7

When I woke up again, I was in a hospital ward. The white sheets matched the walls, and the corner of the table was piled with fruit baskets and flowers. When my mother saw me wake up, she hugged me excitedly.

My mind was still in a daze. I reached out and grabbed the corner of my mother's clothes, and asked anxiously, "Where's my brother? Have you found him?"

My mother was stunned when she heard this. She lowered her head, her eyes reddened, and she shook her head. My heart sank, and I asked helplessly, "Where's my brother? Where's my brother? Did I kill him?"

My mother hugged me tightly and choked up, " Grace , don't be like this, I'm scared. I've already lost one, I can't lose you again!"

Hearing this, I felt hopeless and inconsolable. If I hadn't chased him, would he have drowned? I hated myself for suddenly losing my memory and forgetting his existence. Looking at my mother's haggard face, I couldn't bear to bury the truth in my heart.

"Don't be sad, this happened many years ago." Mom patted my shoulder and comforted me.

Many years ago? I was stunned. Didn’t this happen recently? Now, my heart was scratched like someone scratching glass with fingernails. It was hard to distinguish between reality and illusion.

I shook my head and turned on my phone. A piece of news suddenly caught my eye: "An Internet celebrity chased ducks in the park and drowned. Is he crazy about becoming famous?" I carefully identified the blurry picture. The park next to the mall, wasn’t that me? That back! Why was I chasing ducks? ! What happened to this world?

I gasped, feeling all the blood rushing to my head. Seeing this, my mother snatched my phone away.

" Grace , Mom knows you've been under a lot of pressure lately, so you might do something inexplicable... Don't read the news for now." Mom said with concern.

" I didn't, I didn't..." I argued feebly, but what I said would probably be regarded as crazy talk. No, no, no, I felt like I was crazy. Because when I looked up, I saw my brother lying on the head of my bed, still looking at me innocently. He even took an apple from the fruit basket beside the bed and handed it to me, "Sister, if you want to eat an apple, peel it for me." It was still that kind of coquettish tone, still so cute. I looked at my brother and my mother, at a loss.

While my mother was out pouring hot water, I quickly pulled my brother over and looked through his belongings: an eraser, produced in 2013; an Alps lollipop, produced in 2014. It turned out that he had died eight or nine years ago.

I let go of him dejectedly, and he disappeared into nothingness again as if he had accomplished his mission. I finally realized that I was sick and had hallucinations. However, I was not sure when I would forget the fact that I was sick. A sense of fear surrounded me tightly...