Chapter 1: Reflections of Confusion
The middle-aged girl awoke to find
herself in a mud puddle and her entire body drenched from her blood and pouring
rain. Her short blonde hair fell in
front of her face as she tried to raise herself out of the gutter that was
built in the small alleyway. Her
muscles strained against the weight, but she still managed to sit herself up on
her knees.
"Where…am
I?" she asked out loud. She searched
around the unfamiliar territory for a moment. Then all truth hit her. Not only did she not know where she was, but
also she didn't even remember her own identity. Her past, friends, family, career, were all just a blur to her
confused mind. She began to panic
making her heart race. In a desperate
frenzy, she searched through her torn clothes for any type of identification or
hint of useful information. It took her
a few moments to finally come upon a small ID case that was held in her left
back pocket.
The pouring
rain made all of her visibility difficult, although she was still able to make
out the fine text on the ID that was next to a small picture of a blonde woman.
Name:
Elena Johara
Birth
Date: 1978
Blood
Type: B
Occupation:
Turk
I
suppose that will help me a little…she thought blankly. She flipped the card over to the other side
and read SHINRA in large letters. Her
mind tried to search through all her memories to try and find any recollection of
her past.
BANG! The gunshot interrupted her thoughts making
her look in the direction where it had come from. She heard yelling which appeared to come from a large black man
with a gun that replaced his right arm.
Not knowing what to do, she struggled to her feet and let her legs carry
her over to the mysterious man.
A small
light shined in front of her, which came from the inside of a bar. She tried to look inside of the bar but a
few gunshots whizzed by her ear making her stand still in fright.
"The hell
you doin' 'round here?" the large man asked between his teeth.
"I…I don't
know. I…saw the name up there and
thought I could find some help," she lied although it became truth when she
looked up and read the name Seventh Heaven flashing brightly through the
rain.
"The name
is familiar…I've seen it somewhere before," Elena continued to speak, hoping
this man would help her.
"You'd
better remember this place. That stupid
Shinra faggot totally destroyed the other one when he decided to drop the
plate. Now, you'd better get out of
here 'for I blow your fucking head off!"
"No
wait! Please!" Elena took a few steps closer to him. Barret aimed his gun directly between
Elena's eyes, holding it tightly into place.
"Get away
from here," Barret warned sternly. She
stood frozen in place as she felt herself being consumed by loss and fear. Her mouth went dry and her eyes began to
burn.
"Please…I
don't know where to go. I don't even
remember my own name…" she explained quietly to try and not alarm the large
man.
"Don't fuck
with me…"
"I'm
sorry…" she was at a loss of words. She
held her head low and looked down to the ground before turning away back
towards the darkness.
"Yo
Barret!" a younger voice called out from the bar.
"What ya
want Cloud?"
"Jus'
wondering who you were talking to. I would
have sworn I heard…her."
"Cloud! Tifa is gone, and it's because of this bitch
and her minions!" Barret continued to
aim the gun towards her.
"But…" she
turned to meet up with the man.
"Shut
up! I'm tired of hearing Shinra's
lies!" Barret shouted loudly in the
night.
"Barret,
Shinra was destroyed. And I'm more than
certain it wasn't the Turks' fault that Tifa is dead…" Cloud's voice lowered as
rage began to threaten his body.
"What…is
Shinra?" Elena asked breaking in through the conversation. Cloud was astonished at her absurd
question. He looked down at her
drenched and torn uniform to find her holding her ID card close to her side. Her body bared scars and bruises that were
still bleeding showing that it wasn't long ago when she was viciously
attacked.
"Elena,
what happened to you, and where's Reno and Rude? Shouldn't they be helping you?"
Cloud took a more comforting approach towards her knowing that she had
gone through some type of hell that she couldn't explain or if she could, she
wouldn't want to.
"I…don't
know. I don't remember anything about
what you're talking about, or even if I'm supposed to remember. The only reason why I think Elena is my name
is because it says so here," she showed Cloud the ID that she was holding close
to her.
"How am I
supposed to believe that?" Cloud asked annoyed and roughly took the ID card
from her side.
"You're not
supposed to dumbass!" Barret bellowed.
"Barret
shut up and go inside! I don't need
your help with this, okay?" Cloud
turned towards his companion and gave him a hard glare.
"Kuso! Fine, I'll let you handle it, but if she
slips up once I'm blowing her head off," Barret growled a warning. Elena fixed her lean eyes upon him in a
steady gaze and watched him enter the small bar.
"Does he
always act like that?" Elena asked when Barret slammed the door behind him to
show his rage.
"Nani?"
Cloud asked putting his attention back on her.
"Never
mind, it's not important."
"Oh,
right," Cloud agreed subtly. His eyes
were transfixed on her body, admiring her slender and frail frame. Although she was beautiful, what had
concerned Cloud at the time were her wounds and health. Giving out a loud sigh, he shook his head
with a rye smile on his face.
"Come on in
and get out of the rain," he said harshly and strolled on inside of the
bar. Elena tried to argue but was cut
off by Cloud's back facing her.
What
have I got to lose? The five minutes of
life that I remember? Elena thought sarcastically to herself. She let herself walk up the stairs but her
walk became a limp when she reached the bar.
Out of all the confusion, she hadn't even noticed the wounds that had
been placed upon her. On her left leg
was a cut that ran up her shin almost disabling her to walk completely. Her arm
quickly found the side of the doorframe to prop herself up.
Cloud had
already weaved his way through all the tables and chairs to the other side of
the bar. The lights were bright and
cheery compared to most of the other bars in Costa del Sol. It was said that it was the overly happy
atmosphere that attracted most of the people, although to Cloud, he just
believed that it was out of sympathy and for the delicious recipes that Tifa
had passed on.
"You can
figure everything out for yourself.
Your room is upstairs and the first one on the left. If you need anything, I'll be downstairs,"
Cloud instructed before entering a door that must have led to the
downstairs.
"He has
always been acting like that recently," a gentle voice commented from the
counter of the bar. Elena's eyes
whisked over to where the voice had come from to see a woman around her age
washing some glass cups that had previously been used. The woman's hair was platinum and it was
tied up in a ponytail that separated in three braids. Her body was well figured and slender with a much larger bust
than what a normal woman would have.
"Who are
you?" Elena asked curiously.
"I'm the
bar hostess here, and they call me Mel.
My real name is Melanie, but nobody took to that. God, you look like you've been to hell and
back. Come on, let's clean you up a
little bit," Mel said enthusiastically.
She looked down at Elena and her eyes were cheery and full of love just
as her spirit was.
"So where
d'ya come from?" Mel asked while she continued to look her over.
"I…don't
remember," Elena confessed with confusion.
"You don't
remember? Jeeze, I have no idea where
Cloud picks people like you up, but I guess it's his choice. Follow me back here and we can get ya
cleaned up."
***
Elena
glanced at herself one last time in the mirror for a closer inspection. She wore a small leather skirt with a
smaller white tank top, although the top was rather stretched, she seemed to
fit into the outfit nicely. Mel nodded in
agreement as she looked at her through the mirror.
"It's
actually real early right now and the rain has finally stopped. Costa del Sol is a great place to get a tan,
or anything else for that matter!" Mel laughed at her joke to try and lighten
up the mood. Elena opened her mouth to
let out a small giggle.
"Well, I
have got to go open the bar. Maybe I
can drag Cloud out of his sanctuary sometime to show you around."
"Thank
you. You've been very kind," Elena
thanked quietly.
"Don't
mention it. Just don't go and get
yourself hurt again, all right?" Elena
nodded her head in agreement and watched her new friend walk out of the room. Of all the kindness the woman showed her,
she still felt lost and confused. A
small bed lied beside her with white sheets and a white comforter that was
decorated with splashes of light blue.
From the time that she had spent in the room, she hadn't noticed the
small notebook that was sitting on the comforter.
Wonder
if this was hers, Elena thought as she picked it up from the bed. A small note was taped to the front of it
that read:
I've realized that you've had a
real tough time so I decided to give you this.
It's not much, but at least if you happen to lose everything again,
you'll always have this to refer to.
Mel
A small
smile slipped onto Elena's lips as she took a careful look on the small
notebook. It was leather bound with
silver trimming the edges of the pages and paintings of dragons across the
cover and back. A silver pen was also
attached to it that had matched.
Without hesitation, Elena began to write away in her journal.
I've
never kept a journal before, so I have no idea if I'm supposed to start with
Dear journal or some other what not.
Anyways, I'm so confused. I
don't understand anything that is happening around me. A few memories are beginning to become
evident, but nothing that I can put together.
I feel lost. Nobody believes me
or trusts me. I suppose the only thing
I can say is, help me.
Author's Note: Okay,
I finished the first chapter to my story!
Woo hoo! Anyways, I'll try to
finish the rest of it up as soon as I get around to it. Well, there is actually a lot left to it,
but that's besides the point. I hope
you enjoyed this and I would like input on this because it kind of goes
completely off of my weirdness charts!
*Thinks back to the other stories she wrote* Well, almost…
