Page 9 of Thin Lives

“And then I remember being on the highway right after, just before my car was run off the road.”

Silence answered his statements back.

Calisto wasn’t all that surprised at his uncle’s lack of a response. He had kept his only regained memory a secret from everyone, other than his private doctor who was charged with monitoring and recording any returning memories he might have.

It just didn’t feel normal for Calisto to be like he was, so overturned, unbalanced, and confused over one memory that he didn’t understand. He wanted to, and when he did, he planned on opening up to others about it.

“And that is all you have remembered?” Affonso asked.

The question was posed quietly, but it still rang with an undercurrent that Calisto couldn’t quite decipher.

“That’s all,” Calisto confirmed.

Affonso was quiet for a long while.

A heavy weight rested on Calisto’s shoulders the longer he was forced to wait for a reply from his uncle. Affonso was so adamant that Calisto leave what was behind him in the past where it belonged. He repeatedly assured him that nothing was important enough for him to be chasing it when he could be moving forward in his life.

Calisto couldn’t agree.

His mind was saying there were things he needed to know, or he wouldn’t be able to let his curiosity go entirely. His heart felt different every single day that he walked around in a dazed bubble, wondering where in the hell his life was.

Because this didn’t feel like his life.

Calisto knew it was, but it was still missing something. He was without an important piece to his puzzle, but he didn’t even know what that piece was.

How could he explain that?

He felt crazy!

“Cal?” Affonso said.

It took Calisto far too long to realize his uncle had said his name at least three times. While his focus was on the road he was driving down, his attention was somewhere else entirely.

Somewhere on a lost piece of him.

“Yeah, zio?”

“That night—right before—it’s all you remember?”

Calisto scowled. “Didn’t I just say that?”

“I wanted to be sure, that’s all.”

“Yes, obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be trying to find out more.”

Affonso chuckled dryly. “I suppose.”

“I know you want me to focus on the future,” Calisto said quietly. “And to leave all that alone so that I can be happy.”

“Of course, Cal.”

“I need to know what I’m missing, zio.”

Affonso sighed heavily. “Oh, Calisto.”

“What?”

Didn’t the man understand?