1 The Nightmare

Early morning

In a room a boy in his early twenties sleeping with his face covered in sweat. He is tossing around and wriggling on the bed like a fish out of water. It seems from his face that he is having a nightmare, and from his expressions, it looks like he is in pain too.

The door of the boy's room opens, and a lady in her late forties enters the room.

"Alex, wake u---" the lady was about to wake the boy up, but seeing the boy drenched in sweat and his painful face, she is shocked. The lady walks up to the boy, sits beside him and embraces him trying to soothe his pain.

"Alex, wake up son! Everything is fine, Mom is here, please wake up" the lady, called out to the boy as she gently stroked his forehead. She was on the verge of crying.

The lady is the boy's mother, Martha.

Aaahhhhh!!! Ah!! Ah!!.....h! h! h! Umhh...hh...h!

The boy woke up screaming and gasping for air.

After some time, the boy relaxed and noticed the surrounding. Seeing that he was in his room his heart comes to ease, but noticing the panic and tears in his mother's eyes, he felt guilty.

"Mom, I am alright" Alex tried to console her.

"You had the same dream?" Martha asked.

"Yes" though Alex didn't want to worry her, he could not just lie.

"Why don't you go on vacation and enjoy a bit. You can also visit your brother. You know the doctor said that it will be good for your health" Martha said.

"I can't mom, now is not the time. Also, I have an interview today, I need to find a job, settle myself and most importantly, I don't want to go on a vacation without you and dad," Alex said earnestly.

"Who of your age would like to go on vacations with their parents? You sure are an odd one. Now get ready and come down, I will prepare the breakfast". Martha could only smile bitterly.

Alex nodded.

Without saying anything else, Martha left the room.

After his mother went downstairs, Alex sat on the bed for a while deep in thoughts. These nightmares are becoming more and more frequent lately. Is this some sort of sign that he will regain his memory? What is he going to do if he remembers his past? Will he have to leave his parents and go to his earlier life back? But more importantly, will he be able to leave them?

After some pondering over, he walked to the bathroom.

When he removed his clothes, a well-chiselled body without any extra ounce of fat was on display. But one could barely notice that when all one could see was a body of scars. No part of the upper body except for his face was void of them. No one could imagine by looking at his face that underneath those clothes, his body will be covered in scars. Some scars looked recent, while some had faded with time as if they have been accumulated all along with his childhood.

After getting dressed, Alex came down.

On the dining table, a man about the same as Martha was reading the newspaper, while Martha just brought him breakfast. When Alex was climbing down the stairs, he could listen to their conversation. He stopped on the steps and listened.

"You look worried, did something happen?" the man asked.

"George we need to do something for Alex. He is getting those dreams more frequently now," Martha said, to the man in front of her.

The man in front of her was her husband, George. George has been running an entertainment company for years. The company's main focus is on advertisements, games and low budget movies. Though he was not in competition with the big companies, he was not short of anything. George was a happy go man, he flirted with his wife, teased his son and enjoyed every moment of his life.

"Did he get one today too?" George asked, knitting his eyebrows. The matters concerning their son were of extreme importance to the couple.

"Yes, so I asked him to go spend some time on vacation as my friend suggested, but he won't listen to me. Why don't you try convincing him?" Martha said.

"I won't, whatever his decision maybe, I will support him. That's the way men are" George said with pride while sticking his chest out.

"Why don't you just... Ahhh... men... How much I wish I had a daughter instead" Martha rebuked as she pinched George's arm.

"Ahhh... don't be like this... honey..."

"Go to hell with your honey..." Martha left the table in anger.

Alex too came down after listening to their conversation.

"Mom, breakfast" Alex said as he climbed down the last step.

"Coming..." Martha's voice came from the kitchen.

Alex came down dressed formally. Being nearly 6 feet tall with broad shoulders, a great build and fair complexion, Alex was like the perfect partner in every girl's dream. The best selling feature of Alex was his flawless face, dark black hair, grey eyes with shades of blue. No one could guess from the outer appearance and his face that underneath those clothes, this body is covered in scars.

"Good morning, dad" Alex greeted his father.

"Good morning! You are looking smart today. Are you going on a date?" George teased his son.

"Come on be a bit, serious dad. You know that I have a job interview today".

"Why don't just come and join my company? You don't even have to work. You can go on dates, I won't tell your mom. Let me tell you, this is a secret, but there are many beautiful employees in my company" George said as he winked towards Alex.

"Where are beautiful employees?" Martha, who just came with plates in her hand asked with suspicion.

"Nothing, it is something between us men".

"Alex, you better find a girl to marry soon. I can't go along with this man any longer" Martha complained to Alex.

"Honey... how can you say this to your son in front of your husband?"

"I said, go to hell with your honey..."

Under the constant bickering of his parents, Alex had his breakfast and after that, he bid his farewell.

Just when Alex left his house, he was greeted by the lady next door.

"Hello, miss Cole" Alex greeted.

Margaret Cole, the lady who lives alone in the house right next to Alex's house. Probably in her early thirties, she is a lady with a mature charm. Margaret has a warm personality which makes it easy for people to approach her, adding to her seductive charms, she is surely an ideal woman for men. No one knows what she does for a living, but she sure is rich, leading to a lot of rumours about her.

One such rumour in the locality is that she was once married to a very rich real estate developer, but later divorced and has been single since then. Some say that she married an old guy and after his death, all the property transferred to her. Some say that she is a sl*t warming the beds of rich men, but no one knows for sure. But despite the rumours, the number of suitors of her never ceases to amaze Alex. Men from many rich and influential families tried to marry her into their families, but no one was successful.

"Jeez!! Alex, just call me Margaret, miss Cole sounds distant, and I feel like an old lady". Margaret replied coquettishly. Meanwhile, she seductively traced her finger along Alex's face gently.

The only time Alex felt powerless was when he was in front of this lady. Saying that he has no interest in her would be like challenging whether he is a man or not.

"Today I have an interview Margaret so let's talk later, I am getting late" Alex grabbed her hand lightly and removed it from his face delicately as if it was not just a hand but a highly-priced piece of work. The softness of her hand made Alex's heart flutter.

"Oh! So today is your big day". Now she placed her hand on his chest and caressed it while sliding down slowly.

"Yes". Alex replied, controlling his breath.

"If you get the job, you will give me a treat me to a meal, won't you?" Now her hand was about to reach his pants.

"Alright" not able to control the blush on his face, Alex replied. It was getting hard for him to control himself with each passing second.

Being treated like a toy in broad daylight, that too in the middle of the road, while the onlookers gave him weird glances, Alex didn't know what to do. Alex leaned backwards, dodging her hand and he ran as fast as he could, not turning back to give the vixen, a second look.

"Hehe… So I do have a little charm left" Margret thought to her self.

After running for god knows how long, Alex finally stopped after he reached the main road. While panting heavily, he stopped a taxi.

Giving the address of the company to the taxi driver, Alex relaxed and laid back while looking out of the window, thinking about his peaceful life.He was not the real son of the Rutherford family. He does not remember anything before the last one year of his new life. His parents have told him that he came in front of Martha's car out of nowhere and they got into an accident. After that, she took her to the hospital. Alex gained consciousness after a week but lost his memories. The Rutherford couple decided to adopt him, leading to his present life.

Alex was perfectly content with his peaceful life right now, but he does not why, but somewhere deep in his heart, he felt a sense of emptiness as if all this was not for the real him.

The taxi drove while Alex was in deep thoughts.