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Lost and Found
“Good morning New York! And a good morning it is! Hey there 101.8 listeners, let’s get our day started with a classic!”
Laurany got up and turned of the alarm. She took a shower, grabbed some coffee and ran out of the apartment and went into the busy streets of New York.
“Good morning Ms.Clafé. How are you?” asked the lady behind the desk when she entered her building.
“Fine, thank you, Carey. Are there any big meetings I need to attend to?”
“Yes there is, we have a big international meeting, we need you to translate Spanish and French today.”
“Thank you Carey, when does it begin?”
“The meeting begins in twenty minutes. That’s enough time for you isn’t it Ms.Clafé?”
“Yes Carey, it’s ample time.”
Laurany translated the meeting and then went to her second job on the fifth floor.
She was the head secretary for the governor. As soon as she walked into her office she saw a pile of papers on her desk and people immediately started talking to her, asking her questions, and following her like paparazzi after a rock star.
She was a very important person but she had problems, although she didn’t show them, and she was scared. She was scared of cars. She was scared of fire. She was scared of being scared. She had no real friends; her family was her only friends.
She was educated, yes; she had a college degree and was very intelligent. She had more books than the local library and had no TV or computer to take up space. Her only companion was her cat, Fluffenutter. He was an old Maine Coon cat. He had been in her family for longer than she could remember and was always there to make her feel better when she was down, but now, as she was older, it was harder to make her happy or forget what had made her upset.
So what was such an intelligent young women doing with no friends and nothing to do with her life except pay her bills and see her family? She didn’t even know how to answer that question. The only thing she knew was what made her not want anything else. Her scarred mind didn’t allow her to see the beauty in the world. It only let her remember the horrible thoughts that never left her mind.
Something was troubling Laurany, as something often did, but this was a matter that was a very important and needed to be dealt with immediately. She left her office on sick leave. Daydreaming was not something you wanted to do with important papers waiting to be organized and signed. I haven’t been to my psychologist lately. Maybe I should see him sometime soon, she thought as she was leaving her office. She agreed with herself and called into her psychologist office requesting an emergency meeting.
She went to his office thinking about her fears. Fear was something she was used to and this was a mild fear that wouldn’t even be worth complaining over. Maybe it was just nervousness. Laurany and her psychologist had become close enough to friends, as it was his job to help people. Well here it goes. Laurany thought, as she was called into his office.
“Ah, Laurany you poor thing, to call in for an emergency meeting you must be in great need of my services. What is it that is troubling you so terribly?”
What she was about to tell him he already knew, but the concerns she held this time were much greater.
“Well doctor I have been thinking a little too much lately. I keep thinking about my brother. The one that was older than me.” Laurany explained.
“Yes, I see. So what about this ‘thinking’ has troubled you?” he asked rather oddly.
“Well, my memories are strongest in my dreams. I can’t stop thinking about them later. I wake up gasping for breath. I know this is how a lot of your patients experience their worst memories, since I have read about it in medical books, but when you experience it, it is totally different, no matter how much you read about it.”
“Are you dreaming about the accident again? Tell me about it.” He asked curiously. He started taking notes when she began again.
“I’m watching everything from above like I’m in the clouds, but I can hear my brother, my mother, and myself singing ‘BINGO’. The rest, unfortunately, is in slow motion, like my mind wants me to suffer. I see my brother, on my right side, and he’s smiling and singing. Some stupid new 18 wheeler driver takes a sharp turn too fast, and then the 18 wheeler slowly impacts the side of the car. My brother didn’t have a chance. I yelled at him to get to my side, but he couldn’t hear me. After all, I was dreaming, how did I expect him to hear me anyway. My brother was airlifted to the hospital, but we knew he wouldn’t survive. My dream ends with me holding on to my mother’s leg crying as she talks to a paramedic.” As Laurany finished a tear rolled down her cheek. She was strong, but she had to let it out sometime soon. “Please help me.” she managed between sobs.
“I will do my best Laurany, I really will.” He said calmly.
Laurany hastily pulled herself together and said “I have this creepy feeling that I’m being watched, but I have an intuition that something will happen, and soon, that will help me get through this turmoil.”
Her doctor agreed with her and said, “I hope something positive will happen, after all you need it.” They ended the meeting at this.
Laurany went home to her cat. She threw her keys into the bowl at the entrance of her apartment. “Fluffenutter,” Laurany whispered “aren’t you hungry?” The cat came out from her room with his bell jingling around his neck.
“Meow.” he answered.
“Hey Fluff. Here’s your food” Laurany said opening a can of food and putting it in a bowl. She filled his water bowl and sat on the couch. Fluffenutter finished his dinner and jumped onto Laurany’s lap. His warmth calmed her down. Her thoughts slowly stopped buzzing around in her head and she fell asleep.
The next day, Laurany was walking to work, just as she did everyday, but today there was someone she didn’t normally see, and hard to miss since he was in a wheelchair.
She walked on, trying to get next to him, so he could hear her. “Sir, I’ve never seen you here before, are you lost?”
“No.” he said lazily.
“Where, may I ask, are you going then?” she asked sternly.
“Well madam, since you are so nosey as to ask, I am here to see you.”
This startled Laurany to such an extent that she stopped dead in the middle of the busy street but quickly regained her composure.
The man did not stop and just continued on. Curious, and full of amazement, Laurany followed.
She followed him all the way to his humble home where he finally turned around and asked her if she would like to come in.
Her first intention was to decline his offer, but curiosity got the best of her. She pulled out her cell phone and called in sick to work and proceeded to enter. Just before the door closed behind her, she saw a glimpse of his beautiful roses.
Although she had a million questions floating around in her head she surprised herself by saying, “Those are beautiful yellow roses in front of your house.”
“I knew you would love them, since they are your favorite.” he said this with a smile.
“How do you know they are my favorite?” she demanded, as a sudden chill of fear ran down her back.
“What, you don’t think I know my sister?” he asked inquisitively.
Laurany was so spellbound she couldn’t remember how to breathe.
This man who said he was her brother just laughed. He knew exactly how she was going to react, and so he laughed. Not because anything was funny, but because he hadn’t seen her in forever. She had grown so much and she had become very beautiful. She seemed older then she should, but her eyes seemed bright, young, and alive.
“What… but… when… how… huh, we all thought you died…” she stammered, confused.
“I guess I have a lot of explaining to do, don’t I? When I woke up from the accident I found myself paralyzed and with no memory of who I was or anything about myself. The woman who cared for me claimed to be my mother and explained to me that I had been in an accident. She also told me that my name was Christopher. She kept repeating that I was going to be okay, and that I was home now. I had no choice but to believe her, yet it didn’t feel right. I would wake up from horrifying dreams, disoriented and confused, feeling I belonged somewhere else. I was well taken care of, although with little or no affection. I was never allowed visitors and only ever allowed to go outside when I was accompanied by my mother, and only in the backyard. I told her I wanted to have some time to myself. I was almost never granted this wish, but when I did have my few hours of freedom, she would allow me to sit in my wheelchair in the back yard by myself. After all, I couldn’t go anywhere on my own. It was during these times that I would imagine myself sitting in the swing. I swung so high I felt I would fly away to wherever it was that I did belong, with people I did know and that loved me. I never knew who they really where and always imagined them differently.”
“And all along we were right there; you just couldn’t get to us.” Laurany concluded.
"Yes, hold on I’m getting there. Shortly after I turned 21, my mother found out that she had cancer and died with in a few months. She left me this house and a never before experienced feeling of freedom. I guiltily started going through everything, all of her paperwork, and found newspaper clippings about a bad car accident where a six year old boy died. I thought it was coincidental that the date on the newspaper matched up with the date of my accident, until I found my mother’s diary. Within these pages were the thoughts and ideas of a mad woman, driven crazy by the death of her own son. She snatched me from the hospital where she worked, replacing me with her own dead son’s body. We were about the same age and size. It was a simple matter in her twisted mind to call me by her dead son’s name. She even went to the funeral, (which was a closed casket due to severe injuries) to pay her respects, all the time madly cackling in her mind, knowing that the child they believed to be dead in the casket was actually alive and recovering less then a mile away in her house.”
“She really was mad. I’m sorry to say, but I’m glad she’s dead.” Laurany said not regretting what she had said.
“When I got to this part in the diary it was as if a bomb had exploded in my head. That newspaper clipping had been about me and my family, my real family. There was a picture of my family, and as soon as I saw that picture, everything came back. I remembered the accident like it was yesterday. Somehow, I knew that you were the one most affected by this tragedy, and I knew that I must seek you out using all resources. I tracked you to this place and time. I’ve been watching you for about a week now, just waiting for the right time. Somehow today just felt right, and I hope my sudden appearance hasn’t caused you undue stress.” He finished calmly.
“Stress! You want to talk about stress! You think these ten minutes have been stressful? I’ve lived with stress for twenty years!” her outburst was expected, but startling nonetheless. She fell back down in her chair and said, “This is a lot to absorb. Please, please, please just let me think this through.” They sat there quietly together, both lost in their own thoughts. Breaking the silence Laurany spoke: “Hello my brother, how much I have missed you.”
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