Stephen felt so lost in his mind. He was afraid that if he moved, he'd wake up somewhere else again. He took a deep breath and yelled, "Help me!" He collapsed into his pillow and screamed into a muffle.
About 30 seconds later, Mobius and Loki ran in. Mobius sprinted up to his bed while asking, "Stephen?! What's going on?" They both seemed wide awake. "... When did I get here?" Stephen asked, not lifting his head from the pillow, which made it difficult to hear him.
"What?" Mobius questioned.
Stephen took his head up, "I said, when did I get here?"
Mobius and Loki exchanged glances. "Around 5:00 AM, remember? You arrived in an Uber." Loki told Stephen.
He began to panic, he gasped at Loki's words. "I-I don't remember anything." Stephen said while sitting up, he dangled his legs over his bed. Mobius sat down next to him and stretched his arm over Stephen's shoulder. "What do you mean you don't remember anything?" Mobius softly asked.
Stephen shook his head and cried, "One moment I'm outside, and then the next moment I'm in a grocery store. I don't know what's happening!" He weeped into Mobius' chest. Mobius looked up at Loki, they're both concerned for their friend.
"Hold on, I don't get what you're saying..." Mobius expressed. Stephen leaned up, "I'm saying... I'm losing my memory!" He yelled out. "Shhh, take a deep breath-"
"No!" Stephen jumped up with his hands held in fists. "Just a few minutes ago I asked Loki if he wanted to work on our homework together. And now it's SIX FUCKING AM! I'm going crazy... or no, somebody is tampering with my mind. I don't even know anymore! I bet if I close my eyes I'll wake up as an old man."
"I'm..." Loki paused and took out his phone, "...Going to call Tony." He gave Mobius a nod.
"Sure, go ahead, I probably won't even remember him tomorrow." Stephen hopelessly paced around his room.
Loki put Tony on speaker while saying, "Tony, Stephen is going bonkers. He said he can't remember some things and we're getting worried for him."
"For real? Hold on, let me think...... I'm coming home early. Go ahead and take him to the hospital."
Stephen stood close to Loki's phone, "No, don't do that! You're living your dream, I don't want to ruin that."
"Yeah, my dream isn't signing contracts all day. I've already arranged a flight home." Tony said to him. Stephen groaned, "You didn't have to do that, I can manage."
"Nope. You can't, and that's exactly why I'm coming. I'll be home tonight, keep me updated, 'kay?" He left the call.
Stephen held the back of his head, gripping on to every last piece of sanity. "I don't think the hospital can fix this. This feels like a magical component." He told his friends.
"Whatever it is we'll find a solution." Stephen never understood how Mobius could stay cheerful no matter what situation, he always found hope in bad situations, which he admired a lot about him.
They're at the hospital... it happened again! He was laying in a hospital bed, staring at Mobius and Loki, who're talking to a doctor. He wanted to scream for help, but he decided against it. He stared at his fingers, and softly touched his skin, making sure he was in reality. "It happened again..." Stephen mumbled to himself. "What was that?" Mobius asked him, everyone turned to him.
"Just a second ago I was in my room, talking to you guys... now I'm here." He said in a hopeless way. "You were here with us the whole time, we talked a bunch." Mobius said to him. "No... I don't remember it."
The doctor wrote something down on his clipboard, "Well, you've been showing symptoms of retrograde amnesia. Which is typically caused by a major head injury."
Mobius snapped his finger as he remembered something, "Oh! Remember whenever Gelid punched you in the head?" He asked Stephen.
Stephen was dead silent, he had a miserable facial expression. He didn't care if he had amnesia or whatever it was, he's scared out of his mind. He rolled on to his side and shook his head, there's no hope now... "I don't care now."
"When did he get punched?" The doctor questioned. "Man... I think about 3 weeks ago?" Mobius turned to Loki for assurance. "That sounds about right." Loki said.
"Okay... wait here." The doctor left the room. Mobius and Loki put their attention on their sad friend, weeping into his arm. Loki made his way up to Stephen's head, "Ehm... hey, it'll be alright." He attempted to comfort him while patting Stephen's shoulder. He sniveled, "You don't know that."
"I do know that because... I've experienced horrible things too. I've been in your position of feeling hopeless. I know what it's like to be overwhelmed by despair because you feel like nobody else can help you. But trust me Stephen, it'll work out." He's never heard such beautiful words come out of Loki's mouth. It gave him a small boost of confidence in his hope.
He didn't look at Loki, but he reached for his hand while doing so. That caught Loki by surprise, but he accepted and held Stephen's hand. "You're not in this alone." Mobius told him.
Stephen covered his red eyes with his arm and cried, "Thank you." He said in a muffled way. "I don't want to forget you, any of you. I-I'm afraid I will..." He continued. Loki squeezed their hands, "No, look at me. You won't forget us, okay?" Loki softly spoke, even though Stephen didn't look at him. Stephen's grip softened, almost as if he wasn't holding on to his hand at all. His weeping became quiet. "Stephen?"
"...Stephen?"
"Stephen!" Loki shook him multiple times, "Mobius get the doctor!" Mobius was already halfway at the door as Loki commanded that. "Help! We need help!" Mobius shouted from their room. A couple of doctors rushed in. They hooked him up to a heart monitor, a beeping noise was made. It began to slow down.
Beep
Beeep
Beeeeeep
Another doctor attached an automated external defibrillator to Stephen's body, they undid his shirt and placed a pad on his bare skin. "Get back." A doctor pushed Mobius and Loki away from the machine. One of the doctors pushed a button, which made a loud noise. It sent an electrical charge into Stephen's body, pumping his heart back into rhythm.
His friends watched in terror, could they be witnessing their friend's death?
Loki left the room due to being too overwhelmed, Mobius followed behind. "Oh my god, Mobius..." He stretched his face. Mobius leaned his head on Loki's shoulder, "He'll be okay... he'll be okay." He didn't have his typical cheerful tone, he seemed doubtful this time.
"He'll be okay."