Forgotten

Chapter One

Exactly one year ago, I woke up on the side of the road with no memories except my name, Victoria Winters, and my age, eighteen (I’ve turned nineteen at some point in the past year). Oh, and a few not so normal abilities. You want an example? How about being able to walk on a rope ten feet off the ground without getting nervous or almost falling? And what about the ability to all but turn myself into a human pretzel? And then there’s the fact that I can stay under water longer than any other person on record. I guess you could say I had enough reasons to join the circus… so that’s exactly what I did.

“Hey, Vicky, are you going to keep standing there, spacing out, or are you going to come help us nail down this tent?” That was my best friend speaking. Ally was twenty five and had been working for the circus since she was sixteen; she was the one that helped me get the job here. We’d only known each other for about a year, but that was all it took for us to become as close as sisters.

I snapped out of my thoughts and ran over to where they were setting up the giant tent. We had just arrived somewhere in Texas, but I didn’t know exactly where- it was too difficult to remember every city we stopped at. In the year since I’d joined them we’d been to more than eighty cities. It was a lot of traveling, but it was fun when surrounded by friends.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Ally asked as she held down a tent peg and I hammered it into the ground before we moved onto the next one.

I shrugged. “Nothing important.” My body was drenched with sweat from being out in the sun all morning, but we were almost finished. The show would be starting soon.

“Oh please. You have told me that lie ever since I found you, Victoria. After hearing that three hundred and sixty five times, I figured out it’s a lie. You were thinking about your past weren’t you?” I was pretty sure she knew me better than I knew myself.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I can’t help it! I just want to know where I come from- who I am! I don’t even know when my birthday is.” My words caused a longing in my heart. Did I have a family? What about my friends? Did I have a boyfriend? I didn’t know.

Ally smiled sympathetically. “That has to be rough. But have you ever thought that maybe it was for the best? I wish I could forget my past.” I didn’t know much about Ally’s past, but I did know it was unpleasant which was why she preferred not to talk about it.

“Yeah, I know…” But she would never understand the way I felt. All I wanted was to know what my past was like. Why did I wake up with no memory of anything? It’s not like that happened often. Who would leave an eighteen year old girl on the side of the road? I had a couple scars, but nothing that proved I had been abused.

I cut off my thoughts and focused on setting up the tent. I had to stop thinking like that or I would drive myself insane. I had to stop thinking about the past and focus on the future.

About five hours later, I observed myself in the mirror of the trailer I shared with half of the other employees. We had one for the guys and one for the girls so that each gender felt they had a bit of privacy. Usually we got to stop at hotels to sleep, but sometimes (when we were in a hurry) we all had to sleep in the trailer. Or, lie down and try to sleep in the trailer- most of us found it impossible to sleep around so many other people.

My strawberry blonde curls were pulled tightly into a bun and hidden with a short, white wig that was firmly attached to my head. My face was covered in the usual circus make up, consisting of random shapes created with eyeliner. My light blue eyes seemed to glow, the unique make-up causing them stand out. Ally was always telling me how jealous she was of my eyes and I had to admit, they were the prettiest thing about me.