The Forgoten Past

Raghav was sitting across Ayesha with his heart filled with hope. It was 100th time or perhaps even more that he was attempting this conversation with her. After all, this was all he was trying to do since past 3 months.

These 3 months were the toughest of his life. He just could not bear to see the unfamiliarity in Ayesha’s eyes and he couldn’t bear her hesitation when he touched her. Even the platonic touch of a hand shake seemed so forced. There were days when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other but today everything had changed.

Actually, to be precised things changed 4 months ago when they met with an unlikely accident. Raghav and Ayesha were honeymooning in New Zealand. Both loved adventure and were very excited to try the adventure sport called “Heaven Chair”. They just loved the idea of being tied together to an open chair car and being thrown down and suspended from many 100s of feet. They had tried similar sports many times before and the fear never touched their minds. Thanks to all the successful adventures they had so far. Little did they know that the Heaven Chair was actually going to make their life hell.

The unexpected happened and the Heaven Chair hit the edge of the mountain repeatedly while surrendering to gravity and Raghav doesn’t remember what happened after that. The accident was so bad that it was a miracle that Raghav and Ayesha survived through this. Raghav was recovering from multiple fractures and an amputated leg while Ayesha slipped into coma for a month. The fall had damaged some nerve in the brain and when she revived from coma she had lost her memory completely.

It was 3 months that Ayesha had come out of coma and Raghav was making peace with an artificial leg. Raghav was not upset with his lost leg and numerous scars all over his body as much as he was with the fact that Ayesha refused to recognize him.

He was trying so hard to bring back her memory but nothing worked. He held her hand with the hope that perhaps she will find the touch familiar but instead she jerked her hand off each time. He showed her their wedding photographs thinking that perhaps she may recall at least something but instead she accused him of having photoshopped those pictures. He narrated to her how they had met 10 yrs ago and how did they fall in love thinking that the depth of love they shared until 3 months ago may do the trick but alas!

Today was no different. Raghav tried doing all these things all over again. Ayesha looked unmoved. In fact, she looked frustrated and waited with a straight face for Raghav to get done.

Minutes after Raghav ran out of his tricks, Ayesha pulled out some papers and handed them over to Raghav.

“Raghav, we can’t keep doing this. I trust you when you say we are married but none of your stories evoke any kind of feelings or memories in me. I feel trapped in an imaginary world. I feel intimidated by your so called love. Please, get these signed when you come to meet me next time. Let us set each other free”

Ayesha picked her bag and left. Raghav kept staring at the divorce notice that was just handed to him.

10 years of love and 7 days of marriage succumbed to 4 months of memory loss!

Inspired by daily prompt: Evoke