Chapter 6

Just as she'd said; around the hour mark it became very noisy in comparison. About 6 new voices added to the light hum of gentle conversation. I had propped up on my headboard and lay there resting my eyes; I oddly had no real need for proper sleep. The need was still there, but only on a slight scale. Even I knew something wasn't quite right with that.

"Where the new person?" I heard coming from downstairs. But not just by one; but by at least three of them.

"Ughh!"I groaned when I heard thundering footsteps coming up the stairs and down the corridor. I opened my eyes, assuming that if I didn't, they would be pried open forcefully not of my own accord.

No sooner than I did that, two faces popped up, resting on the door frame. They were two boys, twins I would guess.

"Hello new person" the first said shyly.

"Hello!" the other practically screamed simultaneously.

"Hi" I said back as I waved.

The first seemed to blush and duck out of the doorway.

Awww bless. He was only probably five. I thought.

"What's your name? Mines Taylor and my brother's David." Taylor said, nodding to the way his brother ran.

"Hey Taylor, I'm Remedy"

"Wow, I've never heard that name before! Bye then!" he said, leaving me a bit confused.

And with that he ran out of the room.

"Oi, watch it Taylor!" I heard a boy yell from inside the corridor. He sounded much older than the last two.

He too stopped inside the doorway.

"Hey" he said casually.

"Hi" I replied.

"You know there all talking about you downstairs. You're like a shiny new toy" he mocked.

"Oh, what and you'd thought you'd come and find out what all the fuss was about did you then? " I replied, using the same mocking tone.

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for his comeback.

"Yup. Though your more like a rusty record, than a shiny toy" he chuckled.

"Oi. Just because I'm a girl, and the newest rescue case. Doesn't mean I won't kick your butt whether or not I know who you are"

"Oh, feisty! Name's Matthew, by the way; but call me that and you die, it's matt to everybody" he commented lightly.

"Hmm. You can call me Remedy, seeing as it's my name" I said shaking his outstretched hand.

"Cool name"

"I rather think so. Are there more of you?"

"Downstairs, yes. But they were told not to bother you. Taylor and David slipped past and I was told t retrieve them before they caused panic. Oh and I have to give you this" he said tossing a heavy package.

"What's this?" I asked him.

"Just something to keep you amused in here since you don't have many belongings of your own. Everyone else has one. And it was Christmas day when you were found" he replied.

"Oh, um... Thanks. I spose"

"It's the carers really that got you it, so they should be the ones getting the thanking, if anyone. I'm just the deliverer." He said smiling.

"Oh well, in that case. Thank-you, delivery boy" I said smugly.

"Sure, sure" matt said, one eyebrow shot up in mock annoyance at my comment "oh and if I were you, you might not want to come down until dinner. Someone'll shout you down or something. You want me to shut the door on the way out?" he added.

"Um, yeah please. Probably be best. Thanks"

Rustling into the bag, gave me moderate expectations that Matt told me not to have. I pulled out a blue rimmed chalk board, all be it a small one, and some coloured chalk to match, and a pack (randomly) of biscuits. Besides bananas, biscuits were my favourite food- jammy dodgers in particular.

I was still thinking about them symbols I had previously seen, but thinking about them again only gave me a blurry image.

Now, if only there were a way that I could... well, draw ... these, um, symbols... hmmm, that may actually work. I thought letting the penny drop. I had a chalk board now, so I could literally draw them.

I dropped my chalk board up on the table, and with the white piece of chalk began to draw what I saw from in my mind. It was a little fuzzy in both my mind, and on the board. But it was the best I could do.

What I saw was mainly patterned circles, so I presumed that the end result would be terrible- I wasn't paying particular attention to the board anyhow.

To my shock and, well... Awe. It didn't look at all bad. And the circles were almost perfect. I made the symbols fill the whole board. I thickened all the lines, and just sat there looking at it.

Still, I hadn't the faintest clue what it meant.

But somehow I felt more accomplished having drawn it from hazy memories, which were in fact a way to discovering my past.

If only there were a sure way to find out what they were, and what they meant. It would be a start at least; but for the moment I left the chalk board on my bedside table, sighed in defeat once more, and sat on my bed again waiting to be called down just as suggested.

The time slowed down rapidly then. And all the while I only thought of the symbols- and it seemed to be pretty time consuming which helped kill the time a lot too.

Thoughts I had about them seemed too presumptuous; for example, they could have been a message needed decoding in order to regain my memories. The idea seemed preposterous, considering a more reasonable explanation would be simple long-term memory loss.

I sighed yet again, and looked at the clock. It now said that it was almost half five.

At least being in a daydream is good for something then.

"You ok Remedy?" a voice said from the doorway. It was-of course- Karen.

"Yeah. Fine. Just a bit annoyed I 'spose" I sighed.

"About what mate? Maybe I can help" she insisted.

"It's just these symbols" I handed her the chalk board; "I keep seeing these, every time I close my eyes. Whenever I try to remember anything before you found me, I get nothing. If I try harder than that, I get a fuzzy image that closely resembles that. I can't help that it's linked somehow. And that is frustrating me soooo much it's unbearable" I tried hard not to cry, and blinked back a few tears in the process.

She saw how upset I was by this, tears or no.

Being pulled into a great big hug helped though.

"I'm sorry, I will try anything I can about you beforehand, but even my best efforts may be non-successful. Though I cannot say I know of these symbols. Sorry mate, I don't think have been entirely helpful, have I?"

"No, you've been kind. That's definitely enough for now. Thank-you" she broke the hug.

"Oh, that reminds me. Dinner's on the table, and in this place food disappears like magic, so let's hurry" she ended comically, pulling me with her out the room.

She sat me down on a long table near the end. Matt was sat to the left of me, when I'd been told to sit, and Melody was to my right.

The table went silent when I sat down. It was highly awkward at first, but only because every pair of eyes had wandered to stare at me. All except for the adults, obviously.

Please don't stare at me I thought desperately.

"Now children, don't stare it's rude. Leave the poor girl to eat" a woman whom I did not recognise said "grab what you like from the table dear"

The table reluctantly removed their eyes from me and continued their noisy chatter.

"It'll be like that for your first day or two. Sorry 'bout that" Matt said to me "most of them are pretty young, so new things, like you, are overly-interesting to them"

"Oh ok. And that's bad is it?"

"Well presumably to you, yes. All that unwanted attention and all that" he said "I mean who would want all that attention?" he chuckled.

"Well, someone who cannot remember fifteen whole years of their life- is who" I said seriously.

"Sorry to hear that. Really I am, I didn't know. Sorry..." he trailed off, pretending his dinner was all if a sudden highly interesting.

From the few plates I saw in front of me, I grabbed a small slither of what looked like turkey, a spoonful of carrots and a few roast potatoes.

"You not hungry Remedy?" Karen asked.

"No. Not really" I replied truthfully.

"Huh, well, don't eat what you don't want" she said, eyeing my plate in almost astonishment.

I could still feel eyes watching my every move subconsciously. Despite this, however, I continued to eat the food that I actually didn't need.

"Oh, by the way Remedy" Karen remembered "this" she said pointing to the woman that I hadn't recognised "is Sarah, she's the head carer. Melody's tutor hired her. If you have any questions, you're best off asking her"

Sarah just nodded and continued to eat her food.

Obviously; I was the first to finish my food. All I could do at that point was wait. In fact, I could somehow tell that exactly seven minutes and thirty two seconds had passed, since I had finished my food, and they theirs.

"Right David, Matt, your washing up. Emma, Melody, your drying. Hop to it!" Sarah said.

At that moment there were simultaneous groans of annoyance, and sighs of relief.

Karen walked up to me "forgot to mention, in the bottom of your wardrobe there are some books to keep you occupied. I wouldn't assume that you've had much fun, here today; and since it's the holidays it doesn't matter what time you go to bed or wake up"

"Oh, um thanks"

"Just make sure that if anyone bothers you, tell them to go away. Oh! And another one, the bathroom's free for you to take a shower or bath, if you want. There are internal locks, so no one will barge in" she patted my shoulder and left to assist in the kitchen; which by the sounds of it, had turned into a riot.

I didn't particularly want to sit around doing
nothing, it seemed to irritate me, make me anxious even. But none-the-less, it was all I was able to do.

I seated myself on my bed, though something sharp jabbed into me.

"Ow!" I exclaimed.

I rummaged through my tight pocket, and pulled out a key. It looked fairly normal, but I couldn't bring myself to call it that.

I pulled out some of the books that were stored in my wardrobe and began to read. A couple of them were shorter than the rest so I read them first.

I read them until past mid-night; the house was so silent now. So much so, that it seemed rude to spoil the beautiful silence. Though unfortunately, I was a bit tired, and not in any pyjamas.

When I had finally slunk into bed, I took one final look at the crack in the wall; it unnerved me to quite a big extent. Eyeing it suspiciously for about ten minutes showed no noticeable changes, so I left it at that, and let my eyes droop closed.