Mom Friend (SHADOWs of GHOST

Cameo

The first and only sign she needed to know something was up was that she had barely said a word.

    Since Cameo had been put into their troop, daily briefings were never dull. There was hardly a moment where she wouldn't chat up a storm: how her morning had been, what she had done the previous night, hobbies she was working on, whatever came to her mind about her, quote, "epic, exciting life." So, when the troop gathered at the staging post as they did every morning to discuss what the day would bring, that's what Journey expected. But the entire time, Cameo was silent, slumped against a wall and only offering a nod here or there.

    Not wanting to broadcast anything that may be unwell to the others, Journey waited until they were done to ask about it. Cameo left rather quickly, though, and suddenly was nowhere to be found inside. She eventually found her completely outside, sitting on the ground beside the covered fences and picking at her polished nails. "Cam? Hey."

    Cameo looked up and tried at a small smile, which she could tell was somewhat forced. "Hey."

    Journey sat next to her silently, knowing that if she wanted to, she would talk. For several minutes, she could feel Cameo's hesitant glances, as if she was unsure where to start. So, she decided to break the silence herself. "What's on your mind?"

    "You know, the usual," Cameo said, though she wouldn't elaborate after. She had chipped away an entire finger of nail polish.

    "Well... what's the usual?"

    She examined her nails and then sighed. "It's the 26th, right?"

    Journey not so discreetly checked her phone. March 26th. "Yeah, it is."

    "My sister turned 9 today."

    There it was. She had a younger sister she always spoke fondly of, and in every conversation she mentioned her, it was clear Cameo adored her. Now on the island, though, there was no known way to contact the other side, no way to communicate with their forces or families from the city they came from.

    "Well, happy birthday..." Come to think of it, she wasn't sure if Cameo had ever mentioned her name. Small memories were often lost, though, so perhaps she had only forgotten. "What's her name?"

    "...That's just the thing. I can't remember."

    Journey's face fell at that.

    Cameo grimaced and leaned forward, resting her cheek upon her fist. "I woke up and I knew something was wrong, then I remembered it was her birthday and I... I realized I haven't been able to remember her name for the past week."

    More prominent memories such as family names and appearances usually took longer until they were lost to the island. Journey couldn't lie and say she remembered the names of her own parents, but she had been here for over a year. Cameo hadn't even been here for half of that yet. Maybe it wasn't completely lost, yet. "Maybe we could try and guess. Do you at least remember what letter it started with?"

    "...M. It starts with M."

    "Marie," Journey instantly shot out. It was the most basic name she could think of.

    Cameo snorted. "Not even close."

    She continued throwing names, hoping one would finally get through to her. It wasn't until she suggested "Madison" that Cameo's eyes lit up. "That's- no, but it's close. Really close. The 'Mad' part... Madelyn! It's Madelyn."

    Her smile finally returned, though it was short-lived and she slumped back against the fence. "How do you deal with it, Journey?"

"Deal with?"

"The whole... memory loss thing."

Well, being honest, she simply never questioned it or let her thoughts linger on it. Journey herself had nothing exciting going on in their original world. Every day followed the same routine until she joined E.G.O: wake up, drive around until she found somewhere new to explore in their limited space, and return home. The specifics were a blur, but once she had explored everything, there was nothing else to do.

When she realized she could no longer remember her parents' faces or any specific memories, sure, she had been a little sad. But she hadn't spent quality time with them for a couple years, so there wasn't much for her to dwell on, especially once any memories from her childhood had already gone. "We all sacrificed a lot when we agreed to be sent here," she said. "We... basically sold away our old lives. We all have families we might never get to see again. I guess for a lot of us, it just never crosses our minds enough to worry about it. But you were really close to your sister, weren't you?"

Cameo shrugged. "You know, I only joined E.G.O because I wanted my family to be safe. We were... well off, and some people didn't like that, so they tried to threaten us and blackmail us and all that fun stuff. I figured, well, my life is kind of boring, so I might as well join and get some of the perks... then people backed off because we were under E.G.O's protection. Then, I guess I caught their eye on the field or something because they said I would be a good asset here or whatever."

"And you are, Cam. You've been amazing."

Cameo paid no attention to the reassurance, lost deep in her thoughts, searching for something in the depths of her mind. "When they were telling me about what's going to happen, I think... I tuned a lot of it out. I was just excited with the whole idea of being a hero or whatever. But, I mean, I still knew something like this was going to happen. Whenever I replay what they were saying talking about before I was officially sent, I can hear them talking about the memory loss and not being able to come back. But I ignored it. I thought I was going to be able to handle it. But now that it's actually happening, I just..."

Her voice broke; she lifted up her visor to wipe her eyes. Journey entertwined her hand with her own. "I never wanted it to be like this," Cameo continued. "My family was safe when I left but what if something happens now that I'm here? And I can't check in or even say hi and I... I just want to see them. For two seconds. I miss them... I miss home."

Journey kept her grasp firm, and she would never let go until she was sure Cameo would be okay. "I wish there was something I could do for you."

With a small smile, Cameo leaned her head against her shoulder. "You're helping a lot just by being here."