“Alison Rose?”

My eyes bashed open and I shot up, gasping for air. I was in a long white robe, no underclothes, and my hands were chained to the side of the bed, the hell. As soon as I calmed down my breathing I saw someone standing next to me. The walls were all an odd, bright white, making me squint to see. I looked to see the person who had called my name. She had dark red hair that flowed down her shoulders lightly matched by her hazel brown eyes.

“Good to see you awake,” her voice soothing.

“Where am I?” My mind is racing with questions. My body tensed.

“All in good time, Alison,” nevermind, not so soothing, “be patient.”

“I asked one question,” I retorted, rolling my eyes, “Where am I? Who are you?” My body felt hazy and my brain was going crazy.

“You are in The Recognition,” she smiled, “I am Mrs. Ross, middle name meaning dark flower.”

“Okay,” I replied cautiously, “so why am I here?” I asked again, “and why are you telling me your middle name meaning?”

“You were previously broke the law, and were in a car crash. The government brought you here for us to save you. Second, saying the meaning of your middle name is how you are supposed to greet people.”

“Wait what?” I can’t remember anything. Fear crippled my body and I felt my arms start to shake, “Am I, g-going to jail,” I asked, my voice unsteady, “W-why don’t I-I remember? Is that really how you greet people? What does my middle name mean? What is my middle name? What’s my name?”

“Calm down, Alison,” what does she mean? I literally don’t remember anything. Halden, that name is keep coming up in my head, but I can’t remember why, “unfortunately through the process, you have lost your memory,” that explains it, “but we could fill you up on everything. Only if you’d like,” I now hated the sound of her voice. This didn’t seem right.

“Yes, please do,” I replied. Who am I? I my mind focused a bit, Halden’s my brother. That’s right, my memories of my brother started to pour in, little and still confusing, but they were there, and they were the only things in my head.

“I will be back in a moment; please take this time and relax,” her voice sounded so robotic, her words perfectly coming out. Relax? Relax--she was kidding right--.

“Wait, where are you going?” my voice was desperate.

“I need to get the doctor, please wait a moment,” she smiled, and left the room.

The door shut closed, locking me inside the room, or cell. I tried to get up but I felt chains locking my hands to the seat. Why were these chains even attached to me? I lied back down. I committed a crime? Why would I do such a thing? How old was I? I heard the door open again and whipped my head around at the sound. Mrs. Ross came in with another man, he looked to be around fifty and had salt-and-pepper colored hair.

“Hello, Alison,” His voice was rough, but a nice kind of rough, like smooth. I liked his voice better than Mrs. Ross’.

“Hello,” I smiled.

“My name is Dr. Mark, middle name meaning dark stranger,” eek, his middle name was terrible, I thought as I suppress a laugh.  “Mrs. Ross told me that you wanted some memories,” he said as a question.

“Yes,” I paused, “please.”

“We have a small clip you can see,” he tapped his watch a few times and a blue light fell down like a laser beam and a man came up.

I cursed in surprise.

“Sorry, this may be new to you,” Mrs. Ross snapped.

“Yeah, obviously, everything's new to me!” No, I wanted to say sarcastically, I remember everything, but I bit my tongue

“This was a previously recorded video by Mr. Ross. He died soon after he gave you surgery, but recorded this before he passed.

“I’m sorry,” I turned to her, and she smiled weakly. Ran

The man started to speak, jesus, my god, how the heck is he talking.

His voice filled the room and I listened closely; if my hands weren’t chained to the bed, I probably would’ve been on top of him.

“Hello, Alison Rose. I am Doctor Richard Ross, and operated on you, middle name meaning king,” pretty decent. “Enough about me, here’s what you should know.” Yeah because he said so much about himself, “Your name is Alison Rose. When you go back home, your family will tell you your middle name. The reason we say our middle name, and you need too also, is because Society made it so on the day you turn two years old parents will name you off of what they think your traits are or what they want you to be,” ooh, harh for Dr. Mark, “Whenever you meet someone, that is how you are to introduce yourself, and only when you are extremely close, you tell them your middle name. Okay, now that we got that part down, we can talk about yourself. You are eighteen-years-old and recently you got your driver’s license, then got into a car crash. After the car crash, we found out that you stole a great deal of Societies weapons. When Society found you, they brought you here, a recovering factory. They wheeled you into surgery, but your memories were all already gone,” It took a second to all sink in. Why would I steal the government's weapons?

“You must be wondering about your family,” not really, “you have an older brother, Halden Crell, who is nineteen,” Halden, Halden, I remember him. I remember him. He looked the same as me, almost. I remembered Halden, I remember he’s my brother, but what else? I tried to look back in my mind about him, but I only remembered snippets of his presence…  “and two twin sisters, Brynn Ashland and Emily Amber,  thirteen-years-old. Your mother disappeared after giving birth to your two younger sisters, and your dad is alive, but, well, unsteady,” this seemed wrong. Everything seemed wrong. What was I missing? What is it I can’t see?

“Before today, you were the best student in your class, and were the second smartest in Society’s Senior High Program. You were on track to work nicely Society, but your carcrash and crime quickly ended that. For the next few weeks you will be here, and we will locate you back in your home in Cresvella. I hope you have a wonderful stay, goodbye Aly,” I felt weird, like I was missing something.

“Is that it?” I asked Dr. Mark.

“Oh,” he answered, “do you want to know more?”

“No, it just, this all seems a bit weird,” I told him. He tapped his watch, brought it close to his lips, and muttered a few words into it.

“I assure you, everything here is safe,” I believed him. Maybe things would’ve turned out differently if I didn’t...

“Okay,” I smiled, clueless.

“Would you like a mirror?” I heard Mrs. Ross ask me.

“Oh, yes please,” I didn’t even think of what I looked like until now. I felt my hair behind my back, but of course I couldn’t move my chained hands.

“Can you, uh,” I looked at the handcuffs. Doctor Mark looked cautiously at Mrs. Ross who nodded anxiously.

“Yes, of course,” Doctor Mark bit his lip anxiously. He reached into his black pants pocket and pulled out a small silver key, and unlatched the cuff from my hand. I breathed out, grateful.

“Thank you,” I brought up my wrist and turned it around. He quickly did the same to the other wrist.

“I’ll bring you a mirror,” Mrs. Ross hurried out of the room and Doctor Mark followed.

I lied down in my bed and closed my eyes. I feel like I’ve seen Mrs. Ross before. I’ve seen that red haired brown eyed person before. I laughed at myself, I forgot all my memories, what am I thinking. Pushing the thought away, I reached for my hair. It was thin and whispy and when I brought it to my eyes, it was a light blonde shade. I hesitantly touched up to my face, my skin was smooth and soft to the touch, giving me a slight feel of comfort.

The door opened again and Mrs. Ross came in with a small circle mirror attached to a plastic handle. She handed me the mirror, “you’re beautiful,” it sounded like she really meant it, “you look like my daughter….” her voice trailed off.

“Thank you,” I said humbly. I wonder what happened to her daughter. What do I look like?

“Here you go,” I took the mirror greedily.

I looked at the mirror and almost stumbled in surprise. I had light blonde hair that fell in whips down my head. I also had thin pink lips below my small nose. Small brown freckles dotted my pale face, but the prettiest feature I found was my eyes. They were a deep ocean blue, striking out all of my other features.

“You are beautiful,” Mrs. Ross repeated. I smiled gratefully, secretly agreeing, “oh, yes, change into these.”

She handed me short ripped denim shorts, a white underwear and bra, and a loose white tee, “knock on the door twice when you’re done changing.”

“Okay,” she quickly walked out of the room and I slipped on the clothes. I would think they would give me a white gown. Weird, I thought to myself, this is just weird…

I knocked twice on the door like she told me, and she quickly came in.

“Come now,” She smiled and brought me with her.

Mrs. Ross led me out of the room into a dark blue hallway, we kept walking until we were in front of two wooden doors, “This is the cafeteria. Many other teens like you are in here, and we expect you to behave,” she told me as if I was a toddler. I nodded my head eagerly, I would see others like me!                                     

“You can go in,” she motioned me inside. When I opened the door I almost fell over in surprise. Kids clattered every seat in the huge cafeteria, each girl wearing a dark purple uniform matched with black pants and each boy wearing a navy blue shirt and gray pants. They each sat in a girl boy order, talking quietly. I started to walk through the isles seeing some kids as young as around six and the older ones looked around my age. I kept walking hoping there would be one seat open. When I was about to give up, I saw a girl who waved for me to sit down. She had dark brown hair that fell down her shoulders and matching brown eyes. There was an empty seat next to her and I looked to Mrs. Ross sitting at the end of the hallway. She nodded, anxiously.

I sat down, “ I’m Lily,” her voice was dark and empty. Not what I was expecting.

“Hi, I’m Alison Rose, or Aly,” I smiled.

“Al?” She asked. She had on a pretty pink top that said ‘I don’t care’ and loose white shorts.

“What?”

“Jesus, nevermind?” Wait what?

“My middle name is Melantha, meaning dark flower.”

“Why are you telling me your middle name?”

“Because,” she paused, “I don’t know. I-I like you.”

My eyes suddenly start to wander and I saw a man start to walk toward us, “A m-man i-is.”

“I know. He’s going to kill me. Just remember, this is a lie, everything’s a lie. I love you Al,” Al? Did she literally not hear that I just told her my name was Alison or Aly? OH-MY-GODDDDD. The man towered on top of Lily.

“Lily Creed,” he had ugly black hair and his voice was serious, too serious…

“Call me by my real name, Reed,” he flinched, acting like she punched him in the gut, “I have minutes to live,” he slapped her across the face. No one in the cafeteria--besides me--even flinched.

“It’s Hailey, Hailey Melantha Steen,” she’s so badass, I thought to myself.

“Let’s go,” he dragged her up.

Hailey punched his gut, prying away from his grip. Hailey scrambled to me and whispered furiously in my ear, “it’s a lie. This is a lie. They’re lying. I know you Alexa, I love you, Alexa.”

Cursing, he dragged her off of me.

A smile spread across her lips, her teeth all in a perfect row, too perfect, everything, too perfect.

I sat there in silence. Was she lying? Maybe she was just insane. She probably wasn’t going to die, it was probably just a prank. Al, Alexa what a joke. I laughed at myself for being so stupid.

I felt someone’s arm wrap around me and I screamed in shock, “Alison?”

“Oh my god,” I panted. It was just Mrs. Ross.

“Come with me,” her voice was stern.

“Why…” This had to do with Hailey. It had too. I knew it had too.

“Come. With. Me.”

She led me out of the cafeteria and into a hallway which led to a room with dark maroon colored walls. I saw a patient bed and a small syringe half-filled on a metal tray with a dark green liquid inside, “please sit down,” she assured.

I sat down on the bed, and my arms shaking so hard that I had to fold them.

“We just realized you didn’t get the last dose of your Tetanus shot yet,” thank god, “we’re just going to give it to you really quickly, is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” I answered cautiously, “but, um, it’s gree-,” Mrs. Ross cut me off.

“That’s great,” her voice sarcastic. I don’t know what she was saying, that’s great about, the greenness or that I didn’t take the tetanus shot?

“Just lay back and relax,” I layed back and she got the shot, “it might sting a bit.”

“It’s fine,” I bit down on my lip so hard I tasted blood.

Her cold, bony fingers pressed the needle into my arm, and I was greeted by a sharp pain.  I felt its effects right away. The shot relaxed my body and my mind and I felt as if I was drifting away. I felt so empty. I knew instantly, this wasn’t a tetanus shot. Did I feel this before? I felt my body fade away, and my mind slowed down. My eyes closed, this isn’t a tetanus shot, this is something much worse…

I woke up. I woke up again. In a room with white walls. I was greeted by Mrs. Ross and Doctor Mark, again. They told me everything they told me before. They said the exact same words as before, this time though, without the mirror. I pretended like I forgot everything. Then it it came to me. They thought I forgot. They thought I forgot what they told me.

They thought I’d forget. But I remembered.

I remembered.

Everything.

I didn’t forget…

“You can go in,” she motioned her arms to the wooden doors again.

“Thank you,” I told her, almost bored. I guess she forgot to tell me how good I was at acting.

I walked in, this time not surprised by the neat order of kids sitting side-by-side. When I couldn’t find a seat, Mrs. Ross motioned for me to come, and I followed her. She sat me down next to two boys, both looked around seventeen or eighteen-years-old, and one girl straight in front of me, who looked around my age. The guy with the brown eyes raised one eyebrow, and whistled. I felt like I saw him before. Have I? Who the hell knows?

“Hi,” I smiled, instantly thinking of Hailey.

“Hey,” the boy babbled on my right, his brown hair tossed side. That’s who I think I’ve seen. I don’t know, “I’m Alex,” he pretended to cough, “Vick, I mean Vick. My middle name means warrior and protector, and that’s my brother,” he pointed to the boy on my left, “and he’s Daniel, but you could call him Dan,” this-- Vick -- was pretty cute.

Vick, or Alex, I don’t know anymore had light brown hair tossed on his head, and brown eyes, piercing into mine. His arm almost tore through his short sleeve shirt and I could see his strong back muscles. I looked at him, and saw he smiled.

His brother, Dan, had light brown skin, short brown hair, but his best feature was his deep brown eyes. They looked a little like Hailey’s…

“Oh, okay.”

“I can introduce myself by myself,” the one on my left --Dan I think-- hissed, “Yeah, as Vick said, I’m Dan, and my middle name means the second son. I’m eighteen,” he’s younger than me? “And Vick’s twenty.”

“Cool, you could’ve, but you didn’t, idiot. Anyways, we’re even, you said my age,” Vick, let’s just call him Vick, rolled his eyes. Maybe it was a little interesting here.

“Well maybe I would have, if you didn’t say everything,” Dan’s voice rose.

“Are you guys siblings?” I asked.

“Yup,” Dan answered, “but we have different fathers, so I guessed stepsiblings,” Dan laughed, but Alex didn’t. He just stared, stared off into space.

“Well, I guess I had the better genes,” Alex teased, as he broke the silence.

“No!” Dan shot back.

“Don’t mind them,” the girl murmured, “they’re always fighting,” she laughed. Her laugh was a beautiful light sound, that ringed in my ears.

I laughed back, mine wasn’t as pretty, “I can see,” I chortled through the siblings violent and threatening whispers.

“I feel like I’ve seen you before,” her head tilted a bit.

“I don’t know. I don’t,” remember…

“Yeah, I don’t know, I’m probably just paranoid,” she chuckled again and started to play with her almost-white-hair-kind-of-died-light-blue.

“We all are,” I told her. It was true, I could feel the tension in the room.

“So,” she held the ‘o’ for so long that I started to get nervous, “what’s your name?” We both laughed.

“Oh yeah,” I paused for a second, remembering what Hailey had said about my name, but closed my eyes and shook the thought out of my head, “my name’s Alison Rose, or Aly,” I smiled, trying to look more friendly, “they said that my family would tell me my middle name when I get back.”

“I’m Ariel,” The name didn’t match her, with her almost-white-hair, light brown freckles, and matching green eyes, but I grinned anyways. An Ariel would have, like, red hair, and brown eyes, I think? “My middle name means princess of the horses,” I laughed, subconsciously, and instantly felt bad, but she just laughed back, “stupid, right,” she remarked, and we laughed louder.

“Lunch time is about to be over,” how did she know? Wait, it was lunch? “Three, two, one,” a bell rang right as she said her last word.

As I walked out of the room with Ariel, Mrs. Ross approached me.

“You don’t go with them,” Mrs. Ross jumped up from behind me.

“Wait, w-why not?” Was I going to get the shot again?

“They take special classes, but the government asked something else for you.”

“Why?” I asked, as people walked past us, their heads down.

“Just, they wanted to see how you would do, honey. It really doesn’t matter, please come with us now.”

“Okay.”

She led me to an escalator and clicked button two-- noted-- and the elevator started to descend down. I wonder where this thing is taking me. 

How long have I been here? There was no way to count the time. Mrs. Ross brought me into this room after lunch-- at least Ariel told me it was lunch --and no one had came in since. This time, since my hands weren’t chained the bed, I could move, but I still feel like I shouldn’t get up. I’ve been lying on the bed-- for what seemed like forever-- and have counted the tiles at least two times.

Eventually, out of curiosity, I got up and looked around. I walked to the he walls around me and realized they were made of some kind of rough stone, and the floor was covered in a white marble.

“Alison,” I jumped back in surprise, Jesus Christ. I looked to the door and saw Dr. Mark.

“Hello,” I greeted him kindly.

“Well, I see you already got yourself familiar with the area,” he chucked once. Just once.

I laughed with him, “yeah,” I told him through gritted teeth.

“So, we will just be doing these sections each day, while everyone else is at their classes.”

“Wait, why can’t I go to the classes?” My head hurts, like really hurts.

He paused for a second, “you only have three more weeks here because by law, you are only allowed to stay here for twelve weeks, and including your surgery and your unconsciousness, so you only have three more weeks here. Now we need to make sure you don’t repeat your mistakes,” my head hurts more now. I don’t know if I can trust him, but I do, for some reason.

Mrs. Ross came in. Okay, this is getting weird.

“Why is she in here?” I asked Doctor Mark.

“If you would like, I could leave,” Mrs. Ross said sharply.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” I added quickly, realizing she felt hurt.

“So, we will just ask you a few questions,” he smiled, and motioned me back to the bed.

I obeyed, cautiously.

“Do you remember anything from before?” he sounded so open. I bit my bottom lip as I was wondering what I should say.

“Here you go,” Mrs. Ross handed me a glass of water, “this will help,” she glanced at Dr. Mark and he eyed her carefully.

I took the water gratefully, and it slipped down my throat, loosening it up. I felt a tingly feeling run through my body and my senses calmed.

“Let’s start again,” Dr. Mark urged, “do you remember anything,” my body tensed back, and I tried to bite my tongue.

“I don’t know.”

“Drink,” Mrs. Ross told me. I took another sip and the same calmness tingled through my body, only stronger this time.

He asked the question again.

“I remember Hailey, and what she told me. I also remember before abou-,” damn, it just came out.

“How?” Dr. Mark’s eyes bulged with surprise.

“I don’t know, I just remember,” WHAT THE HECK ALISON! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING! SHUT UP!

“Well, what do you remember? What did she tell you?” Mrs. Ross asked.

I told myself not to say anything; with every fiber of my being I tried to resist, but it came out, “She said that you were telling me lies, and that this is a lie,” tears fell down my face as my words spat out of my throat. “She said that Alison wasn’t even my real name and that your telling me a bunch of,” I tried my best to resist cursing, and I kept it in, “a… bunch of,” tears flowed rapidly down my cheeks, and my sniffling was uncontrollable. I hugged my knees to my chest, wishing my sheets would just swallow me whole.

“It’s okay, honey,” Mrs. Ross sat next to me and pressed her body against mine, and I leaned against it gratefully. How could you say that, Aly? How could you ever say that? The guilt was swallowing me up whole.

“So, do you remember your tetanus shot?” Dr. Mark asked. I fought back, I tried so hard to fight back, but I gave in, again.

“You evil people,” I gritted my teeth, “that wasn’t a tetanus shot,” I almost cursed. I fought back. I didn’t say anything and a smile curved up, onto to my lips. I was stronger than this. I am stronger than this.

“W-What d-do you mean,” Dr. Mark stuttered out. I bit my gum, refusing to let the words fall out of my mouth.

I shook my head, my determination growing, my resistintence building, and the calmness, fading.

“Drink,” Mrs. Ross told me while rubbing my back.

“No!” I spat out, my words coming out more viscous than I intended.

“Drink!” Dr. Mark’s voice rang in my ears and instantly brought the cup to my lips and swallowed the rest of the liquid inside.

I threw the cup to his feet, not one drop of liquid left.

“Thank you,” he hissed, his voice full of remorse. The calming effect flowed through my body again, filling me with happiness. Everything here is so repetitive, I almost laughed in pity for the doctors who have to act so much.

“So, what do you know?” his voice wasn’t kind or nice this time, instead, it was sharp, cutting through me quickly, like a knife.

“I hate you,” I snapped. The calmness consumed my body, urging me to float away and sing all my troubles, “I hate you,” I repeated, just for myself.

He smiled.

I’m so dead.

“Cooperate now, and you’ll enjoy your time here. Disobey us, and I’ll do everything in my power to get your to stay longer, and trust me, I can, and I’ll make your life miserable” his words sliced through me again.

“Try me,” I laughed.

I closed my eyes, a sudden ache overflowing into my body. I remembered something. I remembered something…

“Cooperate now.” Dr. Mark yelled at me, his voice fierce. I was watching the scene come out.

“I hate you. You evil, terrible, monster,” I screamed to his face, my eyes roaming the room.

“I will kill you. I will erase you,” a smile edging into his face.

I stared at him in hatred, “I will never forget,” I knew it was a lie, “You can’t do this.”

“Oh really?” he purred, his voice taunting.

“Go to hell!” I spat, “All you’ll be is a sad, lonely man, who has nobody!” he scowled.

“Yes, I am, and I will. You did this to me. You and all your crazy friends, and I will erase all of you, and you will forget everything! But first, I will start with you. Where are they?” he demanded.

“Go to hell!”

“Drink!” he yelled, and I obeyed, I drank.

“Where is the Coop headed?” he asked calmly. I twisted and turned, trying to resist the poison at all costs.

“Go to hell,” I muttered again, through gritted teeth.

“They were wrong to choose you, you’ll fail your mission,” tears started to fill up in my eyes.

“Go. To. Hell.”

“Alison?” Mrs. Ross’s hand on my forehead. I swatted it away, lifting myself up, only to be greeted with a sharp ache in my head.

I winced in pain and laid back down.

“You just fell on the floor in a second while you were talking with Dr. Mark. We quickly sedated you, because we knew that,” she coughed, “you wouldn’t cooperate. We just had to run some tests on you and check you out to see if you were okay. Are you okay?” she smiled. Dr. Mark, I hated that man. The memory flooded back into my brain and the ache inside my head grew, it felt as if thousands of knives were being pressed into my skull and ripped out.

“It hurts,” I cracked out, as I squeezed a tear out of my eye, “what did you do to me?” I cried.

“I know sweetie, we don’t know what happened,” her voice genuinely concerned, “we just ran some basic tests.”

“Your just like him! I hate you and I hate Dr. Mark,” I told her quietly.

“I know you do, but he’s trying to help you honey,” she said it with so much persuasion I almost wanted to believe her.

“Shut up, you’re not any better,” Mrs. Ross flinched, but her features quickly went back to a smile.

“You need some rest, you only will be staying here for around three more weeks,” three weeks? That’s so long. I couldn’t stay here for one more day.

“Wait!” I called as Mrs. Ross closed the door. I heard her sigh and open it again, “How old am I?”

“Sweetie, we told you,” there was an edge to her voice, as if she was scared I was going to say something, “eighteen.”

I smiled and she frowned.

If I was eighteen, I had custody over myself. They can’t keep me here against my will. Therefore, I can leave, right?

“Mrs. Ross?”

“What?” Jesus Christ, rude.

“If I’m eighteen, does that mean you can’t keep me here against my will?” her face expression changed into a deep frown.

“Alison, it’s only for the better that you sta-,” I cut her off, annoyed.

“So yes or no?” I almost yelled. She didn’t reply for a bit. Mrs. Ross opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but then closed it.

“Yes,” hell yeah, sign me up.

“So I could leave right now?” I asked.

“Yes.” I heard her say quietly and through gritted teeth.

“Let me go. Get rid of me,” I grinned.

“No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“I will not let you leave,” her eyes pierced into me, “you are not well enough yet.”

“I’m well enough to kick you in the ass, get me out of here,” I yelled, my temper boiling. She laughed.

“You’re so much like my daughter,” enough with this daughter shit, “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Neither do you,” I was getting out of here. I was getting out, and I was never going to come back.

“Very well,” she muttered, “get up,” and even though my head was killing me, I got up. She walked out, mocking me.

“I have these things attached to my body,” I yelled.

“How unfortunate, honey,” fine, I’ll help myself. I ripped off all the needles and gadgets attached to me, wincing in pain.

Mrs. Ross left the room and I trailed behind her. She brought me into a dark blue room with clear glass doors in front. I stared out into them, longing to just run out.

“Sit,” Mrs. Ross told me. I pushed away my desire to run out of the room and sat on the brown leather sofa. “I’ll be back with Dr. Mark in a second, please don’t move,” damn, so commanding. There goes her, oh sweet honey, and, sweeties.

As she requested, I didn’t move a muscle until she came in with Dr. Mark-- which may I add looked very worried-- and sat down on the couch beside me.

“You really want to do this, Alison,” Mrs. Ross and Dr. Mark looked cautiously at me, as if they were begging me to stay. It almost made me smile.

“Yes,” I declared, and to see Dr. Mark look down at his shoes in defeat was good enough for me.

“Please don’t,” Dr. Mark tried to match my eye, but I looked away.

“No. I am. Why don’t the other kids leave too?”

“They like it here,” he murmured, his voice disgusted.

“No, no they don’t,” I replied, thinking of Hailey, or Lily whatever her name is.

“Okay,” Dr. Mark hissed, “if you wish, go.”

“B-but Docto-”

“She will leave if she wishes,” he told her, obviously annoyed. Mrs. Ross nodded sadly.

“After you watch this video, you’re free to go. A speed will be waiting outside for you,” thankful, I took the scribe that she was holding out to me. I looked at the clear glass door next to me and saw the blue speed. Freedom was so close. I took a deep breath and watched the video on it.

“Hello Alison Rose,” It was the same man who told me my backstory was in this tape, “It seems you have finally finished your counseling, or you found out since you were eighteen you could leave. You are probably smart enough to do that, but if not that is okay. Don’t make a mistake, don’t mess up, be careful. If we hear anything else from you, you will come back here and we will help you again,” What does he mean? “You will be brought to Cresvella and greeted by your family. Then, you must take the Test and be sorted,” what the heck is that? “Good luck Al,” ALY STUPID, “don’t screw this up, we’re watching.”

We’re watching?

“The caris waiting outside, just tell him your name,” Dr. Mark told me impatiently.

“Oh, okay,” I was still processing all the new information. Why couldn’t they show me this before?

“Are you sure you want to leave?” Mrs. Ross asked.

“Yes,” If she thought I was going to spend another second with Dr. Mark she was crazy.

As I walked out of the room Dr. Mark went after me and grabbed onto my sweater, “What the hell?”

“Alison. You can’t leave. You shouldn’t do this,” his eyes were beckoning me to stay, longing. Did I want to stay? Should I stay?

What was I thinking?“I’m sorry,” I replied as I shook off his arm.

He grabbed onto it again. If he says the wrong thing, I swear to god I’m going to explode.

“Don’t screw up,” he stared at me in the eye. His glare so powerful it sent shivers down my spine.

“Yes Sir,” I mocked as I opened the door in front of me. I was going home, I was really, really going to go home.

I ran into the car and saw a middle aged driver inside, “where are you going?” his voice tired and empty.

“Cresvella, I’m Alison Rose, go to my home” I told him. He nodded and we were off, I was going home. Even though I only remember being in The Recognition for hours, I still felt the horror from before, and it wasn’t going away, it was an ache embedded into every fiber of my bone, and they couldn’t take that away.

We drove for hours on end and I thought I would lose my mind of boredom. First, we drove through a forest; with no light in sight. After that, we passed by the ocean side, and after that fields of corn and plants. Now, finally, we’re on a street and I can actually see houses in the distance.

“What season is it?” I asked.

“Summer,” he replied, almost annoyed. I raised one eyebrow in surprise; it looked like spring.

“Alison Rose?” he asked gruffly.

“Yeah?”

“Your house is close, over there, left,” he pointed. I looked and saw a small, but beautiful house. It was built from red and white brick and had a gray metal roof. The front of the, my house, had stone stairs leading up to the house and two big trees spurred up from the ground on both sides of the staircase, “It’s so pretty,” I said as we approached

“Yeah, whatever,” rude!

I rolled my eyes as we drove onto the smooth cement driveway.

“Get out.”

“Okay,” my god, this guy hated me.

“Stay safe, don’t screw up,” he warned me as I got out of the car. Why was everyone saying that? Do they think I’m going to kill someone?

I ran up to my front door, a smile rapidly spread through my face. and tingle of warmness flowed through my body, but I shook it off. I knocked on my door and saw Halden open the door. His blue eyes pierced through me and I remembered him and smiled.

“Halden?”

“Alexa?” He asked, his eyes scanning up and down my body.  

Wasn’t that what Hailey said when she met me? I didn’t care. I ran up to him and closed my arms around his muscular body.

“Alison?” he choked, his breath caught in his throat.

“Halden…” I let go of him and saw him nod his head, tears sticking to his lashes. I missed him so much.

“Alison!” he yelled, this time him embracing me in a bear hug. I threw my hands on top of him while crying my eyes out.

“Do you remember me…” he asked, his voice no more than a whisper. I nodded my head, and I felt his tears soak my shirt, “I love you,” he told me, his voice strong.

“I know,” I cried back, “I remember…” The tears I suppressed dropped out of my eyes.

“What?” he pulled me away and looked into my eyes, “you remember me?”

“Yes, Halden. Yes, I remember you.”

“My middle name means to protect, it’s Xander. Please, just don’t --I don’t know-- tell other people. You’re only supposed to tell people your middle name after you are close.”

“Trust me, we’re close,” I told him, “I already know your middle name Halden Xander Crell,” I smiled.

The house was beautiful. There was a table straight in front of me holding a huge vase of flowers. Our house had small steps that led to an upstairs where I could see a few rooms and a open walkway. There were also rooms to both sides of me.

“Al?” I heard someone --a girl-- call behind me.

“Yeah,” I let go of Halden, startled.

“Hail! Who’s here?” I heard the same girl yell again.

“Hail?” I asked, that’s the stupidest nickname I ever heard. I saw him roll his eyes and I burst out laughing.

“Who’s here, Hail?” She asked annoyed.

“Come and see,” Halden called back.

She whined and I heard someone run down the stairs and saw a girl walk into the room.

“Al?” her bright green eyes searched my body.

“Aly,” I corrected. Who was she? The girl had beautiful red hair that fell in waves down her face down to her lower chest.

“Who are you?” I said, trying to sound as polite as possible.

“Y-you don’t remember me?” tears glazed over her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” seriously, who was this girl?

“I’m Emily, your sister,” she said. I felt another sharp pain in my head, shit, please not now, please.

Three men in a white suit ran into my room and grabbed my shoulders, “Stop!” I shrieked, my dirty blonde hair everywhere.

“I’m sorry. We need to help you,” the men in blue suits said calmly.

“Please, don’t do this,” I pleaded.

“We need to help you,” they repeated.

“Stop!” I screamed frantically, “No!” they started forcing me down the stairs. I kicked my legs frantically while flailing my arms, “Stop!” I screeched again.

“Stop fighting,” one of the men said. I threw my hand on his chest and felt my energy flow to him and he dropped onto the floor, dead. I was in shock of what I did.

“Let go of me,” I told them, my voice serious.

“If you do that one more time, we will hurt you,” I laughed at their taunting, “and your family,” he added and I paused, “if you do not behave we will hurt your sisters,” tears ran down my cheeks in defeat. My stomach growled and tossed in protest but I put my legs and arms down and obediently went down the stairs. As they guided me to their carI heard Emily

“Stop!” Emily screamed, her voice tore through my chest, “let her go!” she yelled as men in white suits forced me into their car, “please…” I threw my hand at them, burning their arms.

“Don’t mess with me, don’t mess with us,” I spat at the man, my saliva falling down his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he said to me.

“I’m Emily!” she called, running towards me, “Emily Ross,” she said again, studying her voice. Please shut up, I thought to myself. The man took a quick step back.

“Who are you?” The man asked.

“Alexa,” my voice was horse and cold. It was probably sharp enough to cut through their thick skulls, “I’m Alexa Skye,” I repeated, forcing more confidence in my words. I’m Alexa Skye.

“Alison?”

I opened my eyes frantically and saw Halden and Emily above me. I squinted my eyes and pushed away Emily’s red hair away from my face. She smiled.

“What happened?” I got up. I felt the same ache as when I remembered something about Dr. Mark.

“Emily? Emily Ross?” I asked quietly, touching her small cheek. Her brows furrowed together and she looked at me deeply.

“What? Y-you, d-do you remember me?” her eyes grew wide.

“Not really,” I replied. I need to talk to Halden.

“First, Emily Amber,” she said, with annoyance behind her voice, “and second can I hug you?” she asked. I answered by smashing all my force to her and hugging her with all my might.

“I love you,” I smiled, and I meant it.

“We missed you,” Emily said as she pulled away from me.

“I missed you too,” I told her, smiling, “by the way, I don’t remember your middle name, so… sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Emily looked at Halden and he nodded, “My middle name is Kainda; it means hunter’s daughter.”

“Oh, that’s beautiful,” I said.

“What’s my middle name?”

“Kenna-Nilsa, it means born of fire and survivor,” that didn’t sound right. I hated the way that sounded. I hated everything about it.

“Oh…” I replied.

“Where’s Mom and Dad?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Well, if we had a d-,” Halden cut Emily off.

“Counts, they are supposed to be at Counts, but Allen, our dad, is probably getting drunk somewhere, and we don’t know where our mom is so yeah,” Halden replied, coldness purposely filled his voice.

“Oh,” was all that stumbled out, “How do you get your money, and what’s Counts?”

“Well, our uncle and aunt help us out,” he smiled sadly, “I try to take some side jobs also, but it’s not easy.”

“Counts?” I asked.  

“Like, um, jobs, you know?” Halden tried to explain. I made my face match my confusion and he laughed.

“Does that have to do with the Test?” I wondered out loud.

“Actually, yes,” wow, I was correct for once? “When you’re eighteen you take it.”

“So, I need t-.”

“Yeah,” Emily interrupted.

“First, through the Test we are grouped into four different categories. There is Krind, which stands for the modest, sweet, nice, you know. There’s Actrict, for the smart, precise, quick witted, and you know, know-it-alls, like me” I chuckled, “Sylie, for the determined, strong, kind-of-single-minded, brave, and loyal. Finally, Jweld, the sly, they escape from like all punishment, relatively smart, fierce, but very sweet at times. Oh yeah, and they’ll do anything for those they love.”

“Huh, cool,” I wonder which one I was going to be in.

“It also tells you your job for the future and what road you’ll be on, and who’ll you’ll marry.”

“What’s a road? How come they get to choose who I marry? Isn’t that my choice?”

“A road is based on your physical appearance and tells you how attractive you are now-a-days.”

“Who are you marrying?”

“I was supposed to marry some girl named Hailey Steen. She was beautiful, and had the prettiest brown eyes. She went to The Recognition after we met a few times, so they’re finding someone else,” I felt my breath get caught in my throat. Lily, Hailey, was supposed to marry Halden. Hailey. Did she know me? Did she know Halden?

“I know her. I saw her,” his eyes lit up, but I shook my head and he sighed.

“That’s what I thought…” he swallowed thickly.

“Do you want me to go?” Emily asked, unsure.

“No, it’s fine,” I smiled at her, “when can I take it?” I said, talking to Halden this time.

“There’s a scribe upstairs in your room for you to take it.”

“Oh, cool.”

“What’s going on? Who’s here?” I heard another girl call out. She was taller than Emily but shorter than me. She ran down the stairs and had dark brown hair and green eyes, the same color as Emily’s.

“Alison…?” she didn’t even hesitate, she ran up to me and gave me a huge hug, sucking the breath out of me.

“You must be,” I tried taking a breath, “Brynn,” she was beautiful. I had such a pretty family.

“Alison!” she squealed, “Bianca,” she said without hesitation, “my middle names Bianca and it means light,” she almost screamed.

“Wow, very open,” I forced a laugh.

“Well, you guys were always close,” Halden replied.

“Careful,” Emily said jokingly, “everyone thinks she’s gonna be in Actrict,” she giggled, pointing to Brynn.

“Hey! I’m in Actrict!” Halden yelled back and we all laughed.

Brynn let go of me and pushed Emily lightly on the shoulder, “shut up, Em.”

“Just saying,” Emily replied, annoyed. They were so cute, and surprisingly they were twins. One twin with dark red hair and the other with dark brown; is that even possible. The only similar factor in both of their faces was their beautiful green eyes.

“Stop you two,” I rolled my eyes.

“You’re so different,” Emily laughed.

“What do you mean? Is that bad?” I asked, and instantly felt self conscious, “just, um, where’s my room. I’m tired,” Emily looked sad.

“I’m sorry,” her voice concerned.

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

“I’ll take you there,” Halden said, “girls, finish your codes,” they groaned in protest, but he shook it off.

“I don’t want too!” Brynn replied, pushing Halden.

“Hey,” Halden pushed her back, “you better do it. Then we’re not going,” he threatened Brynn.

“How come you decide that?” Emily added.

“Because I’m the oldest and I can drive.”

“Guys, I can drive too right?” I winked and they smiled, their teeth shining bright.

“Go!” he commanded, and they both pushed him, and sprineted upstairs.

He looked back at me, flustered and annoyed, and I returned it with a laugh.

Halden brought me up the stairs and we passed by three doors, and stopped in front of a white one, “this is your room,” he told me as he slammed the door open. The walls were colored a mint green. On the right side of my room was a light yellow framed bed with light green sheets; opposite to it was a drawers. Next to it there was a small white desk with a scribe, like Halden said. On the left side of the room was a small bathroom which had just a toilet, a mirror, and a sink. Parallel to me was three windows and two seats and on one of them was a young asian girl inside. She looks to be around nine or ten years old and had long, straight black hair that fell down her face and a small nose.  

“Who’s she?”

“Oh, that’s Melody Day, she never told anyone her middle name,” Halden turned to her and waved, she didn’t wave back, “you guys were pretty close before… You were the only person she ever talked too. Her parents left her when she was little and she’s been going from home to home since --but she’s kind of weird-- our parents took her in months ago and she hasn’t talked to anyone else,” he whispered.

“Hi,” I said quietly, walking towards her. She waved quickly and got up. She started to walk out of the room. I felt her body pass me and I heard her say something-- at least, I think I did--, “wanderer…”

“What?” I asked, but she was already long gone.

“Are you talking to yourself?” Halden laughed, “Well, what did I say? At least she waved to you, that’s a first,” A smile appeared on his face.

“Halden, we need to talk,” his smile disappeared.

“I remember you. I remember you but I don’t remember anything or anyone else. I remember you and almost everything about you, Halden,” his eyes widened and I saw tears run over them.

“Do you remember the Coop?” he whispered, hushly.

“No…” he breathed a sigh. Of relief? “I know I’m Alexa Skye.”

“You mean Alison Rose?” I walked over to my drawers, to see my clothes still there, thank god.

“No, Halden. I know. I’m Alexa Skye. Also, where did Melody sleep and put her clothes?”

“How…? How do you remember?” he asked, breathless.

“I’m keep getting these flashbacks when I see things, or certain people. That's what happened when I saw Emily.”

“And that’s why you fell,” he finished, and I nodded my head.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“Middle name?” he asked, “and she slept in your room while you were gone, and her clothes are over there,” Halden pointed to a small neat pile of folded clothes. There were some shorts, sweatpants, t shirts, long sleeve shirts, and two pairs of pajamas.

“Oh, okay, and what?”

“What’s your middle name?”

“I don’t remember that.”

He waited a second, “It’s Kenna-Nilsa.”

“That’s weird,” we went and sat on my bed, “how’d you get out of The Recognition so fast? Weren’t you supposed to be there for twelve weeks?”

“Yeah, but since I’m eighteen I have custody over myself,” I explained.

“Wow, smartie. Well, you always were,” he teased.

“How come I don’t remember anything? Did I actually break the law and get into a car crash?” I blurted. He laughed sarcastically.  

“No, that’s the most bull answer I ever heard,” he rolled his eyes, “you were too powerful and you scared Society so they sent you to The Recognition and they erased all the memories they didn’t like. That’s why I’m so confused, they for sure would’ve removed me…”

“Wait, how much of the story they told me was fake?”

“Pretty much everything. I mean, I don’t really know what they said.”

“Um, they said like my siblings and that I was second in Society’s Youth Program or something. They also said like I stole the things and got into a car crash. They said that The Recognition was a recovering factory…”

“That’s the stupidest thing I think I ever heard,” he said in disbelief.

“They sent you there to erase all your memories and some people just never get out. When they come back, all they remember is what they told them, except a few. I remember one person, Alex, he remembered everything. He didn’t forget anything.” Alex? Alex? ALEX?

“Alex? Vick?”

“I don’t know who the hell Vick is, but his name was Alex. He had this other brother too, but his brother always forgot everything after.”

“I saw them! I saw Vick, or Alex. I know, I met them!” I smiled.

“Oh,” he said, “how are they?”

“Well, Alex just looked at me, and winked,” I rolled my eyes, “and Dan was sweet, but they were fighting.”

“Of course they were. Of course Alex winked at you, so typical,” he rolled his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Just… nevermind.”

“No, Halden, what do you mean?”

“Alison, nevermind.”

“Whatever,” I shot, “They said I needed to take the Test.”

“Oh, okay. Go ahead. Call me in when you finish,” he got up and brought the scribe to me. It was inside a light blue case which had small stickers on the back, “just click the answer you would like the most,” and he left the room.

I turned on the scribe and saw the basic questions.

Your Name:

“Halden!” I yelled.

He ran into my room, “You’re done?”

“No, but what do I put for my name?” I asked.

“Alison Kenna-Nilsa Rose; Kenna means fire and Nilsa means defender or champion,” fire, fire, fire.

“What does that have t-,”

“You’ll find out. Now take it, Alex- Alison.”

“Should people call me Alison or Alexa?”

“In the Coop people will call you Alexa. Everywhere else, Alison.”

“What’s the Coop?”

“I’ll bring you there later today. Take the Test,” I looked back down at it.

Day and Month of Birth: after that Crindival Number: and Coding history:

“Halden, help,” this is so frustrating! I can’t remember anything!

“March nineteen,” I nodded.

“Crindival number?” I said confused.

“You know, I’ll fill this part out. He took my scribe and typed rapidly, “here, now you can start,” he said, and left my room.

Full Name: Alison Kenna-Nilsa Rose

Middle name: Kenna-Nilsa

Middle name meaning: Born of fire, survivor

Day and Month of Birth: March 19

Crindival Number: 2006

Coding History: Madicara, Relecca, Wells, and Kings

School: Eastern Kings Brook Youth

Rank in school: First

Rank in Society’s Senior High Program: Second

Siblings: Halden Crell, Brynn Ashland, Emily Amber, and Melody Day

Wait, we adopted Melody?

Goals in life: to become a Doctor, Official, or major in Animal Science II

Appearance rank:  Blonde hair, blue eyes, white skin, sharp nose, small freckles, thin pink lips, and dimples

Road choice: 2

P.P.P: Doctor, Officer, Teacher

He left the other questions blank. He wanted me to answer these questions; he could’ve filled it out, but he didn’t. Did he think I changed…?

Gender you’d like to marry: Male

h(is)(er) trait(s): Kind, loving, strong, determined, happy, playful, smart, logical, nice, loyal, sly

When you are ready, click start.

I took a deep breath. If this one test was going to determine my future I better do well. I clicked start, and instantly, a bunch of multiple choice questions appeared.

The Test first started with a bunch of math problems, then writing problems, next reading, and after that, logical puzzles. I rubbed my eyes out of confusion so much to the point where they were red. After I finished the Education Section as they call it, they asked me very, very, very, personal questions.

If a building was on fire and inside was two newborn babies and your twin sisters, which one would you save. Like how the hell am I supposed to answer that?

Another one was, In front of you was a gun, a knife, and a bow, which one would you use to kill your enemy and why. I don’t even know how they come up with these questions.

Finally after I passed through that section of the test, they asked me to take a picture of myself and submit it. I took the picture and after I pressed send I was onto questions about different jobs.

What have you always wanted to be? Why do you want to be ____? How would you help Society if you were a doctor? I don’t even know what doctors do, but if I had to be like Doctor Ross and Mark I would kill myself, so I went with Official.

“Almost done?” Halden knocked on my door.

“Kinda, I don’t know how long this thing is,” he laughed and opened the door. He walked over to my bed and took a look at the question I was on.

“You’re almost done, now you just need to answer questions about your future husband. Ooh,” he mocked, and I pushed his shoulder in annoyance.

I looked at the next few questions and hid my face in my hands with embarrassment.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, grinning.

“Shut up,” I answered.

I picked back up the scribe and felt myself blushing as I answered the questions about my future man. And I swear, I wasn’t overreacting; these questions were brutal!

How much is your ideal age gap for your husband?

How many kids do you want?

Will you be sexsualy active frequently?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Halden holding in a laugh the whole time.

“Go screw yourself,” I told him as I finished the last problem of the Test and breathed a sigh of relief as it said, processing your answers.

“Wow, someone’s language changed,” Halden said as he rose his eyebrows. I glared at him and he hid his smile, “Gimme that,” he reached out and took my scribe.

“Why does it take so long?”

“I mean, give it a few minutes. You were taking the test for two hours, can’t it have a few minutes?”

“Two hours?” I exclaimed, “I thought it was like a few minutes maybe,” Two hours.

I saw the processing button go away and I tugged the scribe in Halde’s hand closer to me. It went to a black screen containing the words.

Husband- Alexander Rae

Middle name meaning- brave and powerful

Road- Road one

“Wow, road one! Congrats,” Halden said halfheartedly as he read through it.

Job- Official

Category- Frephdoor, error, error, ERROR

Next to Frephdoor three words appeared, flashing in bright red, error, error, error. I felt my breathing shorten and fear trickled over me, “Halden… what does that mean?” I stuttered. He didn’t answer, he just kept staring, “Halden. Halden! What does it mean! Halden!” I felt fear collapse my lungs and I turned off the scribe in his hands as a tear trickled down my cheek, “Halden!”

He ran out of the room in a flash and left me on my bed, as tears fell from my eyes. What did this mean? Maybe it was good, maybe this was good, I told myself, trying to stay positive.

“Alison!” I heard him call out.

“Yeah?” I called back, wiping my tears quickly.

“Come now,” what does he mean come now? I had no idea where he even was.

“Where are you?”

“He’s in our room!” Brynn’s voice.

“Where is it?” I asked, when Emily burst open the door.

“Come,” she motioned, and I followed her run past a door and turn to the right, “here,” she told me and opened the door. The room wall color was completely blue and had two white bunk beds and two desks on both sides. On both sides was two mint green dressers and two floating shelves.

“What’s going on Halden?” I said, almost annoyed.

“You’re Frephdoor,” his voice was hushed.

“What does that mean then? Am I the loyal one?”

“No, Alexa, listen,” Okay, I know this isn’t a good time to be thinking about this, but I really wish they would just stick to one name, my god.

“I’m listening.”

“They removed Frephdoor from the system centuries ago, because everyone thought it was a threat to the balance of everything. We learned about it in History class. It was taken out from the Test along time ago, and it’s impossible to get. My friend, Andrew, he was sorted into Frephdoor, and, and I, we never saw him again. Frephdoor are too powerful for Society so -so- they kill them all. It’s supposed to be impossible...”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said quickly recovering, “also, you used to, nevermind.”

“I used to what? I used to what?”

“Nothing, Alison,” you see how annoying this name thing is?

“Tell me,” I pleaded.

“Oh my god, Alison, it doesn’t matter,” he said, more harshly than I think he meant.

“You know what? It does matter. Everything here does matter, so if everyone would tell me to stop asking questions about myself, that would be great.”

“I’m not telling you to stop. I’m saying that it was just irrelevant to everything! It’s none of your business.”

“Actually, it is all my business because it’s all about me! If anything, this doesn’t have to do with you,” I blurted. I saw Brynn open her mouth to say something, but then close it.

“Alison, I’m trying to protect you,” he argued.

“I don’t need to be protected, Halden! I’m the same me I always was, and nothing can change that. It doesn’t matter what I remember, it’s equally as confusing and annoying. I don’t need you to protect me!” I yelled back.

“Um, I’m going to leave,” Emily said hesitantly. Halden nodded his head and smiled at the girls. After they left the room Halden spoke.

“I know,” he said quietly, “I’m sorry. It just feels different, you don’t remember anything.”

“What the hell, Halden. I remember you! I’m sorry that I don’t remember everything, because, yeah, it’s all my fault!” I bellowed.

“Yeah, but you don’t even remember everything, it’s not the same! I know it’s not your fault, but if you know some things, you might get hurt, or in trouble.”

“I don’t care! I want to know, it’s my life, Halden, it’s not yours! You don’t need to protect me or shield me, I’m fine on my own!”

“No you’re not. You were never fine on your own and you never will be.” Those words hit me like a stab to my chest. Halden saw how much it hurt me, and his facial features softened, but I wasn’t going too.

“You know what, Halden. You’re not gonna be okay on your own, either. Maybe it was best if I never remembered you!” I shouted. I saw his mouth open slightly and his eyes go wide from what I said.

Whatever, I told myself, this was his fault.  I stormed out of the room and opened the door to see Emily and Brynn listening outside. I hate this place, I hate everyone in this place. I ran past the other doors into my room, overhearing Halden, Brynn, and Emily talking. I’m leaving. I’m leaving here. As I opened my door I heard a scream from downstairs. At this point I didn’t care, because I was sobbing. I slammed open my door to see the same Asian girl who was there before.

“Hi, Melody,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Her voice was soft and airy; I’ve never heard anything like it.  

“Yeah…” I lied.

“No you’re not,” her voice was so soft, so delicate, so beautiful.

“It’s okay.”

She didn’t reply but she smiled sympathetically, brought me to my bed, and patted my back. My sobs came out quietly at first, and as I became comfortable, they became louder. I don’t know why I was crying. Maybe I was crying because Halden wasn’t telling me about myself, maybe it was because I felt lied too. Maybe it was because I don’t remember anything about myself, or maybe it was because I was here, with a ten-year-old crying my eyes out. Maybe it was everything.

“Alexa…” I heard someone whisper from the door.

“No,” I replied. Not now, I can’t see anyone right now, I’m too vulnerable.

“Please, its Brynn.”

I took a deep breath. Brynn opened the door.

“I’m sorry. We’re sorry,” I felt Melody tense up beside me and she walked back to the seat next to the window.

“Alexa, it’s just,” she couldn’t say anything else. I didn’t reply. I knew what she was going to say, It’s not the same or you don’t remember me.

“Whatever,” I finally muttered out.

“Al, please,” I heard her say as she started to walk towards me. I moved to the edge of my bed and wished the sheets could just swallow me whole, and make me disappear, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I forced myself to say. I swallowed the bile rising in my throat.

“No its not, he wasn’t acting like himself.”

“Yeah. I know,” I really did know. I know what Halden usually acts like, and I know it’s not like this.

“Okay. Just, I don’t know, I’m just apologizing for him,” she smiled, her green eyes leaving me alone. I sighed, my mind overflowing with information, and collapsed on my bed.

I felt someone shake me awake, and my eyes slowly opened, “Yeah?” I groaned.

“We’re leaving to the Coop. If you want to go, you should get up,” Emily said. I closed my eyes and opened them one more time for a long time and felt my face swollen from my tears.

“Oh, okay. Yeah, I’ll go,” I decided. I remember Halden talking to me about it, and he wasn’t going to keep it away from me.

“By the way,” I nodded my head, “Halden’s driving,” I sighed loudly, she smiled, and left the room, her red hair trailing behind her.

I got up quickly and ran to my mirror to look at my reflection. My cheeks were stained from my tears and were bright red. Brown and blue bags fell lightly under my eyes and my eyelashes were drooping down. I looked under the mirror and saw a small makeup holder. Hastily, I opened it and found some cheap makeup inside: mascara, eyeliner, blush, the usual. I threw on some mascara and eyeliner --the eyeliner very uneven-- and flew down the stairs.

“Ready?” I heard Emily yell.

“Yeah,” Brynn and I yelled back. I turned around and saw Brynn sprinting down the stairs, her brown hair flopping behind her. She put on some light brown eyeshadow and eyeliner.

“You look good,” I told her, she said the same to me and I followed her to the speed. She led me to the garage and into Halden’s car.

“Hey,” Halden said awkwardly as I got in. He drove out, the sun scorching above us.

“Hi,” I replied, adding a hint of bitterness in my voice.

“So, we’re going to the Coop.”

“I know,” I told Halden.

“They’re gonna call you Alexa.”

“Okay. Anything else you want to tell me?”

“Not really.”

“You sure you’re not protecting me?” I asked, mocking him.

“No, oh my god, Alison.”

“Pick one name to call me, will you?” I rolled my eyes from the backseat.

“Alison.”

“Okay. I’ll call you Hail,” I smiled, and smiled he back.

 
The Coop is loud, crazy, dark, big, and all around--weird. We entered from a three story building. We went into an elevator and Halden pressed the emergency button three times fast and after  the number-four. Now here we are, in a dark- whatever this is- and it’s dark besides the few lamps everywhere, lit with fire, and small fountains scattered along the room. Next to the fountain are different animals, lions, birds, dogs. What even is this place? On the edge of the room was a table full of food: fruit, cake, and candy. Wait, I turned around, I couldn’t be right, was that, a fighting ring? What the hell, are they trying to kill each other?

“Alexa?” I heard someone scream behind me. I was walking beside Brynn; Emily found someone to walk with.

“Alexa?” I heard someone screech again. I turned around and saw a girl running up to me. She had long dirty blonde hair and a crown made of small, pointy shells.

“Who are you?” I asked, and her light blue eyes darkened.

“Coral. Coral Valerie,” she remarked.

“I’m Alison Rose, or Alexa Skye,” I smiled, having no idea who this stranger was.

“Alexa,” she said firmly, I smiled.

“So, how did I know you before?” I asked her, and I saw Brynn move away from me. I felt bad for her, she didn’t seem to talk to anyone here. What even is the Coop for?

“Oh, you don’t remember, right?”

No, I’m just asking, “yeah,” I said instead.

“We were best friends kinda,” she took a deep breath, “I met you here actually. We both didn’t have anyone to talk too, and you were hanging out with Brynn. You saw me and asked me why I had a crown on.”

“Why do you?”

“Because, my power is water,” she rolled her eyes like I was stupid. Power?

I laughed.

“What?” She can’t be serious.

“Your powers water? Power?” I forced another laugh.

“Do you even know what the Coop is?” she asked, confused.

“Actually, no,” great, I guess Halden was just keeping another thing from me.

“It’s for people with powers, or enhancements. We train here and hang out.”

That’s hilarious, “that’s funny,” I smiled.

“Alexa, I’m serious, oh my god,” she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Brynn?” I asked. She was next to the lion statue.

“Hm?” She asked as she walked over.

“What’s the Coop for? Why are these people special?” I felt her hesitation and she bit her bottom lip.

“Halden told me not to say…” I really couldn’t care anymore about Halden. F

Halden.

“Brynn, please,” she sighed.

“Powers, enhancements,” she’s kidding. This is all a joke.

“You’re lying…” I stuttered.

“This is why Halden told us not to tell you…”

“You know what, I really don’t care about what Halden says,” I instantly regretted what I said, “What’s your power?”

“Light,” she whispered so softly that we could barely hear.

“Prove it,” I dared her as Coral shifted from side to side, bored.

Brynn closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opening her palm and a small flare of light danced on it. I felt my eyes widen and my mouth gap open, “How? Why?”

“Halden can tell you the story,” Brynn remarked.

“No, it’s okay.”

“Alison, Halden’s your brother, no matter your fights. Everyday that you were gone, Halden would talk about you. He loves you, and he’s trying to protect you,” he talked about me, me while I was gone… I looked back into my memories, trying to remember Halden. I remembered his sweet laugh, his happy smile, his love. He loved me. Halden did love me. Halden does love me.

“Yeah, okay,” I said and Brynn started to walk away, “Brynn,” I called after her.

“Yes?” she turned around.

“Thank you,” she smiled weakly and disappeared into the wave of people.

“So, you can control water or something?” I asked Coral.

“Well, for people with the power of water, you need water around you.”

“Yeah, but that’s, literally water’s everywhere,” everything is literally water.

“I know, and that’s really good, but the more water you have, the more powerful you are,” she winked, “that’s the same with every other element.”

“What’s my power?” After I asked the question I saw Coral fidget with her hands again and she looked down at her feet.

“I think,” she thought for a moment, “your family should tell you about that,” what the hell, you think they’re actually gonna tell me something?

“Oh, can’t you tell me?” Why is it so important?

“Alexa, it’s, it’s complicated. I’m sorry, I really am, I just think it’s something your parent should tell you.”

“That’s okay,” I said, trying to shake it off.

“Did I talk to anyone else?” Was I really that antisocial I only talked to one person?

“Iris Nym.”

“Where is she?”

“I have no idea. Well, when she sees you she’ll probably scream,” we both laughed. Maybe this place wasn’t so weird after all.  

We ended up talking for hours until we were interrupted by,

“ALEXA!” I jumped out of fright.

“Jesus!” I screamed as I turned around to see who called my name. A girl with medium long brown hair rammed into me so hard I fell over, “What the heck!”

She quickly got off of me, “sorry,” she said eagerly, “I’m Iris.”

Oh, so this was who Coral was talking about. I turned to face her and saw her on the floor laughing.

“I’m-.”

“Alexa!” she interrupted.

“Yeah, I’m Alexa,” was I really friends with her?

“I have so much to tell you!”

“I have so much I don’t know!” I yelled back, laughing. Maybe she was my type.

“My god, Iris. She just got back, chill,” Coral rolled her eyes and Iris shoved her jokingly.

“She’s definitely still her,” Iris pushed me, “sadly.”

“Hey! Why’d you push me,” I said and pushed her back.

“See,” we all laughed.  

“Al!” I heard someone -Halden- call.

“What?” I put a little sarcasm into my voice.

“Wow, attitude,” Coral jabbed.

“Shut up,” I replied and Iris whistled. I could almost imagine how life would be with just these two, carefree, happy. I’ve only known them, well, remembered them for a few hours, but it felt like a lifetime, well it is a lifetime; nevermind.

“We need to go,” Emily nagged from behind me, tugging my hair.

“Stop that.”

“Let’s go, I’m tired,” Brynn said.

“No one cares,” someone told her, and she just rolled her eyes.

“I care, back off,” I yelled.

“You back off, Al!” Who even was this person?

“Really? Fight me,” I dared, and as soon as I saw who came out, I wished I bit my tongue. A man walked out of the crowd of people. He had  a small beard growing on his face.

“Let’s go,” he spat, “arena, now.”

“She needs to go,” Halden walked up to the man.

“She needs to bite her god damn tongue, son!” the man’s arms flung up, bring pieces of rock with it, and hurling them at me. I ducked to the ground in the nick of time,

“Who do you think you are?” I snapped.

“Fight me and you’ll see,” I always did love mystery.

“Alison, stop, please. Let’s just go, we need to go,” Brynn urged, her voice desperate. I nodded my head, convincing myself it was the right thing to do. I bid farewell to Iris and Coral and promised I would come back again sometime soon.

“Al, bite your tongue,” Halden rebuked as we walked out of the building, the sun was starting to set.

“Shut up, Halden. Why don’t you stop biting your tongue and stand up for yourself and others for once?” Again, Brynn and Emily were next to us, but this time, they weren’t going to leave. They shouldn’t leave. They are grown, mature teenagers, they should stand up for what they believe in.

“Yeah, Halden, you never defend us!” Emily shot.

“Because he doesn’t want to get us killed!” Brynn shot back. I heard a snap in the midst of everyone talking, and turned around to see the same man, following us. Before I could say a word, he pulled a tree from the ground and slowly but surely it was coming to hit us. I screamed and terror flooded over me, because of me, everyone was going to die. Halden turned and saw the tree, he lifted up his hands and tried to fight back. Air blasted through our hair and shot at the tree, slowing it down.

“Run!” Halden yelled, and Emily and Brynn obeyed, “Alexa, go!” he yelled, I didn’t move, “Alexa! Please,” his voice was getting weaker, and Emily pleaded with me to leave.

I must have a power, I must have a power too. What is it…?

“Alexa, go!” he screeched so loudly I thought my eardrums were going to burst. The tree was close to us now, the man laughing happily.

“No, Halden you go,” I knew Halden couldn’t fight it.

It was my fault. My fault that this happened. My fault that I talked back. My fault that I came back. I mustered up all the courage I had left and pushed Halden away, embracing for the impact of the tree. I hurled to the ground, falling to the ground crying, my death seconds away from me. I could hear the man’s insane laugh ringing in my head, ringing, ringing, and then, black was all I’ve ever know.

I sprang awake, my body flying to the air as I remembered what happened. The tree, the man, Halden, was I in heaven? No, I was on a concrete ground. I looked up and saw a dead man on the floor, and a tree in his skull.

“Al?” I heard Brynn cry and fall over me, bringing me to the ground again. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head to see Halden and Emily running to me, Brynn crying hysterically, and blood flowing on the floor.

“What happened?” I asked frantically.

“I’ll tell you later,” Halden said quickly.

“No, no you’re not. You’re telling me now, right now,” my temper was boiling, and ready to explode.

“Alison…”

“Halden!”

“Okay, okay,” Halden said as he rolled his eyes.

“Boom!” Emily interrupted and Halden and I jumped in surprise, “big burst of light flashed and then air and then that happened,” Emily pointed to the man.

“How?” I, well more like interrogated.

“Brynn?” Emily and Halden both said at the same time.

“You did that?” I stared at Brynn.

“No, you did,” Brynn said shocked, not expecting us to call on her.

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did,” Brynn answered.

“No, I didn’t!” I replied, louder than I intended.

“Why are you upset at me? I was just telling you that you did something! Can you chill, my god. I just told you that I didn’t make the light, and you did. I know, because I can see through intense light, and you moved out your palms and light exploded from them, okay. So calm down, Alison, it was you,” Brynn retorted. I immediately felt bad for yelling at her,

“Sorry, I get upset sometimes and can’t control myself,” she just laughed it off, “was my power always light?”

Halden hesitated, “yeah…”

“You know I know you’re lying, right,” I scoffed.

“Sorry,” was all Halden managed to say.

“Cool, I don’t care. Halden, just stop trying to protect me, just stop,” and that was all I could say, because I was just so exhausted, “can we go, let’s go home.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Emily blurted, “seriously if you didn’t say that soon enough, I would’ve punched Halden.”

“Hey, shut up,” Halden fired.

“Ooh, feisty,” Emily mocked. I looked over to see why Brynn was always so quiet, and saw her jumbled up in all her own thoughts. I wonder what’s going on in her head, I thought to myself.

“Emily, let’s just go,” Halden pleaded.

“Emily, let’s just go,” Emily mocked.

“Stop.”

“Stop,” Emily repeated.

“Emily, please, we’re all tired, just stop.”

“No you,” Emily laughed to herself .

Halden opened his mouth but I talked over him, “Okay, great, we’re all tired, let’s go,” I stammered.

“Whatever,” they both said.

“Brynn?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure, we can go,” she smiled quickly.

“Cars over there, let’s go,” and I led them to the car.  

It was a --to say the least-- a very awkward car ride back home. Emily and Halden refused to talk to each other, and I tried and failed, to make small talk with Brynn.

“When are we going back?” I asked, trying to break the silence again.

“I don’t know, maybe Sunday?” Halden replied.

“We have church Sunday,” Emily jotted in. I was starting to understand Emily’s personality, and it was very interesting.

“Who cares?” Halden rolled his eyes.

“Mom did,” Brynn limited, “mom cared about church…” it was silent again.

“Mom’s dead, Brynn,” Emily sneered, “no one else cares about church,” I turned to see Brynn hold back her tears, “she’s isn’t coming back.”

“Emily, stop!” Halden interjected, “you’re so mean, stop. Brynn, we’ll go to the Coop after.”

“Okay,” Brynn stated and started to bite her lower lip, fidgeting with her fingers and feet. I put my hand on her lap sympathetically and she pushed it away.

“What day is today?”

“Tuesday.”

“Oh, what do during the week?”

“Come to my room at like eight,” Halden opened the garage and Brynn waited anxiously to get out.

“Why?”

“Just because we need to talk.”

“Okay,” I said as we all got out of the car.

I ran upstairs to my room and saw Melody lying on my bed, “you know this is my room, right?” I told Melody as I turned on my lights.

Her body shot up from my bed, I could see her small eyes squinting to see who I was. I looked closely at her and saw that tears crusted over her cheeks and eyes, “are you okay?” I asked and she nodded instantly. Melody quickly went off of my bed and sat in the chairs next to the window.

“Do you have a room?” I asked half heartedly as I looked at the clock, seven-forty-three.

She shook her head no.

“They gave you my room?” she nodded.

“Did, did they adopt you?” she nodded again, smiling this time.

“Well, where did you sleep when I was in my room before?” she pointed to the floor and then the bed, “you slept on the floor?” I marvelled.

“Both,” Melody said quietly. I nodded to her, understanding what she said. I think before there was a mat on the floor, no, I remember, remember. I remember?

“Did you sleep on a mat on the floor?” she nodded her head vigorously. Did I remember something?

“What’s that note overthere?” I asked. In the corner of my room, near the window, was a small letter. It had a bright red colored bow, and it was inside a worn-down white envelope.

She shrugged and handed it to me, eager to see what was inside. I laughed, “let’s go to my bed,” I said, smiling at her. She put both of her hands up to make a thumbs up and I rolled my eyes.

“Open it,” Melody asked, her voice was timid, anxious.

“Did you see it come in?” she shook her head, frowning, and then made a sad face, saying, sorry?

“It’s okay,” I replied, opening the letter.

It was ripped out from a different book. It was handwritten. It was something that I wished I never saw…

Melody sat anxiously, sitting on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling down, and I fidget with the letter, too nervous to read it. Sure, the handwriting was beautiful, but what it said, wasn’t.

April 23, 329

They say if I go to The Recognition I’ll forget everything, so they said to write things down, so here I am. Well, they said to just write basic info, so, I’m Alexa Elicaran Skye. My middle name means fallen angel, and to be honest, I’m falling, and I’m falling hard. I’m eighteen and I’m falling in love with Alexander Emerson White too much, and yes, we’re dating. I love my family also, besides my dad and mom, don’t forget that. Halden was being really annoying today, but I need to remember that he’s trying, I didn’t know that mom was still heavy on his chest… Well, hi future self, don’t forget anything, please. I need to do this, I need to fight, I don’t have a choice. And, Alexa, if I do forget, if I don’t complete the mission, THAT BY THE WAY MIGHT NOT EVEN BE FOR ME, everyone will die, I have too.

I felt my breathing shorten and Melody’s arm wrapped around my back, and before I knew it, I was crying, again. Where was my dad? What do I have to do? Why don’t I remember? Who put this here? Why me? Why me…?

“It’s okay…” Melody is quite good at calming me down, and by the time it was eight, I was sob-free and heading to Halden’s room, my letter on my desk. Except, I didn’t know where his room was. God, this day was just so exhausting.

I finally saw Emily walk past me in pink pajama pants and a loose white top, “Halden’s room?” she pointed to the room right of mine, great, he’s right next to me.

As I walked into Halden’s room I heard him say, “you’re late,” his room was shaded a light gray, and had white molding on the walls. It was by far the prettiest room in the house, and probably the master bedroom. The room had one queen sized bed, a sofa and table, one bathroom, a walk-in-closet, and a bathroom. Lucky, I thought to myself.

I rolled my eyes, “I’m sorry, king,” I remarked sarcastically.

He smiled, “sit down,” he motioned to a seat in the sofa next to him.

“What are we talking about?”

“What we need to talk about, I’m done hiding things. You need to do this.”

“Do what?” I sat down next to Halden.

“Well first, the basics. What are your questions?”

“What is my mission or whatever? What are my powers? Is this a joke? Why do I hate dad? Where is dad? What’s my middle name? Was I-I dating Alex? Why’s Melody here?” Those where my basic questions. I saw Halden take out a small notebook and write down everything I told him.

“We’ll talk about the mission and powers and middle name later. You and dad never had a good relationship, he would hit you and,” Halden paused, “I don’t know, but he would things to you,” my head hurts, damn.

“Allen, stop,” my voice was quiet and timid. I was scared,

He walked towards me, his steps hitting the floor hard. Allen pushed me up against the wall, and I could smell the liquor in his breath, “mom left because of you,” he slapped me across the face, and I fell down, gripping my cheek. Tears stained my face, and my blue eyes were desperate for help.

“Stop…” he punched my right eye, and I felt it begin to swell.

“Leave, no one wants you here,” Allen gripped my neck, and he started to choke me. I screamed and my vision started to go black. My lungs were failing to provide me with air, his nails digging into my neck. I gasped for air, choking on my own saliva, my eyes rolling back into my skull. I gasped for breath one last time, my brain was starting to shut down, I could feel it-- failing me. I see spots in my vision.

“Stop!” I heard someone yell from the end of the room, and Allen threw my body back on the ground. I lay there on the floor, I see ground, I feel ground. Allen kicked my stomach, but I refused to cry out, I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

“Stop!” I opened my eyes, my vision blurry and white spots everywhere. I saw Halden running to me, running to me, running to me.

“Alison? Alexa? Hey?!” I gasped for breath, waking up from my flashback.

“Halden, thank you,” I said, greedily taking all the air around me.

“Are you okay? Oh my god Alison, you scared me. What happened?”

“Flashback,” I said, “dad -- Allen -- was choking me, you saved me,” his eyes softened and I smiled, “thanks.”

“I remember that day, you passed out after. Allen ran away from our house after that.”

“Why did I just take it? I don’t understand why I didn’t just fight back, I could’ve,” If it was now, I would fight back.

“Because if he didn’t do that to you, he would’ve done it to Brynn, and you wouldn’t ever let him do that. So instead, you took it.”

“Why not Emily?”

“He actually loved Emily,” why Emily. There has to be a reason, there always is.

“Why?”

“No one knows,” there has to be a reason, “also, yes, you were dating Alex. Alex went into The Recognition to get you out.”

“Really?” he would do that? Alex would, for me.

“He went there before, and he never forgot anything, it was weird. His brother, Lucas, always forgot though.”

“I think I met them actually. Alex and Lucas were fighting. But, inside The Recognition their names were Vick and Daniel,” I wonder if Lucas and Alex were their real names, “are their real names Alex and Lucas?”

“Yeah, Lucas always thinks it changes every time, but we remind him. It’s actually quite complicated, in the Coop they call you by your real name, and in Society, they call you by your staged name. Usually though, people don’t come back, Alexa. That’s why everyone was so surprised to see you.”

“They don’t come back,” my eyes widened in surprise, “what happens to them? What’s going to happen to Alex…
“No, Alex will come back, I know he will. Alex is my best friend, and he went to The Recognition so many times, there’s no way he can’t make it,” Halden sounded determined, so I trusted him. I trusted him…

“Okay, what about my other questions? What about the mission?” Halden sighed, his lips forced a fake smile.

“Alexa, are you sure you want to-”

“Yes. Yes, Halden.”

“Alexa, when you found out about the mission, you were so stressed. Y-You weren’t the same, I don’t want to do this to you again. It’s so hard, I know you don’t understand, I know you think I’m annoying, but it’s so hard, I might crush you, again.”

“Halden, it’s going to be okay. You’re not annoying, I do remember you, and I remember you because I loved you so much,” I tried to assure.

“Okay,” he took a deep breath, “There’s this nation, no, I’m not starting this right. Shit, okay, so you know how people think that we’re ruled by Society, or like the government?” I nodded slowly, “well, we’re not, we’re ruled by a king and queen. We’ve been lied to, and only those in high power found out, but then it leaked into the Coop. There is a teacher in the Coop who explained it. You know what, can you wait a bit for it?”

“What? The mission? Your kidding right?” I laughed jokingly, eyeing him carefully.

“No, seriously, just because I could see the teacher and he could explain it a lot better than me. I might say it wrong and give you the wrong idea,” more waiting. I know I’ve only been waiting for a day, but it’s felt like so long.

“Do I have too? Won’t Emily and Brynn have to go too?”

“No, they’ll be studying.”

“How do you study?”

“You really don’t remember anything,”I took a sharp breath in.

“I’m sorry, sorry,” he said quickly, rolling his eyes.

I laughed it off quickly, “We have scribes in our rooms and each year we can pick a different thing to learn, or like topic to learn, and we watch videos on it and then take tests. We also have a mandatory Coding II class, it’s really stressful, but if you always paid attention, it shouldn’t be too hard. You were, actually really good at coding, like really really good. You got second place in Society’s Senior High program!”

“Oh, that’s cool,” we talked for along time, I just caught up on his relationships and friends. He was dating a girl named Jade Charis Rose, and her middle name meant grace and beauty, d a m n. He recently had some drama with a boy named Zack Losey, and they stopped being friends. But there was one thing I learned, that I wished I never forgot.

“Does Melody have powers?” I asked.

“Hell no, she doesn’t have like anything,” he laughed.

“Stop, that’s mean.”

“It’s the truth,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Can I tell her about it?”

His eyes went wide, “don’t you dare.”

“Why not? What’s so bad?”

“If anyone finds out about us, Al, we’re over,” he made a cutting sign with his hand.

“Oh okay,” I paused, “Why does Brynn like never fight with you guys?”

“You don’t remember do you…?”

“No… what is it?”

“Well, recently they have been changing the name of it, but usually people call it depression.”

“Brynn’s depressed?” She wouldn't be, she doesn’t act like it at all. No, Brynn’s fine, she can’t be, “how?”

“You found out, Alison. She told you, and you told me,” Brynn told me. It took a second to come back, but this was a memory I needed.

“Brynn?” I called her name softly, as if she would break from the noise.

“I can’t Alexa,” Brynn ran up to me, and I embraced her in a hug, as if I could squeeze out her problems.

“What’s wrong Brynn,” I soothed.

“I’m scared, Alexa. Don’t do this, I can’t lose you too. I can’t lose anything, please,” her voice was desperate, “I’m so scared.”

“Of what, of what Brynn? I’m here, I’m alive, you’re alive, and we’re okay.”

“No, I’m not okay. Alexa, I think there’s something wrong with me, seriously,” Bryn stared at me, her eyes wild and untamed.

“What’s wrong Brynn?” I consoled, worried. I looked scared myself.

“Something’s wrong with me Alexa,” she let go of me, tears flying loosley from her eyes.

“What is it Brynn?”

“I think I’m depressed,” Brynn blurted, like a long held secret she couldn’t hold any longer.

“Brynn, we all have bad times,” she couldn’t really be. My eyes scanned through the room while my brain scanned through my memories, searching for signs.

“No, Alexa, this is serious,” I tried taking her hand but she threw mine away, “i’m not going to be able to do this…”

“Brynn. I love you, and I know you’re scared. I now understand this is serious, you should’ve told us earlier, we could’ve brought you to a doctor.”

“No! No doctor! I need to do this alone!” force filled her voice.

“Okay, I understand.”

“Alexa, I’m scared. What, what if I don’t make it…?”

“Brynn, trust me, I’m scared too, but we’ll make it, together,” I promised that to myself, I was going to make it, she was going to make it.

“It’s so hard, Alexa, it’s so hard.”

“Don’t let it get to you, Brynn. Don’t let the world get to you,” don’t let it get to you Alexa.

“I’m trying.”

“I know you are Brynn,” I looked her straight in the eye, “are you sure you can do this?”

“Yes,” she nodded, her voice was certain.

“It’s okay Brynn, let it go, let everything go,” I said.

“I can’t let go Alexa, so I remember, I have to remember; because memories are the only things I have left,” god damn that was hard.

“Brynn, don’t carry it all on your shoulders,” she surprised me in a big hug, whispering,

“Alexa, if you ever go to The Recognition, I’ll just die. If you forget me, I’ll die, don’t forget me, okay?”

“I promise,” I whispered, “I promise....”

“Don’t forget me, I can’t lose you too…”

“Brynn!” I yelled as I opened my eyes, “I need to go to Brynn.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Brynn, I need to go. Thanks for talking to me, we’ll go to the Coop tomorrow,” I said as I ran out of the room.

“Girls,” I heard him mutter behind me.

I ran past my room and into Brynn and Emily’s shared room, “Brynn, we need to talk,” I was out of breath, and probably sounded crazy, because Brynn gave me the side eye, “Brynn, please.”

“Okay,” she was really confused, you could tell by the sound of her voice, “I’ll be out in a sec’, just, um, wait outside,” she had on short light-pink shorts with white lines running through them and a cropped gray top.

After a few minutes, she greeted me outside her door, “what’s up?” she asked, her brown hair flowy down in waves behind her.

“I broke my promise. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Brynn,” she looked at me like I was insane.

“What, are you talking about?” she furrowed her eyebrows together, trying to make some sense of what I was saying,

“Remember that day, you told me you’re depressed?”

“Shut it, could you of said it any louder?” she stammered, “and how the hell did you know? I’m fine now, but like, how do you know?”

“You, you don’t remember?”

“No?” How? How? How!

“No,” I almost screamed, “no-no-no-no-no-no-no,” I repeated frantically, “you remember! You remember!”

“Alexa, are you okay? I don’t remember,” she hissed, “now, seriously, I’m fine now, so just leave me alone.”

“Brynn!” I grabbed her hand, frantic.

“Let go of me!” she sneered, “what did they do to you?” Brynn pushed me out of the way of her door.

“What did they do to you…” one tear spilled over the side of my eye, leaving my bottom lip quivering. I shook her once, “Remember!”

“Stop, what’s your problem?” she snapped, “get off of me!” and Brynn walked back into her room, shutting the door in front of me.

I ran back to my room, replaying what just happened. Had I remembered the wrong thing? Was my memory not correct? No, it couldn’t be. Brynn forgot. Brynn really, actually, literally forgot.

I slapped back on the lights in my room to see Melody crashed on my bed. I sighed, slightly annoyed, and covered her with a blanket. I wondered what her story was. I wondered why she didn’t like to talk, more so, why she didn’t talk.

I walked back to Halden’s room. He was lying in his bed, looking at his scribe, scrolling up and down.

“Jesus, Al,” he jumped when he saw me.

“Sorry,” I laughed, “Melody’s in my bed, can you give me like two blankets?” he rolled his eyes, as if Melody shouldn’t even be on a bed.

“Sure, they’re in the closet to the right,” he pointed to a small white door.

“Oh, ‘kay, thanks,” I smiled.

I ran into the walk-in-closet and grabbed two gray blankets that matched Halden’s room, and walked out.

“You could just kick her off your bed your bed if you want,” he said on my way out.

“What do you have against Melody?”

“Nothing, just, she doesn’t even talk,” he jabbed, “also, she takes up our money, I don’t know why we adopted her.”

“You’re so mean to her, whatever, good night,” I mumbled, trying to end the conversation.

“Okay, ‘night,” he called on my way out.

I walked back in my room and took out the letter from my desk and quickly changed my clothes into some short blue shorts and a tight black-tee from my drawers and hurried to my bed.

March 2, 329

Hey, Alexa. Here is some more basic facts about me. My favorite color is mint green, I love coding, and don’t ever mean what I say unless I promise things. Today, Alex and I were together all morning, and we may of like made out. I trained with Sr. Regal, he’s a stupid teacher by the way. I worked on the fire aspect of my powers, and it was so hard, I hate it. I don’t want to do this anymore, I don’t want to be Alexa Skye. Help. I can’t do this, I need to get away, this is too scary, too much pressure. People are actually watching me, all the time, they’re waiting, they’re anxious. If I don’t do this, everyone’s going to die, but I don’t want to do die. I’m in literal crisis mode. This is like only supposed to happen in movies god damn it. Do I go on this suicide mission, or do I take the chance of everyone dying and letting them down. I don’t know, but I hope I made the right one.

I wish I could understand this. Who told me to write these letters? Why was someone giving them to me? Do I still like Alex? Can you have more than one power? Questions zoomed through my head, one after another, until I grew too tired. I turned off my lights and lay down in my blanket, falling asleep quickly.

I woke up to a scream. I flew up out of shock and looked around. I saw Melody on my bed, crying.

I groaned to myself, probably out of annoyance, and forced myself up to her. I was tired, but I still said, “Are you okay?”

“Sorry, bad dream,” she replied through her cries. I threw both my arms around her, thinking if I hugged her tight enough all her problems will just fly away.

“What was it about?” for a long time, she didn’t reply.

“My parents. My real parents…” I wonder what they were like. Now, I was awake and alert, listening intently.

“Do you remember them?”

“Sadly.”

“Melody?” I asked

“Yes?” she responded.

“Why don’t you talk to Halden or the girls?”

“I don’t like men,” she spat, it was short, simple, and cold, “Emily thinks she’s better than me and Brynn just doesn’t like me.”

Sighing I reassured her, “they do like you, Melody. I love you Melody. Even if no one else loves you, I love you.”

“Thanks,” she said halfheartedly.

“Do you have a power?” I couldn’t help it. I blurted it out.

She hesitated for seconds, thinking, “no,” she said cautiously.

She does. Melody has powers. I don’t know for sure, but I feel like she does; there’s something inside of me, screaming that she does. If she didn’t wouldn’t she also ask what I was talking about, she would’ve been confused. But she just said no; maybe she didn’t. Maybe Melody just didn’t want to talk to me. This is driving me crazy.

“Melody Day,” Melody looked at me, this time, more focused, “you can trust me. Do you have powers?”

She looked at me for another few seconds, wandering up into her thoughts, until she whispered, “I can’t trust anyone,” and got off my bed onto the floor, leaving me alone.

Why the heck were things so confusing here? Why didn’t Brynn remember what I did? Why doesn’t Melody trust me? Why does our dad love Emily more than all of us? Questions, that I wished were never answered…