VI. Of Amnesia, Interrogatories, and Returning Home.
A Forest
The first thing Amber noticed when she opened her eyes were the birds.
Lots of black birds, flying too high to know what were their species. She kept on watching them thinking if they were flying right above her in circles or was the world that was spinning too fast?
That question made her realize the second thing: her head was aching like someone had hit it with a hammer and it got worse when she got up from the ground.
“Where the am I?” Amber thought as she looked at her surroundings. It was a pretty and lively forest; with a soft chilling breeze and some animal noises from afar but nothing to worry much in the moment.
Amber tried to recall how she gotten in there but she didn’t remember a thing.
Nothing.
Not a single thing.
What happened yesterday was blank, like the day before and the past week, blank, blank and blank. Everything was a big blank board in Amber’s mind.
Fear quickly managed to run throughout her body. The girl was completely sure that waking up in a forest not remembering what happened in the past days wasn’t something normal to occur. She forced her mind to remember more but the only result was her headache getting stronger.
Amber groaned and took three deep breaths trying to regain her calmness but when she heard the sound of old fallen leaves being stepped on her heartbeat increased again and she decided to leave the forest immediately.
Amber ran as fast as possible trying to escape the trees’ reach, leaving a pair of dark orbs to observe her from distance.
“Tell us once again, Ms. Liu. You don’t remember anything from the past 6 months?” The police officer asked her.
“No, I don’t. Not a single thing.” She replied with annoyance just as clear in her voice as doubt was in his. Amber had managed to direct herself to her house after leaving the forest, there her sister kindly told her that she was missing for 6 months and 2 weeks and her mother kindly called the police. Because if your daughter suddenly appears after 6 months missing, you should call the cops in the same moment. No hi or where you've been? Just call the cops. Liu logic. So that was basically how she was in this small cold room being interrogated by a doubtful police man named Zhang Yixing.
“Are you sure?” The officer, that didn’t seem to have more than 30 years old, asked once again looking straight into her eyes.
“Yes, I am.” She confirmed letting out a deep sigh. The man spent the last hour trying to get anything from her disappearing period but the so far it had been useless due her memory loss.
“Well, if you want to, I can send you to a doctor to examine you later and…” He started suggesting but soon took notice of the younger one’s tiredness.
“No, thank you. I just want to go home and sleep.”Amber didn’t need any doctors and their creepy machines she just needed her bed and her warm pillow. “If I remember anything I’ll tell you guys.”
“Glad you want to cooperate, but I still have a few more questions.” And hearing that she let out another heavy sigh while the man put four photos in front of her. There was a girl in each photo, each one of them completely different from each other. They all seemed strangely familiar to Amber even though she was sure that she had never met any of them.
“Do you know or have ever seen any of these girls?” Officer Yixing questioned with a tint of hope in his voice.
“No.” But something inside of her tingled for a yes. “Who are they?”
“Hey, I make the questions here, Lady.” Yixing scolded her softly and looked once again to the pictures. “They’re girls that disappeared in the same period and the same area that you did.”
“This one is the eldest and the first to disappear, Song Qian, a ballerina that has just starred in a big play. The next one is a Korean girl named Park SunYoung, a swimming idol that came to Qingdao to spend the summer vacation. This is another Korean girl, called Choi JinRi, the blind heir of the powerful Choi Company that is setting a filial in the area. And the last one is Krystal Jung, a half Korean, half American girl that was living in Qingdao for while thanks to the fact that her parents are international ambassadors.” He explained while pointing to each girl’s photo.
To Amber it all looked familiar, the faces, the names, ballet, swimming, blindness, half Korean and half American, but she couldn’t really pinpoint if she knew those girls or not. She looked up and met with the expecting expression of officer Yixing but she just shrugged and said:
“I have never seen any of them in my whole life.” And Pinocchio was back to lying.
Amber was in home now. No, here is a correction. Amber was in her mother’s house now. In the moment she was going from side to side in her own bed. If this is her home why does it feels so uncomfortable and strange? Sure she knew that house very well, but it was like everything felt out of place. Or maybe you’re the one that changed.
She turned around as if turning her face away from those thoughts and attempted to sleep once again.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Amber heard her sister asking.
“I’ve came to see my beautiful girlfriend Jackie.” A male voice said and Amber’s eyes doubled size.
“Yeah, thanks for the compliment, Zhou Mi but today is not really a good day.” Jackie answered while Amber was still digesting the fact that her sister got a boyfriend in her absence.
“Why?” Zhou Mi questioned.
“Because my young sister appeared from nowhere without a single trace of what happened to her.” Jackie said lowering her voice by each word still Amber got it all.
“Oh? How is she?” He asked also lowering his voice.
“I don’t know. She’s acting a little bit weird, but I think I would act the same way if I was in her place. Or if I had been to wherever she had been for the past 6 months.” Jackie rambled on ending everything with a deep sigh.
“Oh… I see.” ZhouMi said sounding like he was sincerely worried “Let me guess that you didn’t tell her about me, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. This is why you should leave now.”
“Okay, see you later and I love you.”
“I love you too.”
And after that Amber was left with her thoughts.
At first she felt betrayed that even without her, her sister continued with her life but then after a little more reflection she realized how selfish she was being and slapped herself mentally. The world doesn’t stop spinning because of you, you moron.
Amber kicked a stone to the pavement.
And another one.
She kept kicking stones until there were enough to make a car accident happen. But she didn’t care. Her mind was elsewhere then. Amber was thinking about the dream she had last night. It took her a lot of time to sleep and when she finally did it, blurry images of two girls running in the woods, playfully screaming and calling her name-Come get us, Amber gege!- she chased for them but they seemed intangible for her –Is that the fastest you can go, Amber?- a male voice ringed from behind and it motivated her to run faster which was what she did, and when she finally reached the pair melodic laughter hit her ears and she looked up but when she was about to see their faces, she woke up feeling even more tired than when she lay on the bed.
She was starting to consider the possibility of having a doctor checking her up, but at the same time something in her insides screamed that for her protection and for the protection of those girls she should just keep quiet about those dreams and so she did.
“Are you sure you don’t remember anything?” Amber knew that in the moment she got back in the small cold room that Qingdao police used for their interrogatories that the last experience she had in there would repeat all over again.
“I’m sure I don’t remember anything.”She lied, because it has been a week since she appeared and every night she had dreams about those girls and other people, all those dreams in the woods.
“Not a single detail?” Officer Yixing tried.
“No, not a single one.” She stated. “The only thing I remember is sleeping in my bed one night and then waking up in a forest with a killing headache.”
“And no single memory of what happened in the last 6 months?”
“Exactly.” The female confirmed, a little bit too happy that the male finally understood her. “I didn’t even know that 6 months had passed until my sister told me.”
“Hmm…” He mumbled in response. “You still don’t want to see a doctor, right?”
“Correct.”
“Then we’re done for today, Ms. Liu.” He said getting up and bowing to her. “Thanks for your cooperation.”
Amber didn’t reply, just stood up and left. She knew that the officer had said the last line as a habit not because she actually cooperated or something but what could she tell them? Hey I’ve been dreaming about people living in the woods happily, you guys should get a team and check that out. Just the thought of it made her shiver so she did something that she was quite used to: Lying.
But here is the thing: lying wasn’t such an easy action for her to do like it was before. Her heartbeat increased, sweat started to form in her forehead and painful sting would happen in her stomach every time a lie would leave her lips. That should never happen to a great liar like her, never.
Maybe you did changed.
Once again she pushed that annoying little voice that kept repeating that she changed to the back of her mind.
The green leaves that were slowly becoming orange with the approach of autumn greeted her as she entered more and more in the forest, Amber felt the home-like feeling she was supposed to feel when she was in her mother’s house. It was weird to admit but after leaving the police station Amber felt the need to see what was in the forest that was haunting her dreams and life so badly.
“I must admit that I thought you’d never come back.” A deep male voice said getting her out of her thoughts and she recognized it immediately, having all the past memories suddenly flooding her mind.
“Kris.” She breathed out after a while.
“Amber.” He replied with the slightest of the smiles and she took the time to admire his face, his blondish brown hair that reminded her of a lion’s mane, the big dark eyes that seemed to see right through her soul, the sharp thin nose and the small mouth with plump pink lips.
“Have you enjoyed this… hm… vacation?” He questioned her in teasing tone despite his serious expression.
“I wouldn’t call it a vacation.” Amber retorted looking down.
“How should I call it then?” Kris tilted his head to her slightly curious.
“Period the young lady was missing.” Amber recalled what some of the police called her 6-months absence.
“That’s too technical for me, sorry.” He stopped leaning in the tree and got a few steps closer to her. “So are you ready to go home now?”
“You talk like my sister did me when I was five and playing in swings for 4 hours nonstop.” She blurted out with her gaze looking everywhere but his.
“It’s almost the same thing, but this time you spend a week playing nonstop.” Amber kept silent and so did he.
“So?” He sighed after 5 minutes of an awkward silence.
“I don’t know…” She mumbled.
“You don’t know what?” His patience was starting to run out.
“Where’s my home.” She answered finally looking up and meeting with his eyes.
“Come and I’ll show you.” He turned around and motioned to her follow him.
“Whenever I want to be alone I come here.” Kris stated settling himself down in loft’s floor, Amber imitated his action laying right beside him facing a big stained glass that gave a clear vision of both the living room and the kitchen.
“So you basically creep in the roof to relax?” Amber asked a little annoyed, he had promised her answers but so far all that she got was a scratched elbow and a ripped shirt in the many attempts of getting in the roof without calling much attention.
“I wouldn’t call it creeping. It’s observing.” He replied.
“It works the same.” She scoffed and lightly punched him making Kris laugh and bringing the butterflies in Amber’s stomach to life.
“Shut up, you idiot and just observe.” Kris whispered still chuckling.
“Did you mean creep?” she snorted in a whisper and obeyed to his command.
In the Kitchen she could see Victoria (Song Qian?) was in the kitchen with KyungSoo making what was probably going to be their afternoon snack or an early dinner (but wouldn’t she prefer to be getting ready for a performance now instead?) but the look on her face told otherwise and when Tao and Luna(Park SunYoung?) tried to snatch some pieces of the dishes the cooking pair just nagged like a bunch of old ladies and all break out in laughter as the stealing pair did their escape with some food bits in hands.
Amber averted her attention to the voice reciting in the living room that she recognized as SooJung’s (Krystal Jung’s?) voice –And Gaston said to Belle: How can you read this? There are no pictures! But the lady quickly replied: Well, some people use their imagination. – reading her favorite book the Beauty and The Beast for what Amber was sure that was the 8th time but still she managed to grab JongIn’s and Sulli(Choi JinRi?)’s attention seeing that both were sat down by each of the reading girl’s side, eagerly listening to every word said, but not everyone was like that, lazy SeHun was resting his head in Sulli’s head looking even more sleepy than he usually would and Amber thought that was probably a result of SooJung’s rhythmic reading mixed with the caresses Sulli was making with his platinum hair.
Amber took a deep breath. The scene didn’t seem strange for her, away from it, everything looked warm, fuzzy and familiar. If she was there she would definitely be throwing random objects at Kris or teasing SooJung for reading the same story again and again, and doing the same with Sulli and JongIn for managing to listen like they didn’t knew the end of it. She smiled bitterly at that thought why could she see herself here but not in her own house?
“You see there’s something missing here right?” Kris said sounding a little bit too close to her liking. “There’s a silly tomboy running around, teasing everyone and getting on my nerves missing.” He smirked and she was sure that he was too close to her liking. Or maybe it was just his words that made her heart beat faster like that. Who knows.
What Amber did know is that she finally found what she never had.
An escape. A home. A family. A place in the world.
She grinned, trying not to cry in front of the taller man and quickly got up on her feet.
“Wait there, Miss.” He said mimicking her action but staying a little bit leaned due his big stature. “You don’t think you’re going to get there like ‘Hey, I’m back. Where’s the food?’ right?”
“Actually I do.”
“Tsk. You’re lucky you have me to think about things.” He scoffed and lightly punched her, getting a little revenge from before. “Get that big brown box there, you can say you went away to get that for us.” Kris said pointing at the said object.
“What’s inside?” She asked grabbing it.
“See for yourself.” The smirk now printed in the male’s face.
“Brand new ballerina shoes, movies, a green swimsuit, books, cute plushies and animal mascaras??” Amber checked every item in the box.
“The last one is for a small party we’ll have later.” He chuckled. “There’s one more though.”
And she realized the small being hidden in the depths of the box. “A dog's leash?”
“For the guiding dog we'll be getting for Sulli.” He explained. “You can call yourself a freelancer Santa Claus.”
“Very funny, Kris, very funny.” Amber rolled her eyes. “But thanks, I guess.”
“Ready to show them those gifts?” He asked helping her to get down safely while holding the box.
“Yes, I am.” Amber said opening the door wide open without knocking. She could do it. She was in home.
Oh. My. God.
It's done. Completely done. My heart is sinking right now because i got really involved with this fanfic it's just saksdklsdajsdalkjsdalksjadlksda IT'S LIKE KISSING MY SON GOODBYE I JUST SADJDSAJDSJDSKLKK okay let's move on. I wanted to thank you for all your support, your comments, your subscribitions, your upvotes, your advices, your everything thank you, thank you very much guys ♥♥♥ I really really appreciate it so once again thank you ♥
and well as i said in some comments replies i'm thinking about making a special chapter explaining each character, their plot, their background, their metaphors like everything that i could clearly translate to the actual fic but i'm not sure about it so i'm leaving a poll here so you guys can answer me okay? Thank you and bye ^^
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