The Good-For-Nothing Society | Completed

Chapter Tweny-Five

Dr Grim nods, "I'd say the last year of your life has been incredibly traumatic. Losing your parents was the start, being kidnapped and held hostage is a very hard thing to happen."

We fall silent.

"So," Elijah stars, "Do you think it's trauma or head injury?"

Dr Grim stands, "It is hard to say. With trauma, memories often come back."

I look to Elijah, "Like the one of you in the foyer, where I kicked you across it to save you."

Elijah looks away from me, his jaw jumping.

Dr Grim doesn't notice the sudden tension, "I'd say give it time and you will see. But I must warn you, the brain does this to protect you. Some cuts are better to scab over and be left alone."

"But, am I to just go about my life as normal? Never knowing where an entire year went?"

The doctor places a hand on my shoulder, "When you are ready, if it is trauma, it will come back all on it's own. Now, I must go - if you need me, Elijah knows where my office is. You can swing by anytime. You should try and sleep, you've been through quite an ordeal."

He takes his leave, and we sit there in silence with only machines whirring. You've been through quite an ordeal. Boy, that feels like the understatement of the century. I have gunshot wounds! What kind of evil mastermind shoots and tortures a sixteen year old kid? What kind of information do I have that they felt they had to do that? And how did I get free?

It isn't long after he's gone that the nurse brings me food and with my tummy full, heavy blankets laid on my chest, painkillers running though my system, I'm lulled into a comfortable sleep.

Until somehow, I'm suddenly in a nightmare. I start off in a cramped space, hiding. My breathing is hitched, my heart elevated. I know I need to calm down so I can think clearly, that I'm in danger and panicking won't help me. I try, but I can't level myself. The people chasing me, the ones after me, they're closing in.

Then suddenly it transforms and I'm in an open space, I know I need to run. I have to run now. I know that I'm not wearing any shoes, my feet are cold. My body aches. My head pounds. I have no choice. This is my only chance to flee. It's the one opportunity I'm going to get to make it out.

I pound against something that's blocking the way, clawing at it. It's a dead end, oh god, they're going to get me. They're going to be here any minute. I keep fighting, trying to get through the dead end, it shouldn't be here - it's in the wrong place.

"Amelia!" A voice snaps.

That's new. That should be a part of this. That doesn't belong here. My eyes fly open, and Elijah is yanking me away from the wall I was trying to fight through.

"Where am I?" I ask his chest, he's holding me in place, both arms wrapped around me.

He pushes me away but still holds me at arms length, staring into my eyes. "Don't do that. You don't get to leave me, not again."

"Where is this?" I hiss, pushing his arms off me and look around. I'm back in the foyer. "What am I doing here?"

"You were sleep walking," He grunts, "Sleep talking."

I look around the foyer, "I was here." I know it's the truth, my eyes land on Elijah. "We were here. I was trying to leave and you - you followed me."

"I was saving you!" He yells.

"You took six months to get to me! And look, look at me!"

"You went with them! You chose to go with them!"

"Amelia!" Grace suddenly appears at the top of the stairs, moving towards me. "Don't do that! Don't disappear like that!"

"She was sleepwalking," Elijah explains, unable to look at me.

"I remember," I tell them. "The night they took me, I remember. I remember you following me. I had planned to find out what my dad knew, why they killed my mum. But they came here. They - took me, right here."

"Who are they?" Grace asks.

"I don't know! I don't remember!"

"Do you think they got from you what they wanted?" Elijah asks.

"No," I say.

"Why?" He asks.

"Because I'm not dead."

It's true. I know it's true. I don't know why they've sent me back here. I don't know what they want, but I know despite my memory loss that this isn't over. None of this is over.