Fragments of the Mind’s Eye

By Meelayo

This is a science fiction story about a man reliving his past through a series of fragmented memories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669837367

Meelayo

Meelayo is a novice science fiction writer who tells the story of his past from the unique perspective of someone who cannot remember the entirety of events. Meelayo mends these gaps in his own timeline with fiction to complete his autobiography. Child of the ‘80s, Meelayo has been a passionate sci-fi enthusiast, living long enough to see fiction become reality in present day.

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Copyright © 2022 by Meelayo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/11/2022

Xlibris

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Meelayo is a novice science fiction writer who tells the

story of his past from the unique perspective of someone

who cannot remember the entirety of events. Meelayo

mends these gaps in his own timeline with fiction to

complete his autobiography. Child of the ‘80s, Meelayo

has been a passionate sci-fi enthusiast, living long

enough to see fiction become reality in present day.

Introduction

"Sometimes I pretend to be normal, but it gets

boring and I go back to being me" - Ain Eineziz

This is a book I wanted to write that reflected my own problems with memories and also in remembrance of someone that was an inspiration in my life. This is a story of fragmented memories and for that reason it is a mix of both true events and fictitious ones, I’ll leave it to your imagination which is which. Characters names are similar to the real life ones but being bad with names I decided to jumble them around from their actual ones. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I did, or as much as I think I did, I don’t remember.

This book is dedicated to very special people in my life; my family. Family is everything, no matter what obstacle life presents, family will support you to overcome and persevere.

by

Meelayo

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1     The Clicks

Chapter 2     The Cliché

Chapter 3     What’s Your Sign

Chapter 4     Birth of the Rebels

Chapter 5     Center Ring

Chapter 6     Mended Hearts

Chapter 7     Black Top Rules

Chapter 8     Career Day

Chapter 9     Come As You Are

Chapter 10   Jesters and Fools

Chapter 11   Wonderful Tonight

Chapter 12   Boys to Men

Chapter 13   Road to Recovery

Chapter 14   The Mind’s Eye

Chapter One

The Clicks

Andrew finds himself in an examination room, scared and confused. He doesn’t recognize anyone around him. He’s laying on a bed with tubes and monitors attached. He can see into the hallway through the examination room door. Andrew can hear a conversation between a man and woman. What is going on with my husband, doctor? asked Lacey. We have some more tests to run Mrs. Donald. It’s too early to diagnose, but your husband is suffering from memory loss. explains Dr. Thompson. Although Andrew does not recognize his wife Lacey, he knows she is someone familiar. He continues to listen to the conversation between Lacey and Dr. Thompson. Andrew notices that Lacey is breaking eye contact with the doctor to look at a woman by his side. Andrew doesn’t recognize the other woman but something she is doing catches his attention. The other woman is using hand gestures to communicate with Lacey. It’s at this moment Andrew has a fragment of a memory that the hand gesturing of the other woman is sign language. Another memory fragment begins to become clear to him; he has a wife that is deaf. The woman that the doctor is speaking to must be his wife, Lacey. Andrew then notices a man dressed in white approaching Lacey. The man in white places his hands on Lacey’s shoulders and coaxes her to leave with him down the hallway. Andrew is becoming irritated, monitors begin to beep. Dr. Thompson rushes into the room and hollers for a nurse. Andrew can hear Lacey calling out with concern for her husband as the man in white restrains her from running into the room. Dr. Thompson asks the nurse to administer a sedative to Andrew. Andrew struggles to speak.... I want to remember.. Dr. Thompson consoles Andrew telling him to relax and try to remember only happy thoughts. Maybe thoughts of your youth, Mr. Donald. suggests Dr. Thompson. Andrew becomes drowsy as he was beginning to remember a fragment of his senior year of high school. I’ll remember her here, this is how we met. says Andrew, weakly, as he falls asleep.

Andrew, can you hear me? My name is Dr. White. I’m here to help you try and remember. Imagine me there with you, wherever you are, it will make it easier for us to communicate.

I can see you Dr. White, you’re quite a distance away, I can’t make out your features. says Andrew.

That’s fine, Mr. Donald; I can hear everything you say. Please tell me where you are and what you’re doing. Dr. White asked.

My name is Andrew Donald, the year is 1994 and I am a skinny 6’ 4 17 years old. I know I am only dreaming, but this is the only time I can remember details. Have you ever had a dream so real that when you wake up you can remember it vividly, but as the waking minutes pass the memory of that dream fades and you return to reality? I experience the same occurrence, except these dreams are my memories and when I awake they fade and my reality is full of strangers."

That’s good Andrew, that’s why I’m here Dr. White explains. Begin with your dream and I’ll be here listening. Tell me every detail, people’s names around you. Every bit you can add helps

OK doctor. I can see myself back in high school, it’s senior year. We’re in the last class of the day, English. English was never my best subject in school, but the entire class is talking and joking around. Everyone’s in upbeat mood including myself. It’s not simply because it’s the last class of the day, but mainly because of our teacher, Mr. Kentwood. He teaches for about the first fifteen minutes and then lets us study amongst ourselves as he puts it, but we interpret it as do whatever the fuck you want, I don’t care. Another reason this class is considered my favorite is it’s the only one that all of my closest friends are in at the same time. This may be the 90’s, but some traits never change. One of which is teens are herd animals; we tend to associate ourselves with a specific type of people based on their social status, activities, academic achievements or hobbies. This has always been the case, throughout time; the only aspect that’s different is what these herds are called. The Millennials called them squads, we called them clicks. I, myself, was an anomaly, not belonging to a certain click, but also not shunned by any. I was friends with at least one person in each click which in turn made me friends with people in the click by association. Now don’t let me mislead you doc, I wasn’t part of the click, I didn’t get invited to sit with them at lunch, hang out after school, or get invited to any weekend parties. I wasn’t Mr. Popular by a long shot. People knew who I was, but it wasn’t grounds for climbing any social ladder.

Let’s break down the clicks here in class today and who my ambassadors are.

Nerds

First there are the nerds and geeks, which if any were the closest match to my actual click designation. There is myself, my cousin Ralph Henry and my best friend Brad Kenley. Ralph is the largest nerd I knew, and I say largest because he’s a 6’ 8 soulless ginger. I take that back, he’s not soulless. Ralph and I may be cousins but being the same age and always living close to each other, we are more comparable to brothers than cousins. Ralph is the type to always study in the library during lunch, never attended any parties or other social events. Because of his height, Ralph did have one social activity, basketball, and he is damn good at it. This opened the door for him to be moderately social with us, playing team ball at high school games and at our friend Frank’s house when we would all meet up for some black-top!" Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself; we’ll come back to that later.

Brad is an academic all-star and highly respected in ROTC. He was still considered a nerd but at almost a royalty level. Equivalent to Ralph and I, Brad is also a basketball player for our school, even though he was shorter than Ralph and I and moved in almost robotic motions. Brad and I went way back. We’ve been friends since elementary school. Brad isn’t paying me any attention as I’m describing him; he’s too busy flirting with my sister Sarah Ruth. I call Sarah my sister because we have been friends almost as long as Brad and I and despite her physical appearance of elegant complexion, gorgeous eyes and long blonde flowing hair, we connect on only an emotional level. Since we’re talking about Sarah, let’s move on to the next click.

Preps

Sarah is the Queen of the Preps. She’s your basic privileged white girl who never experienced rejection, popular with most and envied by all. Her father is the wealthiest, most respected lawyer in town and Sarah knew it. She acquired whatever she desired and never went without the latest fashion items, vehicle of her choice, or anything else she sought. This is the case with all members of the Prep click. They are all spoiled rotten rich kids that looked down on anyone not in their click, except Sarah. Sarah is nice to everyone to a degree and will stand up for someone that deserved it. I referred to Sarah as my sister because we grew up without siblings and lived next door to each other till we were ten. This was while her father was still in law school and before he became so well known and successful. This separation didn’t transcend into our friendship. We remained close throughout high school and supported each other through rough stages and heart breaks. Many instances people would actually trust us when we told them we were siblings. The Preps are a ruthless group. To piss off a Prep would result in rumors, ridicules and rejections by all clicks. Ralph, Brad and I are under Sarah’s social protection of this fear. Sarah didn’t allow anyone in the Preps to disrespect us. On the other hand, we weren’t actually in the Prep’s social circle. We didn’t sit together at lunch or hang out after school. We didn’t go to their parties either, mainly because no one except other Preps even knew there was a party being held. Speaking of parties, Sarah just now broke her attention from Brad’s endless flirting; not that he had a chance anyway; to snap at another Prep for almost inviting a Jock to a Prep party happening tonight. This is a common grey area between Preps and Jocks ... which brings us to the next click.

Jocks

The person in the Preps trying to invite a Jock was a cheerleader. Jocks are an odd group filled with a mix of social elite that lie slightly below the Prep standard and also include the poorest of the social circle solely because they excel in sports. You’re probably wondering why Ralph, Brad and myself are not in the Jock click, well there’s a reason. You couldn’t merely be average or even above average in a sport such as we are, no, you have to be fucking awesome. Most of these people are roided out muscle heads that were excellent in multiple sports. The Jock cheerleaders were the girlfriends of these testosterone filled freaks and fell into to the Jock click instead of a different one. For this reason, a Prep cheerleader thought she could invite a Jock cheerleader to their party, forgetting that clicks don’t socialize. The Jock click is home to two of my friends, Melissa Heath and Randy Shaun. Melissa is the cheerleader being almost asked to the Prep party, and having Sarah rip that invitation away upset her. Melissa is a charming, fair complected, curly headed brunette and captain of the cheerleading team. She’s a foot shorter than I am but that never stopped me from imagining us together, which would never happen not only because I wasn’t a Jock, but because her boyfriend Randy would kick my ass, if his sawed-off ass could reach me. Randy is