body and tired mind to spend as much time as possible with him. Even though he was tired he played a little ball with the kids and followed Alex into his house next-door when he requested to get a few things. Presley waited in the doorway and Alex re-emerged with a large bag full of DVD’s and cassette tapes.
They went back to the house and Presley made lunch, then Alex popped in a home video telling Presley that it was time to visit his mother, even if he couldn’t go to the hospital. Presley agreed and put Abigail down for a nap then joined Alex in the living room. Alex was already playing a tape watching it closely and laughing.
A beautiful red-haired woman was on the screen chasing after a very young Alex playing with him and tossing him in the air. It was Rebecca. Presley could not believe his eyes, he knew the crash had did a number on her but what he was seeing in front of him was a woman who was confident and flawless in every way. It made him hurt even more knowing that she was in the hospital, only a beaten mirrored version of what she used to be before he slammed his car into her.
“Alex, can you say mommy?” She said in front of the camera smiling at Alex’s tiny hands reaching out for her face. She giggled into the camera and a voice behind it spoke to her.
“He is waving at you.” The voice laughed, it was that of a woman in her middle ages and she sounded happy. “Alex, look at the camera.” The voice said. Suddenly the video jumped and skipped to a later date. It was a video of a reunion of some sort, possibly a family gathering at Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Rebecca was chatting at a picnic table holding an older version of Alex. She looked at the camera and screamed. The camera person charged at her with a large pie and she hopped up from the table and ran with the baby. Eventually the pie caught up with her face and everyone laughed as Alex ate the topping when the pie squished Rebecca’s lovely facial features. The videos were long and funny and Presley watched as many as he could with Alex until the child fell asleep. Presley put him into bed in Abigail’s room and sat back on the sofa skimming through another video.
He searched the video bag, attempting to go back to Alex’s birth. Alex told him that he had a father who was in the service, and that was all he knew about him. Presley tried to find any evidence from the years when Alex was born and found a chest inside the bag that appeared locked. Presley put the box down and decided that it may have been private and he should not bother digging further.
The videos had dates scribbled on them, and one said “Becky” on the side cover. Presley could not help himself. Presley popped in the video and there was a young Rebecca on the first section sleeping in a bed. Presley watched closely staring into her face. She slept the same way in the hospital bed, softly and calmly with her head leaning to the side. The camera person began to speak in a hushed whisper.
“Becky…” The voice whispered and giggled. It was a young guy’s voice but Presley could not tell much else. “Ok everyone, she is officially asleep.” The camera person shouted loudly and Rebecca gasped awake. He had never heard Rebecca speak on the videos, unless it was laughing or speaking to the baby in a child-like voice, so when she began to speak to the camera his heart lifted at the sound.
“John, you scared me.” She said rubbing her eyes and laughing. John came from behind the camera and kissed her cheek. He whispered something to her that the camera could not hear and she looked at the camera then back at John. “Ugh…please not now.” She said and tried to hide under the covers.
“Come on Becky please! Sing for me?” John begged and she rolled her eyes then sat up straight. She looked into the camera and began to sing.
“These voices in my head…Running up and wild…Running through my mind…And I’m not afraid.” Her voice was light and beautiful. Presley watched as her and John sang in unison. Then she began to say a little biography.
“My name is Rebecca, and I am young, hot and wild.” She winked at the camera and laughed. John told her to be serious then laughed himself. “I hope that when I grow up, I will have a big record label and a sugar daddy.” She smiled at the camera and it faded to a pout when John told her to keep dreaming.
“I love being a dreamer John. It gets you places. If you don’t dream, then you don’t believe and if you don’t believe then you’re an idiot, and if you’re an idiot I have no business being your girlfriend.” She snapped and John jumped over the camera and wrestled her playfully on the bed.
The camera shut off then jumped to another scene with Rebecca staring into the camera under a heap of red hair crying. Her face was red and her eyes were swollen and she sniffed a little shuddering. She held the camera and placed it on a table on the side of her bed and cried some more.
“I hate myself.” She whispered and looked into the camera. “I just want to die.” She looked around her bedroom and put her face on her folded arms. “No one listens to me. I told them that I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep doing this and still be myself. I am not going to be a doctor, or a nurse and I won’t be a dentist either. I don’t know what I want to do but I am tired of being smothered.” She rubbed her eyes in her arms and looked back up.
“I am sick and tired of losing. I always lose, if I would have won that talent show tonight I would have enough money to do whatever I want. But no my dad had to sabotage me and drag me back home saying my dress was too provocative.” She cried again. “He doesn’t understand me! I want to sing, and be professional, but instead he wants me to be a doctor. I hate my life.” She cried some more and ended the tape. The tape cut into a new reel.
It was Rebecca again and she was at an airport. She was still young but there was no Alex around and she stood there by herself with John holding the camera. “There he is.” She smiled and waved to an Asian woman holding a small baby. “There’s Alex!” She clapped her hands and ran to the woman and took the baby from her hands. She hugged him and showed him to the camera.
“He is so big, look at him. Oh my goodness he is adorable.” She said. Presley’s eyes squinted, Alex did not tell him that he was adopted; perhaps the child was not even aware. That was Rebecca’s business anyway. Presley kept watching and the video cut to when John was playing with Alex and there was a distant but loud Rebecca in the background.
“No are you kidding me! I don’t care what happened,” she exclaimed. “He is my nephew and I am not letting him go. Are you crazy?” The conversation continued as John played with Alex and recorded him eating little plastic toys. “No Will! I don’t care what you did, it doesn’t matter. You think that you will not have consequences? You can run, but I am not going anywhere.” She walked too far and Presley could not make out the rest of the conversation.
There were a few more tapes, they were of Rebecca and John and their life together with a young Alex. John had proposed to her on one tape, the next was about a family trip together, and then there were a few about their family get-togethers. These were happy videos, but they were hidden so well, each one of them hidden from Alex.
Presley wondered why these videos were locked away and hidden from Alex’s reach. When Presley confronted him about “other tapes” the next day, Alex only mentioned that his mother said the tapes were old versions of “The Price is Right” and if he wanted to stay bored he could watch them. Thus, Alex had absolutely no interest in them.
Presley could see the undertones a mile away. When a parent didn’t want their children to find something they never said “Don’t go searching” because they knew their child would do it anyway. Instead Rebecca had locked away these DVD’s and protected them by plastering boredom all over them, and that alone was safe enough to keep Alex away from the truth she was hiding. Presley did not press the matter anymore.
Instead he reminisced about the beautiful Rebecca in the videos. He had learned so much about her, the good, the bad and the ugly. Everything she was hiding and everything she had made clear to the people she loved was revealed to Presley. Somehow, over the past few weeks no one came to see her, not her parents, or her f
iancé John. Presley attempted contacting him later on that week and left messages saying she was in a bad situation and could use some family members. Still, he never came or returned his calls.
Presley was back in the waiting room today and the nurse said that the night before Rebecca showed a significant response, she was well on her way to waking but her concussion made it hard to tell. She may not remember anyone or anything; she may have speech problems or worse, the inability to think or to move around. Presley could not concentrate on that, he was not telling Alex that his mother was going to be a vegetable. Instead Presley stood by her side and talked to her again.
Presley was alone by her bed and held her hand again. “Alex is doing great in school. He likes getting away from the hospital sometimes because he says this place gives him the creeps.” Presley laughed and squeezed her hand a bit more. He talked to her about the videos, and how he felt her pain for what happened.
“I know that you had a hard time, I had a hard time too. I am awfully sorry all of this happened and I hope you can forgive me someday.” Presley kissed her hand and set it back on the bed. He looked at her and overwhelming feelings of loss and regret flooded him. He leaned