Chapter 8: “Lost Memories”
I felt like I was suffocating and I couldn’t move. A strange sensation went through my body and then, as suddenly as it came over me, it stopped. Opening my eyes, I found myself in a white area. A familiar voice behind me made me turn around.
“Well, Angel, if you’re seeing this then that means I’m dead.”
“Johnathan?” I asked in disbelief as I gaped at my brother.
I could hardly believe what I was seeing, even though he was standing right in front of me. His appearance had changed. He looked haggard and weather-beaten. Cuts and bruises were all over his body. He had grown more muscular than I remembered but his blonde hair was dirty and his green eyes were tired and weary. I was horrified by his appearance.
“I’m sorry, this is an old vision tablet so I can’t respond to anything and I know you have a million questions. So I’ve tried my best to make this vision tablet and all you can do now is brace yourself for the story you’re about to hear and see,” said Johnathan.
My head felt dizzy. What is happening to me? I thought.
“First of all, when this is over, thank Alex for me for finding you and giving you this vision tablet. He must’ve gone through a lot.” He paused, heaving a deep sigh.
It’s tough seeing someone you think is dead, especially when they seem so real. At that moment I tried my best not to dash towards Johnathan and cry with my head on his shoulder.
Johnathan said, “Angel, you’re about to see the true secret of your past…You’re going to see things you’d wished you had never seen. Alex knows about all this, so after this, if you have any questions, just ask him.”
The whiteness around me disappeared and I found myself in a lab. There were white tables arranged in neat rows. On them were many test tubes, beakers, and other apparatuses. I could see no one else in the room. A regular beeping sound behind me made me turn around. On the far side of the room was a cylindrical object containing a greenish fluid with a human-like organism suspended in the fluid. I rushed towards it.
A baby, which looked like it was just born, was floating in the middle. It was curled up and had tubes attached to its back and mouth.
I was at a loss. Where am I? I thought.
Suddenly, a door slid open, a man and a woman walked into the room.They walked right through me, and then I realized that I must be inside someone’s memory. But, whose...and why? I asked myself.
I looked closely at the man and the woman. They looked like they were in their thirties. The man was tall and built with green eyes, blonde hair and a sharp, pointed face while the woman was of medium height and quite slim with auburn hair, dark-brown eyes and a round, sweet face. Both of them looked serious and they were talking feverishly. I walked closer to them.
“Heart beat, breathing rate, digestive tract, everything looks normal,” said the woman, looking at a computer screen.
“I think we should start the process,” said the man.
“But she was just born! She might die!” cried the woman.
“She has a chance of dying anyway. The Kreons are going to attack in a few minutes,” argued the man.
“What about her parents? Have you—”
“The mother died during birth and her father lost hope and abandoned her.”
“Okay then,” said the woman, biting her lower lip, “Let’s start.”
The man nodded and quickly pressed a few buttons on a keyboard. The woman grabbed a towel and waited while the greenish fluid drained away. She detached the baby from the tubes and set her down on a table. The baby started crying immediately.
“Hush! Make her stop!” cried the woman in exasperation.
“You’re the woman, you do it!” said the man while he took a reddish fluid from a tube with the help of a syringe.
“You’re such a sexist,” commented the woman as she lifted the baby in her arms and patted it on the back.
The man went towards them and injected the baby with the liquid. The baby stopped crying and the woman laid her on the table. The baby was not moving.
“Oh, no…She—She’s,” choked the woman, trying to hold back tears.
“I don’t feel a pulse,” declared the man, touching the baby’s small wrist.
“We—we killed her,” exclaimed the woman.
“Well, at least she died trying for a good cause,” said the man, grimly.
“How can you say that? You’re so—” started the woman but at that moment, a miracle happened.
The baby burst out crying.
“She’s alive!” exclaimed the woman, taking the baby in her arms again and swaying back and forth.
The man heaved a sigh of relief.
All of a sudden, the room started shaking. They looked at each other and breathed one familiar word in horror, “Kreons!”
“Where’s Johnathan?” asked the woman.
“I’m here,” squeaked a small voice.
I looked towards the voice. It came from a two year old boy sitting on a stool at the farthest corner of the room. He had blonde hair and green eyes like the man but the round, sweet face of the woman. He walked towards his parents.
“Mommy, is she my sister?” asked the small boy, pointing to the baby in the woman’s arms which had now stopped crying and was smiling at them all.
The woman looked questioningly at the man. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded.
“Yes, sweetheart, she is,” answered the woman with a smile.
“What’s her name?” asked the boy.
The man and the woman looked at each other, and smiling, they said together, “Hope.”
