“What? Hannah has been murdered?” Alfred asked getting badly astonished.

Ronald moved back a bit and said,

“Yes.”

That moment Alfred began to feel the pain in his head as the news was quite a shock for him. One of the nurses came forward to see what the

issue was.

Ronald moved backwards and reached the wall next to the door. He whispered to himself,

Oh, my God! He doesn’t remember anything. He really is suffering from this amnesia thing.

He looked at his brother before leaving the room who was yelling,

“Hannah. Hannah!”

Ronald immediately stepped out of the room. He walked away in the hallway and asked himself,

What should I do now? How can I make a way out of this?

He took out his cell phone and made a phone call to his father in law. After several rings, his father answered the call,

“Yes, Ron?”

“Hello, hi. I need a few minutes from you.”

“Okay.”

“Please tell me what retrograde amnesia is?”

“Retrograde amnesia or anterograde amnesia?”

“Look, I don’t know either of them, but I’ve been told about retrograde.”

“Well, I’ll give you the basic and important stuff, the person who has suffered from a head injury once can suffer from retrograde amnesia if he gets a head injury again.”

“Okay, what else?” Ronald asked getting interested.

“The patient loses his memory, everything that happened between the two accidents

is lost.”

“You mean the person remembers nothing between the two accidents.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely nothing?”

“Yes, absolutely nothing. But this memory can be recovered. The chances are very less.”

“Okay, how? How can you recover this memory?”

“It requires some time, the patient can recover his memory if only instruments that remind him of his past are brought before him. For example, you can show the patient some old pictures and old videos. These can slowly recover his memory.”

“Oh, I see. Well, thanks a lot for your time,” Ronald spoke courteously, “I’ll meet you soon.”

“Sure. Take care!”

After disconnecting the call, Ronald turned around and looked at the room where his brother was admitted.

Oh God, please make it easy.

He prayed and walked towards the room and slowly opened the door. He had a brief glance towards his brother who was lying unconscious.

The nurse said,

“You can come inside.”

He walked inside slowly and asked the nurse,

“How is he right now?”

“You don’t really have to worry about him. That was a temporary pain.”

Ronald looked at his brother and then asked the nurse,

“What is the condition of his memory?”

“He remembers nothing about the past few years,” the doctor came from the other side and answered his query.

Ronald gave final instructions to both of them,

“Alright, I am leaving. I’ll be back tomorrow. If he wakes up, tell him that everything is fine and I will come and meet him soon.”

“We can do that,” the doctor replied. “But you need to fix one time for meeting him.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll be around 7 p.m.”

“Are you leaving, right now?”

“Yes, I am.”

Ronald left immediately trying to avoid any awkward conversation.

************

Next evening, Alfred was lying on the hospital’s bed as usual. He was desperately waiting for his elder brother to show up. While he was all alone in the room, he was wondering,

My sister, I loved her so much. I can’t believe she has been murdered. I’m just dying to find out who the killer is. The moment, I get my hands on that fellow, no power on this earth would be able to save him.

He heard the room’s door opening; he got alert and saw the nurse entering inside followed by his elder brother.

“Oh thank God, you’re here,” Alfred spoke out loud.

Ronald walked towards him and said,

“Look Alfred, I’m here just for a little while. I will meet you properly tomorrow.”

“What? Wait, where do you have to go?”

“I have to go for some work,” Ronald made up. “But in the meantime, I want to show you something.”

“Okay,” Alfred got curious.

Alfred sat up and waited for him to proceed. Ronald said to him,

“I’m here to show you a picture.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m saying, I’m going to show you a picture. I’m just hoping if that picture will bring back your memory.”

“It will bring back my memory?”

“I’m not saying it will. I’m just testing. We are just going to try. Let’s see, if it works.”

“Oh, alright! Show me.”

Ronald took out a hard photograph and while holding it, he asked his brother asking,

“What exactly is in the picture?”

“It’s a picture of Hannah’s dead body.”

He showed him the picture. Alfred took a deep breath and looked at the picture. In the picture, Hannah was lying dead on their house’ couch with her eyes shut.

“Does it ring a bell?” Ronald asked.

“No,” Alfred replied wiping off his tears.

“Really? Because you were the one who captured this photo.”

“Oh God, really?”

Ronald took the picture away and kept it back in his pocket.

Alfred was silently weeping. He asked Ronald,

“Has our father passed away?”

Ronald was feeling really sorry for his brother and so he said,

“It would be better, if you’d let me be silent on this.”

“So, he is dead? He wasn’t cured?”

“Look Alfred, you are not allowed to take too much pressure on your head. There’s something really horrifying that you still need to know. But I won’t disclose it today. You have some rest now.”

“Ronnie, I am not in mood to stay anxious and curious. You have to answer me now. What is it that I need to know?”

“Don’t push it Alfred. Things are not going to get better or easier. You have to be patient. The truth that I am going to disclose in front of you tomorrow morning will not be something that you’d be able to believe.”

Ronald was about to leave when Alfred stood up from his bed and said,

“Don’t you dare walk away from me like that! I want you to tell me now.”

That moment Alfred started to feel the pain in his head and he held his head in agony. He also screamed a bit. The nurse who was standing behind came closer and held Alfred through arms.

Ronald immediately left the place without even looking behind.

Later that evening, Ronald’s wife Gwyneth was in her husband’s father’s library. She was waiting for her husband who had asked her to meet her there. While she was all alone, she took out a book on law from her father in law’s shelf.

She thought about reading a bit but then told herself,

No, this is none of my capabilities. I am not quite capable of reading and understanding.

She kept that book back on the shelf. She turned around and saw her husband making his way towards her.

She stood straight and asked him,

“Why did you call me here? Couldn’t we meet at our house?”

“No Gwyn, I needed to talk somewhere outside.”

“Look, I want to know what exactly is the case with your brother?”

“He is amnesiac; your father told me all about it. I just want to make my next move carefully.”

“Ronald your father’s left over property has made it really difficult.”

Ronald kept his finger on her lips asking her to not discuss this issue.

“Look, Ronald are we going to discuss this matter or not,” Gwyneth asked him.

“We are. We most definitely are… but I have a plan.”

“Okay, what is it?” she asked folding her arms.

“Do you know what’s the difference between the lion’s share and a dinosaur’s share?”

*******************

Next morning, Alfred was having breakfast in the hospital. He was very irritated and was desperately waiting for his brother who was non sensually creating suspense for him. He had planned that he would ask him just once, if Ronald would make it unserious again then, he would simply jump out of the hospital and investigate the matters on his own.

The nurse entered the room and said,

“Your brother is here. He says he’ll be here in this room, in the meantime you can finish your breakfast.”

Alfred paid attention to her every word and then responded,

“Alright, ask him to wait for five minutes.”

“Sure.”

Minutes later as Ronald entered inside the room, holding a small bag. He dragged a chair and placed it close to Alfred’s bed.

“How are you?”

Alfred gave an expression of dislike and said,

“Would you just…”

“…I know you’re angry with me, but I am here to tell you that you will get every information today that you need to know.”

Alfred didn’t speak as he was waiting for him to continue further.

“But before that,” Ronald continued, “I just want to make sure that you are doing okay here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you know, I mean being here all alone, I would get really bored.”

“Bored? Are you kidding me? I’m panicked. My sister whom I was really close to, has been murdered. I have no idea about how I just blacked out in a car accident and woke up after three years.”

“That’s what appears to you. You were awake during all these years.”

“I know, I’m just saying how it’s going around in my head.”

“Anyways,” Ronald said trying to get to the subject of the day, “we must now understand that things are not going to get better. The police will be involved in this case.”

“What case?”

“The distribution of our father’s property.”

“I haven’t really given that much thought,” Alfred said showing least concern for his father’s property.

Ronald took a deep breath and said,

“What I’m about to tell you is going ruin the state of your mind. You will simply not believe me. I’m telling you in advance that I am in no mood to argue, I have evidences. I’ll keep those before you.”

“Ronald, I’m also not in the mood to stay curious.

You always come here and build this suspense for me. Just tell me, what is it that you think will really bother me.”

Ronald unzipped the bag and took out a medium sized diary and a cell phone with ear phones attached to it.

“Now, what is this?” Alfred asked.

“These are the evidences that will support everything I am about to tell you. You cannot believe these evidences.”

Ronald handed over both the things to Alfred and Alfred immediately snatched them from him. He asked Ronald,

“What are these exactly?”

“This diary is Hannah’s. She used to write this diary.”

“I never knew she wrote one,” Alfred replied getting kind of confused.

“She didn’t, but after father’s death, she was very disturbed with her life, and we had to help her ease her pain. So, we suggested her that she should express her feelings on this diary.”

“Oh,” Alfred said lifting up the phone, “and what about this?”

“This is a complete tale of the past three years. My wife has recorded her voice. She has narrated the entire tale of three years in just a few hours. She did it yesterday. You are going to listen to these audios and then, there’s some hope that your memory would recover.”

“Oh, well this is good,” Alfred said with fondness in his eyes.

“I know, it was my idea. I am leaving these two things for you, you can read and listen to them. Then the entire picture would be there in front of you.”

“Okay, well, thanks.”

Ronald stood up and said,

“Now before leaving, I am finally going to disclose something before you that you will find very horrifying and traumatising.”

“Okay.”

“But I am warning you, I don’t want you to get aggressive over me. If you can listen to it calmly, only then I will speak it out.”

“Alright, I’m calm. I won’t say a word.”

“You, Alfred Watson are responsible. You are the one who deliberately murdered our sister Hannah.”

Alfred’s eyes opened out wide.

Ronald turned and said,

“I’m leaving now, no violence!”

“Ron, please tell me you are joking,” Alfred said with severe disappointment.

“No, this is absolutely true. Just listen to the audios, you will believe me then.”

Ronald walked out of the room.