No sorry, no regrets were written between the lines. Straight to the business. She re-read the letter. If you really want your memories back, take a sip per day of the potion we prepared specifically for you. Your memories will come back in time, you must be patient. Don't ever try to drink more than one sip as we can't be in control of the situation, your brain may collapse. Regards, Prof. Dr. Mom & Dad
They didn't even try to write another letter. It was fitting for them to scratch the mistakes as if it made all okay. There were no explanations of why they tortured her whatsoever, just giving back what they took as an experiment with another. It would be for sure another valuable discovery for their fans if they were to know the project. She took another sip from the whiskey bottle.
She only knew few things about herself, yet those weren't any help to this situation she was in. Letting the letter fall, she took the whiskey bottle and started pacing in the room. She needed to revise her options. She needed a clear mind to evaluate pros and cons. She suddenly sat on the floor, put JB facing her.
"You must know me better than me, assuming half of you is wandering around inside of my veins already." She murmured.
"So, what do you know about me? How old am I really? Can you access my memories? Are they gates and doors there? Why are you not answering?" She yelled. "And why am I yelling at a whiskey bottle?" She sighed.
It's sad she thought maybe Deana was right for once, she needed someone with her. There should be a trick, no one gives anything freely in this world she told her when she was leaving to come here. The apartment they were living was so small, barely enough for both of them and they've been living with an extra, Deana's 5 year old son. Her bed was closed to the bathroom, on kitchen floor. There were always weird odors coming out of bathroom after midnight.
She switched to fetal position, facing the couch, facing the letter. It was rainy now outside, she could hear every rain drop hitting the Windows. She watched the lightning play, and heard the first rumble of distant thunder. "It sounds like a cannon fire." She said. It was the first shot of a war she didn't know if she should battle in. Her left foot touched the whiskey bottle.
"Seems like I have to drink to decide then." She nodded her head as in agreeing herself.
She got up, took the half-full bottle and drank every bit of it. Her mind was already spinning. She could not feel her tongue anymore. She crawled back to the couch. She knew she could barely stand so she didn't even try to get up. She was trying hard to focus but considering the items she had seen all day she must be now facing the potion and the lamp at least. Her blurry vision had gone dark in a second and she collapsed.
The sun was licking her skin warm. It almost felt like summer. She could hear crickets and birds singing in harmony. She felt a wetness on her knee then her cheek. There was a weird odor surrounding her. She opened her eyes. She was holding a puppy golden retriever. The puppy went still and it suddenly was covered all in blood and mud. Then it turned into a snake. And she found herself in a gallery full of paintings. It was really crowded and people were very loud. She looked around her and saw a girl holding a toy. She ran towards them.
"Kalara, where are you? Come here this instant!"
The voice was coming from afar. It sounded so familiar, and even so filled of anger it also had a touch of love and worry.
Everything went black. She couldn't move nor see anything. The room smelled heavily of chemicals. She could hear a beeping sound right beside.
"LET ME OUT MOM I DIDNT DO IT! LET ME OUT" she yelled. Was it her voice or someone else's? It was almost like waiting for your own death. She didn't know whether she should speak up or run.
She then found herself facing a teddybear. "It's not mine! I don't want this!" She yelled. Her hands were tinier like a baby's, she unintentionally threw the toy away and ran to the bed. The room wasn't familiar at all. It was full of toys. The walls were colored to a sugar pink. It was really dusty under the bed unlike anywhere else aroud the room. It was almost like no soul was there before and no one knew that place existed for long time. She saw a coin out of the corner of her eye. She started to shake uncontrollably. Was she possessed? Was this another experiment of their parents? She heard then a vivid footsteps and saw a pair of woman shoes coming in to the bedroom.
Rushing to the owner "Mom! Thank youuu!" she said and hugged the younger version of her enemy. Then suddenly found herself hugging her at the living room of the house. She was holding something.
"I love you too Kalara. I'm glad you like it. Go wear it so daddy can see it on you as well." Giggling she went upstairs, open the door and went inside of the room full of stuffed animals. She wore the red dress she was holding. Quickly got undress and wore the dress. She looked at the mirror and started yelling
"Mom! MOM! This is not me! MOM!" She was screaming in her own head, it was her own reflection in a tiny baby voice. She ran to the corner, kept asking for help, covering her face into dark. Where was she?
She peaked from the closet. The closet door opened.
"You are coming with me now" her mother took her arm roughly.
"Mom I don't remember anything." she whined "Please don't punish me again. I promise I won't do it again" Her vision was blurry. She was then somewhere warm and wet, lots of things were touching her, it tasted salty.
A cheery male voice was saying "I told you to wear underwater googles Kalara, open your eyes if you want to see the fish."
She opened her eyes. There were different types of fishes, everywhere. She looked up and saw a blurry old man wearing a yellow swimming trunk waving at her. It hurt her eyes.
"What's the procedure, doctor?" some non-familiar voice asked in the background. She couldn't open her eyes. It was similar to have shampoo in her eyes. It hurt dearly, needed to wash up the chemicals quickly but her arms were attached to somewhere cold; it felt like a metal.
"Nurse Janin, BP levels" a voice similar to her dad said. Her heart started to race faster then it dropped as quickly.
"Hey you! Wake up?" someone hit her with a stick. "How did you even get in? What are you doing at my backyard?" shaking her head she opened her eyes "Get up, move on." Said Deana.
"What?" was the only reply Kalara could think of.
"Wake up and go!" Deana said. She heard her loud and clear but couldn't get her head off and she fainted. "Wake up!" a familiar feminine voice said hurrily started shaking her body.
The sun was licking her skin warm. Her skin felt chills, reach out for a blanket but there was nothing to cover herself in reach. She was feeling a headache coming, opene her eyes looking direclty to the sun laserin the room as if to erase everything within. It was such a vivid and weird dream she thought, or a nightmare. She rubbed her temples, cracked her neck and shoulder before getting up. She felt worse so she got up faster than she should, her vision has gone dark for a while then blurry. She shouldn't have drank that much; closed her eyes and open them again. She noticed the empty bottle on the floor. Her worst enemy layed there as still as dead looked defeated or rather she was as the alcohol now were running through her veins. She usually couldn't keep her glass anyway, she didN't know what caused her to drink more than ever. Her mouth tasted bad, smelled even worse. It wasn't only alcohol but something else like blood and chemicals mixed. She should've found something to eat as soon as possible, when she could actually get up. She looked at the main table, the piles were where she left them. She sighed. She had lots to do for a month. She forgot to record one video last night. She should start doing it now but maybe before she should buy an SD card to record in it, just to make sure she won't stay at this house more than she should.
Di dit!
Hell. Where was her phone now? D must get crazy by now as she didn't report anything for hours. She did even see her in her nightmare which helped her to wake up.
It was their first encounter. Maybe one of her best first memories she remembered. She was tired of running and had to find a place to hide for a while. At the dark it looked like a place abandoned long ago, she thought it was a great place to hide for a while, her energy were drawn, she couldn't move enough to explore the area, she decided to crash on the grass for a while. Then after few minutes or hours or seconds, Deana came and tried to wake her up asking questions, pushing her. She was obviously and rightfully scared that someone was trying to camp on her backyard for some reason in the middle of the night but she wasn't afraid of anything else even though she didn't have any weapon to protect herself. It was definitely a stupid move. Kalara then didn't even care enough to move nor listened her ramblings. She couldn't move her fingers even if she wanted to. That moment became the very first happy memory she held. She then realized that that specific choice ended her fugitive status and she could be free at last. So she got lucky. So she would die another day. So everything was in her control from now on.
She saw the light blinking under the pile. She felt like a hunter reaching her prey when she grabbed her phone. Di dit!
Another text? Really Deana, she sighed while checking her messages. 5 missed calls? Really.
"U OK?! I've called you several times already. If you won't reply back I'm coming there."
And she would. Alas, she wouldn't be helpful if I was really caught anyway.
Kalara texted her back. "I'm OK. I was sleeping. I was so tired as you would imagine"
"Oh ok. Well. Good morning? Lol"
"Yeah lol"
"Hey btw. Thanks for being there and checking up on me." She wanted to text but that could make her more nosey, she imagined.
"Anyway, everything went well. No one is around, already checked the house. So don't worry. Will be talking to you in a week or so and most likely coming back in about a month or so. Kiss the kiddo for me."
"Oh got the message. No more texts or calls for a while. Be careful!"
"Will do." Clever girl.
Now what she should do was to find food. She turned to head to the kitchen. She noticed the potion on the coffe table. It wasn't as full as it were. Or was it? Did she drink any of that? She wondered while looking around for any proof indicating she did. Last thing she remembered was she was standing in front of it then she was on the couch when she woke up. She wasn't sure of herself even so she had a perfect photographic memory. She never had a black out before nor had a hangover.
She closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt she was out of space. She then found herself in a dark, empty corridor. There was a light brown door with no handle. She pushed the door open carefully. It lead her to a huge endless library, looking antique. It was perfectly clean as if dust had no business there. There were many stairs up and down. Every shelf were full with books.
She walked to one of the closest shelves. When she was to touch one of the books, she heard footsteps. A woman appeared organizing the books in upstairs hallway.
"Mom?" Kalara whispered.
Her gaze returned to Kalara, her features softened with a warm smile.
"Welcome Kalara, we've been expecting you."
End of chapter