Memories Made of Lies | A Short Story [COMPLETE]

| Katie |

His voice was softer than before so I held the door and looked back in. "Yeah?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he tried again. "Just... remember that no matter what, I will always love you."

The sincerity in his eyes made the tension in my muscles lessen just slightly. Sending him a small grin, I said back, "Love you, too, Dad."

He nodded like he had done his job and let me close the door.

As he backed out and drove off, I stood up straighter, saying to myself, Today will be amazing.

Suddenly, everything darkened, like all the lights in the world had turned off. Black surrounded me and I couldn't move. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I knew what was going to come next: the pain.

A zap sliced through my head, making me cry out. I thought that it couldn't get worse, but pressure started building on top of the pain, making my head feel like it was made of metal. The heavy tingles ran through my body, flowing down my back and making my entire body tremble as I tried to find relief. But nothing could stop this pain that was so familiar to me by now. I didn't know what was causing it or why it was happening, but it seemed like it only got worse every time it split my memories in half.

Suddenly, a very clear voice, Ben's voice, cut through the pain. "Hang in there, Katie. I know it hurts, but please. Just hang on."

Another shock zapped across my mind, like fire raging war on my head. I screamed and everything shook like a volcano erupting. The only thing stopping me from caving into the pain, into the darkness, were Ben's words.

Forcing myself to keep my strength, I thought the only thing I could. Make it stop.

"I know, Katie," he whispered. "I know." And then, in an instant, the pain disappeared.

I relaxed, but far too soon.

There was blood streaming down my leg and tears streaming down my cheeks. I laid on the concrete for a moment, not sure if I could get up. But I didn't have to.

My mother came running from the house, her face contorted in worry. "Oh, baby, are you okay? What happened?"

As she bent down, sweeping me into her arms, the sobs continued to shake my tiny frame. "I-I fell off my-my bike," was all I could say through the snot, hiccups, and hot tears.

She cradled me in her arms, letting my wet face rest on her shoulder. Her hug was warm and I let myself be held by her, her presence making that pain lessen in my knee.

As the sobs slowly stopped, she started to sing, "It will be okay, my flower. It will be alright. Just lean in close and let me sing. It will be alright."

I closed my eyes, her voice soft as it surrounded me in comfort. Mama always made it so much better.

Eventually, the crying turned to only hiccups and my mother whispered, "Want to go inside and get you cleaned up?"

I nodded, reaching up and scrubbing at the tears that still lingered on my face.

She carried me to the house, my chubby cheek squished up against her shoulder as I held tight around her neck. As she moved down the hall to the half bathroom downstairs, I tried not to think about all the boxes I saw littering the floor or how I was having to leave my best friend at only six years old. I knew Daddy needed to move, but it wasn't fair that Mama and I had to go, too.

She sat me down on the small vanity, my back to the mirror as she dug through the box in the corner, looking for our first aid kit. She finally found it and used the cleaning wipe from a little pouch to get rid of the blood that had already stopped spouting from my knee. Cleaned up, it didn't look as bad as I had thought it was.

After she stuck the bandage on, she looked at me with a radiant smile. "All better?"

I sniffled, forcing a smile back. "Almost."

She helped me get down from where I sat and led me from the bathroom to the kitchen. "Will a popsicle help?"

I instantly perked up. "Yeah!"

She laughed, grabbing one green popsicle for her and one purple for me. Grape was always my favorite.

She was about to hand it to me when, once again, everything froze. This time, when everything turned dark, it took a second for the pain to jump in. But I felt a completely different pain: grief. For a blissful moment, my mom had still been there with me, alive and wiping the tears from my face.

As the fire settled into my mind and body, I didn't scream. I didn't tense. I just cried. The hot tears fell down the sides of my face in silence as the agony consumed me, as the grief felt sharper than it had ever been.

She had been right there.

No more, I whispered in my head, wondering if the words could make it to my lips. Please.

"We're almost done, Katie. I promise," Ben said. Through the hurting, I felt his finger brush through mine, and the feeling alone seemed to ease some of the suffocating pain that swirled through my mind. With what little strength I could muster, I squeezed his hand.

"That's my girl," he whispered.

I wanted to wake up for him, but something knocked me back into the darkness as the pain left once again and the process started all over.

But this time it was different. I laid in the middle of a small room and everything around me was fuzzy, like a film was over my eyes. People stood around me in doctors coats and suits, looking down on me. I couldn't make out their expressions through the haze, but I could tell that I was the center of attention, though I had no idea why.

Suddenly, a light flashed above me and I closed my eyes, feeling a strange emotion rumbling through my tiny body. My mind started to spin and I felt a slow, comfortable heat start to swirl through my head. I felt like I was waking up and coming alive. My eyes flew open and the haze had cleared and sharpened. I could see everything, from the machine that loomed above me to the small gold flecks in one of the man's eyes. The strange feeling inside of me turned bright and warm with energy and I felt like I was about to explode. I wiggled, trying to kick off the blanket that restricted my legs.

Then, voices. I couldn't understand them, but there were dozens of them, talking and saying one thing over and over again. "R94 prototype."

I shouldn't have known what that meant. But I did. It was me.

I gasped awake, sitting straight up. I frantically looked around, but my surroundings had changed. Now, I sat in a room with computers and strange tools and machines that I had never seen before.

But then my eyes met a pair of familiar green ones and I felt everything inside of me break.

"Ben," I sobbed.

I didn't have enough strength to reach out to him, but it didn't matter. He instantly scooped me up in his arms, hugging me so tight, I couldn't breath. But I didn't care. Whatever I had just been through, Ben was here to save me from it.

A/N IT'S HAPPENING!! XD (Idk what that was about but uhm... *nervous laugh*) Anyway, thanks for reading! There is only ONE chapter after this one and then I'll be finished! YAY!! Let me know what you thought here ----->