Remembering Elizabeth (Featuring Suho and Sehun)

When I woke up from my nap, I had no memory of what had happened. Sehun was gone but Xiumin was sitting on the little couch playing a game on his phone.
“Where is Sehun,” I asked and sat up in the bed. My head felt weird. Sort of numb to the touch like when you’ve had a shot of Novocaine.
Xiumin sat up and put his phone down. “He’s in a meeting with Jun and Chanyeol. They had a pretty big fight after you went to sleep.”
“Why?” I asked. I was completely confused.
“Because of what Chanyeol did to you,” he said.
“Who’s Chanyeol?” I was trying really hard to think but it made my head tingle.
Xiumin blinked at me a few times. “You don’t remember Chanyeol?” he asked.
I shook my head which made my eyes go blurry. “I don’t know Jun either,” I said. I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know what.
“You call him Suho,” said Xiumin.
“Oh, I know Suho,” I said.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked.
“You’re Xiumin,” I said and he smiled.
Just then Sehun came into the room. He had a blood smear across his cheek from his nose and a swelling black eye. “Thanks Minseok,” he said.
“Um, come over here for a minute,” said Xiumin and he took Sehun to the other side of the room They kept looking at me as they talked. Sehun looked concerned. When they were done, he walked over to me and Xiumin waved as he left. I waved back.
“How are you feeling?” asked Sehun. He sat on the edge of the bed.
“I feel a little funny,” I said and put my hand to my forehead. “My head is a little tingly.”
Sehun also felt my forehead. I didn’t think I had a fever. “Chanyeol is going to come and apologize to you,” he said.
“Who?” I asked. I didn’t recall the name.
“Don’t you remember Chanyeol?” he asked.
“No. And what happened to your face? Does it hurt?” I reached for his cheek but he flinched.
“It hurts a bit,” he said and gently touched his eye. “I had a fight with Chanyeol.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Elizabeth? Are you alright?” he asked.
“My head feels weird,” I said.
“Sit right there for a few minutes okay?” Sehun went over and pushed a button on the intercom. “Jun, can you come to Elizabeth’s room please?”
The intercom light lit up and a voice said, “What’s going on now?”
“Just hurry,” said Sehun. He came back over to the bed and held out his hand. “Let’s go sit over there. Jun’s going to come and talk to you.”
As I got up to sit on the couch I asked, “Who’s Jun?”
“Suho. Don’t you remember Suho?” Sehun asked as we sat down.
“Oh. Yes,” I said.
“Do you remember what happened before you went to sleep?” he asked.
I tried to think. “I saw Suho in the pool and then I played a game with Kai,” I said.
“I didn’t know that,” said Sehun. Then he asked, “What happened then?”
“I went to sleep?” I asked. I wasn’t sure.
“First you talked to Chanyeol,” he said.
“I did? Who is that?” I asked.
Sehun looked like he was starting to get scared. “I’ll let Suho tell you,” he said and held my hand.
Suho came into the room looking very much like the business man I was used to seeing. “What’s wrong?” he asked and came over to sit on my other side.
“Elizabeth, tell Suho what you did today,” said Sehun.
I gave Sehun a strange look but I turned to Suho and told him anyway. “I saw you in the pool and then I went to Kai’s room and we played a game. Then I had a nap. I don’t understand what I did wrong,” I said as I looked around at both of them.
“I don’t get it,” said Suho.
“Elizabeth, tell him about your talk with Chanyeol,” said Sehun.
“Who?” I asked.
Sehun looked at Suho. They were both quiet for a few minutes and I thought they were upset with me.
“Elizabeth, What can you tell me about what happened to you before you came here?” asked Suho.
“To my room?” I asked.
“No, before you came to live here in my house,” he said.
I tried to think. I remembered coming to Korea with my family. Then I got lost. When I tried to think about what happened after that, everything was gray. A sharp pain shot through my head and all I could see was white light. I had to push on the sides of my head to make the pain stop. I managed to say, “I came here on vacation with my family and then I got lost on my way to meet them at a restaurant. After that, I only remember being here.”
“What about Kyung or Tom?” he asked.
“I don’t know them. Should I?” My head started to ease up.
“I’m going to make you a doctor’s appointment okay?” said Suho.
“Thank you. My head feels really funny. I think I may be getting sick,” I said.
Suho moved away from us and talked to someone on his phone. That made me think of something. “Did you ever get my phone back from the car?” I asked Sehun.
“You remember the accident?” he asked.
“How could I forget that?”
“Your phone is in my room. But I have a question,” he said.
“Okay.”
“Why is your background picture of Shinee? I didn’t even know you knew about them,” he said.
I had to laugh. “I met Taemin when I went to the mall with Kai and he put that picture on there. I don’t know Shinee,” I said.
“So, you were out with Kai AND Taemin?” he asked.
“And I met Ravi too. But he was with his girlfriend. I think her name was Savannah,” I said.
“Wow! Okay. Well, that’s the last time you go out without me,” he said.
Suho came back over to us and said, “Doctor Lee wants to see you immediately. So, get ready little lady and meet me in the entrance hall.”
“Alright,” I said and stood up. Sehun sat there.
“Sehun, come with me and let her get ready,” said Suho.
“I’d rather stay with her,” said Sehun.
“I know but I need to talk to you for a few minutes,” said Suho.
“Oh, okay. Elizabeth, I’ll be right outside when you get ready,” Sehun said.
I smiled at him.

Dr. Lee was very sweet. He was always gentle with me almost to the point of treating me like a child. I was afraid of the machine that he had to use to read my brain because I have such severe claustrophobia so he talked to me the entire time I was in there. He even put a picture of Exo on the little screen at the top so that I would feel calmer. Finally my tests were over and we were waiting in Dr. Lee’s office for him to finish reading them.
“Is something wrong with me, Suho? Did something happen?” I asked.
He was holding my hand and he squeezed it. “Something did happen but you don’t remember it and that’s why we are here. But I’m sure you’re fine. Dr. Lee didn’t seem worried.” Suho was a horrible liar.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Chanyeol scared you.”
“I don’t know who that is,” I said.
“I know and you should. That’s why you needed to see the doctor to find out why you don’t remember him,” he said.
Sehun was pulling at the hairs on his arm and he always did that when he was extremely nervous. He also bit the hell out of his bottom lip and it was starting to swell. At least it would match his eye.
The doctor came into the room and Suho sat up straighter. Sehun did the opposite. He shrunk in his seat.
“Okay. I know what is going on with Elizabeth,” said Dr. Lee.
“Is it serious?” asked Suho.
Dr. Lee sat at his desk and started pushing buttons on a remote. “Yes and no,” he said as the television on the wall lit up and a giant picture of a brain that was different colors was shown beside a brain that had a lot less color. “The picture on the left is Elizabeth’s last scan and the one on the right is today. You’ll notice that the one on the left has areas that are lit up blue and on the right those areas are dim and gray.” He used a laser pointer to indicate the areas he was talking about.
Suho sat forward. He looked a little scared but I didn’t know what the doctor was getting at. “That’s a lot of area,” he said.
“It does seem like it but it really is just large areas of the same thing. It looks worse than it really is,” said Dr. Lee. “The blue areas are sections of memories that were opening up for Elizabeth but something, some event, happened that began shutting those areas down again. Something traumatized her enough that her brain was shocked and to protect itself, it began shutting down areas that were causing the trauma.”
“For good?” asked Sehun.
“I don’t think so. I think it will begin to heal and slowly begin to open up again. It could take a while and it could take longer than before but the brain is a remarkable thing and I believe that since it tried to heal itself before, we can have hope that it will do the same thing again.” Dr. Lee smiled at me. He had a funny little smile that almost made his eyes disappear. “Do you know what event could have caused this to happen?”
“Yes. A person that doesn’t understand her condition scared her. He’s the one she can’t remember,” said Suho.
“Her brain is protecting her from that as well I’m sure. I think it will all come back to her but she will probably have just as much trouble as she had regaining her memories before I’m afraid,” said Dr. Lee.
“She has to go through that again?” asked Sehun. He sounded angry.
“I’m afraid so,” said the doctor.
“That isn’t right! Isn’t there a way to fix it so that she never has to remember what happened? Can’t you…” Sehun stood up.
“Sehun! Sit down and calm down,” said Suho in his leader voice.
“No Junie! You know what it was like! It was painful and torturous and she shouldn’t have had to go through that crap once much less THREE TIMES!” He turned back to the doctor. “Can’t you do anything? Can’t you make it so she never has to know? Why does she need to? It’s all bad and will continue to haunt her for the rest of her life so isn’t it better if she never knows?”
“It does seem that way Mr. Oh but it’s not. If she doesn’t get those memories back, she won’t get the good ones either. She will never remember her family or events that may have been important to her. Also, if she doesn’t progress forward, it could all start collapsing backward until she has no memory left to her whatsoever. She must go through it to come out on the other side. She’s strong and she will survive just as she survived the initial event,” said Dr. Lee.
“I get it but I don’t like it!” said Sehun and he stalked out of the room, slamming the door.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Lee,” said Suho.
“It’s quite alright. I understand how he feels. I wish there was something I could do to make it easier for Elizabeth. There is no other way,” he said.
“So, we should just continue with what we have always done then?” asked Suho.
“Yes. She was progressing well.”
“What about the person that caused this. He’s still in the house. Should I make him leave?” asked Suho.
“No. She doesn’t remember him and being around him might start firing up her brain again as long as he doesn’t scare her again. Another scare could, I’m afraid to say, shut her brain down completely. It’s a protection mechanism that doesn’t actually work in this case,” said the doctor.
“What would happen to me then?” I asked. They were talking about me like I wasn’t there.
“You could end up in a coma while the brain tries to repair itself,” said Dr. Lee. The corner of his mouth went up in a sad gesture. He turned the television off and stood up. “Just go home and relax. When the dreams or visions come, try to remember it isn’t real and that you are safe. Keep telling yourself that. It will get better. I promise. And one day you will be whole and healthy again.” He shook Suho’s hand and we left.

When we got home, Lay was just inside the door, anxious to hear what the doctor said, but Sehun said, “Yixing, watch her for me and don’t let her come upstairs yet!” He went flying up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“Here we go,” said Suho and chased after him.
Lay looked at me with a confused expression on his face. I looked back at him the same way. “What did the doctor say?” he asked while trying to ignore Sehun’s shouts of “CHANYEOL!” and Suho’s shouts of “SEHUN! STOP RIGHT NOW! THIS ISN’T GOING TO SOLVE ANYTHING!”
“He said that I’m going to be fine. I have to start all over with my healing but I’m going to get better.” We both looked up the stairs as the noise got louder. There were things breaking and the yelling was all mixed together. There were more than three loud voices with a lot of curse words mixed in. I could hear punches being thrown and I felt like I needed to go up and stop it. I started to go up the stairs but Lay grabbed my hand. “I need to stop this,” I said.
“There’s nothing you can do. Just let them fight it out,” he said.
I waited a second and jerked my hand out of his grasp and ran up the stairs. He chased me but I was fast. The boys were in the hallway amongst broken wood and glass and flowers strewn everywhere. It triggered something in me but I didn’t know what. I looked at it and it made my stomach queasy but I ignored it. Suho was holding Sehun and Bacon was holding a tall boy that I didn’t know and they were all struggling. They were shouting at each other and neither was hearing what the other was saying. Both boys were bleeding from their noses and their clothes were ripped half way off.
I rushed to get between them shouting, “STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!” Lay tried to stop me again but I was determined. I stood between them, trying to get Sehun’s attention but no one was paying any attention to me except for Lay. I quit trying to yell because what I was trying to say was getting lost in the rest of the yelling that was going on. Lay was right, there was nothing I could do.
“THIS IS YOUR FAULT! SHE HAS TO SUFFER THROUGH EVEN MORE BECAUSE OF YOU! WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST LEAVE IT ALONE? WHY COULDN’T YOU MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS FOR ONCE?” Sehun was yelling.
“WHY CAN’T YOU SEE WHAT SHE IS? WHY DO YOU BUY ALL OF HER BULLSHIT, SEHUN? IS SHE SUCH A GOOD LAY THAT SHE CAN MAKE YOU BELIEVE ANYTHING? SHE MUST BE PRETTY DAMN GOOD IN BED IF SHE HAD ONE GUY KEEPING HER LOCKED DOWN AND SHE HAS ALL OF YOU WHIPPED! IF SHE’S THAT GOOD, MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL HAVE A GO!” yelled the tall boy.
Sehun struggled against Suho to get to the tall boy and Suho yelled, “CHANYEOL! SHUT YOUR FOUL MOUTH AND STOP MAKING THIS WORSE!”
Even Bacon said, “CHAN! SHUT IT!”
Chen was standing behind Bacon and said, “Chan, she has a doctor diagnosing her man! It isn’t like she just said that she has a problem. It’s been documented. And by one of the top doctors in the country.”
“CHANYEOL JUST SOUNDS JEALOUS TO ME! FOR ONCE HE DIDN’T GET THE GIRL AND HE CAN’T STAND IT! SHE DIDN’T EVEN LOOK TWICE AT HIM AND HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE IT SO HE’S TRYING TO MAKE HER LOOK BAD,” yelled Sehun.
“JEALOUS? ARE YOU SERIOUS? I CAN GET A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER THAN THAT UGLY PIECE OF LYING FILTH! AND SO COULD YOU IF YOU OPENED YOUR DAMN EYES!” Chanyeol yelled back.
I kept trying to get Sehun’s attention but it was no use. He tried to pull out of Suho’s grip but he couldn’t. “LET ME GO JUN! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM!”
“STOP IT, SEHUN!” yelled Suho.
“LET HIM GO, JUN! LET HIM BRING HIS NAIVE ASS OVER HERE. I PROMISE HE’LL END UP LICKING MY BOOTS AND BEGGING FOR FORGIVENESS BEFORE THIS IS DONE!” yelled Chanyeol.
I turned to look at the tall boy just as he pulled his arm out of Bacon’s grasp. It all happened so fast that I wasn’t sure what happened but his arm swung around and his fist made contact with my face. It felt like my eye was going to explode. I saw flashes of light before my head hit the wall and I fell to the ground. I landed in the broken glass and got a huge piece stuck in my wrist when I fell. Blood began to cover everything. I didn’t know what hurt worse, my head, my eye, or my arm. I felt dizzy and I couldn’t open my eyes. Madness erupted. Sehun and Suho both fell to the ground beside me. Sehun pulled me onto his lap while Suho yelled, “Baekhyun, give me your shirt quick!”
I heard vomiting and I later learned that it was Lay. He couldn’t handle the sight of blood. Suho wrapped the shirt around my arm to stop the bleeding. Chanyeol was yelling, “IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! I DIDN’T MEAN TO HIT HER! I DIDN’T EVEN SEE HER!”
“We know Chan. Just go and get an icepack for her face. GO NOW!” yelled Suho. “Sehun, pick her up. Let’s get her to the couch in here so I can see how bad this cut is.”
I could smell the warm metallic odor of the blood and it was making my stomach churn. It must have been a lot of blood and I’m glad that I couldn’t see it or I might have been throwing up like Lay. Sehun carried me into the game room and sat down with me in his lap while Suho knelt beside us and unwrapped the shirt from my arm. I took my hand away from my eye and tried to open them. The one that had been hit was blurry and it hurt to open it. I was sorry that I could see out of the other one because when I opened my eyes, I saw blood squirt from my wrist onto Suho who was already covered in splotches of my blood. He hurriedly wrapped the shirt tightly around it again and said, “I’m going to have to call the doctor. I think she nicked a vein or an artery and it needs stitches.”
“Will a doctor come here?” asked Sehun.
“This one will. He’s a friend of my fathers,” said Suho.
My head still felt like it was swelling and would soon burst.
“How is your eye?” asked Sehun.
“It hurts but my head hurts worse,” I said. I felt something tickling my neck. I rubbed it and my hand came away wet.
“What’s that?” asked Sehun and sat me up a little so that he could look at my neck. “Jun! Come here!”
I put my hand up on my head where it hurt the most and felt a gash. Suho came over and he and Sehun moved my hair so that he could see my head. “Owww!” I said.
“Oh goodness,” said Suho. “That’s going to need stitches too, She must have hit the edge of the molding.”
I heard Sehun say under his breath, “Chanyeol is a fucking dead man!”
“He didn’t mean to, Sehun. It really was an accident,” I said.
“How can you defend him after the things he was saying about you?” he asked.
“Because it WAS an accident and I don’t care what some stranger thinks of me. I only care what you think,” I said. My eye was swelling and starting to water so much that it looked like I was crying. I felt like crying.
“I’m still going to kill him!” said Sehun.
“That’s what caused all of this, Sehun! Just let it go. His opinion doesn’t matter,” I said.
Just then, Chen came in with the ice pack and as soon as it touched my eye, it felt better.
“Chanyeol too chicken to bring it up here?” asked Sehun.
“He feels really bad, man. He didn’t mean to hit her. Is she okay?” asked Chen.
“She has a cut on her wrist and her head and a black eye. No, she’s not okay,” said Sehun.
“Poor Yixing! He had to go lay down and I think he’s still throwing up,” said Chen.
“Oh no!” I said. “I’m so sorry. Please tell him I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault!” said Chen.
“I know but he tried to stop me from going upstairs and I went anyway. It sort of is my fault,” I said.
“No! It’s Chanyeol’s fault! If Suho doesn’t ask him to leave, I’m going to tell him to,” said Sehun.
“Who?” I asked.
Chen and Sehun looked at each other. Then Sehun said, “The man that hit you.”
“Oh, okay.”

Twenty minutes later, the doctor came. He gave me a shot of something that made everything feel better. I felt giggly and the world looked like a watercolor painting. The needle had scared me a lot and made me think of someone that I couldn’t remember the name of and for some reason it made me think of pizza and beer. The doctor stitched up my arm first and then my head and gave Suho some pain pills to give to me tomorrow. He was very nice and reminded me a little of Dr. Lee.
Sehun laughed and said that now we had matching black eyes. Suho kissed me on the forehead and left the room. Chen had watched as the doctor stitched me up but he left when Suho did. Bacon came to check on me and right after he left, Lay came in with Kai. The medicine I was on made them all look funny and I couldn’t help but laugh. They laughed with me. “She’s so drunk,” said Kai.
When they all left, I laid in the bed with Sehun and watched television.
“Elizabeth?” asked Sehun.
“What?”
“I’m sorry all of this stuff happened to you. If I could, I’d take you away from here and it would just be me and you and we’d go through it together until you were well,” he said.
“That would be nice,” I said. On this medicine, everything seemed nice.
Sehun cuddled up next to me and closed his eyes. He was soon snoring softly and I laid there looking at him. That’s all I wanted to do. Just look at Sehun.

Notes