Sogeum looked right into Luna's eyes as she spoke, if it weren't for what she was saying, she would've laughed at the awkwardness,
"Mark said that we were playing hide and seek with Ella and that we looked for her in the VIP lounge thats wh-"
"VVIP lounge." Sogeum casually corrected her.
Luna eyed her for a second, "Okay.. the VVIP lounge, and that's where we found Ella. Mark ran off."
"Did you see her struggling first or did you hear her?"
"Uhh I'm not sure," Said Luna, "It was very dark.. I guess I saw and heard her both at the same time..?"
"Wasn't there any light coming in from the windows?"
"It was nighttime so no."
Sogeum opened her mouth to say something but though better of it, "Continue."
"Mark had run off but honestly I didnt even notice that, I just went in and grabbed the Phidias statuette," She suddenly remembered that she was supposed to give details as well, "It was a small decoration, the size of my forearm. And it was made of marble so it almost slipped from my hand, making me loosen my grip, but I still managed to hit him hard.. perhaps too hard."
"Your intention was to save your friend, any action of yours was valid." Sogeum told her and Luna gave a small grateful smile in return.
"Now, can you tell me the colour of the statuette?"
Luna raised her eyebrows, was she a therapist or a detective?
"Light brownish white."
"Ahan.." she wrote something down in her notepad and tapped her pen on it, "You said that Mark told you that you were playing hide and seek, why would you mention that, dont you remember it yourself?"
Luna looked down at her clenched hands as if ashamed, "Err no actually, I have difficulty in remembering that whole ordeal."
Sogeum nodded, "Clearly." She wrote some more in her pad,
Luna frowned, "Pardon?"
"Have you read any articles on your case?"
"Uhh no."
"Why?"
"Because," she straightened her back, "I know what happened, I don't need other people's angles on the story."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Pardon?" Luna inquired again.
"Are you sure that you know what happened?Because Mark had to tell you about what game you were playing."
"That's because it is unimportant and it happened a really long time ago. I cant possibly remember every detail." Her voice came out slightly high.
"Oh?" Sogeum tilted her head, "Do you have a bad memory?"
It irritated Luna, "No, bu-"
"Didn't think so, you graduated high school at the age of 13, surely you must remember what happened five years back and such a life changing incident at that."
"So, are you saying that I'm lying about not remembering?"
"Well, you are lying but not intentionally."
Luna opened her mouth but didn't know what to say to that, she folded her arms and said, "Okay, you clearly know something I don't, so, why don't you stop mocking me and enlighten me."
"I'm not mocking you, I'm just inquiring, you're getting worked up too easily. If you don't remember something, tell me. If you feel that something is off about yourself, tell me that too. That's how I can help you."
Luna pursed her lips, "Everything about me feels off." She muttered.
"Luna.." Sogeum began seriously, getting her full attention, "The only right thing that you told me about the incident is the statuette."
She raised her eyebrows, "What? No, that can't be."
"Honestly tell me, did you really not forget that the room the incident happened in is called the VVIP lounge, and called it the VIP lounge by accident?"
Luna bit her lip and avoided Sogeum's gaze,
"Because Iv had many wealthy clients of mine tell me about the infamous VVIP lounge and how it's their dream to be included in one of its meetings."
"I didn't remember." Luna said lowly, "Why..? Is that bad? Is there something wrong with me?"
Suddenly her hardness was wearing off and genuine anxiousness over her mental state shadowed her.
"When an incident of any kind takes place," Began Sogeum, "It is normal for the person involved to miss some things in the chaotic moments, the whole scene becomes a heavy blur."
"Oh!" Luna perked up, "Yes, it is a blur for me too! So, you're saying that's normal?" She asked hopefully.
"However, you even remember the colour of the statuette. That is the normal excellency of your brain."
"And the rest of it is my brain's error?" Luna spoke up again with wide eyes.
"Luna," Sogeum told her softly, "Whenever you speak up, you come up with a worse conclusion, so, how about you let me finish first?"
She nodded sheepishly and sank back in her chair,
"You could remember the type of the statuette but not what you were doing prior to the incident, not the beginning of it, and neither can you remember the time of the day."
Luna was about to cut in again but Sogeum stopped her with a raised hand,
"The whole image in your mind is inaccurate, fake. You remember it being dark, fine it may have been but you remember it being nighttime and the incident took place before sunset."
She gaped at her, "That can't be true.." Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
Sogeum picked up a page from her desk and handed it to Luna, "This is the police report of your case. It took your uncle a while to get this."
She scanned the page and sure enough there was the time stated, 4:30.
"How could this be.."
"Truth is you don't remember anything from that day. You only have a general idea because you have discussed it with other people, but the actual experience has been erased by your brain."
"Why?"
"To cope." Said Sogeum, " So that, you would forget the bad stuff. Tell me, would you be the same as your are today if you remembered each deatil of how that man, Mr. Blaise Valloton died by your hands?"
"I wouldn't know... but what about the statuette?"
"Im guessing that is an exception." Sogeum replied, explaining with hand movements.
The girl in the mirror has the statuette, thats why I remember it! Luna silently realised to herself.
"If we can discover other incidents that your brain might have erased, I have a strong feeling that there would be no other slipped memories like the statuette."
"Other incidents?! You mean my brain does this all the time?!"
"Please don't be alarmed and do keep in mind that whatever your brain did, you did. And that is for the safety of your mental state."
"So.. isn't it a good thing?" She asked unsurely, "They say ignorance is bliss and I'm happy now."
Sogeum tapped the pad with her pen, "Ignorance may be bliss but only temporarily. Also, this isn't healthy. If we keep letting this happen, in the future who knows, maybe your brain might misinterpret some -not necessarily bad- overwhelming memories into bad ones and start erasing them too. Or this may lead to a serious brain disorder."
"Like Alzheimer's." Luna said with defeated finality.
This depressed her deeply, inside and out. Her intelligence, her brain was the one thing she was proud of, always sure of. It was the pillar of her self-esteem and now her worth seemed the least.
"Don't worry. We can solve this."
"We can? How?"
Sogeum poured a glass of water and brought it to Luna,
"We need to get you to remember ever bad memory that you have forgotten, make you face them so that your brain learns that remembering them is okay and stops erasing them completely."
"But.." Luna's big eyes gleamed under the warm light coming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, "I dont know what I dont know."
Sogeum chuckled lightly, "Yes, you do. For example, the accident. You know it happened, just not how it happened. Now, I need you to go home and take time to think of all the hardest times you've had. Make a list. And you can try to remember the details, if you fail then it is a confirmed erased memory."
"Oh.. okay."
Go on a memory hunt, that cant be hard, she kid herself. After all, it's all in my head.