Don't Forget

Chapter 4 {FULL}

I remember you said "Don't leave me here alone"

I don't remember going to sleep, but when I wake up, I'm back in my cell. 

Chance is in a corner, eyeing me nervously. My eyes dart towards him, but as soon as he sees me looking at him, his eyes drop into his lap. 

"I'm not going to hurt you," I whisper, staring at him. He looks up slowly, taking in every inch of me. 

"I promise," I say, louder this time. He swallows hard, and looks at my face, avoiding my eyes, and looking instead at some point below my eyes. He opens his mouth slowly, and in a low whisper, asks, "What are you?" 

I don't answer. 

He keeps going. "You come into this prison, and you don't talk for hours. You scream in your sleep and have terrifying nightmares. Then you wake up and start talking about a dead guy, saying it's your fault he's gone. You hold ropes in your hands for hours and watch the water for just as long. And then when we go to the dining hall, some other prisoner calls your name, starts running to you, and then you hold your hand up and create a freakin force field and  nearly knock him out! All I know about you is your name, Alyssa! So tell me something, anything!"  he exclaims, his voice getting louder and louder by the second. He's angry. He's frustrated, and he's confused. 

"I'll tell you," I say, in a monotone voice. "I'll tell you what I am." 

Chance looks at me with distrusting and curious eyes. I begin, looking straight into his eyes, not breaking eye contact for a second. 

"I'm a monster. I have the powers of legend- I am legend. I'm the past come to the future. I could stop all wars or create thousands more," I say. "They call me the leader of the packs. The princess of the night." 

A look of shock passes over Chance's face. "I've heard of you!" he exclaims. "I've been hearing stories about your coming for ages!" he says. 

"Fantastic," I say humorlessly. 

"How'd you get captured?" he asks, this time softer. 

I don't answer. 

There was a fluke. A fluke in the plan. And he died. 

"Alyssa?" he says gently. "What happened?" 

And you were trapped. And they came and took you, before you could try to run, before you could escape.

Jason's face flashes before my eyes, and a million tiny memories, each a second long, hurtle through my mind, pounding. Something takes my mind over, a darkness takes a grip on my brain, and I am no longer myself anymore. 

"Jason!" I yell. I see him taking the shot for me, falling. I see his blood drip from the wound and the pain take over his face. I see him die, for me, over and over and over, and nothing is stopping it. 

I feel someone's arms wrap around me, take hold of me, and I'm back in the cell, behind bars, holding ropes that do nothing. Chance is holding me tightly, holding me back from the memory. 

"Alyssa," he whispers, because I'm deadly silent. "Alyssa. You have to tell me what happened." 

"Jason," I whisper, a single tear falling from my eyes. 

"Tell me, Alyssa. Tell me what happened to Jason. To Ethan. To you," he says, looking me striaght in my eyes. He is no longer afraid of me. Not scared. And this brings me back. 

And I say, "Okay." 

****

Chance loosens his grip on me, and I bite my lip. I close my eyes, and the story seems to burst from me, slowly and methodically, like water crashing through a dam.