My name is Skylara. I am one of the last surviving members of a long forgotten race. I was found all alone as an infant. I was taken in and raised by a pair of shape-shifters along with their son. My parents and brother are a part of an organization known as the Keepers. I am trained as an assassin among the Keepers otherwise known as a Hidden. It is my job to hunt down members of the Merikh. The Merikh is an criminal organization made up of pure evil.
Hidden & Unknown:
Chapter 1
I woke to the bright sun shining against the sterile white walls of a hospital room. The sun shine stung my eyes blurring my vision with tears. I closed the lids of my eyes shutting out the light of the extremely bright light in the room, wiping the tears away and once my eyes had adjusted I looked around the room. There was nothing in the room other then the plain white walls, an IV and the horribly uncomfortable bed underneath me. Nothing in the room could tell me who I was or if anyone missed me. There were no flowers, no cards, no balloons, just a whole lot of....nothing. I had no memory of who I was, why I was here or what had even happened to me. I laid my head back against the pillow trying to figure out everything. Lost in my own empty mind I didn't hear that someone had entered my room till they spoke.
"It is good to see that you're finally awake, miss." Said the guy who was obviously my doctor. Well, that was unhelpful. Not even the doctor seemed to know my name.
"How long have I been here?" I asked in an extremely raspy voice. Clearly I've been out of it for a while to sound so bad.
"You've been here about two and half months now." He told me while he looked at the chart in his hand. Two and half months?!! What the...?!
"What happened to me?" I asked in a still raspy voice.
"You where brought in after being seriously injured. Do you remember what happened?" If I remembered why would I ask him what happened? Was I always this crabby?
"No. I don't remember anything at all." I replied quietly.
"You could be suffering from memory lost from the trauma you suffered. You'll be here awhile under observation. After you have rested some we'll look further into your memory loss." He said as he checked my vitals. I've been out of the world for 2 1/2 months from serious injuries....What the hell happened to me?
*****Mystery POV:******
I watched as the doctor entered her room. Skylara was severely injured on her the last job against the Merikh. She has been asleep for the last two and half months. How could I have let this happen to her? My eyes widened some as I realized she was awake now. I could hear her thoughts and I didn't like what I was hearing. Memories where lost to her....this isn't good at all. I've always been with her, we've never been apart and now she doesn't remember anything. How on earth could I have let this happen to her?!! Explaining this one wasn't going to be an easy task. The number one assassin for the Keepers was now incapacitated and out of work. Not to mention didn't remember a thing and there was a chance she never would. The doctor soon came out of her room and I slipped deeper into the shadows in the corridor, watching and waiting. When she was asleep I quietly entered into her room, I sat in the deep shadows of the corner watching her sleep and dream for the first time in months.
"How is she today?" Came the quiet mental voice of my best friend and her brother.
"She is sleeping right now. She did awaken today for the first time in months." I replied mentally.
"That is good news. There is something else isn't there?"
"She remembers nothing."
"Nothing at all or just pieces?"
"Nothing at all." I sighed mentally.
"It'll all work out."
"Thanks Fox. I'll talk to you later." I let this happen to her and now she remembers nothing. Maybe something good will come out of all this. "Sleep peacefully, Skylara. I am here watching over you." I whispered to her as I continued to watch over her sleeping form.
*****Skylara's POV:*****
Maybe after some rest you'll remember....Sure because it really works that way. What a load of crap. I am starting to think I am a crabby person or maybe it is from just being stuck here in a hospital, not sure yet what the answer is yet. I've been here for a week and nothing, just a whole lot of nothing, no memories, no clues, and no ideas at all. They haven't figured out yet what caused the memory lost or even what caused all the damage to me. This seemed odd to me by all accounts. All they knew was that I had a few broken bones, several cuts that had to be stitched up and suffered server blood loss at the time I was admitted. But who brought me here and how are they connected to me? Where the constant questions that plagued my mind, all the while no answer every came though the questions continued to haunt my now empty mind.
I was starting to get paranoid the more time I spent in here. I always felt like someone was watching me and yet no one could hide in this all too bright clean white room. Still I felt constantly watched and as odd as it is the feeling of constant watching in some way it seemed normal to me, like it was a part of me or at least a part of the life that I couldn't remember anyway.
"How are you feeling today sweetie?" Asked Nancy one of my regular nurses.
"Sore and still nothing." I replied.
"Don't worry about the nothing maybe it is a blessing."
"Yeah, I guess your right Nancy." She smiled at me as she checked on things and then left. The typical routine of my days here though I knew they were coming to an end. Then what would I do? Where would I go? Those where the questions that constantly haunted me, all I had where the clothes that I came to the hospital with and no ID to speak of much less money to go anywhere or pay for this lovely hospital visit.
It was a week later and I was being released from the hospital with still no memory, no money, nowhere to go and with no one to turn to. What in this world was I going to do? Nancy who had become a friend in the last two weeks said she managed to track down the person who brought me in three months ago. Said they knew me so maybe they could help with my memory problem. Ha! Right. What can they do that some of the best doctors couldn't? Well, at least someone was claiming me, though it bothered me that if they really knew me why was their no visits, no cards, no flowers, and no balloons? It seemed so odd to me and made me wonder. The only clothes I had where the ones I came in with, thankfully Nancy washed them for me so that the blood was at least gone though the clothes weren't in the best of shape, the dark-washed jeans where ripped several places in the legs, the dark red short sleeve shirt had its sleeves ripped up so bad that Nancy just cut the sleeves off, the only piece that was whole where the canvas sneakers on my feet. Dressed in my ragamuffin like clothes I sat on a bench with my face in my hands causing my hair to fall down on either side like a curtain just trying to remember something....anything at this point.
"Skylara?" Came a voice from above me that I recognized but couldn't figure out how or where. Just that it was familiar to me. I looked up to see a tall, lean muscular guy who couldn't be much older than me with the darkest black hair I've ever seen, it was long about three inches past his shoulders, he was handsome looking with beautiful dark honey colored eyes framed in long thick dark eyelashes, a perfect symmetrical bone-structure face, straight aristocrat nose, high cheek bones, defined jaw and prominent lips. He looked so familiar to me that my heart started to beat just a little faster. Who was he? He was dressed in mid-wash jeans, black combat boots, a black T-shirt, with a red, white and black leather bike jacket. I looked around to find out who he was calling to. I was the only one around.
"Me?" I asked him confused. Was my name Skylara?
"Yes, I am here to take you home." He said with a kind patient smile on his face that looked so familiar to me that my heart started to beat just a little faster. Who was he? Came again the question to my mind. It felt like I should know him despite the fact I had no memory past the last few weeks that I had been awake. Why?
"OK." I said and got up with the help of a hand from him. What else was I going to do? It's not like I had any idea who I was and I had nowhere else to go. I followed him out of the hospital to the parking lot and to a beautiful dark blue and black Ford Mustang GT 520. The Ford Mustang looked so familiar to me. Why though? Did that mean I knew him?
****Mystery POV:****
The recognition of my voice played across her face while at the same time looking confused and lost. Skylara's recognition to my voice gave me some hope that her memory would come back. I don't know what the Merikh did to wipe out her memory before striking her down but it couldn't last. What was the purpose in wiping her memory clean anyway? None of this made any sense, unless someone told the Merikh about Skylara and they wiped her memory because of what she knew. Something wasn't right and it was gnawing at me, like I was missing something to the entire thing.
I had to keep from laughing when Skylara saw the car. The look of surprise and wonder was something to see. Too bad she didn't remember that it was in fact her car. I was hoping the sight of the car would trigger something but all I got was nothing, maybe something would click when I got her home to her apartment. Once we arrived I showed her around, showing here where everything was and told her to just call Fox or me if she needed anything. We where both in her phone already so I didn't give her a number just showed her were the numbers where in the phone.
"I'll send someone by to check in on you tomorrow morning. Look around and see if anything comes back. If you need anything just call." I smiled as I walked out of the door and jumped on to my motorcycle and headed off to my house to look into why they would wipe her memory.
"How is Lara?" Fox mentally asked the moment I walked in. I smiled when I heard him us her nickname...The one she didn't like at all and only he could get away with calling her.
"Fine, she still doesn't remember anything. Which is a good thing for you or you'd be dead meat. She didn't even recognize her own car and you know how much she loves it."
"Are you serious? That car is Lara's baby. Doesn't matter if she remembers or not, I am dead meat with her no matter what I do or say." Came his complete understatement and smart ass remark.
"Yeah, whatever the Merikh did to her memory they sure did a number on it. Very true, you're a dead man walking with Skylara all the time." I said heading into the library. I blocked Fox once I entered so I could get work done without him hanging out in my head which he would if I didn't block him.
I had to find out what it was that the Merikh wanted. After an hour of looking and continually coming up empty I was about to put up the books when I came across one I hadn't looked at yet. I found out how they wiped clean her memory but there were no answers as to restoring her memory. Why would they go to such measures just to wipe out her memory? As far as I knew there was nothing in her mind that would constitute such an extreme method of wiping her memory. None of this made sense at all, not like the Merikh had ever made sense but this was a crazy move on the part of the Merikh. What was it that I was missing from the puzzle? What piece was missing that would bring to all this confusing to understanding?
****Skylara's POV****
Watching from the window in what was supposedly my apartment I saw the mystery person who picked me up from the hospital in a Ford Mustang pull away on a Suzuki Motorcycle. Does that mean the Mustang is mine? The apartment was small and didn't bring back any hint of memory everything was just blank. On the living room walls where several murals of different still life scenes. Recognition seemed to be there but I didn't know why or anything like that. Did I paint these? Wondering about the small apartment recognition came here and there, no memories just the thought and feeling that I recognized things. In the bedroom all four walls held murals that looked to be memories of some sort. Lying on the bed looking up at the ceiling I saw a beautiful mural of the prairie grasslands that looked familiar. Confusion was overwhelming me, closing my eyes I tried to just relax and not think about all the blanks that where in my mind right now.
I must have fallen asleep somewhere in my relaxing for now the dream world played out across my closed eyelids. There was a young girl laughing and running through the tall prairie grass that brushed against her knees as she ran. A young boy was chasing and calling out to her. She turned around facing the young chaser and with a smile on her face she conjured water from her right hand dowsing the young boy before she turned to run again. The boy after the soaking turned into a giant firebird; he took to the sky and flew over her. Landing in front of the girl the firebird turned into the boy again and wrapped the girl up into a hug. He whispered something in her ear causing her to giggle and start running from him again only this time towards another boy who looked a little older then the two of them. The scene soon faded and changed into another scene with the same girl only a little older now laying in the tall grass staring up at the stars. Fire was conjured from one hand and sent into the air only to be put out by water conjured up with the opposite hand. Once in awhile when the smoke from dowsing the fire balls got too thick she would conjure up wind and blew it away. The boy who had been chasing her now older himself laid next to her on the right while the older boy laid next her on the left.
I woke up and stared at the ceiling trying to make sense of it all. After a few minutes I finally got up and headed over to the dresser. On top of the dresser where some pictures, picking up one I recognized the faces of the three in the picture. They were the same three from my dream. Turning it over to see if there where names on the back. Sure enough there was, Skylara (Middle), Fox (Right), and Asher (Left). It was me in the middle and I recognized mystery guy as the one labeled Asher. Who was Fox? Who where these two to me? They must be important to me as all the pictures on the dresser were of the three of us or of them separate but there was no clues as to who they where to me. Setting the picture back down I grab a worn out black t-shirt and some black sweat pants from the dresser before heading to the shower.
Fifteen minutes later I was changed and washed up. Feeling better I headed to bed and curled up under the blankets. Comfy and warm under the covers my eyes began to close again. It had been one heck of a day and sleep looked wonderful. My sleep was filled with the dream world. Every dream was different and more confusing then the last leaving me with a large headache the next morning when I finally woke up to the sunlight streaming through a crack in the curtains. Yawning and stretching I looked up at the ceiling again. The painting looked so familiar. Like I had been there once a long time ago. I shook my head to clear it not like there was much in there. One finally stretch and then I got up to head out to the kitchen for breakfast.