"Hmm... hmm hmm... hmm hmm... hmm hmm... little wave upon the sand... wash ashore and take my hand... clothed in foam and born of light... the Heavens glow with pride tonight... ocean daughter, lay your head... sleeping, dreaming, in your bed... rest, my love, in waters deep... and pray your waves flow home to me."
Over and over the song went, with the same angelic voice gently stroking Ann's ears. It was as if she was sitting right next to her, letting her know that everything was going to be okay.
With every repetition, the song grew fainter—farther away somehow. Before too long, it was gone, and Ann was surrounded by silence. Without the lullaby, it was difficult to remain asleep. Her mind may have been exhausted, but her body was ready to move again, and it took every opportunity to show it.
Ann's leg suddenly jolted, and her eyes fluttered open. "Where am I?" was the very first thing she thought. Above her, there was no sky, nor trees, nor cave ceiling. It looked like a silvery-blue tarp with patches of sunlight dancing through it. There was a soft breeze outside, and there was a faint lull in the background. Ann instantly recognised it as the ocean. Then—
"Ha! As if that would ever happen!"
"You wanna go, weather boy?"
There were people outside, she realised. Voices. Voices she didn't recognise. What should she do? Was she safe here? She felt fear rising up in her chest as she tried to make sense of everything around her.
With some effort, she lifted her head and looked around. She was laying on a sleeping mat—a blanket draped over her—and she was inside some sort of tent. The fresh yet dirty smell coming from outside confirmed that she was somewhere out in the wild, but the voices didn't seem aggressive or mean, they sounded playful. Lighthearted. Safe. She was at least fifty-five percent certain that she currently wasn't kidnapped.
She laid her head back down and listened for a bit.
"Guys, stop goofing around, you're gonna start a forest fire," a girl said. "...again."
"Oh, lighten up, sis."
"Yeah, we got this under control!"
"Look out for the—!"
Suddenly, with barely any time to react, the tent began to bulge inward, threatening to squash Ann. The tent poles buckled under the weight, and there was a terrible SNAP! leaving the whole tarp to come down on top of her.
"Ahh!" she screamed, shielding her face as everything around her collapsed. She was lucky that the boys hadn't fallen on top of her too.
After everything settled a bit, there seemed to be a change in the atmosphere outside. Ann only caught a few gasps and mutterings, but they all seemed to be directed toward her tent.
"Did that come from..?" someone asked.
"Is she awake?" asked another.
Then, as the two boys got to their feet, someone was lifting the tent up. Two seconds later, sunlight was streaming onto Ann's face. She was still huddled up in a defensive position, but the face looking down at her from the tent door was wonderfully inviting. It was an old man with a long white beard and kind, weary eyes.
"Ann Jing," he said. "Are you alright?"
She stared up at him, wondering how he knew her name.
He pulled the tent back and helped Ann to her knees. There were a lot more people here than she first realised. Four boys and two girls stared happily at her, and she wished she knew what they were all smiling for.
"How..." she started, but her throat was so dry that she had to swallow a few times before she could properly get the words out. "How do you know my name?"
That clearly hadn't been what they were expecting. Everyone's faces instantly became worried, and they crowded around her further.
"Child... you mean to say that you don't know who I am?" the old man asked, his bushy eyebrows knitted together. All she could do was shake her head in reply. But then, she stopped. She was staring down at one of his wrinkly hands as if it was a Rubiks cube. "What is it?" he asked hopefully.
She reached down and gently took hold of his hand, feeling it's warmth. He held firmly to her, unsure of what was happening, but oddly grateful nonetheless. There was something so familiar about his touch, but Ann wasn't sure if it felt quite right, holding his hand. She never held it, she... she felt it...
She felt rather stupid doing this in front of so many prying eyes, but a strange nostalgia came over her just then. She knew that there was nothing else in the world she wanted more, and so she slowly lifted the man's hand up and let it fall on to the top of her head.
Instantly, a flood of memories came back to her. She could see herself at all ages being consoled by the man who sat in front of her now. His warm smile, his caring eyes, his amused chuckle—this was, without a doubt, the man who had raised her. His hand slid down to her cheek as her eyes began to tear up.
"I remember," Ann said. She caught Wu off guard with a hug and clung onto him tightly, feeling his powerful body beat against her own. "I remember," she said again, loving the way the words sounded.
When she pulled away from him, he was smiling, but everyone else around her still seemed somewhat confused.
"I'm afraid that... that I don't remember much else, though," she said reluctantly. Her brain was foggy and empty, like everything had been scrambled and then dowsed with cold water. "What happened? Where am I? And..." She was about to say, "who are all these people," when she locked eyes was a particularly sad-looking girl who was staring intensely at her.
"Do you remember me, Ann-Ji?" she asked in the smallest voice Ann had ever heard.
Ann-Ji. The nickname sounded very familiar. She searched the girl's face and locked onto her two big, green eyes. Those eyes. She would know those eyes anywhere. She often saw them scrunched up with tears, or opened wide in amazement and joy.
"Ann-Ji, how does this work?"
"Ann-Ji, I'm hungry!"
"Ann-Ji... I love you."
They were all glimpses of her when she was about three to five years old, but there was no mistaking Keaton.
"Keaton," Ann said out loud.
Sitting turned to hugging, and quivering jaws gave way to tears. The girls were both crying now—Ann wasn't entirely sure why—but if Keaton was sad, then she would get all the hugs she needed to feel better.
"Sensei, how... what..." one of the boys started stammering. He was the biggest of the four of them, with shaggy black hair and bushy eyebrows. His eyes were the perhaps the deepest she'd ever seen, like the entrance to a warm cave tunnel.
Wu stroked his beard. Was that something he did often? "I have never come across this before... but it would appear as though her mind is righting itself. Slowly."
"Kind of like, it rebooted? And all the files have to re-load?" said a boy with dirty blonde hair. If she was remembering the voice correctly, he had been one of the boys who crushed the tent earlier.
"A bit like that, I suppose," Wu nodded thoughtfully. Just as it looked like the boy was about to say something else—something mischievous if his smile was any indication—Wu cut him off. "No foolishness, do you understand? Leave her be." The boy's face fell somewhat.
Suddenly, the boy with the black hair took an uncertain step forward and squatted beside Ann. She watched him carefully, sensing that there was a lot on his mind.
"Ann Jing... do, uh... do you remember me?" he asked. His expression was difficult to read. He was concerned, but there was something beneath that. Sadness? Hesitation? Uncomfortableness? It was all buried in those deep eyes.
Ann took a breath and tried to dig up a memory of the boy. She tried to picture his face in a different time—a different place—tried to find the source of the familiarity in his voice, but eventually she was forced to shake her head. There was nothing. Nothing right now, at least. It was as though she was meeting him for the first time.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. It felt rude, somehow, to forget someone like that. She wished she had a name to go with his face at least.
The boy sighed, but it wasn't a sad sigh. It was such a mixed emotion, though, that she couldn't tell what he might be feeling. He gave a weak smile and said, "Then... I guess we should start from the beginning. I'm Cole," and he reached out his big, rough hand for her to shake.
"Cole," Ann repeated, taking his hand and hoping that a memory would spark at the mention of his name, or the feel of his touch, but there was still nothing. "It's a pleasure to meet you... again," she said with an awkward chuckle.
Wu suddenly gave a loud cough. When Ann looked up at him, he was eyeing Cole, who quickly retracted his hand and suddenly found the ground very interesting.
All the others took a turn trying to jog her memory, and Ann now had all their names, but to everyone's dismay, they were still like strangers to her. It was a weird feeling to have everyone know who you are except for yourself.
Wu ordered that Ann be given some space, and soon, lunch was being prepared. After her tent was resurrected, Ann spent most of her time sitting in the open doorway, studying the other teens from a distance. There had to be something about them she could remember. Anything at all.
Wu was busy preparing the food and Keaton was helping him. She seemed to be a little bit happier than before, but there was an unmistakable rain cloud hanging over her head. The boys and Nya were busy collecting fire wood and chatting amongst themselves.
A stiff wind rolled through and made Ann shiver. 'Winter is coming,' she thought. Winter... she didn't like winter. The time of year when all the water turned to ice. Stiff... lifeless... cold... she'd rather it be summer all year round. That's when water was most useful and most fun. A sense of déjà vu hit her just then, as if she'd had this conversation with herself before. More than likely, she had.
Ann sighed sadly and got up. She walked over to where Wu and Keaton were preparing lunch and sat down on one the log benches by the fire.
"Sensei," she said. "Could you tell me about... some things?"
* * *
The next two days were... odd, I suppose. For everyone. Ann was regaining bits and pieces of her past, but it was slow going. Wu had explained a good deal to her, but knowing something and remembering it because you were there, are two very different things.
Cole was the most conflicted about this change. On one hand, he was glad that he had a fresh start with her. On the other, she had been robbed of everything she once knew. Yet another thing to blame Scales for. Still, the day to day was actually quite enjoyable. Without her memories, Ann had become a surprisingly bright, inquisitive, and thoughtful person, always saying "please" and "thank you," apologising at even the slightest bump or inconvenience, and she was smiling! And laughing! Never had Cole seen her this relaxed.
On that second day, at dinner, when the world was growing dark and cold yet again, they were all talking together around the fire pit. It had been a good day, minus the radio check-ins, (there was still no word on the Serpentine's whereabouts) and everyone seemed to be in high spirits.
"Oh! I remember now!" Ann was saying, looking down at her plate of chicken. "I... don't like spicy foods." She had this adorably embarrassed smile on her face as she said it, like she was mortified that she had insulted the chef, AKA Wu. "Sorry," she wheezed, picking up a piece of broccoli instead.
"That's quite alright," Wu chuckled. "You were always a bit of a picky eater."
"I was?" Ann asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'd only eat the freshest hopes and dreams, with a little sprinkling of fun on top."
"Jay!" Cole said, elbowing him hard in the side. Jay had been having a field day with Ann's memory loss. Mostly when Wu wasn't looking, but every once in a while, he couldn't help but sneak in a quip like that.
It may have been funnier if Ann knew what he was joking about, but right now, she was just clutching her plate awkwardly and trying to laugh along with the joke.
"Oh, wait," she said suddenly. "That is something you would say, isn't it, Jay?" Her face lit up. "You were always making quips like that. And... and you stuck a pigeon in my room!"
Wu nearly choked on his tea and had to stop it from spewing out his nose. "Excuse me?" he coughed. Jay was turning bright red.
"Yeah, and then there was the whoopie cushion before that!" Ann went on, while everyone else either snickered or stared. "We were, like, rivals, weren't we? Because... because you were such a prankster, and... 'cause I was such a... wet blanket." As the realisation dawned on her, her demeanour seemed to change. Almost like she was sad.
"Jay stuck a pigeon in your room?" Wu repeated, setting his tea cup down.
"Yeah," said Ann, coming back to life. "Scared me half to death, too."
All eyes turned to Jay, who was burning up now, he was so red. "What can I say? I'm a dedicated prankster." Wu did not look happy. Jay coughed a few times. "Sorry, Sensei. And Ann."
"It's okay," Ann smiled. "It's in the past."
This was a major breakthrough, though. Over the past few days, she'd managed to remember who most everyone was. The only people missing were Jay (formerly) and Cole. Her memories of Nya came back when she started trying to cheer Keaton up with a "dance party," she remembered Kai when the two of them had started roughhousing and Wu had to break it up, and all Zane did was sneeze and suddenly Ann remembered everything again.
No one had told her about the events of the last few days—at least not in detail. Cole was the only one who really knew what she had gone through, and he had refused to speak to her about it. As far as he was concerned, she was better off not knowing.
But now that she remembered Jay, that meant that the only person left in the whole group was Cole. That certainly left a sour taste in his mouth. She must have been watching him just now, because across the fire, she gave him a sad sort of smile, as if to say, "I'm sorry." It made his heart beat a little faster, but he tried to keep it quiet. These days, he wasn't all too eager to follow his heart and rush into his unbridled romantic feelings. No matter how tempted he was to take advantage of Ann's pleasant mood.
Wu ushered everyone off to bed, but Cole was awake for a long while, thinking about everything. Like, where did he and Ann stand now? And where would they stand after she remembered everything? Annoyingly, there was nothing he could do about it until the day her memories finally came back. Until then, however, he could enjoy doing some sparing with her in the morning.
* * *
It had been some time since his dreams were this garbled, but a few nights after he had returned to the group, Cole's brain practically turned to mush every night. All the images blended together so much that it was hard to really be scared anymore. There was also this laugh that kept ringing in his ears. Not Scales, or Jay, or anyone else he knew, just some random, mischievous laugh. It left him feeling restless. And annoyed.
He finally gave up and opened his eyes. His back felt sore and he was tempted to stretch his legs. What time was it anyway? He poked his head outside of his tent and the sky was cloudy and dimly lit. It was pretty early in the morning, still. The fire was looking pretty pathetic, so he grabbed one of the logs they had chopped the day before and dropped it onto the smouldering embers, careful not to disrupt the delicate balance of the heat.
He hadn't meant to. It was an accident. But as he passed by Ann and Keaton's tent, he couldn't help but notice that the door wasn't zipped shut all the way, and from where he was standing, he could see Ann's bed: empty.
Cole quickly looked around. Maybe she was just having some "private time" and would be back soon? After a few minutes of tending the fire and worriedly looking around, he started to think otherwise. It was probably nothing... but then again, it might also be something. He tentatively took his first step outside of the camp, but then wondered, 'Which way did she go?' He stood there, thinking for a few seconds, when that gentle whooshing sound came to his ears. The beach! That would be a good place to start!
Now, the beach was a relatively unexplored area. Most days, everyone tended to stick near the camp site, so Cole stumbled a bit as he barrelled his way through the underbrush. The beach had been a good idea, though, because after he crested a small hill of dirt and sand, he saw her. Standing all alone in front of the surf. She didn't move. She just watched the big waves as they broke upon the shore and soaked her bare feet. She had her blanket pulled tight around her shoulders, and her dark hair flapped loosely in the breeze.
Cole approached slowly, trying not to look like he had been frantically worrying, and walked up next to her. She still didn't move, or say anything, but he could tell that she wasn't happy.
"Watcha doing out here?" he asked, trying to sound relaxed. Another wave crashed and exploded into foam. Her face was blank, and it studied the water grimly. "Aren't you cold?"
"Somewhat," she said. Cole got the feeling that she was more like her old self again.
He looked up at the water like she was doing and watched it rise and curl and fall, over and over again, while sea spray splashed in their faces. The ocean was freezing this time of year, and the beach was positively grey. Not a lot to look at, Cole thought.
"You remembered something, didn't you?" he asked gently, eyeing her. For a moment, he was worried she knew about the "you-know-what."
"Yes," she said, and her eyes fell. She took a depressed breath and one of the waves crawled along the sand to touch her feet. Cole had to step back a bit, not wanting his toes to freeze. Usually, by now, Ann would be giving off "don't talk to me" vibes, but this time she just seemed... sad. And Cole was perhaps a little too curious for his own good.
"What did you remember?" He made sure to ask it in the most polite way possible, hoping that she'd let her guard down.
She didn't say anything.
'Oh, shoot!' he thought. 'She totally remembers how we almost—'
"It was a long time ago..." she said quietly, and he noticed that her eyes were turning glassy. "I, um... I lost someone... someone close to me."
All of a sudden, everything about Ann made sense. More than likely, she had lost one or both of her parents at a young age, and that's why she was raised by Wu. No wonder she was so stoic all the time. In her line of work, if anything happened to Keaton or Wu, well... Cole could imagine the stress. The stress that made it hard to care about new people. The fear of feeling the hurt... again.
Cole was about to say something like, "I know how you feel," but then thought better of it. Instead, he laid a hand on her shoulder. It was no hug, and definitely not a kiss, but he didn't really want it to be. Now was not the time for mushy thoughts. Actually, there might never be a time for it. As Ann wiped her eyes discreetly, Cole finally understood something. Neither he nor Ann were ready for any kind of romantic relationship. With anyone. He had gotten so caught up in the rush of his crush that he didn't stop to think that maybe she was going through some things... and maybe so was he. It was unfair of him to put so much pressure on either of them, when what they both needed was some time to heal. And maybe figure a few things out.
They both looked up at the waves again, and Cole gently lowered his arm, stuffing it back in his pocket.
Ann made a soft snuffly noise, and then said, in her normal, serious tone, "Cole... I'm glad you're my friend."
Cole smiled.
"Yeah. Me too."