Chapter 1. Amnesia
(Recommended background music: IOU by Annabel Jones)
Everything looked in a weird dull-red due to my cursed eyes. Intense antipathy to this world saturated every cell in me, suffocating my heart, erupting my soul. However, seemed to have been in this situation forever, I am surprisingly indifferent to anything around, including the loud and terrible screams out of intolerable pain.
Feeling someone standing behind, I turned around, and met the gaze of a handsome man. He was that kind of gentlemen with feminine beauty with every detail of his face flawlessly arranged. At that moment, his wine-colored eyes were casually focused on mine with deadly magnetism to any human girls, clearly had been staring my back for a while.
But my heart was as peaceful as dead.
"Why don't you stay and enjoy this music for a little longer?" He said those words softly with a smile down cold.
"You know, I'm kind of bored of these. Besides, I bet you must have something more interesting for our birthday, don't ya?" The corner of my mouth started to hang up when speaking the latter sentence.
Just like old friends, we lifted our hands in the same time with a tacit understanding, and I had my pale hand upon his to let him lead.
Just in a blink of an eye, I was faced with the new designs. The thing in front of me was perfectly suitable to this infernal place with that skinny body and inky skin. I could even sense that acid saliva in its lipless mouth with incredibly sharp teeth from a distance. All of a sudden, a kind of long-lost excitement rose from my chest.
"We can release them now if you want, my dear. "
"Well, I think we don't have to, brother." I grinned, "Our clients will invite them in."
……(music over)
Everything started to fade away since the last word was spoken. Thing got fuzzy, and I was pulled out from that body. Those words, those pictures and those voices just seemed to be drained from my mind. Instinctively and hurriedly, I tried to grab any piece of it, but failed. It's like I am robbed of all of the thoughts with me and there's nothing I can do to even slow down its pace.
The blizzard kept on going until I was totally lost.
Luckily, my world turned bright soon, and I woke up to the dazzling artificial light shone straight upon my eyes, which made me a little unhappy again—who turned the goddamn light on while I was asleep?
After cursing the person who turned on the lights, it occurred to me that all of the mess before was just a dream, though I was surprised by the extraordinary speed of me even forgetting what that disappointing mess was completely.
That makes sense. I mused. People are always unable to remember their dreams.
"Miss Williams?"A polite and warm voice rushed into my ear. I sat up , confused. After a brief scan of the room, I found that it was a well-made android talking.
To……me?
"Miss Williams! Are you alright?" That android talked to me in a deeper tone with concern.
I looked at it, and suddenly realized that it was supposed to be my family name.
Wait, how can others call me like that despite my own ignorance of that referring to me ?! How …… How can it happen that I can't even recall my name!
Then, a woman came in and proved my terrible speculation. "Aurora! Thank god you are awake, sleepyhead! How do you feel? Better?"
So, here comes the good news. First, l have learnt my full name now if I don't have some kind of middle name. Second, it seems that at least I have friends that care for me while I was out.
And bad news? I have forgotten all of my past experiences.
Ummm …… Well, at least I'm not mentally handicapped, and still have my intelligence after the …… uh …… unknown accident.
Frozen for a while, I looked at the woman at a loss and spoke carefully, "l …… uh …… don't think I can answer that question without my …… memories." She seemed shocked, gave a little gasp and asked powerlessly,"How much?"
I tried to recall anything about my past, but my mind was empty. "Probably Everything. But I think I'm fine despite of that …… What happened?"
She nodded slightly, pondering over my words. After a few seconds, she raised her head and asked, "Can you walk? It's dinner time. I'll tell you everything I know on the road."
I responded with a brisk jump down to the floor.
Pleasantly surprised, she smiled from her heart and started her speech as soon as she held my hand and led the way.
"My name is Elizabeth Shaw."
After sinking into Elizabeth's bed with a hesitant huff and legs folded as she instructed, I took a little bite of the strange dessert and listened carefully, face to face.
"You asked, ' Why? It sounds reliable!' Though we failed to convince him at last, you have no idea what a great encouragement it was to me."
"We have been each other's closest friends since that afternoon, after a long conversation in The Central Park. As far as I know, you are a talented ethologist and was graduated from a famous university as a doctor of psychology at the age of sixteen. However, your academic degrees didn't contribute to getting a job for you. Instead of looking for a remunerative job, you chose to devote yourself to animal protecting as a volunteer and spent eleven years with wild animals, only relying on filming documentaries for a living."
"Many people feel pity for your artistic talent. With your height more than one point eight meters and that nice figure, you could have become a celebrity and make your life easier. However, you chose the worst way to make that impossible. "
Elizabeth took a long swallow of her wine, intended to get it down quickly so that she wouldn't keep me waiting, but she got choked.
Smiled with a sigh, I hurriedly offered my glasses of water to her with the other hand patting on her back. "Oh, Ellie, you don't have to rush. "
Charlie, who had been sitting in the far end of the room, pretending to reading a magazine finally got a chance to come across, apparently annoyed by my persistence. "Ellie," he spoke softly and elongated her name with an undercurrent of indisputability "Enough. You need to get a good rest. Tomorrow's gonna be more tiring."
In a brief escape from that acute cough, Elizabeth raised her head , wanting to say something, but only to be interrupted by another cough.
"He's right, Ellie.. And I believe I will recall much more in the future. So, how about we both getting some rest and getting down to the business together tomorrow?" I spoke to her immediately in a soft voice.
I don't know why, but I felt incredibly comfortable with Elizabeth. It's not just because a favorable impression that she left, but it's something that lies deep within her that attracts me.
Suddenly, Charlie bursted into laughter, and turned his head towards me. "You ain't going anywhere, Miss." With a derisive looking on his face. "You're of no use on this dead planet!
Besides, you have just forget all you should know , right?..."
"Charlie!" Elizabeth shouted, apparently irritated.
"I will go there whatever you say."
"For what? To get knocked again? Or you just want to slow things down?"
His words were offensive, but somehow, what really made me upset was that weird and suffocating atmosphere that suddenly came near with his approach.
Something is wrong with him … or me.
It was not simply a dislike of him, but an irresistible urge to wipe him out from this world, just like throwing out a disgusting trash.
How can you even come up with it, Aurora? This is the love of Ellie's life!
Then I heard Elizabeth quarreling with Charlie, but I could no longer process the sentences, cause that stress in my chest was suffocating me to death.
"Ellie? … I'm not feeling well … I … I will be fine. Uh … I guess … I just need some time to … to … "
I ran out of that room to get away from Charlie, along with that feeling. What happened to us? Why would I hate him so much? It was obvious that Elizabeth couldn't sense what I did.
There must something Elizabeth don't know but quite important to me had gone from my mind, and is nowhere to be found.
But, should I tell Elizabeth what I felt? Umm … well, if I do, then it must be done tomorrow. You know, couples.
Besides, I have my own business to do.
After stepping into my room, I sealed the door and quickly changed the code. I could trust Elizabeth, but it's rather more difficult to trust Charlie. I knew he was upset about the death of all the Engineers. It caused his bad attitude towards me, who was supposed to help them on the communication with the "Gods". But that was far from enough.
I walked on, and saw myself in the full-length mirror.
Elizabeth said that I chose the worst way to make being a celebrity impossible, now I know why.
There were scars all over my bold head and neck.
A serious one even crossed one of my eyes.
I lifted my shirt and saw more. Scars of scratches, bites， lacerations and incised wounds covered my skin. Some were old, some were new. I could barely imagine what it used to be without those scars.
Stood in front of the mirror, I hesitated for a while, and slowly put of my clothes.
What the hell happened? Is that what 11 years of life in the wild left me? What have I done in those years? It's just way too many of them.
Another mystery, only to be revealed in time.
After a shower, I threw myself on to the bed, collecting my thoughts with no intend to sleep. Actually, Charlie was right, without my memories, l was totally useless. But the idea of exploring the lost civilization of the "Gods" got my blood flowing, and there's no way for anyone to stop me from stepping into the ancient building. Having been in there, knocked down by accident before even seeing the records of the Engineers and thus being unconscious after that was never enough for me.
My appearance suddenly came up to my mind.
One point eight meters. Scars all over my skin. Eleven years spent with wild animals. I must be a freak here! I know nothing about my past-self, either my ambition. It makes me worried.
Why am I here? Is it only for Elizabeth? Where are my family?
However, the word "family" hurt my heart, or even more. It was more like a conditioned reflex that makes me feel the sorrow to my heart and the pain and coldness to my bones.
I didn't want to think about it any further. It felt like hell.
Then, I saw the violin lying on the table.
It was shining in the gray and suffocating atmosphere, inviting me to escape from all the pain with its lead.
I bounced off the bed, hoping the room was soundproof.