Our Darkest Memories

3. When Old Friends Meet

"Me?"

"Yes." She nervously hopped from one leg to the other. "I have been trying to follow you ever since we went to your cabin." She was looking at the Yellow when she spoke those words.

She suddenly seemed to remember that she hadn't introduced herself yet. She started to blush a little. "I'm Nadia, by the way."

Before I could answer, Raiden was already talking."I'm Raiden and this is Morgan," he said.

I was surprised that he also introduced me as if we were old friends. Apparently, so was he because he started to fidget again with the threads from his shirt.

"Anyway, since this doesn't have anything to do with me, I'm gonna go back to my cabin," he said with a fake determination before he hurried away.

Nadia and I stood there for a moment, surrounded by the sounds of birds and the wind stroking the leaves of the trees.

"I think we know each other," she suddenly proclaimed. She realized how weird that must have sounded and her cheeks started to turn red. I gave her a weird glance. "I'm sorry. I know this is weird. Just forget it, I'm gonna-..."

She turned around to walk away, but I stopped her.

"What do you mean? Why do you think that?"

She eyed relieved that I was willing to listen to her story. "It's just that I am not very social, definitely when it comes to strangers. And we are strangers, right? But every time I see you, I just want to talk to you and tell you everything that's on my mind."

I let that sink in for a moment. "Maybe it's just because I am a-..."

Of course the reason isn't that I'm a very approachable person. When have I ever been an approachable person?

The whole thing was just bizarre because wasn't this the exact thing that I was experiencing with Raiden?
I got a headache and rubbed my fingers against my temples.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Very sure. My feelings are very confused when it comes to you."

That was where my doubts lied, because I had never acted on feelings. I only trusted my mind, because feelings could be wrong.
I didn't know where that behavior came from, but it was who I was.

"If I tell you something, will you laugh?"

She shook her head, which made me comfortable enough to admit this to her. "I think I have that too, but with Raiden."

She furrowed her eyebrows and seemed like she was trying to figure it out. "What makes you think that?"

I explained to her everything that had happened and I didn't even hesitate. I guess she was right. I wanted to tell her everything that was on my mind without even knowing her.

When I finished my story, she nodded slowly and carefully, thinking about everything. "All of this... is weird."

I agreed with her. It was weird. All of it.

"We need to figure this out because it's driving me insane," she continued.

I nodded and peered at the sky. The sun was no longer visible.

"Continue this tomorrow?" I suggested.

"Maybe that's better. In the meantime, don't do anything weird, I guess?"

"Yeah. I'll probably tell all of this to the Yell- to Raiden tomorrow and we'll talk about it further."

We began walking back to the camp. When we entered, I said goodbye to Nadia and left to go to my cabin. I marched straight towards it. It was somewhere in the middle of the camp, close to the one Clancy stayed in. It was smaller than other cabins since I didn't have to share it with anyone.

Before I reached my cabin, I felt eyes lurking at my back and I shivered. It was a feeling that I had experienced several times the past week, and I wondered if that was what it felt like for the Yellow when I was watching him.

I had enough with it. One step removed from the door to my room, I turned around and stated: "I know you are following me."

Two teenagers that were passing by gave me a weird look, but I ignored them. It remained quiet for a moment and I got irritated.

"I caught you following me. You might as well reveal yourself now."

Finally, someone stepped from behind a nearby cabin. It was a little more to my left than I expected. I turned in the right direction, and even though it was dark outside, I immediately recognized the boy.

"Buz," I coldly greeted. "Do you wanna explain why you are following me?"

He came closer, and I noticed that he was wearing a yellow shirt that was too cheerful for his character. Under it, he wore black pants.

"Do you wanna explain why you have been following that new yellow the last week?"
Buz stood opposite of me, trying to intimidate me with his large build and attacking me with his words.

"That's none of your business, but since you asked so nicely-" I put on a big, fake smile. "-I am making sure that he is feeling home here, which is part of my job as a welcome committee for newcomers."

He laughed scornfully. "You're not gonna make me believe that."

I leaned with my shoulder against the wall of my cabin. "That's too bad for you then. What's your reason for following me?"

He looked around and then stepped closer to me, his face only a little removed from mine, but I didn't back down.

Only more angry because of his failed intimidation attempts, he dangerously whispered: "I don't know what you are up to, but I will figure it out. You have been behaving strangely since that boy arrived, and since Clancy is too oblivious to notice that, I am trying to keep East River safe."

"Oh, I think I see what's going on here," I scoffed. "A certain someone is a little jealous that he doesn't get better positions because Clancy assigns those to me."

Buz looked like he was ready to kill me, but I just grinned.

That grin disappeared when he slammed both hands against my cabin on either side of me. I was now standing with my back against the wall, while Buz leaned even closer.

He then answered, with a deadly voice: "Clancy only gives those to you because he likes you. He doesn't see what you really are."

"And what would that be?" I tried to grin again to mock him but with less determination this time.

"Disloyal and unreliable. You can't be trusted, and Clancy is also gonna find out that you are dangerous to the camp soon."

With that, he turned around and walked away, whistling a song like nothing had happened and leaving me behind with a loss of words.

I shivered and walked into my room to plop on my bed that had a simple, white blanket on it.

Those were a lot of weird conversations on one day and they all made me question a lot of things even more. I replayed each one, but one thing in particular kept haunting me.

We have met, you just forgot.

Is he crazy? Is he telling the truth? What did that even mean?