Short Stories

Kidnapped By Her True Love

His eyes were cold and lifeless as he stared at her.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

Carli shakes her head, confused.

"I've never seen you in my entire life," her small voice utters. The guy looks bewildered, at the least.

"Baby, how do you not remember me? We had such great times!" The guy steps closer to her, but she moves away.

"Wh-Who are you," Carli asks.

"Darius, baby. I'm Darius," he repeated.

And suddenly, everything made sense.

*** 1 hour Earlier ***

"Carli, you better be heading home. I can't keep you here forever," George, her boss, exclaims.

"But George," Carli whines. "You know I love this job."

"I know, I know, but you need to be getting home. It's 7:00, Carli, and your shift is supposed to end at 4:00. Go!"

"Okay, okay, geez," Carli laughs.

She grabs her purse and waves bye to George before stepping outside. The cool air of November hits her face and she smiles. It reminded her of something; someone, but she couldn't place a finger on who.

She takes a step towards her apartment, but the hair on the back of her neck stands straight up. Someone's watching her. She could tell. Taking a look around, she sees no one.

She makes her way to her apartment, the entire time feeling as though there was eyes on her. Only when she starts to open her door does she hear movement. Just as she turns around, two large hands wrap around her, one covering her mouth and the other around her waist. The guy picks her up and just before she passes out, she sees his face. His face looked so familiar, the caring, loving way he looked at her. But she couldn't remember in time before her eyes shut and she passed out.

***

"Boss, I think she's waking up."

"Yes, I see that Jacob," a deep voice replied. It was almost familiar to her.

"Right, of course sir," Jacob mutters

"Leave," the deep voiced guy demands. She hears scuffling before nothing, and then the slow beat of footsteps.

"Baby? Are you awake?"

Baby? Carli scrambles up to stand and looks around. She's in a somewhat familiar metal room, with a bed right beside her.

"Who the heck are you?"

All happiness that was once there was gone. His eyes were cold and lifeless as her stared at her.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

Carli shakes her head, confused.

"I've never seen you in my entire life," her small voice utters. The guy looks bewildered, at the least.

"Baby, how do you not remember me? We had such great times!" The guy steps closer to her, but she moves away.

"Wh-Who are you," Carli asks.

"Darius, baby. I'm Darius," he repeated.

And suddenly, everything made sense. It was Darius, the love of her life. Her memories came flashing back to her. The ferris wheel, the shark attack, the cliff jumping. Every single memory came back in an overwhelming flood.

"What happened," Carli asks.

"You were......injected with a syringe that made you lose every single memory. Every. Single. Memory. They were all replaced with something else. You've been living a lie. But we've finally found you after all of these years. And by the look on you face, I take it you believe me? I take it, you remember?" She nods her head and he sighs in relief.

"I.....remember. I remember everything. But I also remember the fake memories as if they were real. Some of them are hard to tell apart from whether they are real or not," she confesses.

"Baby, I'm real," Darius whispers.

"I know that," she laughs. "Now that the memories are back, it's kind of hard to forget you."

"Aww, I'm flattered," he jokes.

"So, where's everyone else?" she asks. "I think there are a few people I want to see."

"Yes, ah, they are probably listening in right now, knowing them," he laughs.

"You can come in!" Carli calls, and suddenly tons of people come bustling inside.

"Carli, you're back!" one familiar voice calls, and she immediately recognizes it.

"Shelia, is that you?" Carli asks. Shelia comes out with a boy behind her. Carli recognizes him as Richard with his blond hair going every way.

"OMG, Carli, I can't believe it's you. We've all missed you so much!" Shelia grabs Richards hand, fingers interlocking.

"So did you two finally hook up?" Carli asks mischievously.

"Yeah, it happened a few weeks ago," Shelia gushes.

"I asked her out, not being able to help myself," Richard sums up. "Anywho, I'm very glad you are back, Ms. Waldon."

"Richard, you can call me Carli. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," he replies. "I just now starting calling Shelia, well, Shelia, instead of Ms. Lake. You know how proper I can be. Or, do you know?"

"Yes, I know. It's just, if you're going to be dating my best friend then you should treat me like a friend, not your boss," Carli explains.

"I understand. I'll try to be less.....formal," he winces.

"Well don't try to hard," Darius's deep voice laughed. He came up behind Carli and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I miss this," he whispers into her ear. The simple act sent shivers down her spine, traveling through her legs and reaching her toes.

"Me too," she replies back.

The rest of the night went nice as she got reacquainted with her old friends and was brought up to date with everything that has happened in her original life. Though she knew it would be hard to completely leave behind her second life, along with all of the fake memories, she also knew she couldn't just ignore her original life. She had two lives to live, but if she played her cards right, maybe she could combine the two lives into one happy, somewhat peaceful, and almost perfect life.