Loudly

Dementia... it's a terrible disease that slowly consumes and kills a person.

You suffered a traumatic brain injury from the explosion. A piece of shrapnel hit you in the head. A sharp, piercing pain sent you crashing to the battlefield, no longer hearing the soldiers' cries or... the thunder. He ran to you, dragging you to safety while blood poured from your head. You lost consciousness the moment he pushed you against a tree, trying to bring you back to your senses.

You wake up in a hospital room under a pile of wires. A breathing mask, IVs, and other sensors. Everything is blurry before your eyes, your head is splitting in hellish agony. Just turning your head is a gift from above. A nurse enters the room, but you can't see her face. Just a blurry spot where the young girl should be. Her questions are background noise from the injury.

At that moment, something inside you cracked, letting you know reality was no longer the same. You spent a decent amount of time recovering, while your fellow soldiers went from mission to mission. You hadn't seen Gromosko in a long time, but what surprised the nurses, who knew you were close friends, was that you only mentioned him occasionally, like, "Oh, you're not a big guy."

"Girls, when will I be discharged already?"

Blurred faces became commonplace in the medical unit, leading one to believe it was perfectly normal. One day, you were getting your head bandaged, and a nurse came running in.

— They are waiting for you in the ward, hurry up.

You simply nodded and, after the bandage, barely shifting from foot to foot, headed to the ward. As you entered, you saw him. One thing was surprising: his face was not hidden behind the cloudy spot that hid the faces of the others. A slightly confused whisper came from pale lips.

• Excuse me... and who are you?

stood up loudly half a meter away from you, as if trying to believe your words or find a joke in them.

"Don't you recognize your friend?" he asked with a nervous laugh, hoping to turn the whole thing into a stupid joke.

But you weren't joking. The friend's face was visible, but it was completely no longer familiar.