"Now, Miss Rose, I'm sure you've read from my business site, that my methods are known to be unusual to other methods that most therapists use to help their patients overcome trauma or incidents. Before we delve into what those methods are, please explain to me what you are suffering from and how you would hope for it to be helped?"
Dr. Cane Richmond is a lot younger than Chloe was expecting. He has soft sandy colored hair and light brown eyes with an almost baby face complexion. Judging from the certificates and multiple university degrees hanging on his wall behind his desk, he isn't as young as he appears.
"I'm looking for something very specific, and I think you are what I'm looking for. I suffered an accident recently that caused damage to my brain, more importantly the part where I retain long-term memories. I was in a coma for 3-months and when I woke, I couldn't remember anything about myself, not even my name."
Dr. Cane sits back in his chair, slightly shocked.
"You are suffering from a very severe case of amnesia, one I myself have yet to experience memory loss as complex as this. Miss Rose, I must ask before we continue; why have you come to me with this issue?"
"Well, Dr. Cane, the method my friend mentioned to me was something called hypno-therapy, and I believe it is something you're familiar with, and might have been something you're practicing at the moment, which is why your description of these methods was so vague on your website. You aren't confident in your abilities yet, but you still need people to test them out on."
By the stunned look on his face, she hit the nail on the head.
"Miss Rose, I can't deny what you've said, one of my more popular methods to practice has been the suppression of trauma and memories related to trauma, through hypno-therapy. But I'm going to be honest, I'm terrible at it. If anything, my methods often have the opposite effect on the person."
"What do you mean opposite effect?"
"The clients I have tried this method on haven't been able to suppress a single memory, but they have been overwhelmed with memories of their childhood, little details that a regular person wouldn't remember naturally, but if tapped into that specific part of their long-term memory, causing them to remember possibly worse things than before."
She stops and thinks over what he just said, her heart racing the more everything seems clearer.
"So, what you're saying is these people were able to remember even small details of their memory, things one shouldn't normally remember?"
"Yes, so I'm afraid I don't think I'll be able to help you–"
"Dr. Cane, you are the only person whom I believe can truly help me," Chloe jumps up and grasps his hands, startling the man. "I'm not looking to suppress anything, Dr. Cane, my issue is I can't remember anything and I'm struggling to. This is possibly my last hope, I have exhausted all other efforts and there are certain details in my lost memory that I need to remember."
Dr. Cane released his hands and steps away from his desk, looking slightly disheveled.
"Miss Rose, I think you're failing to understand what I'm saying. If I attempt hypno-therapy on someone with as severe a case as you, I might further damage your brain. You might permanently forget who you are, or never recover your past memories."
She gives him a firm look. "I think you failed to hear me when I said this is my last hope, I have no other options to turn to, so I'm willing to try anything. If I don't try this, I fear I won't recover my memory anyway, so won't not try."
He takes a deep breath and seems to weigh everything out in his head.
"I can't guarantee this will work, or that it won't cause any further damage. Are you willing to sign a waiver form, stating that you understand the risks you're about to take?" Dr. Cane asks and reaches for his laptop.
"I understand and I'm more than willing, I want to do anything and everything I can to solve this amnesia, and I trust that you will do your best to assist me."
Dr. Cane types up a quick waiver form and has Chloe sign it before they move into his therapy room. Hypnosis isn't as far off from what they show in the movies, by using a swinging pendulum of some sort as a mandala between the two parties. Dr. Cane is going to perform the hypno-therapy the exact way he does for his other patients, in hopes that it will have the same effect as before.
"Alright, Miss Rose, I want you to stare at the stopwatch and follow it moving just your eyes, do not move your head or body at all. While you do this, you're going to completely clear your mind, imagine a blank space."
She does as instructed and feels her body slowly start to grow weak and limp, no longer needing to force her eyes to follow the swinging motion of the stopwatch, they're willingly following it as if stuck in a trance.
Dr. Cane sees her eyes slowly glaze over, an indication that she is stuck in a trance and can proceed. "Now, I want you to imagine filling that space with your missing memories, flooding the blank space...and now sleep!"
***
"Hello? Where am I?"
It feels exactly the same as the dream she first had when waking up in Athena's body, where a figure of Chloe approached her, and said they will meet soon. But this time, there is no one and nothing, just an empty blank space, like Dr. Cane had instructed she make in her head.
"Am I inside my head?"
Before she can answer her own question, a tidal wave of air rushes towards her, and knocks her back on her feet. Her head feels as if it's filling up with cotton or hay, filling the space to the point of explosion, before it suddenly stops.
Another wave of wind, this time pushing out of her, then one by one, it feels as if her body is being hit by tiny piece of glass, slamming into her body and fitting into place.
Like she is being put back together.
***
"When I clap my hands, you will wake–"
She startles herself awake, gulping in a big gasp of air as if she hadn't been breathing the entire time, she was asleep.
This time, she feels properly reborn, as if the two souls living inside of her have finally formed as one comfortable together, both the memories of Chloe Brass and Athena Rose remain, but her mind and body no longer feel misconstrued or configured.
She feels like a brand-new person. Finally, she feels she can fully embrace her new identity as Athena Rose, without risking losing her memories as Chloe Brass.
"It worked," she mutters, needing to hear it out loud for it to feel all the more real. She never thought she could recover the lost memories of Athena, and forever be going about blindly through this world with someone else's face, never feeling truly like herself.
What would be the point of transferring her soul into another person, if she feels she is only ever occupying the time and space?
"W-what? It worked; d-did you say it worked?" Dr. Cane asks, running his hands wildly through his hair. "My method actually worked for someone; I can't believe it! This is a breakthrough for me! I've been studying the wrong side of hypno-therapy, I can't help people suppress their memories but maybe I can help amnesia patients recover them? This opens up a whole new door for me."
He continues on excitedly, grabbing a pen and paper to write down whatever is running rampant through his mind. As if remembering he still has a patient, he turns to Athena with bright golden eyes and a thrilled smile.
"You have no idea how much you have helped me; you've helped give me my confidence back and remind me why I got into this profession. Thank you, and if there is anything you ever need from me, please don't hesitate to call, you are in my debt."
A surprising turn of events, she feels she has lost an important person in her life – herself. But has somehow gained someone possibly more important to her new life journey than before. Dr. Cane has helped her in a way she never thought she could achieve, to regain the memories of someone else and be given the second chance at life.
She often forgets, that as much as a challenge this new life has been, there hasn't been a day spent cooped up in her room, not eating or sleeping for days to beat that deadline or make that headline. She truly has been given a second chance to live the life she has always dreamed of, and it doesn't matter how it came to be, maybe she will never find an answer to that.
***
After leaving Dr. Cane's office, Athena didn't know what to do with herself. Her mind is overflowing with memories of the childhood she never experienced, but her soul seems to recognize them, the foreign feeling from before gone. Everything seems natural now, from the way she walks to the way she talks, she feels she doesn't have to be self-conscious of acting like Athena.
Oh no, Gabriel.
Athena comes to a racing halt when she spots the black Audi parked in her driveway, and the nervous look of Margaret when she comes to greet her at the door.
"I'm sorry, Miss. He insisted on staying until you've returned, I couldn't leave him outside."
Athena smiles kindly at Margaret, now able to recall the horrible behavior she was put through by Athena and her father. Though Athena merely turned a blind eye to the behavior, she wasn't any better when it came to ordering the servants around. Now, she has the chance to make up for that.
"It's alright, Margaret, you did good. Go and take a rest, I'll be fine."
Margaret gives her an odd look before scurrying up the stairs, not willing to waste another moment of her surprise break, though she hasn't been worked as much as before, becoming Athena's only trusted worker in the entire house.
When she enters the living room, Gabriel is waiting for her by the window, still dressed in the same suit as the day before, but he changed his shirt and tie.
"Were you waiting long? If you have told me the time you planned to stop by, I would have been here to receive you."
"I said I would be back today, did I not? You have been dodging me for the past week, did you really think I would plan a time for you to run away from?"
He does have a point, but she has no way of explaining to him why she avoided him suddenly. She can't very well come out and say 'I was a different person then, sorry!', that would be ridiculous.
But now that she has Athena's memories back, she has the confidence now to pull off her persona. Faking amnesia won't be that hard anymore, since she won't need to fake it anymore and risk someone discovering it isn't just a simple case of amnesia.
"Sit down, Mr. Monroe, I'm sure you have lots of questions and I'm more than happy to answer them," she says and gestures to the opposite couch. She picks up the servant bell and calls for tea and snacks, though the ball of turmoil in her stomach probably won't allow her to eat anything.
"This won't be easy to explain so please bear with me, only two people besides yourself know of this at the moment, though I can assume your doctor knows as well. I asked him to keep it strictly confidential but judging how you've called me every day this week and come by my house twice in two days, you've already been informed."
"I want to hear it from you, Miss Rose."
He's back to calling me Miss Rose, if I don't explain myself properly, this may be the end of our business relationship. I still need his help to guide me through the ins and outs of running a large-scale business such as Rose group.
"I mind as well start from the beginning; everyone is Luxe City is aware that I had an accident and went into a coma for three months, but my family did well to cover up what that accident was, and that it was no accident. I tried to end my life by taking a large amount of sleeping pills and mixing it with alcohol. I failed, of course, but caused too much damage to my brain that I had to be put in an induced medical coma until they could pinpoint the area of damage and try to fix it. I had fluid in the brain and had to have it drained before I could be woken from the medically induced coma, but I didn't wake."
She takes a deep breath and pauses to allow Gabriel a moment to soak in what she has said. He doesn't comment, not even a move of the eyes or twitch of the mouth, he is listening intently until she is done, not daring to make a comment before she is.
"When I did, I found myself suffering from a severe case of amnesia, I remembered very little of who I was or what had happened to be during the last 20 years of my life. I didn't even remember trying to end my life, and the only person I felt I could trust with this information, was my housekeeper and my family doctor. Over the past month, I have been trying to regain that memory to no avail, until today. I was thankful enough to meet a doctor who helped me to unlock the part of my memory that was missing, and I am slowly starting to regain them all."
"What happened last week?" he finally asks. "You fainted and when you woke up then, you couldn't remember what had happened in the last month, like there was someone else controlling your body, and they decided to up and leave."
Chills run down her spine. How can he get it so point on? Is he for real right now?
"Do you hear how you sound? That theory is quite ridiculous, but I understand why it might have seemed that way. During the past month I have put a lot of strain on myself, physically and mentally, it was one of the reasons I decided to step out of the spotlight." Which isn't a complete lie, but a good excuse for the moment.
"I had what my doctor called a psychosis break. My mental state is still very fragile and one minor hiccup could've resulted in losing my memory all together. I'm not sure what happened last week, but I had temporarily lost the ability to pertain short term memories and lost all my long-term."
It's silent for a long time, the silence stretching between them and sucking out all the air in the room.
"I know we might not be as close, but I wish you would have confided in me about this earlier, I wouldn't have looked down on you for any of this, but it might have made the last week a little easier to bear."
Easier to bear? What is he talking about?
Unbeknownst to her, Gabriel had been missing her the entire week he was gone, and looked forward to nothing more than seeing her, even if it was just for work. His first week away from her made him realize how attached he had grown to her, how used to having her in his life he has become in such a short period.
But she always seems like she is either one step ahead, or one step behind him, always there but never within reach.
"Did you forget that I gave you very important documents before leaving?"
Oh, that's what he was worried about.
"Yes, I know the account books you gave me are very important and sensitive information and you trusted me with it. I should've been honest with you from the start, but please try and understand my situation, it hasn't been easy for me this past month and work isn't my only current concern."
"What does that mean? I thought you quit modelling, and you just said you have recovered your memories. What else is there to be concerned about right now?" he asks.
Shoot, she had a slip of tongue. Gabriel isn't aware of her family affairs going on between her and her father, plus her new stepsister and mother. Thankfully the past week, they all seem to be preoccupied and haven't visited the main house or tried to mess with Athena while she was vulnerable.
"My life feels overwhelming at the moment was all I meant."
Gabriel nods his head, seeming to have bought it.
"I supposed this means you haven't had the chance to look over those books, if you even remembered having them in your possession," he says in a bleak tone, but looks up at her with a small teasing smile.
Athena feels her body relaxing, having finally told someone everything right from start to finish, other than revealing the fact she still isn't technically Athena, she has chosen to fully embrace her new identity regardless.
"I haven't, if you could give me a week more."
Gabriel waves his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, return them whenever you're done with them. I gave them to you to study more than anything, those accounts have already been settled and there isn't much to change, unless there are hints of fraud or embezzlement."
"Then, you will reopen the accounts?" she asks.
"Precisely, which is another reason I gave you the books. I want fresh eyes to look at them, but if you feel the task is more of a burden, please tell me so. I don't wish to add anymore struggles to your life."
Athena shakes her head. "No, it's alright, I'm more than capable now of taking on the task, I assure you. Please, give me the chance to prove myself now that I have recovered and can put more enthusiasm into my work."
"I'll let you come back to work under one condition," he says.
"Anything. What is it?"
"Have dinner with me tonight."