The music began blaring and the guests resumed their gist and chatter. Nicola and Martino tended to the guests while Challis played video games with Nelson, Mr. McCarthy’s son. Mr. McCarthy lived next door and was also a nice person.
“Johanna, can I get a glass of water for the baby?” Mrs. Bright asked as she tried to calm little Alex, who had hiccups. “Sure,” replied Johanna, with a big smile as she made her way to the kitchen.
Ginger’s barking came faintly beneath the blaring music and caught Johanna’s attention. She tried to focus and got worried when she heard Ginger barking aggressively from the basement. She went back to the living room with the glass of water. “Thanks, Johanna,” Mrs. Bright said. Johanna forced a smile and went over to Bryant. She took Bryant silently with her, trying not to create anxiety in the guests.
“Brandon?” Johanna called out, as she turned the knob of the basement door. “Brandon!” she shouted when she saw her husband who was on the floor, unconscious. The naked wire was still sparkling close to Brandon and she presumed that must have caused this. She beckoned on Bryant to take care of the wire.
“Help! Help! Is anybody there?” Johanna shouted as Bryant ran to the living room to get the nurses.
“Hey, we need help down here,” Bryant shouted as he got to the partying guests. Nicola turned down the music while Theresa and Dominic followed Bryant. The guests tried to keep calm, to avoid unnecessary frenzy in the house. They all waited anxiously to know what had happened.
Theresa and Dominick knelt beside Brandon, “Brandon, Can you hear me?” Dominic shouted as he tapped Brandon’s cheek hard with his palm, but Brandon wasn’t responding. Theresa placed her right ear on his chest to listen for his pulse, as she could not feel it on his wrist. “He is still breathing, but it is faint. Let’s move him upstairs to a place with more air” Bryant and Dominic carried the 6-foot tall man up the stairs. Johanna cried, covering her mouth with her right hand, trying to make her sobbing as silent as possible. Her husband just got back home and then this on his birthday?
He was placed gently on the sofa, with a little pillow placed under his neck. The guests gathered around asking what had happened, with nobody giving a specific answer. Dominic put a call through to the hospital asking that an ambulance is brought. Johanna came back with the blankets Theresa had asked for.
The sight of Brandon’s lifeless body made Challis cry. The last time she saw him lay like this was while he was asleep and not being near death.
“Take Ginger outside,” Nicole told Martino. The guests made way. They were in an awkward position, not knowing what to do but looked on.
The ambulance blew its siren to notify them of its arrival. “Help me get him up,” Dominic said to Bryant. Just as they were about raising him up, Brandon suddenly opened his eyes. However, he wasn’t looking pale with a dilated pupil. He looked strange and had signs of positive health. The paramedics that came in looked around for the sick patient, but they couldn’t believe they were called for Brandon. The charge had gone through his body and had somehow rejuvenated him, reawakening dead cells in his body. What happened to him could only be explained by science. Laymen wouldn’t understand. He was electrocuted, hit his head against a wall in the process, and after about ten minutes came back to life stronger than he was.
He felt a sharp pain in the head after looking around the room for about fifteen seconds. Bits of his memory came flooding back; his high school days when he had punched a bully in the face, who lost his left eye to the punch, how he had gone out with women to strip joints and had a beer alongside friends, how his father had died in the seas he was sailing, and the day he had angrily driven out of the house and got involved in an accident.
He was turning his head left and right when Johanna touched him, “Are you okay?” she asked. He looked around and appeared really confused about the memories he suddenly remembered in his head. The situation played out fine in his head, but he couldn’t get a real grip of the pictures and motions, he only saw glimpses of the memories, as if they were hidden deeper in his mind.
“Where is the patient?” the paramedic asked. “He is fine,” Johanna said, as she helped Brandon to sit him up. Dominic talked with them and they left. “Dear, are you okay?” Johanna asked. He squeezed his eyes and gave a nod in response, “It’s just a slight ache in the head,” he looked over and saw Challis, who was already covered in her own tears, “Come here, my little pumpkin,” he said. She went over to him, as she cleaned her tears with the bottom of her shirt.
“Did I scare everyone again? I am sorry for that. I really appreciate you all for coming here, despite your busy schedules. As my wife might have told you, I got electrocuted trying to turn on the emergency generator. Electricity wanted to put an end to the fun, and I am sorry I allowed it. I regret having to say this, but I think it would be best I spend some time alone with my family to recoup. I have a lot going through my mind right now. I really hope you understand.”
“Ofcourse we understand. Just make sure to take care of your health,” Mr. McCarthy said.
“But before you go, everyone, please take a gift bag,” Teeba said when she noticed Johanna was still in shock and pain.
Teeba and Theresa distributed the gift bag, courtesy of the celebrant and family. The guests left and the whole house was silent in no time. Dominic, Teeba and Bryant decided to stay to help clean up the house and to care for the kids. Nicola came over with a glass of water, which Brandon gulped down all at once.
“Come here,” Dominic said, opening his arms for Challis to sit on his lap. She ran into his hands, sobbing. She definitely had more of an attachment to Brandon, probably because she was the youngest. “Cry no more, your dad will be okay,” Dominic said.
“How are you feeling?” Johanna asked.
“Fine but lightheaded. I think I will need to take a nap later in the day” Brandon responded as he rubbed his hand on Johanna’s teary face. She stood up, offered to take the cup back to the kitchen. She looked sad and guilty as she walked over to the kitchen. Teeba followed her, “What’s wrong? He’s okay, Jo,” she said.
Johanna turned to look at her from where she was standing, leaning over the sink; she had tears streaming down her face again. “I thought I lost him again,” she said. Johanna motioned towards the kitchen table to rest her buttocks. “And what’s saddening is that this time it was all my fault, entirely my fault. I should have taken care of that wire when I saw it but I totally forgot. I even planned on calling the repairman to get it fixed, but it slipped my mind. What if it had really killed him?" she continued in tears. Teeba was speechless, but reached out for a tissue paper from the drawer. Johanna blew her nose hard into it.
“It will be fine,” Teeba finally said as she grabbed her friend and hugged her. She knew how Johanna felt to an extent; she once had such experience when her lack of promptness had resulted in her elder sister getting a major burn on her chest. On that fateful day, she could have told her sister earlier that the pressure cooker was yet to cool down when she opened it and in turn, suffered a severe burn to the chest.
Johanna hated these moments when she would be the one on the receiving end of the care. But here she was with conflicting emotions. She felt self-hate, guilt, fear, anxiety and love for her husband, who she hoped after the incident, still remained as “Second.”
Everyone was already engaged except Dominic. He felt tired of doing nothing and decided to step out to see the kids. He got to the backyard where he saw Martino cuddling Ginger. “Hey, Martino,” Dominic called out. Martino had been crying also, but on hearing Dominic call, he wiped his tears with his left hand.
“Yes? How are you? Are you really okay?” He asked while still looking away. Dominic walked over and could still see the tears on his face. “Were you still crying? Don’t cry. Your dad will be okay,” Dominic said as he knelt down. “Were you embarrassed about crying? It’s okay for men to cry, except for meager things. I used to cry when I was sad,” Dominic said.
He turned his head a little to look at Dominic’s face. “Is that true?” he thought to himself. He was perplexed. His father – the previous version, hated it when he cried. “I thought Dad said crying was something girls do to get attention and that there was no room for tears in a man. How come you approve of me crying?” asked Martino.
Dominic gave a bit of a chuckle; “Dad was just trying to curb you from being overly emotional about issues. A man can cry when he is really pained.” He didn’t want the kid’s father to look bad, so he watched his choice of words. “Have you fed Ginger today?”
“Yes, he had a meal in the morning,” Martino replied as he stood up from the ground.
“Okay, let’s take him to his cage and feed him again. You also have to go inside and rest,” Dominic said as he took the leash from Martino and took the dog to its cage. The power in the neighborhood was restored and Johanna denied Brandon permission to go put off the emergency generator. Bryant offered to go and did just that.
Bryant returned to Brandon, who was seated outside, on a chair made of concrete, shaped in the form of a palm. Brandon had Challis still wrapped around him. Challis had sobbed for a long time before she finally fell asleep, sitting on Brandon’s lap, with her head on his chest. It was the most comfortable place on earth for her. Teeba came out of the kitchen and saw Challis, who was sleeping peacefully and offered to take her to bed. “Thanks, Teeba,” Brandon said after he gave Challis a kiss on the forehead and handed Challis over to her. She went upstairs patting Challis gently on the back.
Brandon turned to Bryant in a way that depicted that he was going to say something serious. “Bryant, listen, I remember.” Bryant looked at him more inventively, “Remember what?” he asked. Bryant was getting anxious. Brandon pulled out his wallet and gave Bryant a $20 bill. “You said one day I would drive myself to death or worse.” Bryant was surprised and his eyes wide open. Had he really gotten his memory back? Do we really have the old Brandon back? The fun-filled Brandon that always had drinks stored in his garage. “Dude, how much do you remember?” Bryant asked.
“Bits and pieces of everything for now. But I need a favor from you; can you lend me the key to your cottage? I need to tell Johanna in a serene place. It’s too noisy here,” Brandon said.
“Sure. Anything for you,” he threw him the keys in the manner they did before, which Brandon never liked. “I told you a million times. Don’t throw stuff at me like that,” Brandon said, frustrated.
“He really remembers,” Bryant thought. “Yes!” he shouted out. His best friend was back.
Brandon went inside after he saw Bryant drive away in his old fashioned Jeep, which he uses for most of his trips into the woods. He kept on getting vivid pictures of his past, days he had verbally abused Johanna, grounded his kids for no reason, and several other things he wasn’t proud of.
The nurses left and Teeba was the last to leave. She was such a loyal friend to Johanna. The kids went to bed later than they usually did that night. Brandon had taken his shower first and came back to the room shirtless, but with a white towel around his waist. “You can now have the bathroom all to yourself,” he said jokingly, as he used a not-too-wet part of his towel to rub his hair hard in a bid to remove as much water as he can. Johanna undressed and took a towel to cover her body. Brandon then thought of how he had rarely seen Johanna nude before the accident. “I was really a jerk,” he thought.
She plodded into the bathroom, while Brandon settled in bed to read a tech magazine. Johanna took longer than usual in the bathroom. She had to wash away all the stress of the day; it was a long and tiring day. She looked tired and her eyes were full of guilt. “You look so tired, dear, I’m sorry for the stress I caused you today,” said Brandon, who was seated upright in bed. She reluctantly got into the sheets beside him and looked at him. She hesitated a while before she spoke, “Listen, what happened to you today was my fault. I totally forgot about the wire and then the accident happened.” She was saying so much and Brandon decided to kiss her lips, which made her voice trail off. It was totally unexpected, as Johanna hadn’t been looking straight at his eyes when she spoke. Brandon was getting more romantic and sweeter by the day and she loved it. After a long passionate kiss, Brandon opened her palm and slipped a key into it.
“What’s this key for?” Johanna asked before she pursed her lips, hoping to hold the feelings of his lips down.
“It’s the key to Bryant’s cottage outside town. Pack a small suitcase, tomorrow just the two of us will be going there for a few days,” Brandon said.
Johanna liked the sound of that as she laid her head on his right arm.
“Hm. That sounds…” she paused.
“Romantic?” Brandon asked, turning his eyeballs down to look at her head.
“Yes, and they both laughed out loud. “Shh! The kids are asleep,” Johanna continued.
“But, what about the kids?” Johanna asked as she rose up a bit to have a serious look at Brandon.
“I have already spoken with Teeba and Dominic, they promised to watch them,” he responded.
Johanna just stared into his eyes. She had seen it a million times, but then she was mesmerized by it again. It was familiar yet different. It was probably because they were the eyes of a Brandon different from the Brandon she used to know. She felt security and safety as she intently stared into his eyes; this gave her the urge to kiss him more. She drew her face nearer to his, but the voices in her head kept telling her to stop. “Don’t make the same mistake again,” it said. She didn’t succumb, “What mistake could there be in kissing my husband as I deemed fit?” she thought. She closed her eyes when their faces got closer. Suddenly, Ginger jumped on the bed and Johanna screamed as she snapped out of her emotional ambience. She placed her right hand on her chest to calm herself down, as she and Brandon laughed at the scene that just played out. She greeted the dog with a kiss and told him to go sleep at the edge of the bed. She chuckled as she looked at Brandon, who gave her a look.
“Stop that,” she said as she slapped Brandon’s chest. “Ouch,” Brandon shouted in a low tone, placing Johanna back in his arms. It was the safest place on earth for Johanna. With every heartbeat, her eyes began to close until she went to sleep.
Brandon watched as she slept, he rubbed her hair and closed his eyes to think deep. He thought of all the arguments he had with Johanna but couldn’t recall what caused them. In his discussion with Bryant, he was told he was seeing someone else, but he didn’t remember that person. It was as if the lady had been erased from his memories. The horrible husband and uncaring father he had been before, disgusted him and made him sick to his stomach. Teardrops flowed down the side of his eyes to his ears. He promised himself to never go back to being the Brandon John Baxter he was. “I would never go back,” he mouthed without making a sound.
The following morning, they had the kids and their guardians say goodbye and set out on their journey. Brandon could not believe the old him. He thought about it throughout the drive to Bryant’s cottage, several miles out of town. Brandon and Bryant had gone fishing before, but Johanna was never taken along. It was all new to her. They both grew silent in the car about an hour into the journey. They were both deep in their own thoughts. Brandon thought of how he could be a better person, but Johanna seemed confused, as she did not know what to expect or do without Ginger being around. The cautious part of her mind told her she shouldn’t be doing that, but her body couldn’t resist any of Brandon’s moves. Love is a good thing. But she was afraid of falling into it all over again.
The long journey to the cottage ended around 5 o’clock as they came to the front of the cottage. It was a duplex made of fine wood, painted in sky blue and lemon colors. The sun was still shining brightly and beautifully. Brandon parked the car in the driveway and then proceeded to get their baggage off the car. They walked up to the door and Johanna unlocked it. Johanna was left in awe, as the interior décor of the house had beaten her imaginations. It was surprisingly beautiful, unlike the man cave she had imagined it to be. There was a woman’s touch to it, but with a masculine sense.
Johanna climbed up the stairs to check out the bathroom, “Whoa!” she exclaimed at the sight of the king sized bed that was made of beautiful almond and cedar wood. She went into the bathroom where she found a tub, which had quite a number of jets and a rainfall shower. She heard Brandon call her from the backyard and made her way out and around to the back. She went there looking at the beautiful scenery outside the house. There was a hot tub and big sized swimming pool. He walked over to her and kissed her.
“Really?” she thought. The puckering lips stopped and separated. Brandon took a short step backwards with his hands on her shoulder, his eyes closed when he said, “Johanna, I remember.” Her shoulders shuddered, her worst fear had come true and she looked like she was going to cry. He then continued, “I remember who I was and now I know why you were so distant from me at first, and I understand why the kids have the fear in them. I don’t want to be that Brandon Baxter again,” he said. “This is the new me and I don’t want to be anywhere but by your side.”
Johanna stood speechless, as she watched him get on his knees and pulled out a diamond ring. “Johanna Mahesha Baxter, will you do me the favor of marrying me, again? This time as Brandon John Baxter – the Second?”
It was like a dream straight out of a Disney movie. Johanna stood still, taken aback by the gesture. That was not all she had envisioned when he got his memory back. She tried not to cry, but a tear made its way out of her surprised look. Brandon rose up, slipped the ring onto her finger and wiped her tears with his right hand. It was time to let loose all the emotion and passion she had suppressed for so long. She drew his neck with her both hands and kissed him. Brandon puckered in agreement as they made their way to the hot tub where their clothing was discarded. The two made passionate love for the first time in a long time. They caressed each other’s body, groaning and moaning.
Johanna woke up the following morning in Brandon’s arms on his bare chest and heard his heartbeat. She decided to go make breakfast, so she slipped out of bed and when she returned some minutes after, he was not in bed. He wasn’t one of those Princes that disappeared after confessing love to a lady, was he? The bathroom light was not on.
“Brandon?” she called out and he answered from inside the bathroom.
“I will be out in a second,” he replied.
Brandon looked at himself in the mirror after he had splashed a handful of water on his face twice. He placed his hands on both sides of the sink. His head was throbbing, his eyes closed tightly. He was having flashes of himself in a laboratory. He heard the name again “Second.” He saw a face of a man smiling who asked him “How are you doing today? I am going to make sure that you have the freedom to choose right from wrong.”
The man looked good-hearted. But Brandon couldn’t respond. The man wore glasses and looked like a doctor or a scientist in a white colored lab coat.
Brandon then heard a woman’s voice, which made him feel like something crawled under his skin, making his heart beat faster. She turned to the man and asked, “Is he ready for a test run?”
“Not yet,” the man responded.
The woman then gave a snide remark and ordered him to make sure he was ready within 48 hours.
“Second, time is running out,” the man said, as he turned to look at Brandon. He plugged a USB into a machine and told him, “Choose what is right and stop the wrong. Don’t let them make you choose anything over your family. Always protect those you love. I made you with intentions of shutting them down. Stop them from ruining lives.”
“Brandon, come over here, your foods getting cold,” Johanna shouted from the kitchen, snapping him out of the somewhat of a trance he was in. He came out of the bathroom in nothing but his boxer briefs. His appearance as he walked down the stairs made Johanna look at him lustfully. “Breakfast was served alright” she mused.
He sat down to eat and from across the table and blew her kisses and gave a wink. Her face reddened as she tried to concentrate on her meal.
“Do I have an answer to my proposal yet?” he asked.
“It’s a yes,” she said, without having a second thought.
Hearing all he wanted to hear, he pushed his plate aside and said, “I am still hungry.”
She got up and went towards the food covered in the pan to serve him more. But she seemed to have gotten him wrong, so he stood up and walked behind her and slipped his hand into her pajamas. He whispered silently, “I said I am still hungry.”
He started kissing her neck and she tilted her head backwards, completely lost in the emotions.
After two days of catching up, the couple drove back to reality. Johanna couldn’t wait to tell the kids the good news. They got home but heard no voices, no barking, nothing. The lights were off but the door was unlocked. The spare key under the flowerpot was missing. There was someone in the house. They crept up the stairs and then with a sharp push opened the bedroom door only to see a shadow of a woman sitting in their bed, with a few photo albums opened. Her legs were crossed in the skin socks and black high-heeled shoe they were in. Johanna strained her eyes to decipher who was there until Brandon turned the lights on and she was surprised to see who it was. The woman surprised to see them as well, stood up. “Kat? What are you doing here?” Johanna yelled.
“Katarina smiled and walked over to give Johanna a hug, which did not seem genuine.
“Hello, little sister. I am back!”