murders, suicides of all ranges. He knows their cruelty to themselves, to the people they claimed they love, to strangers, people who are different from them based on creed...race...religion...gender. Mortals didn't appreciate the precious little gifts they were given.
He has been to every country in the world at least five times over…and experienced from the cold winds in Antarctica to the blazing heat in Australia. He just moves from place to place when he is fed up with the people around him. Now, he's here in Detroit. Suddenly, Tracy stopped talking.
"I'm sorry. I talk a lot when I'm nervous. Tell me about yourself."
"What do you want to know?"
"Anything."
Rick cocked his head to the side, observing the woman. He has had 600 years of interacting with thousands of people...women and he could tell from her body language that she wanted this dinner to be over so that they could go back to her place and do other pleasurable things. He pondered whether he should indulge her although he wasn't interested. He decided to be blunt and get it out of the way to move on.
"Do you want to have sex at your place?"
Tracy's mouth dropped opened as she quickly glanced around at the other tables close by her to see if anyone had heard the question. She eyed him then slowly nodded.
"Let's go."
Tracy quickly got up from her table and Rick followed her.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tracy howled and moaned and squealed with delight under Rick, digging her nails into his flesh as he crushed himself in her absentmindedly. The bed squeaked under the weight of their movement. He felt her cumming for the third time in twenty minutes and watched as her breast and legs quivered beneath him. Seconds later it was over as her chest heaved up and down. He withdrew from her.
"That was so good!" Tracy beamed. Suddenly, she frowned. "You didn't cum."
"That's alright." Rick said walking into the bathroom.
He quickly showered and was dressing when she sat up on the bed looking at him.
"Will I be seeing you again?"
Rick smiled slightly.
"No."
Then he was gone.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dr Wells took Michonne's hands in hers. From the look the doctor was giving her, she knew that it wasn't good news.
"I'm so sorry Michonne. I had hoped that the surgery would have helped. The cells from the tumour is back and they are multiplying again. I'm afraid it's also much more aggressive than before."
Michonne swallowed hard. She didn't know what to think. She thought that she was in the clear…she thought that she was free. There are so many things she wanted to do and now all her hopes and dreams are being dashed to pieces at only 28 years old. She knew that there was a 10% chance that the surgery wouldn't have been successful but how unlucky can one be to actually fall in that small 10% margin. Pretty damn unlucky it seems. Now…she could only ask one question.
"How long do I have?"
The doctor turned her face away from her so that Michonne couldn't see the tears in her eyes. She squeezed the doctor's hands.
"It's ok Carol. I could take it. Tell me."
Carol let out a small sob before turning back to face Michonne.
"18 months to 2 years…according to the aggression of the cells multiplication. We will have to run more test to determine the rate of growth."
"Ok." Michonne said quietly as she got up from the chair. Carol rose to her feet also and hugged Michonne tightly.
"I am so sorry!"
Michonne buried her face in Carol's shoulders to fight back her own tears. She needed to be brave to face this again. When they separated Michonne wiped away Carol's tears.
"I just have one request."
"Anything!"
"Sasha, Andrea and Maggie are outside waiting for me. I am not going to tell them about this and neither can you."
"Why? They are your friends."
"I don't want their pity."
"They will not pity you! They know better than to do that. You have to tell them."
"I will but I need time to process this myself."
Carol knows that by law she really can't tell them even if she disagrees with Michonne's decision. She held Michonne squarely at her shoulders.
"Promise me that you wouldn't take too long to tell them. They will be hurt. They were there for you when you first found out about the tumour. They were there for you when you had surgery. They cared for you."
"I am grateful for all that but they were smothering me…treating me like a child."
"That's because they cared Michonne. We both know that they didn't mean any harm. Don't throw the love and friendship you guys share back in their faces. Please! You need them more than ever now."
Michonne could see the pleading in Carol's eyes.
"I promise I will tell them as soon as I digest things."
"Ok."
Carol watched as Michonne stood by the door, drying her damp eyes before going outside.
"I will call you as soon as I get the next available appointment day."
Michonne nodded and walked out of the office.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Michonne walked out of Carol's office, Andrea, Sasha and Maggie stood quickly to their feet and rushed to her. They all asked different questions in unison.
"So what did the doctor say?" Sasha asked.
"You are in the clear now…right?" asked Andrea.
"Are you ok?" Maggie queried.
Michonne forced a smile on her face as she looked at her best friends in their eyes…and she flat out lied to them.
"I'm fine…everything is fine."
Sasha cocked her head to the side, eyeing her.
"If everything is fine why are your eyes red...like you have been crying?"
"I am just so overwhelmed by the news!" Michonne said lying again.
"Thank god! Andrea screamed as she and the others hugged Michonne tightly. "I thought the worst!"
"Me too!" Maggie cried.
"I'm glad you're ok Michonne. You're too young to die."~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Carol heard the chatter of excitement outside her door. She opened to see Michonne friends all hugging and smiling for joy around her. She knew that Michonne just lied to them and a knot formed instantly at the pit of her stomach. She closed her door. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So where do you want to go tonight Michonne."
"Home."
"Home?!" Andrea asked. "You can't want to go home after getting such good news! We have to go to a club to celebrate!"
"Hell yes!" Maggie said to concur.
Michonne noticed that Sasha was looking at her intently so she tried to sound much more enthusiastic about the idea.
"Ok. Let's go."
"If you don't want to go to a club tonight Michonne, it's ok. We could go tomorrow instead." Sasha suggested to a glare from Andrea.
"I'll go Sasha. We have a lot to celebrate tonight. We don't know what tomorrow will bring."
The ladies left the hospital.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Michonne, Sasha, Maggie and Andrea walked into the club, it was already popping off. It was packed and drinks were flowing freely. It was Andrea who saw a group of people let their table and she rushed to get it before it's snatched up again. When they were seated, a waiter came over almost immediately and took their orders.
Five minutes later they were sipping on margarita drinks with different colour mini umbrellas…all except Michonne. Instead she just stirred her drink with her finger. The ladies were all glowing tonight and a couple of guys noticed them and asked if they wanted to dance. Very soon, all four ladies were on the dance floor bumping and grinding on their male companions. The ladies were then invited over to the guys table which they obliged. Michonnne briefly excused herself to go to the washroom to freshen up.
"Don't take too long!" Andrea called out to her over the noise. Michonne smiled and disappeared in the crowd.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michonne sat in the end bathroom stall for the past 10 minutes. She heard when different ladies came and went in the stall next to her. Her phone buzzed with a text from Dr Wells.
'The only available consultation date would be in the next two months but I will try to get one sooner. Is that ok?"
Michonne stared at the text for five whole minutes before responding.
'Book it and keep me posted.'
Carol responded immediately.
'Ok.' Then she texted again. 'TELL….THEM!'
Michonne erupted into tears.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I was just going to send out a search party for you." Sasha said cheekily as Michonne walked up to the table with their new male friends. Everyone was so happy and bubbly. She had to get away from them.
"I'll go get us a couple of drink from the bar. The next round is on me." Michonne offered.
The guys opened their eyes wide in surprise at the gesture. She saw the objections about to rise from Andrea so she briskly walked off to the bar. Once there, she sat down, ordered their drinks and turned to watch her friends.
They all have come so far. Sasha, Andrea, Maggie and herself all grew up in orphanages from birth in different states but they ended up at the St Wilson's Orphanage when Andrea was 10 and she, Sasha and Maggie were 9 years old. It was there they became bffs, the four musketeers as Sister Angie used to call them. They were inseparable.
Seeing this, Sister Angie tried her best to get them adopted as either a group or in pairs so that some measure of contact could be maintain between them but it never happened. The only person who did get adopted was Sasha. So they all stayed at St Wilson's with Sasha maintaining strong communication with them until they were all eighteen and went out into the world.
Knowing that they were getting out, Sasha secured a four bedroom flat which her adopted parents furnished and provided food until they could get all get on their feet. One thing that the Nuns at St Wilson's insisted on was getting their children educated, especially the girls.
As a result soon after they left St Wilson's Michonne was able to get a job as a paralegal, Maggie was a pre-school teacher and Andrea worked as a dental assistant. Sasha worked as a junior accountant in her adopted parents small accountancy firm. Life was good for years until Michonne started having dizzy spells and nose bleeds.
When she went to the hospital, it was discovered that she had a brain tumour. She and the girls cried for three days on hearing the news. Michonne was 26 at the time and she had the surgery to take out the tumour two months before her 27th birthday. It took her months to recover and she was grateful for the help of her besties.
Now the tumour is coming back, bigger and badder than ever and this time she's not going to survive it. She only has two more years max to live and she intends to make good use of it. No pity parties, no crying…no sorrow. Andrea and the others raised their glasses to her as the first round of drink was brought to their table. She remained at the bar enjoying their happiness from a distance.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rick sat at the bar observing the revelry of all as different people came and went ordering drinks for their friends. He saw the different groups of people getting down and dirty on the dance floor. He saw one of the women who was on the dance floor earlier sitting two seats away from him ordering a round of drinks and sending it to her friends. She was lost in her own thoughts.
He also saw her force a smile on her face when one of them came over to convince her to come back to their table. After a brief prodding and collecting another round of drinks the woman agreed. When they walked past him a drunk patron bumped into her friend who in-turn bumped her, causing the woman to crash into him, spilling their drinks.~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Asshole!" her friend screamed as she pushed the drunk man to the ground.
"Andrea!" Michonne called out as Sasha, Maggie and the others rushed up to restrain her.
Michonne turned to the man mortified that their drinks spilled on him.
"I'm so sorry!" Michonne said as she took the cloth being handed to her by the bartender and began wiping the spilled beverages off him.
"It's ok." Rick said softly.
"I'm sorry." She said apologizing again.
He looked at the rest of her friends who was trying to calm down the clear firecracker in their group.
"You could stop now." Rick said smiling slightly. "I'm alright."
When she didn't Rick held her hand to stop her and that when he felt it. The cells in her body were weakening…breaking down and it would only get worst. He looked at her as she looked back at him…her brown eyes captivated him as he felt a sting in his stomach. He couldn't breathe. Slowly…gently he let her hand go. He couldn't turn away from her. There was something in her eyes that didn't let him. Her eyes had both hope and sorrow fighting in them. They continued staring at each other until another one of her friends interrupted.
"We're sorry for any damaged cause to your shirt. We could pay for the dry cleaning." Maggie said.
"Don't worry about it." Rick said glancing at the other woman briefly.
She took a napkin nearby and wrote down a number and handed it to him. He took it.
"Just in case you change your mind."
They walked back to their seats with Rick's eyes glued to the woman. After a few minutes, the group was laughing and talking and Rick still hadn't turn away from them…from her.
'She's dying.'
He thought to himself and from the looks of it she hasn't told any of her friends. Here it is, a woman facing death…her own mortality and had decided to face it alone. Most people want to share their pain and sorrow with others but not her.
'Why? Why would she do that?
Rick was intrigued by this woman. He looked at the number on the napkin and pushed it in his pocket. For the rest of the night, he kept his eyes on her...discreetly and by the time they left the club Rick's mind was made up. He was going to get to know her.