I do not own anything in this story except for Sarah, she is my own character.
The rain started to fall as she made her way from the car to the nursing home. She knew that it was going to rain and yet she had still forgotten her umbrella. Sometimes people told her that she would forget her head if it wasn't attached. But that didn't bother her, she never forgot the important things and she usually remembered everything eventually. She started to run as the first drops fell on the coat that covered her scrubs.
It was because of the rain that she almost didn't see him. He was standing in the shadows under the tree that stood in the front lawn. A blue baseball cap was pulled down over his eyes and his dark jacket blended almost perfectly with the shadows. If he hadn't moved she would have walked right passed him. But as it happened he shifted from one foot to the other just as she passed.
"Can I help you?" she asked stopping halfway up the walk. He hesitated for a moment, it was as though he wasn't sure she was talking to him. But eventually he spoke up very quietly.
"I'm working up the courage to go inside."
"Do you have family inside?" She asked taking a step off the path and closer to him. He took a step back and dropped his eyes to the ground in front of him. It was as though he didn't want her to come any closer.
"My… um… aunt," He hesitated he didn't know what to call her in order for it to make sense to anyone.
"If you come with me, I can help you find her," She said with a smile. He hesitated again and looked as though he was about to run for the hills. "It's ok, I don't bite."
He looked back up at her and met her eyes. They stared at each other for an awkward amount of time before he stepped out from under the tree to follow her.
"I'm Sarah, by the way," she told him opening the door to the nursing home so they could both go in. He paused for a moment that name it sounded so familiar. How did he know that name?
"This is the part where you're supposed to tell me your name," she said pulling him out of his memories.
"Ummm… James." He hesitated again, following her inside. There were only three names that he remembered from the past, and James was the only one that he could associate with himself. And yet he still wasn't sure if it belonged to him.
"You don't sound too sure about that," Sarah said, looking at him puzzled. She was hoping that she hadn't just invited a psychopath into a building full of helpless old people.
"I used to have a nickname," he said furrowing in brow in concentration, "But I don't remember it."
Sarah looked at him in a sympathetic way. He obviously had amnesia, or perhaps very early onset dementia. But he couldn't have been more than thirty. She took pity on him and decided to still help him out.
"Sally, this man is looking for his aunt, do you think you could help him out?" Sarah said to the woman at the front desk.
"What's your aunt's name?" She asked sitting down behind the desk.
"Rebecca, Rebecca Proctor." He said it was the only thing that he hadn't hesitated on since Sarah add met him. This was one of the names that he could remember, he had followed it all the way from D.C. to this tiny nursing home. Sally typed the name into the computer.
"Here we go, Rebecca Proctor, it says she's in room 107." She said.
"I'll show you where it is," Sarah said. She had hung her coat up and punched in while Sally was looking up Rebecca Proctor. Now she led James down the hall.
"When was the last time you saw your aunt?" She asked.
"A very long time ago," He said quietly, more than seventy years if he was remembering the dates correctly.
"Well, I must warn you, she's in pretty bad condition and getting worse. She won't be the same women you remember."
He didn't say anything in reply. He didn't remember this woman, he only remembered a name.
"Here we go, room 107," Sarah said. "Do you mind if I come in at first, I need to check some of the things in the room?"
"No, it's fine." He said walking into the room behind her.
The room was small. There really wasn't anything in it in the way of furniture except for a bed, a chair, a side table and a hospital bed table. But there were several machines, they all let out different sounds, some beeped and others just dripped. Laying in the bed was a woman, she seemed very old and yet young at the same time. Her grey hair was thin and pushed to one side so as not to be in her way. At the moment she was sleeping soundly and she looked so peaceful.
James stopped dead in the doorway. He was taking in everything, from the woman in the bed to the fresh flowers and framed photographs on the side table. Sarah checked on the many machines and then turned to leave.
"I'll leave you two alone," She said and slipped passed him into the hall.
James moved from the doorway to the chair keeping as far away from the machines in the room as he could. He sat down and there he stayed for a while. He looked at the photographs on the side table. Many of them were of a slightly younger Rebecca with her family, her husband, two children, and two grandchildren. But there was one photo that really caught James's eye. It was a black and white photo of four children ranging from late-teens to eleven years old. They were all sitting together on a couch and smiling. The oldest girl was just a very young Rebecca. But the oldest boy looked so much like James that they could have been the same person. In fact James got the feeling that they were the same person.
The women in the bed stirred slightly and opened her eyes. She looked over at James.
"Bucky? Is that you?" She said in a hoarse voice that didn't get above a whisper. That name again, he knew that name. Memories came back to him. Memories of this woman as a child, growing up on their aunt's farm.
"Yeah Beck, it's me." He said, his voice catching in his throat. He didn't know why, the memories were happy ones, but they made him incredibly sad.
"So this is it. You've come to take me away." She was so matter of fact about it that he hated to break her heart.
"No, you have to stay here. Just a little longer. I only came to check up on you."
"I see," She said with a sigh. Turning her head away from him she fell asleep again.
Bucky sat there for a little longer. He looked down at his hands, one calloused the other metal. Why could he only remember random things? The name of his sister, the town he was born in, his social security number. But he couldn't remember events that happened in his life or even his own name. Would he ever get those memories back?
When Sarah came back on her rounds Bucky was gone and Rebecca was just waking up.
A/N: Please leave a comment to tell me what you think, I am always open for constructive criticism.