Come Back to Me
Rifiuto: Non Miriena
Summary: After an accident takes her memory, Elphaba Thropp finds herself in sea of strangers, trying to live the life of a college student that she doesn't remember living, hanging out with people who called themselves her friends, and becoming involved with a boy she doesn't remember liking, doesn't remember kissing, doesn't remember getting engaged to. So her friends take it upon themselves to help her bring her memory back. But then they discover that she will never regain her memory. So they decide to do all they can to help her live her new life, always with the promise that- though she isn't the girl they knew before the accident- she can always come back to them.
Colwen Grounds, Nest Hardings, Munchkinland
"Fabala? What are you reading?"
The girl looked up from her book. She lay on the sofa, truly relaxed for once in her twelve years. Her younger sister sat on the floor beside her, sucking hot tea through a straw as they warmed by the fire. Snow drifted to the ground outside the living room's bay window, and the sisters were getting along for once. The older girl sat up, closing her book. She turned it over and let the younger girl read the back cover.
"So... the girl loses her memory?"
"And she has to rebuild her life. From the ground up."
The younger girl shuddered.
"It sounds scary."
"I don't know if it'd be-"
"Girls, your aunt's here." Both looked up. Their mother stood in the doorway, threading an earring in. She tossed her mahogany curls and joined her daughters, helping the younger girl to her feet. "Fabala, come on. Sophelia's here."
Reluctantly, the older girl set her book on the coffee table and stood, tightening her ponytail. She let her mother wrap her arm around her shoulders and guide her from the room.
"There are my two favorite nieces!"
"We're you're only nieces." She muttered as her sister wobbily made her way towards her aunt, who enveloped her in a tight hug.
"Elphaba be nice." Her mother scolded gently. "You're aunt comes down from the City once a year, when she can. Enjoy her. You used to love when Sophelia came down to visit. Cherish this visit. You never know when you'll see her again."
The girl swallowed quickly before putting a smile on her face.
"There's my little silk jade! Look at you! The last time I saw you you were knee-high!" Her aunt hurried over and wrapped the girl in a tight hug, to which the girl half-heartedly returned. "How are you doing, Bala?" She asked, pulling away to look at her niece. The girl smiled.
"Good. I'm doing good, Aunt Sophelia."
"Frex is in the parlor. Soph, are you hungry-"
"I ate already, but thank you, Lana." Her sister nodded, understanding. "Shall we join Frex for coffee?"
The two women led the girls into the parlor and spent the next two hours catching up. The girls slipped up to bed about nine. So it was around midnight when the bedroom door opened and her aunt slipped inside.
"I came in to say good night." The girl looked up from her book.
"Good night." But her aunt didn't go. Instead, she went to the bed and settled on the edge.
"So, what's up?" Her niece shrugged.
"Nothing much." She watched her aunt's eyebrows rise in disbelief.
"Nothing? Nothing at all?" A nod. "Come on, Bala, you can trust me." The girl didn't respond, instead she returned to her reading. After a moment, the older woman glanced at the book and then tilted it up to read the back. "You're reading a book about amnesia?" She nodded. "Is it good?"
"Yeah. It's really good." The younger girl bit her lip. "Could you imagine losing your memory in an accident? Never regaining it, and having to reinvent yourself all over again? Meet people you once knew all over again? How scary would that be?"
"It would be scary, but if you surrounded yourself with the right people, it'd turn out all right."
"But... how? You wouldn't remember anything or anyone. How would that be all right?" Her niece asked, looking up at her. She leaned back against the headboard.
"Well, for one, all the bad things that happened to you would never have happened. You'd have a clean slate. And... you'd create new memories. For your new life. And... maybe even fall in love with someone you never thought you'd fall in love with."
The girl wrinkled her nose.
"But... stuff like this doesn't happen in real life. Only in books. Never in real life."
Her aunt raised an eyebrow. "You'd be surprised." Then, she leaned over and kissed the girl's forehead. "Goodnight, Bala. Sweet dreams."
She leaned back against the headboard, watching her aunt go to the door. She spoke up as the door closed behind her aunt.
"Goodnight."