Tower of Parlen Min - Wattpad Preview

THE NARROW ESCAPES OF VES ASIRIN 

By Matt Xell

TOWER OF PARLEN MIN

Prologue: 

The road on

There are many seemingly unending roads in the world of Everlon, and it is said that if you do not know where you are going, what you are looking for or why you are looking for it, you will wander these roads forever. 

Ves Asirin, who opens his eyes feeling dizzy and disoriented, doesn't know where he is going or why he is travelling down one of Everlon's longest roads in a cranky old bus. Ves is 11 years old and an orphan. He is short and small, has a mess of dirty blond hair and dark brown eyes. 

There is, of course, a reason as to why Ves doesn't know why he is on this bus. Ves suffers from a very complex memory loss disorder. Everyday since he was 4, Ves started losing most of his memory after time periods of about 10 to 15 hours. 

Ves' disorder had more than just stripped him of a working memory but also given him several characteristics that usually developed in children with autism spectrum disorders. The caretakers at Orem Church Orphanage, where he'd been raised, did not learn of his memory disorder until he was 8 but they had always thought him to be a little stranger than the other children his age. Ves would always stiffen or go limp whenever the caretakers picked him up rather than cling or cuddle up to them like the other children. Ves often showed little or no interest in involving activities and lacked typical social behaviour. He rarely smiled or made eye contact with anyone. He failed to develop any relationships with the other orphans. Often, he seemed unaware of the needs and feelings of others and failed to respond when another orphan was hurt or in distress.  

He usually played alone often engaging in repetitious activities, such as arranging objects in meaningless patterns, flipping light switches on and off, or staring at rotating objects for long periods of time. Sometimes he would spin in circles for hours and sometimes he would snap his fingers continuously for hours. And in some cases these habits were harmful, involving repeated biting of his wrists or the banging of his head against the wall. 

Later on, Ves had difficulty with language. He developed a very slow and awkward speech that he used only when he felt he needed to, but he completely failed to learn how to read and write. 

When Ves was 8, a child psychologist from the city visited the orphanage at the request of one of the caretakers and took an interest in Ves. This psychologist, famously known as 'The Good Doctor', was the first to learn of Ves' memory disorder.  

The doctor learned, though, that not all of Ves' memories were erased after the 10 to 15 hour time-span and that some memories did come back to him. Also, memories of faces, places and things that Ves came into contact with on a daily basis were not easily forgotten. Habits and behaviours also stayed in his mind for much longer. 

As he grew a little older, and with The Good Doctor's help, Ves lost and forgot most of his seemingly autistic characteristics and behaviours. He was timid and humble for the most part, though he was really stubborn and easy to anger. He stayed away from situations that he thought were troublesome to him and kept to himself, never venturing out of the orphanage's yard without a cause of his own.  

That is why, on this night, he cannot understand what he is doing on this bus, far away from the orphanage. He knows of course that the most logical thing is to ask the bus driver. 

He stands up from his seat and walks down the aisle towards the front of the bus and approaches the driver. 

"Um, excuse me," he says, "but, um, where are we going?" 

The driver does not answer him immediately. He looks up at Ves and surveys him from head to toe for a while with a slight expression of concern on his face. 

"Treper's field, that's where you said you were headed, wasn't it?" the driver says. 

Ves frowns. 

"And ... where did you pick me up from, sir?" Ves asks. 

"Meden Dale, two miles from Parlen Min tower. Don't you remember?" the driver replies. 

The driver looks away from Ves and continues to stare at the road ahead, steering the wheel gently. Ves turns around and returns to his seat looking even more puzzled and confused. 

Over the years, after habitual mustering and conditioning, and again with The Good Doctor's help, Ves learned to leave himself reminders and clues to remembering where he'd been or what he'd been doing in the last 10 to 15 hours. These clues sometimes trigger glimpses and flashes of lost memories.