The school bus was typical, having student’s names over each seat to indicate the seating assignments. Jason was happy to find that he had been assigned his own personal seat in the far back of the bus. He slumped down in the uncomfortable bench-style seat with no leg room and lifted his knees against the seat back in front of him and began to think, hoping the ride to the academy would be good and long; he needed a lot of time to sort through everything that had happened so far.
“Obviously the curse is real, but what does it entail? Turning my sisters into brothers and sneaking 15 extra brothers into my life just to top it off? Is that supposed to teach me some sort of lesson? What KIND of lesson? That I’m a rowdy boy for riding my bike so carelessly and that life sucks when you’re surrounded by rowdy boys?” He wondered.
“Alright, maybe there is no way out of this, but it’s not productive to assume that from the start… I have to hope that this is a challenge to teach me a lesson, or prove myself worthy, or something, and if that’s the case I need to remember the rules of this curse… Obviously it happened overnight like the woman said… She also said I’d be the only one who was out of step with the new reality, which is true… She also said I’d suffer a lot, but not die and didn’t she say something about me remembering stuff, like if people told me I should remember something, I would…? Yeah! And that happened once! Keith said I should know how to shower like the others and suddenly I did!...” Jason realized with glee.
“But, CRAP.” He continued with realization… “Then I forgot how to shower any other way!... No, wait, maybe I never knew how to shower any other way… No, that can’t be… I remember my showers taking 15 minutes before, and I have no idea now how I could possibly take that long in a shower. What would I be doing for all that time?! Washing myself 15 times? That’s ridiculous! Oh, God… If I keep forgetting my old life, eventually I’ll be just like the others… I’ll be the Jason of this reality completely. The other Jason... I gotta call him something else... let’s call him… ‘Brother Jason’. But by the time I'm just like him, there’s no way I’ll be able to beat the curse…. At that point, I lose for sure...”
“Ok...Calm down… How much have I forgotten so far?.. How much like this ‘Brother Jason’ character am I? Besides the fact that I practically AM ‘Brother Jason’ in the shower, I don’t remember any other mental changes... Wait, Keith made me remember his punishments for my entire life!...Damn you Keith... And the very first moment I met Eli, he said something and suddenly I knew my bed belonged to Jacob too… It was such a small change I didn’t even notice it at the time… But I don’t think any of that replaced my old memories… Then again, how would I know?”
“I need to be careful… I can’t give anyone any reason to make any remarks about what I do know or what I should know… I need to bluff my way through every interaction and never admit I don’t know something… Right? I mean, I admitted that I didn’t know how to tie my necktie and they just did it for me… Worst case scenario I would have come away from that knowing how to tie a tie… That’s pretty innocuous...”
Just then, as the bus made its next stop, Cody coyly left his own seat and snuck over to Jason’s seat without the driver noticing.
“Hey, man. Are you alright?” Cody asked with concern.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” Jason replied, putting on an air of calm.
“Are you sure?” Cody probed, looking uncertain. “Scott says you have brain damage.”
“What? No…” Jason assured him confidently. “I’m fine. I was just a little slow this morning… Why would I have brain damage?”
“Well… Uh... last night… When you started screaming like a girl.. one of us… I don’t want to say who, and NOT necessarily me… Kind of clobbered you over the head a little… and ever since then you’ve been acting sort of funny.”
“Oh that? No, that wasn’t the sort of thing that could cause brain damage. It didn’t even leave a bump!” Jason assured him lightly.
Cody pulled his head back a bit with skeptical uncertainty.“So you’re not mad?” He asked.
“No.”
“You’re acting weird.” Cody affirmed flatly.
“Ok, then I’m mad.”
“...You’re acting really weird.” Cody reaffirmed, this time solemnly.
“Look.” Jason said with a sigh. “I just need to be alone right now.”
“So there IS something wrong.” Cody said.
“No, everything is fine. I just need to be alone right now in order for everything to stay fine.”
“Well I think you might have some kind of amnesia.” Cody opined.
“Nope. I remember everything. Not to worry. Thanks. You can go back to your seat now.”
“Who am I?” Cody asked quietly.
“You’re Cody, OK? Now please. I can’t talk about this stuff right now.” Jason pleaded.
“But who AM I? Describe me.” Cody continued unabated.
“You’re.... My brother.... You’re a freshman… You’re...” Jason was drawing a blank, there was only so much he could infer from what he had witnessed that morning, “You’re… concerned for my welfare...”
Jason knew he was being transparently superficial with his observations, he needed to take a chance by throwing out something with a high likelihood of being true, but that wasn't immediately evident from context clues.
“You love music!” he blurted out desperately.
“Oh, come on.” Cody said, rolling his eyes in frustration. “You know me WAY better than that!”
“Ugh… Why did you have to say that?!..Yes. alright? I do know you way better than that. You’re a clown and a stubborn, sarcastic asshole. You’ve always got an acerbic remark sitting on the tip of your tongue and you’d rather say it out loud and endure the consequences than simply let the moment pass without speaking your mind. You’re impatient and impulsive. You’re girl-crazy. You’re a science wiz and a hard-nosed skeptic. You’re loyal and resilient and complicated and you can never let anything go!”
Jason's eyes were getting misty. He couldn’t explain why, but suddenly assimilating and revealing another person’s most intimate assessment of a loved one was disarmingly emotional. He didn’t know this kid from Adam a few seconds ago, but now he truly was family. ‘Brother Jason’s’ memories and feelings about Cody were now his own, maybe forever.
“Satisfied?” Jason asked dejectedly.
“Are you crying?!” Cody asked with alarm.
“No, I’m not. just please leave me alone.”
“You’re acting SO weird!” Cody reiterated with mounting frustration.
“You know Scott; tell me about him.” Cody challenged.
“Stop! We’re not doing that any more. Please! I need you to quit telling me what I know! I’m SERIOUS, Cody.”
Jason was growing worried as memories of his brother Scott flooded his mind. He had mostly been himself a few moments ago, but now Cody was cramming new thoughts into his mind so fast, he wasn’t sure WHO he’d be by the time he got to school.
“Fine, but somethings going on…. Do you even know all our names?” Cody challenged.
“There’s… the two in the army…”
“Alex and Derek.” Cody said, before realizing that he had unintentionally betrayed the very answer he was looking for like a moron. He resolved not to make that mistake again.
“Yeah, Alex and Derek… and Keith… Eli, Scott, Cody........................... Spencer........................... Jacob...
.............................. Tanner!............... Caleb?... The twins…”
“What are THEIR names.” Cody pounced eagerly, already certain that there was something wrong with Jason. He should have been able to rattle off everyone’s name like it was nothing, without even a hint of hesitation.
“Uh… Marty, and … Please Cody… I can’t talk about the twins.”
“What’s the other name?!” Cody demanded.
“I’m serious, damn it! I can’t go over this with you, not about the twins. I need you to stop talking about them right now!”
“Why? What’s going on with you, Jason? Why don’t you know your own brother's name?” Cody said, starting to freak out.
“I DO know his name!” Jason bluffed futilely.
“Then what is it?” Cody demanded sternly.
“What was his name? “ Jason asked himself with frantic desperation. “Had he even heard anyone say it today?!... Oh God, please… What was that name?... Marcy and Darcy are Marty and what? Darty? Should he risk saying that? That’s not even a name! Damn it, Cody; Just let something go for once in your life!”
“I’m not kidding, Cody. I need you to stop this NOW!” Jason demanded.
“You really don’t know... do you?” Cody said, looking deeply concerned.
“I’m begging you, please stop. Cody, PLEASE!”
“It’s Dustin! You KNOW him!” Cody finally blurted out angrily.
Jason’s shoulders fell slack and his gaze went distant as he absorbed the terrible impact of Cody’s words... A moment later his face pinched oddly and painfully as his eyes grew red and watery. His head began shaking from side to side, only very slightly at first but then with increasing intensity as the profound pangs of denial grew stronger. He stared coolly into Cody’s worried eyes, emanating deep wounds of betrayal and grief… Hot tears began flowing down his face. He raised his hands to cover his face and shield his unbridled emotions from the world.
Cody was more confused than ever. He’d gone too far. He reached out to comfort Jason but he was pushed away as Jason blew past him, stumbling into the aisle, looking for any place he could be alone. He crumbled into an empty bench and curled up into a tight ball covering his ears shaking. He could almost hear the muffled chatter of everyone around him but he didn’t want to understand their words.
“He’s not Ok...” was all that reached him.
His little sister was gone… Wiped from existence… She had only existed in his head, but now even that had been destroyed. He should have protected her, he was her big brother! What was her name?! All he could give in answer was “Dustin”. He couldn’t remember anything about her at all... He’d always been Dustin... Jason should love HER, not Dustin, not Cody! She was REAL, not some manufactured persona… But he loved them now instead. He’d betrayed her fully and on every level... "Is this the price of those orbs?" He wondered bitterly. "My sisters’ very existence?"
In the midst of Jason’s wanton indulgence in sorrow and anguish, he remembered the witch's final words... She’d be watching… She wasn’t harmless, or well meaning, Jason decided. She wasn’t a secretly benevolent teacher or a well-meaning actor of any kind. She was a destroyer of lives and a hypocritical monster! A voyeuristic she-devil who preys on innocent people and guts their hearts for her own amusement…He could feel her eyes watching him; feel her laughing at his pain… And there was nothing he could do… He was completely under her power.