My grandpa is slowly losing his memory, until one day he admitted something that made me question my existence.

My grandpa used to be the most kind and gentle soul I had ever met, even when I was little he would do all sorts of stuff for me like take me to the zoo, or do all the different voices for my teddy bears, and he even taught me how to ride a bike when I was five years old. But a few years ago, he started forgetting a lot of things, and recently he would even forget what he was saying mid-sentence. <br><br>So recently, my parents moved me and my brother to our grandpas house in the country, and we all live in it now. My dad has to take care of my grandpa since he cant take care of himself anymore, while my mom got a job as a nurse at a hospital an hour drive away. My brother is 14 and I'm 15, so I guess you could say we're old enough to take care of ourselves, and I'm also taking care of my grandpa with my dad. <br><br>My grandpas dementia is so bad that he cant even remember who I am, so he started calling me by a strange name that ive never heard before, but he would always shake his head and say that it wasn't it. He has been saying it for a while now, and sometimes he calls me that more than he calls me my actual name, my brother found it hilarious but I was worried. <br><br>One day, I was in the kitchen making myself a snack when my grandpa walked in, he looked at me with his "nothing here" face, and then out of nowhere he said:<br><br>"How did you get here, Immanuel? You've been gone for so long."<br><br>My grandpas eyes seemed to be filled with a longing that I had never seen before, and for a second, he seemed to remember who I was, because he shook his head again and apologized, and I had to remind him that my name was Leon, not Immanuel.<br><br>But for some reason his words kept ringing in my head, and my heart started racing as a chilling sensation crept down my spine, and as I started eating my snack, I saw something that made my blood run cold.<br><br>I looked on my fridge when I noticed a photo of a family on it, that I didn't recognize. It said "The Smith Family" and the people in it were strangers to me, but then I noticed a young boy standing next to my grandpa, with a bright smile on his face, he looked eerily similar to me. <br><br>My heart was pounding with fear as I looked at the fridge, I stared at the picture for a long time, trying to make sense of what was in front of me, but nothing came to mind, I knew I couldn't stay here, so I ran to my room and shut the door.<br><br>I sat on my bed and held my head in my hands, everything was swirling and my mind was racing, I tried to think if I had ever seen that photo before, but my mind just kept going back to my grandpas words...<br><br>"How did you get here, Immanuel? You've been gone for so long."<br><br>I didn't know what to do, I just sat there hoping that I could wake up, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense, I was turning 16 soon, the legal driving age, but I had no idea how to drive, and my grandpas dementia was so bad that he couldnt teach me. <br><br>I tried to think harder about it, but nothing came to mind, I didn't even know how to ride a bike, my mind kept going back to my grandpas words...<br><br>"How did you get here, Immanuel? You've been gone for so long."<br><br>But why did he call me Immanuel? I tried to make sense of it, but nothing came to mind. I finally got up, and decided to snoop around my room, I checked my closet but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I then went to my desk, hoping to find something that would help me figure out what was happening. <br><br>I searched all the drawers, but there was nothing, I was on the verge of losing hope when I found a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the last drawer. I pulled it out and read the note on it...<br><br>"Dear Immanuel, you are Leon."<br><br>I froze.