Chapter 4

Aaron could not sleep that entire night. He was overthinking about how his parents had abandoned him. He remembered staring at the ceiling in his bed, trying to catch his breath. It felt like a weight pressed down on him every time he inhaled.

He tried calming himself by rationalizing that what had just happened only worsened. Every time Aaron wanted to assure himself that he could make his parents remember him or go back to loving him, he grew sadder. Whenever he tried to think of a way to win over his parents or force them to remember, he would cry uncontrollably.

When the van dropped him off at the school Aaron said he attended, he watched with jealousy as other kids waved their parents goodbye as they left those vehicles. Aaron saw Anne Touse go to her mother’s care, waving before running to the school building. He wondered how Anne would react if her parents no longer remembered her.

After leaving the van, he walked through the doorway as it was held open by a brick someone had placed there. As he walked through the hallway, his bag felt like an enormous weight strapped around his shoulder. After entering Room 107, Aaron looked around to see if everything was normal.

Almost everyone that was registered for their English class was in attendance, sitting in their seats and chatting. His best friend Gale talked with John sitting at the desk across from him. Gale had removed his glasses and cleaned them with a white cloth before putting them back on. Their teacher, Ms. Smith, sat at her desk looking at her computer monitor, presumably checking her email in the ten minutes they had before class started.

However, one thing that was out of place was how everyone looked at him. While the other half of the class didn’t pay Aaron any attention once he entered, the others gave him weird glances. Even Gale looked at him oddly, as though he was an unfamiliar face.

Where’s Elizabeth? Aaron thought. She should be here. If I remember correctly, she’s had perfect attendance since middle school.

He walked up to Gale, who continued to eye him. As Aaron did, he got a bad feeling. The odd looks some were giving him, the perplexed expression Gale had on his face, and the way Ms. Smith didn’t even tell him good morning was unusual. As he walked up to his best friend, he could tell Gale was giving him one of the oddest looks ever.

No. Aaron panicked. No. No. NO. Don’t tell me it’s happened to him too. Tyler’s been there with me as long as Elizabeth has. He can’t have forgotten...he can’t.

Aaron’s casual gait turned into a shaky last couple of steps where he was too frightened to say a word. He couldn’t keep a straight face, his expression revealing how nervous he was. Now John was looking puzzled, crouching a bit defensively in his desk.

“Hey,” he said. “Did Elizabeth tell you what happened yesterday with my family and me? Something...something weird? Something...you know...wild? Like...like you’re not going to believe, kind of strange?”

“Um…” Gale said. “No.”

Aaron gave a nervous laugh.

“Yeah,” he said. “You know...it’s one of those special stories they’d run on the news. It was so weird. The kind that...that’d make it in a tabloid or something. Boy...boy…”

He was becoming listless, his expression growing uninterested. Aaron put up an uneasy smile.

“You...you know,” he said. “Boy...transforms into some plant thing...his parents forget they even know him! Sounds crazy, right?!”

His face was blank.

“Yeah,” he said. “I guess so.”

“Hey, man,” John said. “Just who are you?!”

“I’m Aaron Vulier!” he said half-desperately, half-enthusiastically. “I...grade school buddies?! Stole...stole Susie Vortex’s graham crackers and made her cry?! Got grounded together?! Made a dam in the creek after it rained...after it rained in Kindergarten?! You played over at my house when we were kids, and I did yours?! We played knights, and Elizabeth was always the princess I was rescuing?!”

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He continued to stare blankly.

“You were the whole reason I wanted to become a doctor!” Aaron yelled. “You saved me by pushing me out of the way of a car!”

Gale continued looking at him, confused.

“What?” he asked.

Aaron planted his palm on his friend’s desk, a loud slap resulting.

“You have no idea who I am?!” Aaron asked.

“I have never seen you before in my life!” Gale said. “Leave, dude. Or else.”

“Get lost, creep,” John said, obviously getting angry. “We can settle this in the parking lot after school if you want to but not here.”

Aaron’s entire body tensed up. He felt like he couldn’t breathe for a moment. His face went red with tension.

“No,” he said. “No, no, no, no. You. Are. My. Best. Friend. You always have been. Now-”

“Hey!”

Aaron turned around to see Ms. Smith looking at him, annoyed. He whirled around, taking his hand off Gale’s desk as she glared.

“I don’t like students harassing my class,” she said. “Now leave before I call security.”

“But I am in your class,” he replied.

“Your name?” Ms. Smith asked.

“Aaron Vulier,” he answered. “I’m in your first class every day. I don’t think I was tardy a day since school started.”

“I’ve never heard that name before,” Ms. Smith replied. “Not in a single one of my classes.”

“What?!” he shouted. “That can’t be right!”

“I’ve never even seen your face before,” she said. “Not in my class or anyone else’s. Are you a new student who just transferred?”

He began hyperventilating as his worst fear had been realized. His breathing became erratic. Aaron started spasming as he lurched forward. He felt as though the breath had been drained from his lungs, and he couldn’t for the life of him regain it. He became disoriented as the room around him began to swim. Just as he desperately attempted to search for words to make them remember him, an even more terrifying thought struck him like a spear.

“Elizabeth?” Aaron asked.

“Who?” Ms. Smith asked.

“Elizabeth!” he shouted. “What about Elizabeth?! Did Elizabeth Miller show up to class today?! Do you even know who she is?!”

“No,” the teacher answered. “No one with that name has attended my class this year.”

Aaron turned to Gale and John, watching him as though he’d attack them.

“Gale, John,” he said. “Do-?”

“No,” Gale answered. “I have never met a girl with that name in my life.”

“Never heard of her,” John stated. “Now beat it before we beat you.”

Fear shot through Aaron like a rocket. Uneasiness and panic rattled his body. He began shaking his head before turning around and fleeing out the door.

“Please remember me,” he said after he left the English classroom. “Please be okay.”

He raced down the hallway to everyone’s shock. People around him gave Aaron odd glances as he sped through the school. In his attempt to get out as quickly as possible, he nearly knocked over a student trying to enter the building.

“Please remember me,” he said. “Please remember me. Please be okay!”

One of the reasons Elizabeth had perfect attendance was that she lived close to the school. After entering the street she lived, he walked up to her house. Usually, he would be courteous enough to knock rather than ring the doorbell, but he was so out of sorts he couldn’t bear to be polite.

Aaron rang the doorbell on her doorway five times before anyone greeted him. He had been to her house the first time he was eight and played there in his childhood. He was aware of her parent’s schedule where her father left earlier than her mother. Elizabeth’s mother didn’t go to work until ten o’clock which meant she should still be there.

While he impatiently waited outside the house, Aaron began practically dancing in panic. He couldn’t keep his feet still for his life, antsy not even describing half of what he felt. He began chattering his teeth as though he was cold when it was a bright and warm spring morning. Finally, the door opened.

Stepping into the doorway was a woman who looked eerily similar to Elizabeth. She still had the same luscious gold hair that fell back in ringlets and ivory skin. She looked beautiful enough to be a model or movie star as she looked roughly half her actual age. The only difference between Mrs. Miller and her daughter was that in Elizabeth’s eyes was a certain spark of joy and hope that her mother did not seem to have. Aaron had always noticed that the woman did not appear to be as spry and optimistic as her daughter, something he attributed to the woman losing a son early into her marriage with Mr. Miller. She gave him a disturbed look.

“Where’s the fire?” she asked.

“Mrs. Miller…” Aaron said, panting heavily. He was nearly ready to collapse from hyperventilating and running to the Millers’ residence. “Do...where is Elizabeth? Did she arrive at school today?”

She gave him the ghost of a smile.

“Who?” she asked.

“Your daughter,” Aaron said. “Do you even have a daughter?”

“No,” Mrs. Miller said. “I don’t.”

“No one named Elizabeth is your child?” he asked.

“No,” she answered.

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. Their emotions were completely opposite. She looked somewhat annoyed but mostly stoic. On the other hand, Aaron had panic written all over his face, sweat breaking out all over his body while trying to hold back tears. He shook in terror as he was ready to fall to the ground.

Liar! Aaron yelled in his head. Liar! Liar! Liar! You’ve had a daughter for seventeen years, and you’ve known me for half that time! I’m like a nephew to you, and so is Gale! I heard you say that Elizabeth was the best thing ever to you! Now tell me the truth or so help me, I’ll kill you!

But he kept his thoughts to himself.

“Thank you,” he said.