Pacing my room, the video from the email replayed itself repeatedly on the wall of my mind. I could hear Ashton talking over the phone downstairs. The new morning wasn't quite the welcome respite I was hoping it would be. It brought new challenges. New insecurities. New questions. Not only about my life before my amnesia, but the truth behind his emails. My stomach cartwheeled, anxiety building up in my chest. Why had I crept downstairs last night? Why had I watched that cursed video?
Ashton would be expecting me for breakfast soon. Should I tell him I saw the video? He would be expecting me to ask questions... No, I can't. He wanted those emails hidden. I'll ask him the questions he wants me to ask until I get more information. I can't trust him until then.
Everyone has their secrets. Most, however, don't involve videos of unconscious children and dark labs.
I stepped down the stairs through the looming dark. Forcing on a smile, my unsteady foot found the solid ground of the bottom story floor. Putting the video out of my head, I focused on the smell of breakfast floating in from the kitchen. For now, I would ask Ashton a few questions and clear up as much as I could.
"Morning, Ally! Here, let me help you." The creak of a chair followed my brother's hand on my arm, providing me sight. He helped me into a seat at the table and left to another part of the room. When he came back, a plate clattered on the table before me. "Made ya eggs. I think I burnt them a little, but whatever, it's fine." After ruffling my hair, I assumed he went back to his own seat.
"Thanks..." The conflicting feelings in my gut made me reluctant. My vision lit up in the grays, Captain laying down at my feet under the table. The lower view made my vision wonky, but I didn't know how to fix it. I figured it would be easier to eat in the dark rather than at an inconvenient angle. Lifting my feet up, I returned to my sightless view.
"So, Ashton, about..." I bit my lip, trying to figure out ways to phrase my concern. "Everything. There's just so much missing, and I'm so lost..." I rested my elbows as supports on the table. "It's overwhelming."
Ashton's utensil clattered against his plate. "Well, that's what I'm here for. To make it more 'whelming.'" A light smile spread across my lips. Truth be told, it wasn't easy to remain suspicious of him when he made everything sound nicer. Probably the angle he was playing.
"Ashton...What was my life like before the accident? I mean, did I have any friends? Hobbies? Dreams?" Cracks broke through my voice.
Ashton stayed quiet. "Well... Yeah. There were a good amount of people who loved and cared about you, but... they're all gone now. Either grown up or moved away or..." His sigh fell heavy. "Who knew so much stuff could change in seven years?"
I nodded along, but all his responses were vague at best. These weren't answers but shields, blocking me from what I should know. Ashton continued to hide more than I thought.
I managed to get some eggs into my mouth. They certainly smelled burnt, as I had been warned, but the taste was fine. As the taste filled my throat, I realized how hungry I had been. When was the last time I ate? After I had swallowed, I let my legs drop back down. My feet brushed against Captain, allowing me to see again. I stared up at Ashton.
Ashton took on a quizzical smirk. "Hey, that's interesting..."
"What?"
"Your eyes just changed colors. They've actually done that a few times since you got home." He squinted, trying to decipher something.
"What do you mean? How?"
"Well, your eyes are usually a cool grayish blue, like how you'd expect a blind person's eyes to look, of course, but then they sometimes change to a dark blue. Neat." I raised my feet a bit to test an idea. "Hey, they just changed back to the gray."
Huh. My eye color changed along with my sight. In the words of Ashton, neat.
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but a beep interrupted me. "Oops, I'm running late for work." Shuffling followed, and Ashton scrambled to get ready. "That's what I get for wanting a slow morning, I guess. You can hold your own here, right?"
There goes my opportunity to get some answers. "Yeah..."
"Take Captain with you if you feel like going somewhere."
"The...dog?" Ashton trusted a dog to keep an eye on me? I knew I wasn't really blind, but he didn't.
"What? He's trained," he responded, suggesting that it was a perfectly reasonable explanation. A jingle of keys followed the front door opening.
"You trust me to just wander around town?"
"Yeah, you're fifteen. See you later, Ally-gator. Love you." He blew me a kiss before shutting the door.
My thoughts lingered after him. More than emails, Ashton was hiding as much as he possibly could about my history. I knew one thing for certain.
I could not trust him.
Getting my vision back via Captain, I stared after my brother. "I guess I'm being babysat by a dog," I said, trying to avoid ranting about the lack of my freedom. I got up from my seat, and Captain followed my lead. I pat him on the head. I could use some vitamin D after being in a coma for so long. Navigating the stairs only slightly better than before, I made my way to my room. I dressed for the day and started on my way.
Capris that rose just below my knees dressed my legs, allowing me to brush up against Captain. I needed to get to know the neighborhood. I explored the possibility of running away, and to do that, I'd need some sense of direction.
The windy fall air blended with the cold filter of black and white all over the world. Yards rested between each house, with sidewalk outlining the properties. The street rolled out to meet the main road. Glancing back and forth, I ruminated on which direction to take. The city leaned on a slope, funneling down to the left. Everything circled together at the bottom. I assumed the upward road led out of the city and to a more open country. I didn't want to be too far from Ashton's house, since I didn't have anything to contact him with if I got lost, so my feet started downward.
Captain's leash rested in my hand as we walked into town. Some time had passed before we came up on the city library. As good a place as any to gather information. Towering brick pillars like a castle welcomed me in. After entering, I scanned over the books, hoping that they would answer any of my questions. Waiting for Ashton to give me answers was clearly taking too long.
Thankfully, they allowed dogs inside, I wandered around the interior. Rows of shelves lined the area. People scrolled through them slowly. A few kids cried and laughed as they ran around the library, their mother chasing to reprimand them. Finding the nonfiction section, I found the Dewey decimal for history. Research time.
Scrunching my nose, I ran my hand over the smooth book bindings. The air was imbued with the aroma of old books, redolent with wisdom and experience. Part of me liked the scent. One book title caught my eye. Remmutants, Dragons, and Other Things: An Incomplete History, by Blake Landerson.
Slipping it out of its designated spot, I took it over to a table a few feet away. The hardcover book thudded as I dropped it. I pulled out a chair, which proved harder than necessary by a combination of my view stuck in the third person, carpet flooring, and the weight of the chair (There also might've been a piece of gum under it too, which grossed me out). But I managed and finally took my seat.
Glancing back and forth, I checked for anyone around. With the coast clear, I picked up Captain's top half and set him on my lap. "Here, read this for me." His weight on my chest made it hard to breathe, whereas his claws dug into my knees, much to my chagrin. I winced, trying to focus on reading the book.
With my hands, I moved around the dog to turn through the pages. I skimmed over the table of contents. What is a remmutant, What is a Dragon, and where did they come from, The Readjustment... The list went on numbering the chapters. The book was way too thick to read in one sitting, and I didn't know how to get a library card here. I would have to pick and choose chapters. Ashton and experience had already told me about the remmutants. What about Dragons?
Thumbing through the pages of the book, I found the chapter on Dragons.
Humans born with special abilities in today's world go by the term Dragon. These abilities are typically genetic and can range from something as unnoticeable as being able to blink fast to as powerful as flight or fire manipulation.
I began to contemplate the passage. My ability to see through others' eyes came to mind. Was I a Dragon? I kept reading.
Most powers are hereditary, meaning if one had the ability, or most known as a talent, to produce fire, their children would likely be able to produce fire as well. Some talents can mutate through several generations, but in most cases, they stay in the same realm of ability. One could theoretically trace their heritage based on who had what talents, however, two unrelated families could carry similar powers. Though hereditary, not all talents will carry over to another generation.
Talents have, for the most part, remained a mystery. These notes are mere observations, though more research on Dragons continues to grow every day. CAIN, a branch of government founded a decade after Dragons started showing, has put most of their resources toward the study of these beings. They also manage most research toward remmutants (see chapter 1).
I frowned at how little information I had. Several ideas crossed my mind. If talents passed through generations, it was possible that Ashton could be in possession of a power he wasn't telling me about. Was that what he was trying to hide from me? The thought calmed my nerves about him a bit. Of course, none of that explained the video.
Leaning in my seat, I let my head drop back and sighed. Part of me wished I had never seen that video. It only served to make me more anxious and confused. But I needed to see it. I couldn't stand to be left in the dark. I took a deep breath. Alright, Ally, it's not the end of the world. You'll adjust. Eventually. I longed for my memories, for the puzzle pieces to fill in. A chunk of me was missing, and the longer it went without it, the more lost I became.
Captain jumped down from my lap, growing uncomfortable. Any view I had left with the dog. "Come on, Captain, I still need you." I groaned. How was I supposed to solve this mystery if I had to rely on someone else to even see?
I reached down until I found Captain's head. I stroked his fur, lost in my thoughts. I needed a plan.
The clattering of books caught my attention. Using Captain, I looked behind us to find a pregnant woman who had dropped a few miscellaneous books. She frowned at the mess she'd made, pushing her dark hair out of her face. It flowed down her back in shiny waves. She squatted down to pick up the books. Her legs spread, stretching her light dress, she tried to pick up the books. Her fingertips just barely grazed the cover of one.
"Do you need help?" I asked.
"Nah, I've almost got it..." She narrowed her eyes at the books, her tongue stuck out determined. Bending back, she tried to get them from behind herself, only to result in more struggles. Chuckling, she straightened, giving up. "Yes, I do need help."
I got up from my seat, and, through the dark, collected her books from where I remembered them to be. I bounced up, holding out the books to her. "Here you go, ma'am."
"Didn't realize I was getting 'ma'am' old. Wow." The woman took the books from me. "Thank you," she said, her voice naturally lined with laughter. I started to go back toward my table, but she stopped me. "Hey, you kind of look familiar. Have we met? Sorry if I'm terrible with faces, but I'm certain I've seen you before."
I turned back to the woman. "I don't think so..." I've been in a coma for the last few years, so who knows?
"Hang on, I think I know where I've seen you before..." The woman hummed as she thought. "You look just like this girl that was in the paper a few years back. Of course, she was younger than you, but you look like an older version of her. She was my neighbor, too. Guess I was mistaken. Sorry, I don't know you." She let out an awkward laugh.
"In the paper? For what?" It could've been me. My heart jumped at the thought. I wished more than ever to have some piece of my past.
"Oh, it was a little girl, she went missing. I don't think they ever found her, unfortunately. Her name was..."
My vision filled in grays, Captain suddenly sitting against my leg. He must've gotten up from under the table. The woman's mouth hung open as she thought, but her eyes froze to Captain's (which were technically mine at the moment). I watched her curiously.
"Her name was what?"
The woman seemed to snap out of her trance. "Uh, I don't remember. Well, nice talking with you, but I've got to go. Again, thanks for the help." Something was amiss. She walked past me, somewhat abruptly. I watched after her.
"What was that about?" I mumbled to myself. Captain rubbed his head into my palm, pulling me away from the strange woman. I turned back to the book I had been reading. I shrugged off the lingering unnerving feeling and tried not to think about the missing girl. My thoughts wandered as to whether she could be me, but I pushed them out. Just focus on solving one thing at a time.
Rather than sitting Captain on my lap again, I found a lounge area with beanbags. Reclining on one, Captain cuddled up next to me. I ran my hand on his back, feeling the stiff texture of his fur.
Flipping through the book, I found the chapter about remmutants.
Dragons and remmutants came to being in the same event. Nearly 200 years ago, a disease broke out across the globe, called the Wyvern-X. Historians have yet to pinpoint the start of the disease, but with every person infected, they were granted special abilities. Wyvern-X had a different effect on animals. They grew disfigured and more violent, mutated remnants of their previous being, (hence the term "remmutants"). In certain parts of the world, some remmutants were stronger than others. Most remmutant variants came to be extinct, picked off by the stronger species. This is why every country has a specific version of remmutants.
With remmutants and Dragons making appearances across the globe, people were struggling to adjust. Each country managed its remmutants on its own, coming up with innovative ways to ward off the monsters. The United States of America, as it was called back then, became the United Colonies of America, as the native bird-like creatures destroyed most of the usable land. They rebuilt into colonies, constructing higher walls and domes to keep the eagle remmutants out. In turn, they sacrificed natural sunlight, but the domes are capable of recreating the health benefits almost perfectly. Not every country changed so drastically, as Canada simply cleared out more trees where people were living to make their giant moose easier to spot, and China built up stronger defenses against the vicious pandas and reptiles. A catalog for different breeds of remmutants can be found in appendix 1.
The book tempted me to check the catalog, just to see what exactly had attacked me, but I refrained. Of course, I had to focus. The next chapter title hung at the top of the page: "The Readjustment."
While some Dragons used their newfound abilities for good, others used them to manipulate others, gain wealth, bully people, and more. The world leaders felt a need for something to be done about these overpowered people. Some even questioned whether they should still have all the rights of a normal human being. The world was divided in half: those with powers, and those without. A band of Dragons made the first move, launching an attack in Europe. War broke out.
As the war continued, the fighting spread to surrounding countries, and the Dragons became more and more ambitious.
For the first two years of war, the Dragons had the upper hand. Some Dragons kidnapped humans as trophies, using them as slaves. Meanwhile, some cities took joy in hanging their Dragon captives. Both sides had blood on their hands.
After four hard years of fighting with the supernatural, we finally came to an agreement. They formed a treaty. As long as Dragons refrained from breaking the law with their abilities and using their abilities in public, they would be permitted the rights of normal humans. Although these laws are more lenient when it comes to children who do not yet know what they are capable of, efforts have been made to keep a close watch on Dragons since. For the most part, Dragons have slowly gone into hiding, most refusing to use their powers at all and blending in with the rest of humanity.
The United Colonies to date are the only country with a specific military division to deal with the Dragons and remmutants. CAIN, otherwise known as the Citizens and Abilities Investigatory Network, primarily deals with remmutant control, but if a Dragon gets out of hand, they'll be there too. They were founded in the aftermath of the Readjustment.
The chapter continued, but I had to stop due to Captain getting up. I sat up, mulling everything over. Particularly whether to tell Ashton about my newfound ability to see through others' eyes. I didn't see how my talent could be used for evil, but the thought of any special ability being used wrongly made me uncomfortable about mine. So I decided to just hold on to my secret for a while.
Captain's huffing snapped me out of my thoughts. "What's up, boy?" I hoisted myself up from the bean bag, stumbling through the dark to find my dog. As if noticing my struggle, he soon came to my side.
Following him, the dog led me out of the building. He seemingly wanted to go back home. Puzzled, I allowed him to lead. He glanced back several times, and I thought I almost saw a figure watching us, though I couldn't quite make them out. My gut tightened, and I stopped questioning the dog.
Once Captain stopped looking back, I thought we had lost whoever had been watching. As we turned into our neighborhood, his tail began to wag, trading fear for joy.
"What's got you so happy?"
When we got back to Ashton's house, his car sat parked on the driveway. I stepped inside. Ashton sat on the table, eating a slice of pizza. The sight of me made him smile. "Hey, you're back! I'm on my lunch break right now, and I had some leftover pizza, so." He gestured at the slice in his hand.
"Does Captain know when your lunch break is?" I asked.
Ashton nodded, taking another bite and getting off the table. Coming over, he knelt in front of the dog and scratched behind the ear with his free hand. "That's because he's a smart boy, huh, Captain?" Ashton made baby noises at the dog, somewhat unsettling from my view. "You're a good boy. Good boys get pizza." After giving Captain a bit of pizza, Ashton went on to take a bite. I shuddered, sticking out my tongue.
Ashton laughed at me. "Aw, does Ally want some too?"
I made quick to shake my head. "Nope."
With one last pat, Ashton stood up and walked back to the dining area. He dug through the fridge, pulling out a jug of milk. "So, where'd you go?"
"Just the library, it's only a few miles away."
"Pft, of course, the first place you explore is the library." Ashton laughed to himself, pouring a tall glass of milk. I stared at him confused. He looked up, catching my expression. "Right, amnesia..." A sad smile spread across his lips. "When you were little, you loved reading and blabbing on and on about whatever book you were reading. If I remember correctly, historical fiction was your favorite." The more he talked, the brighter his face grew. "But it used to drive you crazy that the only way you could read was if- "He stopped himself, eyeing me weird. "-Uh, Braille. If the book was in Braille. You'd get upset and your face would turn red whenever you wanted to read a book that wasn't in Braille." His awkwardness fell off after he rubbed his nose. "It was really cute and funny."
I squinted at him, questioning his hiccup. "Okay..."
He sighed. "I wish I could give you all your memories. Fix everything you lost. Then at least it'd be somewhat easier to help you adjust. And there are so many things I want to tell you, but I can't. I don't know how."
"Ashton." I stepped toward him, standing across the breakfast bar. I could no longer see as Captain had gone to lay on the couch. "It's okay." The gesture proved more for me than him, but he seemed to appreciate it.
"Thanks for being such a good sport." Ashton ruffled my hair. "My break will be over soon, so I've got to head out. Love you, Ally-gator."
"Bye, Ashton." I waved to where I thought he would be. The door shut behind him.
Again, I stood alone in the dark.