Download first five chapters - John Trevillian

THE A-MEN | 35I don’t tell him about the spider. Or the sound of its feeding.The stinging.“Anything of what you did afterwards?”“Nothing. First thing I remember is waking up in the dorm. Shewas in the next bunk. Bleeding.”“Yes, I heard she scored poorly on manoeuvres.”“She was also, y’know, naked. Looked like she’d just… y’know?”“Concluded a sexual encounter?” Grisholm prompts.“Yeah, like just before.”“Just before?”“You asked for my first memory. That’s what I remember first.”“Hmm, and you didn’t see anything of this… encounter?”“Nope. Nada.”“Well, you seem to be experiencing some kind of post-traumaticamnesia.”“Whassat?”“PTA? The surgery didn’t touch your pre-frontal lobe, so there’sno reason why you wouldn’t recall what you did subsequently afterleaving the theatre. Even with all that whiskey still running aroundyour system.”“Whiskey?”“As I mentioned before, you were very drunk when you foundme.”I ignore this detail. Focus on what Grisholm just said. The otherthing he just said.“So you mean I blocked it out?”“It’s quite common, really. PTA covers the period after injuryuntil a person starts retaining information. The time when they beginto regain some continuity in their memory function. In your case,this sounds like it happened after you blacked. Around the time theywere restraining you.”“Restraining me?” I glance at the straps around my wrists. “Yeah,why’d the fuck they do that?”The doctor looks at me in a very level kind of way.