(Disclaimer: By the way, Amelia will be trying to recall recent events from this chapter and on, so if you see ("Example") ..text such as that, then she's having flashbacks or remembering things she's heard from previously.)

Chapter 8

("..And what of Alice Alpha? Has her role been played out for too long? Should we really experiment on someone so young?")

"Amelia?"

("The homing system placed on Alice Alpha has been lost, and we can't find her whereabouts. Rumors say that she escaped to Brahms, the neighboring city of Raccoon, with S.T.A.R.S, then the tracking system failed, but she can still be controlled to an extent.")

"Amelia, you're having a nightmare, don't cry."

("But to experiment with this girl? She's only sixteen! Sure, we were looking for younger candidates, but..")

Amelia sat up with a start, sweat trickling down her cheeks. She was panting hard, and gripped the sheets beneath her. She was back in her hospital room, her safe haven, her bed. Someone was gripping her arm. She pulled away at first, and looked to see a young boy, probably a little older than herself. She didn't know him, but yet, he seemed so familiar.

"Amelia, you okay?" he asked with concern.

She blinked. "Amelia?"

"I mean.. Alice," he quickly corrected. "You were having a bad dream."

"A bad dream?"

"That's right, that's all it was. Everything's fine now, you have nothing to worry about. I'll watch over you."

Amelia's breathing had returned to normal, and she looked to him, puzzled. "But I don't know you--"

"I was afraid of--"

"And yet, you look so familiar."

He saw some hope. "Do you know my name?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

Doubt swept over him again, and he felt chills run up his spine. "Well, for starters, my name is Rodney. Rodney Vardiman. I'll be watching over you when you leave here, okay?"

She nodded, still rather puzzled.

("Any close relations or friends that we should know about?")

Amelia's eyes widened, and she gripped her sheets again.

"Alice?" Rodney said, holding her hand lightly.

("They found her cell phone, and with members of her family, there was one name listed that we're unsure about: Rodney.")

Amelia blinked, and looked to Rodney, puzzled more than ever. "Who are you?!" She screamed. She scuttled from her bed and stumbled across the room, trying to regain her balance. He took after her as she went for the door.

"Wait, what's wrong?" he shouted, trying to talk over her abnormal breathing.

"Where have I heard of you before? Where.." She stopped. She fell to the ground and held her face in her hands and wept. She was so tired and so confused. Everything seemed alright, but why were there so many holes and so many things unanswered?

("Since her memory is being erased anyways, why don't we just use her?")

"My memory?" Amelia paused, and moved her hands away from her face. She stopped crying, and there was silence. Rodney pushed her hair away from her eyes, and she looked up, staring into his.

"Are you remembering?"

"Remembering what?" She started to cry again. "What's going on? What all this of experiments?"

"Experiments? Did they experiment on you?"

"'They?' I'm so confused.."

Rodney didn't bother throwing anymore questions at her for now. Obviously, she was remembering things she heard from earlier and she was short on facts and memories, but what was all this talk of experimenting?

The following evening, Amelia was released under Rodney's custody. The doctors, though, had to break to her the truth about her "parents."

"Your parents have been killed," one nurse told her.

"What?! How?!" Amelia cried hysterically.

"'Parents?'" Rodney questioned. He felt someone elbow him in the ribs, and looked to the doctor at his side, who was signaling silence.

"Tragic car accident," the nurse continued. "We need you to reside with this boy for a while, until we can find you a proper home."

"We'll stop by weekly," one doctor informed her, "so we can check on your memory."

"I don't see anything wrong with my memory," Amelia frowned, "so why bother?"

The doctor coughed. "Ahem, right. Well, we will still check on you status wise."

And so off she was sent. Rodney and his family weren't aware of how difficult it was going to be to have Amelia resume a new life as "Alice."

(Boy, what a cheesy-ASS ending!)