Long Lost Brother

When I was told my brother was still alive, I didn't believe it. It had taken me twenty years to get over him being gone; I had very mixed feelings about seeing him again. Excitement? Yes. Anticipation? Yes. But something new that I had never felt before: fear.

He'd been my world, my idol. Today's the day that I get to see him again. I visualise him in my head as we were; him, eighteen; me sixteen. He wanted to spread his wings and went abroad. This was in the days before mobile phones, and the internet was just a young thing. No insta-anything. We were still bound by power lines and wires, connected through hardware.

One day he was there and then poof! Like a magician's trick, he was gone. Nobody knew where. Not even lost in a jungle. He was in his hotel room and then, he never came down for breakfast.

This was the most distressing time in my whole life. I felt like I'd been split in two, like a fissure had appeared, and I tried to knit it back together with friendships and girlfriends but they were like rickety rope bridges, swaying and easily broken. Nothing could fill the gap. I was lost, wayward, depressed.

And then he reappeared. He'd had amnesia for twenty years. Twenty years! He had no idea who he was. None! I can't get my head around it. How is it possible to forget everything that's gone before? I try not to be hurt by it but I can't help it. We were so close. I've read a lot about amnesia since - I understand it in principle - but, I don't know, I felt like we had a connection, linked inextricably through blood: brothers. I thought...I thought that nothing could break it. Nothing.

I'm tired. I'm sitting here, cappuccino untouched. Dry mouthed. Jittery legs. Nervous.

Scared.

He'll recognise me - we've shared pictures - but what if he doesn't know me? I couldn't bear it. I want to run. God, help me! I want to run.

The door is opening. I stand. I see him.

And the warmth of his arrival envelopes me as I weep.

***

366 words

Amnesia fascinates me so I thought I'd write a tale about it. I'm also a great fan of Long Lost Family so drew on many emotional episodes of that.

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