The Man Who Lost His Memory: Part 1

I have written poetry and short stories since I was in high school. This short story is found in the book that I self published (it was mostly poetry).

This story is called The Man Who Lost His Memory. It is about a man who has amnesia, and how he figures out who he is, as well as the people that he loves.

He held the camera in his hands, looking through the images it stored. The only problem was he did not remember any of the people in the photographs. There were pictures of his wife, children, and buddies from work. There was also a photo of him, and he had no idea who it was.

The man, Anderson Williams did not have a bad memory, he had amnesia. Anderson panicked when he realized he did not remember anything. At first he thought maybe something was wrong with his brain.

This man was middle age, with blue eyes and graying hair. Anderson had gained an abundance of wealth in his lucrative trucking business that he started with his best friend Jason. The two men were dorm mates in college and have been best buddies ever since.

“Ring ring,” suddenly the phone rang. It took Anderson a while to answer because he couldn’t remember where his own telephone was placed in his apartment. Finally he arrived in the kitchen, finding the telephone that stopped ringing by the time he got there. Luckily the caller left a voicemail.

“Andy that was one wild night man, I didn’t know you had it in you,” the caller said, “let’s do it again soon!”

Anderson wondered what had gone on the night before that was so wild. He also questioned if it lead to this loss of his memory. Not to mention, who was on the other end of the phone? Could his amnesia have happened over night, or was he so out of it that he had been a stranger for some time? He only hoped the days ahead would bring answers to his multitude of questions.

“Think man…..think,” he said out loud to himself, “you have got to find out first who you are.”

Anderson went on a search around the apartment for any clues as to his own identity. He rummaged through drawers, boxes, and even looked under furniture. In one of the pockets of his nice sports jacket he wore quite frequently to work he found a wallet. Inside the wallet he found some money – a lot of money actually—credit cards, and a driver’s license.

Anderson J. Williams was the name on the ID. He looked in the mirror and tried to decide if it was his wallet. The picture resembled him quite accurately, except he looked a few years younger. Anderson felt content in the fact that he knew at least who he was. Now he just needed to figure out who the other people in the photos were, and how he lost his memory

He went back to the camera and looked through the pictures some more. He thought maybe looking through the images again would somehow jog his memory.

On the side of his trucking business, Anderson was also a talented photographer. The camera was state of the art, a professional camera in the digital age, which he still had not learned to use to its full potential.

The first photograph stored in the camera’s memory was of his wife Destiny. She is five years younger than Anderson, but she still looks like she’s in her 20's. His wife is a dance instructor, and always keeps active. Anderson wondered if the woman in the photo was his sister (and did he even have siblings) or if he was married. He hoped they were married because he thought she was very beautiful, with long blonde hair and shimmering blue eyes.

Anderson scrolled to the next image which was of his three children. He had two daughters, (Mikah and Autumn) and one son (Eli). He smiled when he saw them in the picture, and he knew the lady in the first photo must be his wife.

The next photograph Anderson scrolled to was of him and his best buddy Jason at a charity event his trucking company hosted. Williams and Son Trucking was the name of his business, which he included the Son part of the name because he hoped his son Eli would take over the business when he was old enough.

Before figuring out what the picture was about, there was a knock at the door.

“I’m coming,” he yelled at the stranger waiting outside.

"Hi Anderson, may I come in,” the tall stranger asked.

“Yes, come on in,” Anderson replied.

The stranger was another colleague, and employee of Anderson’s. He heard about what happened to Anderson the night before and wanted to make sure he was okay.

This is where I will leave the story for now. I will share part 2 very soon. Hope you all are looking forward to that.

Photo via Unsplash, as well as the lead image.