Home, Sweet Home

‘The walls have ears,’ and ‘Your home shares your fondest memories’. These are just a couple of rather meaningless things my grandmother used to tell me when I was a little girl. However, those words were the first thing that came back to me as I was fighting amnesia. Nobody had a clue why, and, quite frankly, everybody was so happy that I was regaining my memory, that nobody seemed to care about anything else. I didn’t care either, not at first anyway.
My amnesia was caused by an awful car accident, which I was lucky to survive, even though I’ve been suffering from temporary amnesia for quite some time. My family had a particularly bad time with it, but it got better, eventually. The first few weeks were horrible. I couldn’t recognize anyone, kept crying myself to sleep, and just felt overwhelmed by all the people trying to talk about who I was and what happened to me. After that, I went through a long period of denial, but, as stubborn as I was, the bits and pieces started to come back, and I regained most of my long-term memory.  I still don’t recall all the minor things I used to do or like, but overall, I’m pretty much myself again. That’s a good thing, right? Well, I don’t really know…
I had been discharged from the hospital just a couple of days ago, and now I’m back home. I should be happy about it, but something doesn’t feel right. No, it’s not the fact that I occasionally forget my brother’s name, or forget where my room is, and other memory loss related issues. I was told that some of them are normal symptoms that linger on for a while, especially in cases as severe as mine. However, that’s not what’s bothering me; it’s something else. I think I might be losing it. Maybe it’s some kind of damage my brain has suffered, or maybe it’s caused by all the stress I’ve been under. I really don’t know what it is, but it freaks me out, and I sincerely don’t know if I’m going crazy right now.
It started as I was unpacking my stuff the other day. I found an earring, and then I spent quite some time turning the bags inside out, looking for the second one. Despite the effort, I failed to find it, so I asked my mother if she had seen it around the house. She smiled and sat down next to me. ‘You always put on just one earring, dear. It was like your own unique style of wearing earrings,’ she said, insisting that I’ve spent years wearing only the one earring. Apparently, the whole thing started when I was in such a hurry to a birthday party that I forgot to put on both earrings. Some boy I knew noticed it and said that I looked cool that way, and I’ve just stuck with it ever since. She also added that I only wear them both for special occasions.
I tried to remember, but I couldn’t. As I was struggling to access my lost memories, she asked if I wanted her to buy me a new pair. I told her I wanted to go back to my old habits, or at least give it a try. I thought it would help me regain my lost memory, so I put the earring in my left ear and continued to sort out my things.
When I finally finished, I stood up and looked at our beautiful garden through the window. I suddenly noticed that my reflection displayed a brief shining light coming from my right ear. It looked like I had an earring in it, reflecting the sunlight. I was getting closer to the window when my mother came in without knocking on the door. The squeaking of the door’s hinges startled me, and I momentarily forgot about the reflection. As I turned around, she noticed my earring and kindly told me that I put it in the wrong ear. I was freaking out, but assuming it was just my brain’s way to remember things, I mentioned nothing about the reflection and tried my best to act normal. She went through a lot, and I didn’t want to scare her, so I just took the earring off and went to sleep.
Today, after I woke up, I mistakenly put the earring in my left ear again, and, as I was brushing my teeth, the reflection once again had it in the right ear. It was not just a distorted reflection in the window. This time it was a crystal-clear image in the mirror, showing the earring in my reflection’s right ear. My eyes were wide open, and I found myself compelled to put the earring into my right ear, terrified even to blink. The reflection simply stood still as I was doing it.
Now it’s in my right ear, and I’m staring at my reflection’s dreadful grin as it strokes its right ear...
Narration: Home, Sweet Home: Narration (YouTube Video)
Category:Alparos-Lilah
Category:Mirrors