Memory Loss Ch. 01

Boiler plate disclaimers: All characters are 18+ and no characters are based on real people. Enjoy.

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CHAPTER 1

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I heard a voice and my eyes opened. I found myself laying on a bed, looking at a white tile ceiling. I shifted my head slightly to the right. A woman stood there, in hospital scrubs, eyes wide in surprise.

"Well hi there," she said.

I took in a good breath, and responded, "Hi." I could hear a little raspiness in my throat, so I coughed once to clear it. "Who are you?"

She put a hand on mine. "I'm Laura. You're at Mercy Hospital. Do you remember what happened to you?"

I thought for a second. I'm in a hospital, in a bed. The nurse was checking on me. Beyond that, it was hard to think. "Why am I in the hospital?"

"From what I'm told, you slipped in your bathroom and hit your head. You've been out for a few hours, but you should be okay." She turned towards the door. "I'll grab the doctor to come check on you."

I watched her leave. I tried to remember falling in the bathroom and couldn't. I tried to remember the last thing I could remember and couldn't do that either. So I decided to start with basic things I did know, and work my way up.

My name is Jim Drake. I live in California, north of Los Angeles. I'm twenty-three years old and I'm a software engineer. I graduated with honors from USC. My dad passed a few years ago from cancer, but my mom lives in San Francisco. I'm an only child.

I shared an apartment with my friend Pete Williams, who works with me. We were designing internet software to help websites make more money by tracking usage data: what do people see, click on, and so forth.

Laura the nurse returned with an older-ish man in a white lab coat, who I assumed was the doctor. "Good afternoon, Mr. Drake," he said, smiling at me. "I'm Dr. Jenkins. I'm glad to see you awake. We hoped you'd be conscious sooner, of course, but it looks like you'll recover."

"What happened to me?"

He shined a light in my eyes as he told me. "Your family told me they heard a loud thump coming from your room. They found you knocked out in the bathroom, and guessed you slipped on a wet towel in the bathroom. They called for an ambulance to bring you here, when you wouldn't wake on your own."

Something wasn't quite right about what he said. "Family, they?"

He nodded. "Your daughters. They're right down the hall. I'll tell them they can come see you in a momemt."

"What?" I sat up further in the bed. "That doesn't make sense. I don't have daughters."

The doctor and nurse shared a look. "Jim, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked me.

"I can't really remember." My head felt heavy as I tried to think. "Everything's fuzzy. I remember working on my software with my friend Pete."

The doctor leaned closed to me. "Do you remember what year it is?"

I thought for a minute. "It's 2000. Why'd you ask that?"

The nurse gave a surprised inhaling noise, and her eyes got even bigger. The doctor looked at me very seriously, and said, "Jim, it's not 2000. It's 2025." He took the nurse in the corner of the room, whispered to her, and she quickly left.

I started to get really worried. "You're shitting me."

The doctor pulled up a chair and sat next to my bed. "Jim, can you remember things that have happened recently? Like world news type things?"

I tried to think again until my head hurt. "Well, we got past the Y2K scare. And Al Gore and George Bush were running for president. Right?"

"Yes, in 2000. But you're missing about 20 years of history in there. Bush barely won the election and was president for 8 years. You don't remember that?"

My headache got worse, and I put my hands to my temples. "Wh- What? So wait," I tried to put things together. "I was born in 1977. So I'm not 23, I'm..." I paused to do the math in my head, "48?"

"Yes sir, and don't worry about that big milestone coming up," he chuckled. "You can take it from me, fifty isn't that bad."

I down looked at my hands. They weren't what I remembered. They were darker with hair, and showed more wrinkles and age. "Can I see a mirror?" I asked the doctor.

He got one from a nearby counter. The face I saw reflected was mine, but also not mine. In my 20's, I had had longer sideburns, but a clean-shaven face. Now I had older, tanner skin, well-trimmed sideburns, and a small, well-groomed goatee.

I looked back at the doctor. "I really am 48, aren't I?"

He smiled and said, "I know, middle age is kinda rough, huh?"

I smiled back. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Jenkins," I said, offering my hand.

He shook it. "You can call me Dave."

There was something else bothering me. "You said I had daughters."

Just then there was a knock on the door, and it opened. The nurse, Laura, entered first. She hesitantly spoke, "I brought your girls. I told them you were having some memory issues. Can they come in?"

I looked at Dave. "I'm nervous," I told him. "I can't remember being a dad."

He stood up, but didn't move far. "I'll stay here to help explain things," he told me.

I nodded to the nurse, and she opened the door the rest of the way. In walked a tall, attractive blonde girl, about college age. Behind her, was almost a carbon copy: another blonde girl, about the same age and height. Bringing up the rear was another blonde girl, shorter than the first two, with darker blonde hair. I recognized the hair color as being very similar to my own.

All three girls had slightly smudged makeup, as if they'd been crying recently, but the first two were putting on brave faces. The third, smaller girl still looked scared, and had a firm grip on the arm of one of her sisters.

The first one to enter spoke first, "Hi Dad."

How could I be the father of these three grown, beautiful women? My head reeled. "Um, hi," was all I could choke out. I turned to Dave.

He took the hint and spoke for me. "Your father's having a significant memory block. He thought he was still a young man, and didn't remember having a family."

I nodded. "I'm sorry," I told the girls, "This is really awkward. I can't even remember your names or anything."

The youngest girl sniffed back a tear, and continued to clutch her sister's arm. I studied all three. Their features looked vaguely familiar, like someone I knew before.

The first girl to enter sat on the bed, by my legs, and took my hand in hers. "Dad, I'm Katie. I'm your oldest."

I stared into her face. "Katie. Are... are you Katherine?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. You named me after your mother." A tiny rim of wetness appeared around her eyes. "Grandma Kate is in an assisted living home. We visit her every week."

I smiled back. I was glad to hear my mother was okay. "Katherine. Katie. You have my mom's green eyes."

That caused her to shed a single tear down her left cheek. "That's what you said when I was born." She looked up at her sister, and who was still holding hands with the youngest girl, and the two switched places.

I studied the features of this second girl. She looked very similar to Katie, but with blue eyes. While Katie's shoulder-length blonde hair was down, this sister's hair was up in a pony tail, but it was roughly the same color.

"So, I'm Kennedi," she started, "but sometimes you call me Kenni. I'm about 10 months younger than Katie."

I held her hand too. "No one in my family had blue eyes. I'm assuming you got yours from your mother?" She nodded, but her head was down, and it made me think of something that hadn't occurred to me before. "Your mother. Where is she?"

Kennedi didn't look up at first, and there was a moment of silence in the room. "Daddy, mom's gone. It's been a few years now." The youngest girl gave another tearful sniff, and Katie hugged her close.

I felt bad for the girls, but it was hard feel bad for myself being a widower, since I couldn't remember my wife at all. "How?"

"There was a virus, a few years back, a pandemic. Lots of people died," said Kennedi. "After mom died, Grandma Kate moved in for a little while and helped take care of us."

I sat and pondered this for a while. "What was her name?"

"Kasidy. Your wife was Kasidy Carter."

That threw up a flag in my brain. "Wait. I know that name," I said, suddenly holding my head in both hands, closing my eyes. Where did I know that name? I felt it was a name I learned recently, though my version of recent was over 20 years ago. I looked up, and saw all three girls and the doctor watching me.

"Kasidy Carter. She went by... Kassie Dee?" I sputtered out slowly, thinking about each word. "Was she... she was a porn star?"

The youngest daughter openly sobbed, and ran out of the room, and I instantly regretted my choice of words. Katie ran out after her, and I saw that Kennedi had grimaced at my words as well. "She didn't like to say that. She preferred to say 'adult entertainer.'"

I grabbed Kennedi's hands in mine again, and apologized profusely. "I'm so sorry, please believe me. I'm still trying to adjust to this."

Kennedi pulled me in for a hug. "It's okay. I understand. Kim's been taking all of this the hardest. Katie will bring her back."

Dave cleared his throat, and spoke up for the first time in a few minutes. "You say you do remember your wife?"

I spoke slowly and chose my words. "I remember having a meeting. Me and my partner Pete." I paused and looked at Kennedi. "Pete's still around, right?" She nodded, so I continued. "Pete and I were working on our web software. We met with this guy, Robert Sanders, but he went by the name Bobby Sleaze. He was a... producer of adult material, and he was interested in our software for his website. He brought Kassie Dee... your mom... to the meeting. Probably to show how important he was, or something. He was greasy and we didn't like him, but he was making a decent offer, so we met with him."

Katie had come back with Kim close behind. I looked at the girls and met each of their eyes, and smiled. "I remember meeting her. Your mom. I shook her hand, and she smiled, but I saw something in her eyes. I knew there was something else there. She wasn't just some ditz. She had a smart look in her eyes. She was way smarter than she was letting on, and Bobby Sleaze had no idea."

I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples again. The doctor put his hand on my shoulder patted my shoulder. "This is progress," he told us. "I think it'll take some time for it all to come back." He headed for the door, saying, "I'll write up a prescription for headaches, and I'll set up a follow-up exam. You girls can take him home in a little while."

"Thanks doc," I called after him. Then I looked at the girl who said she was my second daughter. "Kennedi... Kenni, I recognize your mom's eyes in you now. You're smarter than you look, aren't you?"

She blushed. "I'm following in your footsteps, daddy. I'm working on websites now. You taught me."

I turned my attention to the youngest girl. "Kim, right? I'm sorry about before. Are you Kimberly?" She came a little closer and nodded apprehensively. "But I'm betting only Grandma Kate calls you that. Do I call you Kimmy?"

Kim burst into tears again, but this time she launched her small frame at me, hugging me like there was no tomorrow. "Daddy, I was so worried," she sobbed into my shirt, "I was worried you'd leave us too. Just like Mom."

I hugged her back. "It's okay, Kimmy." Her sisters smiled down on us. Kimmy seemed to be the same build as her mother Kasidy, but with hair darker than her sisters, closed to my own dark blond. When she finally looked up, I saw my own eyes in her pretty face. "I may not remember a lot, but I'll do my best to try. What I can't remember, I'll relearn. I owe that to you all."

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Prescription in hand, the girls led me out of the hospital to the parking lot. I didn't recognize any cars. They all looked strangely futuristic to me.

Katie walked up to a black SUV and it unlocked on its own. Climbing in the passenger seat, I saw leather seats, and what looked like a digital screen in the center console. I noticed Katie started the car with just a push on a button, not having to turn a key like I was used to. The screen lit up wiht a Mercedez-Benz logo. "We have a Mercedez? Whose car is this?"

Katie gave a small chuckle. "It's yours, dad. Yes, we have a Mercedez."

My mind reeled. It didn't make sense with what I remembered. Pete and I were pretty broke, sharing a crappy apartment. Our cars were both several years old and not in great shape. "How can I afford a car like this? With digital screens?"

All the girls giggled. Though they were three different young women, their giggles were the same. Kim told me, "Dad, all cars these days have screens like that."

Kennedi put her hand on my shoulder from where she sat in the back seat. "Dad, we have money. Your company took off around the same time you and Mom started dating. You're no Elon Musk, but we're plenty comfortable."

"Oh. Wait, who's Elon Musk?" That comment prompted another round of laughter.

"He's a billionaire. Never mind that now," Kennedi said. "When we get home, we'll call Pete. He can fill you in on the details."

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If I was in doubt about our wealth level based on our car, that doubt was wiped away when we pulled into the driveway of our house. I guessed the girls were right about being comfortable, living in a large house like that. Not a mansion per se, but each of us had our own bedrooms, with two extra rooms for guests. Like the car, the kitchen looked futuristic to me. I was told I was a pretty decent cook, but I confessed the only meals I could remember how to make were simple things like pasta, or grilling meat.

Kimmy hugged my arm and told me, "That's okay Daddy, I'm a pretty good cook. You taught me what you know, and Grandma Kate taught me a lot more when she was living here."

Best of all, there was a swimming pool in the back yard. I did enjoy swimming in college to stay fit, but the girls told me I rarely used it in the last few years.

All three of them led me to my office, which was extremely nice. But when we tried to use my computer (which looked amazingly futuristic to me), we realized it was locked and I obviously couldn't remember the password. Kennedi logged on as herself, and she used the mouse to double-click Pete's name on a list.

Suddenly a window appeared on the screen, and a round, older man's face was centered inside. I was still amazed at the concept of a video call, then I realized who that face belonged to.

"Hey Jimmy! Kennedi told me you took a spill. Good to see you up and about!" he beamed.

"Pete?" I recognized his face, though he'd put on weight and lost some hair. He was also the only person I knew who called me Jimmy. "You're looking older, my friend."

The girls stood behind my chair, and Katie chimed in. "Pete, Dad is having a memory issue. He can't remember the last 25 years. He almost didn't believe us when we told him that the company took off."

Kimmy added, "He couldn't remember us or Mom."

Pete looked at me. "That true, Jimmy? You can't remember our big investor?"

"Was it that greaseball producer Bobby Sleaze? That's about all I can remember at the moment."

Pete laughed so loudly and suddenly, I almost flinched. "HA! That jerk? No way. I can't believe you don't remember it was Kasidy."

"Kasidy invested in us?" My head hurt again. "My wife, the... umm... actress?"

Pete picked up a coffee mug and took a sip, then began to explain. "I assume you remember the meeting with Sleaze."

"I remember not liking him. And I remember Kasidy was in the room."

Pete nodded. "She was brought along as his trophy. His lead actress. I remember you were a little star-struck yourself." He was grinning. "Well after that meeting, she called us behind his back, and said she liked our presentation. Turns out, she had manipulated Sleaze just to get in the room. Then she quit his agency to start her own. She became a producer in her own right, and used our software to run her website."

That made sense with what little I could remember, and I nodded along. "Yes, that sounds right. I was just telling the girls that I remembered meeting her, and she was smarter than she looked."

"Oh much smarter. She weaseled that Sleazebag. He was so mad, but he couldn't do anything about it. She conned him good. But that was what we needed, and our software worked fantastically. She was raking in money, and so were we."

"Hence the big house and the Mercedez."

"Don't forget the WD Inc. headquarters," Pete said, "no pun intended of course."

"What headquarters?"

Pete's hands moved towards his camera, and I realized he was picking up a laptop from his desk. The camera swiveled, and I saw his office, and the large windows along one wall. "We hired a bunch of people, expanded, and got a nice office on the 38th floor of a building here in San Francisco."

"And WD Inc, that's our names, right? Williams and Drake?"

"We're a leader in website software and data analysis. Advertisers crawl over each other to get our help with their websites."

I was glowing with pride. "I'm glad it all worked out," I told him. I glanced over my shoulders at my girls.

Pete grinned again. "We're living the dream, pal. I gotta go, but I'll try to make it over there this weekend. Talk to you later, Jimmy."

I grinned back. "See ya, Pete!" I said before his face disappeared from the screen.

I turned my chair around to the girls, intrigued about this life that I apparently led. "So your mom was also my first big investor? Why didn't you tell me that?"

Kennedi answered first, "You were on a roll back at the hospital, talking about that first meeting. I didn't want to stop you."

Katie added, "We were kinda hoping you'd remember on your own."

I started to say something but my stomach gave a loud groan, and it made all of us laugh. "I guess I haven't eaten today," I quipped. "Let's have some dinner."

We all went down to the kitchen, and Kim went into action. I offered to help, but she insisted I sit and rest. She quickly chopped up some vegetables and chicken, boiled some rice, and in no time she served up some fantastic stir-fry. I complimented her on the food, and she blushed and said I had taught her that.

Sitting around the table, I took this opportunity to take another look at the girls. Katie and Kennedi were both above average height for women, about 5 foot 8 each. They had similar builds, though it looked like Kennedi's bust size was a little bigger. I wondered if they shared clothes as they grew up, but they had different styles now. Katie was wearing a tank top and shorts, and looked more done-up. Kennedi was wearing a button-up shirt with short sleeves, and tight blue jeans.

Kim was shorter that her sisters, about 5 foot 2. If I recalled correctly, that was her mom's height as well. She was a cutie in a pink top and her short purple skirt.

All three were physically fit, and tanned. I guessed they all worked out to some degree, though no one in my family was prone to obesity. They also probably sunned down by the pool when they could.

As I studied their appearances and they continued to eat, I realized I could potentially be in trouble. My body might be 48, but my brain was still 23. And I'm sitting in a house with not one, but three gorgeous blondes. Half of my brain was imagining what each one looked like with less clothes, while the other half was sternly thinking, "Don't! Don't even think about it. Those are your daughters and they're way off limits."

As my brain waged war on itself, I settled on the premise that noticing their beauty wasn't wrong. It was honest and innocent. I would have to try not to stare so much.

As we finished eating, I proposed an idea. "Today's Tuesday, right? I'd like to spend the next three evenings with each one of you. Get to know each of you individually. That way, I can give you all attention, and hopefully something will jog my memory. How does that sound?"