The Glitch

Nine

I grabbed Ray's keys as quietly as I could, then started down the steps. I was about to open the door when I saw my mother on the couch, asleep.

I swore under my breath.

I guess I'm sneaking out the window again.

I went back up the stairs to my room, where my brother was sitting on the bed.

"When did you get here?" I whispered. He shrugged. "I was in the bathroom, and when I came out, I saw you going down the stairs. I figured it was only a matter of time before you saw Mom or she saw you, so I decided I wanted to be here for either scenario."

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "Whatever," I muttered. I held up Ray's keys. "Wanna come with?" Gerard shrugged again. "Sure. I can use a little more trouble in my life."

I jumped out of the window, followed by Gerard, who followed me out front to where I'd parked the car. We drove to the other apartment in silence. We climbed the stairs up to their room, where I tried every key on the key-ring before I finally unlocked their door.

I laid the keys on the coffee table. When I looked back for Gerard, I saw him slipping into Frank's bedroom. I sighed.

Might as well follow my big brother's lead, right?

I crept into Ray's bedroom. I crawled into bed beside him, knowing he wouldn't wake up until the morning. I gently pushed his curls back, then kissed his cheek. I ran my thumb back and forth along his jawline.

"I know you're in there somewhere," I said softly. "The real you. I'll find you soon enough. Then I can get to know you even better. I just hope the real you isn't an asshole."

I kissed his cheek again. I pressed myself against his chest, breathing him in. "Goodnight again, Raymond."

~

I woke up to the sound of voices outside the door. No doubt Ray and Frank.

I laid in bed for a bit, then stood up and walked out into the kitchen.

"Oh, Mikey, you're awake," Ray said. I smiled at him. "Good morning, Raymond," I said.

"I made coffee," he said. "I remember you saying something about liking it, so..."

"Thank you." I went to pour myself a cup. "Gerard will thank you even more. He loves coffee ten times as much as I do. It's practically his life source."

Ray smiled. "Nice to know."

"Coffee can't actually be a life source," Frank pointed out. "Not for a human."

"I know, Frankie," I said, ruffling his hair. "It's just a joke."

He blinked. "Oh. Okay."

I heard a bump behind me. I turned around, just in time to see my brother turning around the corner and smacking his shoulder against the wall.

"Morning, Gee," I said. "I guess you slept well. Coffee's in here."

He mumbled something that I couldn't make out before passing me for a drink. I didn't ever worry about him when he did things like that. I knew he'd be better with even just a few drops of coffee in his system.

I slid over so that I could kiss Ray's shoulder. "Hey," I said softly, grinning. "Do you want to start getting your memories back today?"

He shrugged. "Sure, if you want to."

"Hey, I want to get to know you as soon as possible."

"You know me already, Mikey."

"No I don't. I mean, I know you, but I don't know you."

He thought about it. "I don't quite understand, but okay. Let's get started and you can explain later."

"'Let's?'" I asked. "I'm not doing anything."

"I know, but..."

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Well, I, um... I just wanted you to be there with me while I did it..."

I smiled at him, going to kiss his cheek. "I will," I said softly. I ran my hand through his hair in an intricate pattern so I didn't get my fingers tangled. I knew I couldn't hurt him, but I wouldn't risk it.

"Oh, thank you, Mikey," he said, wrapping his arms around me. "I really appreciate that."

"You're welcome, Ray," I said. "I don't want you to be nervous or uncomfortable while you're doing this. It's a big thing you're doing. I'll be there for you, okay? I promise."

"Thank you," he said quietly. "L-Let's start."

He took my hand and led me to the living room. "Sarah said that watching TV was a way to try to start the process, right?" I asked. Ray nodded. "She said that watching television shows that I liked when my personality was in tact will help refresh my memory of who I was before my emotion was turned off."

I nodded. I picked up the remote and flipped on the TV set. I started at channel one and slowly flipped through them, waiting for Ray to tell me to stop because something caught his eye.

By channel fifty, I was laying down with my head in Ray's lap. I moved his hand so that it was on my shoulder, then linked my fingers in his. "Nothing yet?" I yawned. He shook his head. "I think we're getting close, though. I feel it."

I continued scrolling through the channels. When I hit sixty-three, Ray told me to stop.

"The Discovery Channel?" I asked. "What stands out to you about this?"

"I-I'm not really sure. Give me some time to watch it and... I'll figure it out."

Twenty minutes later, Ray grabbed my arm. "I figured it out," he said. "I remember!"

"Tell me, then! I'm interested."

"I used to sit in the floor and watch this while my mom watched it. She was always doing something else while we watched it, too. She would do paperwork for her job, or sew, or knit. But, now that I'm thinking about it, she was always watching something else, but when I came in, she'd turn it to this."

I nodded, looking up at him from his lap. "Where did she work, Ray?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember. "She was a lawyer," he said. "Yeah, that's right. She was a good one, too. Sometimes she would read over my English homework and just tell me how wrong it was. She could pick through every letter of a ten-page document and tell you what was wrong. That's why she was an atheist."

I laughed because I couldn't help it. "That's really good, Ray. That you remembered."

He smiled at me. "Thank you."

We kept scrolling, and he stopped me four more times. Once for a children's channel that he always watched when he was little. Once for a crime channel that he watched recently before he was changed. Once for a sports channel he watched with his dad, even though he never really liked baseball all that much. And lastly, once for a channel that played movies constantly that his girlfriend made him watch.

"Girlfriend, huh?" I said, sitting up. "Well, she's not around anymore. What happened to that?"

"She left when I got turned. She got scared and ran far, far away. She didn't want anything to do with me after that."

"Aw, I'm sorry."

"Well, she didn't leave me because of you, so don't feel sorry."

"Figure of speech, Ray. We've been over this."

"Oh, right."

"Besides, from what I can remember, I didn't like her that much anyway."

I laughed. "Then I guess you could say that's a good thing."

He smiled, squeezing my hand. "Yeah. I guess you could."