Flash Memories
Not saying a word to anyone, Jason went down the elevator to the garage and drove out of the compound. One of the guards saw Jason leave and quickly got into the next car and went after him.
Jason never drove himself anywhere, so the guard knew something was not right the moment he got behind the wheel. It was more obvious something was not right when he just walked past them without saying anything, which was quite unusual for him.
Jason sat in his black Maybach just driving with no destination in mind. Lost in thought, he did not notice the old lady crossing the street and almost hit her, missing her just by a couple of inches. The old lady was settled, placed her hand on her chest and collapsed to the ground.
Jason was sitting in his car unsure of what to do, but the guard that had followed him got to the scene on time and quickly got out of his car. The guard rushed to the side of the old lady and carried her into his car. He quickly went to Jason and Jason rolled down his screen.
"Sir, I am sending her to the nearest hospital. Would you like to come?" the guard inquired and Jason nodded, rolling the screen back up.
The guard returned to his car and quickly took the old lady, who appeared to be physically unharmed, to the nearest hospital where she was attended to. Jason parked his car in the hospital parking lot but didn't come out as he didn't have a disguise to wear. He also wanted to avoid media attention as much as possible.
The guard stayed inside and did everything required of him at the hospital, paying with Jason's credit card. The old lady was attended to and discharged as she didn't have any injuries and all her tests came out fine. She had collapsed to the ground out of shock.
"Ma'am, where do you live? I can take you home?" offered the guard at Jason's instructions.
"Thank you. You are kindhearted to help an old lady. Did you get the rascal who tried to kill me?" asked the old lady.
"Er ma'am, actually he is my boss, and he paid your bills and asked me to give you a ride to wherever you wanted to go" replied the guard.
"Oh! That is good then. Taking responsibility for his actions, but why was he not paying attention to the road in the first place? The traffic light told him to stop," questioned the old lady.
"I can assure you my boss is a good person. He just had a lot on his mind lately," the guard defended.
"So where is he? Shouldn't he be here explaining things to me?" questioned the old lady, sounding irritated.
The guard didn't know how to respond to that. Surely this old lady has a lot of questions. Shouldn't she be saving her energy after a near-death experience?
"Anyway, I was going to buy something from the shop. Would you take me there? My granddaughter will be there waiting for me," the old lady asked, grabbing her walking aid as she got down from the bed.
The guard nodded and helped the old lady out of the ward towards the car park where he had parked the car. Jason had parked his car right next to the guard's car, so upon reaching there, the old lady recognized the car.
"Is that your boss whom you mentioned?" the old lady asked, and the guard was surprised she recognized the car.
"Yes, ma'am" the guard replied, and the lady walked towards the driver's side, hitting the door with her walking aid.
Jason rolled down the screen and looked at her with a straight face.
"First, thank you for not abandoning me on the street and also for taking care of the bills. It doesn't matter now whose fault it was; Life is just one, and you can never get it back if you terminate it. The best way to deal with problems is not to drive but to take a walk in a serene environment. Trust me, nature has its way of calming a person, but well, if driving is what calms you, it will be best to have someone drive you rather than drive yourself," the old lady advised, staring at Jason, who had opened his car door, so the old lady could see him even though he did not step out of the car.
"You are a fine young man and have a bright future ahead of you. I see you are not arrogant and spoiled like some rich people's children I know. Always be humble and people will come to love and respect you," advised the old lady.
Jason tried to smile as the old lady stared at his face, but it made him look awkward as the smile was forced.
"Don't be cold and terrified looking, you will scare good people away," the old lady added and turned to the guard. "Please take me to the grocery store on the street where you found me," she said, and the guard nodded, knowing the grocery store she was referring to.
Jason only nodded to her advice and rolled his screen back up, driving himself to the officer from the hospital car park. He needed a good distraction and going back to the house he knew would not give him that.
Jason parked the car and went up to his office on the third floor of the building. He sent a message to Peter asking him to pass by the office at 5 p.m. to drive him back home. He sat behind his desk and decided to get some work done but the images of him with a woman kept flooding his mind. He got up from behind his desk and made a call.
"Hello, please come to my office. It's an emergency," Jason said, and disconnected the call once the person acknowledged.
Jason made himself a cup of tea and sipped it while watching the news channel with the hope of clearing his mind of those images. His attention was drawn to the door when he heard a gentle knock.
"Come in please, the door is open," Jason said, his eyes on the door.
The door opened and a young man almost in the same age group as Jason entered.
"Hello Mr. Haward," Henry said.
"Hello Henry" replied Jason, as Henry took his seat on the sofa opposite Jason after a welcome handshake.
"So how are you?" asked Henry with a smile.
"Not too good," Jason said, getting up and moving towards the table for more tea. "Tea?" he inquired.
"I am good," declined Henry politely as he pulled a small notepad and a pen from his bag.
Jason returned to his seat with a straight face.
"So, what happened?" Henry inquired.
"I see these images flash in my memory, and it's stressing me up," Jason said.
"What kind of images?" asked Henry.
"I see myself with a woman," Jason replied.
"Hmmm. Is it someone you know?" asked Henry.
"I... she... No," replied Jason, as he didn't want to tell him exactly what he had seen.
Henry noticed he was concealing some information, but he was used to Jason by now. Some things were private to him, and he would not open up no matter what.
"Okay, tell me. Did anything happen prior to you seeing these images?" Henry asked, looking at Jason carefully.
Jason felt a bit embarrassed to talk about it and Henry noticed this.
"Nothing important, I don't want to talk about it," Jason replied, not ready to say anything about himself and Julia.
"Okay. Just answer, Yes or no for me on this one," Henry said, and Jason nodded.
"This woman, you see, do you think you have met her before?" asked Henry.
"No, not really?" Jason replied.
"Do you want to meet her?" Henry asked.
"No," replied Jason, faster than the speed of light, and Henry wasn't surprised.
"Okay, do these images have any impact on how you feel?" Henry asked and Jason only nodded yes.
"Okay, so what is it?" Jason asked.
"Well, I don't have much information to decide on a conclusion, but the best way I can describe what you are experiencing is flash memory. This is probably an event you have already experienced but probably do not remember," Henry explained.
"So how do I deal with it?' asked Jason.
"If you are hoping for medication, that will not be a solution, you have two options, either to recall the entire memory or avoid the triggers," Henry said, and read Jason's reaction.
Jason was silent for a while, thinking about what Henry had said. He was very convinced the woman in his memory was Julia, and it was probably the night prior to him waking up to find her sleeping in his bed. As much as he had that strong belief, he did not want to admit it or discuss it with anyone.
A knock on the door interrupted the silence in the office. It was followed by Peter entering the office.
"Good evening," Peter greeted them, and four eyes stared at him.
"You are here," Jason acknowledged and turned to face Henry as they both stood to their feet. "Thank you," Jason said, and Henry nodded and proceeded to leave.
Jason shut down his laptop and picked it up, looking around to see if he had left anything behind. Peter took the laptop from him and they both exited the building, driving back to Southwest Ranches City.