The Forgotten

I let out a deep sigh and put my coffee down the table. I folded the newspaper and set it on the chair as I stood up to sit beside her instead. She looked so peaceful, so serene, just lying there, her eyes closed as if in her slumber, there existed a better world than here, a confusing and strange place. I ran my hands through her golden brown locks.

She called for him again today. It's been happening more often than usual. But hey, it's not like I could hold her against it. He's her son, my brother, you'd think it were normal that she calls for him, eh? It's just that, well, it's not normal. It's weird. But then you'd think that because he's my brother and all it would be normal, it wouldn't bother me. But honestly, could you blame me for not helping but feel a little resentful? She calls for him, not me. Of all the goddamn people, she calls for him. And it's just, it's not fair.

She starts stirring and mumbling and the next thing I know, her eyes are open and she's looking up at me. Confusion, fear, then panic. These emotions etch themselves across the contours of her beautiful and tired face and she starts screaming.

"Shhhhhhh, it's okay, calm down it's just me." I tell her. I try to pat her back and get her to lie on her back again but she immediately swats my hand away and her eyes widen even more.

"Don't touch me! Get away! Get away!" She tries to shove me away and I take a step back and raise my hands up, palms forward.

"It's okay. Please calm down, I'm not here to harm you or hurt you in any way." I turn around 360. "See? No weapons, I won't hurt you, okay? Calm down."

"W-who are you? What do you want from me? Where am I?" she asks, eyes still wide.

"You don't remember? You honestly cannot remember me? My face?" I point up my head and move it closer to her. She moves away and shakes her head.

"Not at all?" She shakes it again.

"It's me, Artie." There's a long, awkward silence and she just stares at me suspiciously. Finally, she breaks the silence. "W-well I don't know any Arties." She looks down and starts fiddling with the sheets.

I sigh and run my fingers through my red locks for the umpth time today. "Could you . . . er . . . would you . . ." She starts to say in a very shy, childlike voice that one could've easily not heard. "Yes?"

"Could you get me my Draco?" Of course. Her darling Draco.

"Sure, you just wait here, okay?"

"Okay"

I come dashing out the room and go down stairs only to find he's no where there. Then I come back up the stairs to search the second floor. Looking in his room, I see him flying on his broom through the window. I open it and call out to him.

"Oy, twat! She's calling for you again!" I could see him rolling his eyes from the distance.

"Oh, my Draco!"She exclaims and opens her arms wide for him. He comes near her and hugs her back, tucking her head underneath his chin.

She begins sobbing loudly in his chest and clutching the collar of his shirt. He lifts his hand up to cup her chin and wipes her tears away with the other hand. "What's wrong?"

Her lips tremble as she speaks. "I w-woke up here in this place and, I d-don't know where I am and I'm confused and h-he was here." She points a shaky finger at my direction. "And I didn't know who he was and I forgot again, I think and . . . and you weren't here and I felt so afraid. And I . . ." And she begins sobbing again. He puts his arms around her again and rubs her back in a circular motion and rocks them back and forth trying to comfort her.

"Shhhhhhh, I'm here. It's going to be okay. It's fine, I'm here now, okay? Shhhhhhhhh, you'll be fine. I'm here."

She looks up at him with tear coated lashes and furrowed brows. "But where were you? Why were you gone? Where did you go? Why did you leave me?" He didn't have an answer to that so he just kissed her forehead and buried his face in her hair. "Please don't leave me again. Please don't. I can't stand it. I'm sorry for whatever I did that made you leave me again. But please, please, please, Draco, don't you ever leave me again." She sobbed harder and clutched him closer. All he could do was repeat words of comfort over and over again, like a chant, and rocked them back and forth again.

She looked so very much like a lost child. So vulnerable, so very fragile. Not long after, her sobs subsided as he kept rocking them back and forth on the bed while I stood in the corner, all alone, watching them. And then she was okay again, there in his arms.

It was in these times that I became just sooooooo very jealous of my brother. Never have I felt such envy. It was just so unfair. So unfair that she asks for him and not me, that she finds comfort in his presence and not mine, or anybody else's for that matter. It was just soooo unfair, when my heart ached so much to hold her close to me, have her in my arms, have her remember me. Remember me, who clothed her and fed her, took her and gave her care. How I wish that she find comfort in me, that her sobs subside because of me, that she remember me.

But then again, it's not about me and at the end of the day, I'm still glad he's here. Other wise she'd be unhappy. And I'd rather she was happy in his presence than in no one else's. And so with that, I move away, step out the room and with a last glance, slowly shut the door behind me.

AN: Yeah, sooo . . . please be nice to me, I'm a beginner here. Constructive criticism is very much welcome, so is praise. Please excuse any typographical or grammatical errors. I haven't got a beta. Any on up for the job? For those of you who are confused, don't worry. I shall enlighten you all in due time. Oh, yeah, and the more the reviews, the sooner the next update! My other story, the unexpected, is on hold by the way. I'm probably babbling now so . . . yeah, thanks for reading!