The cool night air had finally engulfed the small Texas town of Morganville, much to everyones relief. The last signs of summer had begun falling from the trees, and the heat was finally subsiding. Everything looked calm and peaceful in the twilight hours, but Claire knew this was not the case. There were enemies, monsters lurking around every corner and darkened alley way. She began walking faster as a cold chill swept over her. Call it intuition if you must, but she knew something bad was about to happen. She began sprinting down the road towards home, looking over her shoulder every few seconds.
She screamed as she ran straight into something, no it was someone. She turned her head and looked up to see none other than Oliver. He gave her a cold icy glare, grabbed her arm and began pulling her towards the Glass house, faster than she could run. She was tripping and pulling and yelling at him, but he showed no sign of slowing his pace. They came up fast on the gate, and he pulled her up the steps to the front door of her house.
"What the hell do you think you are doing running around the streets at this time of night? Are you suicidal?" Oliver seethed at her.
She blinked a couple of times at him, then turned to open the door. As she jumped inside, Oliver followed close behind. She turned and locked the door. "What the hell do YOU think you're doing, scaring the crap out of me and dragging me all the way to my own house. I am not a child Oliver, and what the hell do you care anyways!"
Oliver looked stunned. The yelling had caught the attention of her housemates Michael, Eve and Shane. They all came running to see what the commotion was.
"What's going on here?" Shane asked glaring at Oliver.
"You're little house mate here," Oliver waved his hand in Claire's direction, "thought it would be a good idea to go for a stroll at night. Amelie gave me strict orders to watch over you, and that is exactly what I am trying to do."
"Cut the crap Ollie, I was almost home." Claire seethed.
Everyone in the house had their gaze fixed on Claire. She noticed, and her cheeks flushed pink.
"Look I lost track of time okay? I'm sorry, I-I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."
They all, including Oliver, rolled their eyes at Claire. Shane glared at her for a minute, opened then shut his mouth, and stormed out of the room.
"What crawled up his butt and died?" Eve asked.
That's when Claire remembered their conversation from a couple days ago. Things weren't right between her and Shane ever since the machine that she worked on with Myrnin, had erased his memory. Eve had managed to remember everything after hers was also erased, but Shane was a different story.
They had awoken one morning, after cuddling the whole night. Claire had turned towards Shane to give him a good morning kiss, but when she turned and saw the shocked expression on his face, she halted and stared.
First it was confusion, bewilderment. Then it turned into shock and disgust. He looked at her as if he had never seen her before. He quickly jumped out of bed, only in his boxers, and stared at her in silence for several minutes. And to Claire's horror, she realized exactly what had happened.
Ever since Ada had, well, you could say "died", the portals and the mind altering powers she held, died with her. Claire had worked with Myrnin countless hours trying to figure out how to fix everything, and finally, after months they had managed to fix the portals. Shortly after they were fixed, Myrnin had supposedly fixed the mind altering device he threw together, or so they thought. A few days after getting everything up and running, they discovered that the mind altering device was working a little too well. Erasing people's memories of the last couple years. Erasing Shane's memory of loving Claire.
She stood up and walked to him.
"Shane, It's me, Claire. I-um, I'm your girlfriend." she said quietly.
"I-I don't even know you, how in the hell can you be my girlfriend?" He asked.
"I can't explain what's going on, you wouldn't understand it, just be assured that you are going to be fine, and I love you."
"You LOVE me? I don't even know who the hell you are, and sorry but, you aren't even my type."
Shane turned quick and was out of the room in a blur. Claire, shocked, fell back onto the bed and stared at the door. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She had lost him, and there was nothing she could do to get him back, except try to make him remember. That was going to be a long...torturous road.
The next few days after that morning were quiet. Shane kept to himself, most of the time shut in his room. Eve had tried to talk to him but he wanted nothing to do with it. He had told her several times that he didn't know Claire, nor did he care to. Michael had also tried, with the same results. Claire just had to wait it out, she knew that most people started remembering within a couple days, and Shane should start remembering some little things first, but so far there was nothing. He mostly ignored Claire, which was breaking her heart more and more each day.
Oliver turned and spoke quietly to her, bringing her out of her daze. "Look Claire, you know I'm not the "emotional" type, and I do not give sympathy to many, but you need to give it time. He will come around eventually. But besides that, stop acting like you are invincible. You are not. You are merely flesh and bones. Remember that next time you decide to wander off in the dark." He was glaring at her, then he turned quickly, unlocked the door and stepped out into the darkness.
She couldn't stop thinking about Shane...She hoped that things would get better, maybe he did just need more time. Maybe, maybe she could make him fall in love with her again. But she seriously doubted that as she headed for the stairs, up to her room. She slammed the bedroom door shut and locked it. She slumped down on her bed, put her face into her pillow and let out a scream from deep down inside. She cried herself to sleep thinking about how much she just wanted Shane to be holding her, but she didn't see that happening anytime soon.