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Dr. McNorton opened the door, revealing two large men holding AJ down to the bed, and Dr. Seid looming over him, about to inject something into him.

Howie averted his eyes up to Dr. McNorton, “What in the hell is going on here? They’re hurting him!”

“Dr. Seid!” Dr. McNorton shouted. “Let him go…”

Dr. Seid had backed away from the bed, gesturing so that the two security guards could move back as well. AJ quickly snapped up from the bed, staring wide eyed at all of them. He stared at Howie for the longest, wondering why they brought in a guy in a wheelchair.

“AJ?” Howie softly called out.

Great, I just learned that my name is Alex, and now, I have some guy calling me AJ? He thought to himself. He got off the bed and began to hobble towards the door, but stopped. They weren’t going to move, and there was no way he was going to push the man in the wheelchair away.

“Where are you going?” Howie asked him.

“Getting away from you people…”

Howie closed his eyes, the moment of truth was finally revealed, and what a way to reveal it. He didn’t remember who his best friend was, he didn’t remember anything or anyone. “AJ, you can’t leave…”

“My name is not AJ!” He shouted, interrupting him. “Don’t call me that, don’t refer to me as if you know me!”

Howie slowly rose from the wheelchair, Dr. McNorton’s arms dashing out, but Howie eased them away. “Alex… my name is Howie, do you remember me?”

AJ stared at him long and hard, for some reason, there was something telling him that he should know who this guy was, but the question was why? The man did look familiar, but as for remembering who he was, there was nothing there but a blank slate. “I wanna go… I just wanna go home, that’s all.”

“And where do you think home is?”

AJ fell speechless, he didn’t know, all he knew was that he couldn’t stay here, he didn’t even understand why he was here in the first place.

“Alex, your in a hospital,” Howie explained. “Do you know why your in a hospital?”

He shook his head, “Stop asking me so much damn questions… I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why I’m in a hospital, I don’t know who you all are, I don’t know anything anymore!”

Howie glanced up at Dr. McNorton, who only looked down at him helplessly. AJ grabbed his head, squeezing his eyes shut. “Why can’t I remember anything? It hurts so much to try to… I need to get out of here!”

He tried to walk towards the door again, but was stopped when one of the large security guards grabbed him from behind, dragging him back. It was déjà vu all over again, the security guards struggling to keep him under control, AJ kicking and raving, trying his best to get them to let him, and Dr. Seid approaching him with the syringe once again.

Howie watched helplessly as the two security guards literally slammed AJ’s small form onto the bed. “Can they not see that they’re hurting him?”

Dr. McNorton shook his head, “No, they’re not hurting him, nor are they trying to. Dr. Seid is simply giving him a sedative so he can take him to get a cat scan done, he needs to take a look at his brain activity.”

Howie stared at Dr. McNorton, and then looked over towards the bed, watching as AJ continued to kick and thrash. He walked over towards the foot of the bed, hoping to God that he could calm him down somehow.

“Alex!” he called out. “Alex, look at me, you need to calm down, they’re not trying to hurt you, they’re trying to help you, let them help you!”

AJ looked up and over towards the foot of bed, truly seeing who Howie was. He was a sincere kind of guy, the peacemaker, a sweet guy. Those traits were familiar to him, but why, and why could he pinpoint those traits only on Howie? That’s when it hit him like a Mac truck, Howie was his best friend. He’s known him since he was a kid, his first and only true best friend.

“I remember…” he muttered. “Howie, I remember, you were my best friend!” he shouted. Howie’s eyes widened. “The Latin carnival, we were acts then at a talent show they were holding! I remember you Howie… D… help me, please!”

But before Howie could stop them, Dr. Seid had injected the liquid into AJ’s arm. “You guys called me AJ…” he continued to babble, feeling the medicine kick in, making him drowsy, but he was determined to get out the fact that he remembered everything now. “Bone… you all called me bone… four more guys… I remember them… I remember you…” his eyes drifted close, he was out for the count.