Chapter 9

("Please be easy on the doors.. and my heart.")

"When did I drive..?" Amelia questioned, sitting in the middle of the living room floor of the Vardiman home. The mother was asleep and Rodney was off in his room, scurrying through the endless piles of stacked up electronic devices, computer games, video games, and music CD's, searching for who knew what.

"You don't remember crashing?" Rodney shouted from his room.

"Crashing? I wasn't in the car with my parents," she replied.

He walked out of his room and scratched his head. "Er, nevermind that," he corrected. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Still, it's strange. I remember driving a car, but why was a driving a car at such a young age?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm only thirteen, you know."

"Come again?" Rodney wore a puzzled look.

She looked up to him and smiled. "Yeah, I'm thirteen, you didn't know?"

Rodney stood for a moment, his chin dropped in disbelief. Okay, so things were extremely weird: Her name was now Alice, she was attending a new school, and her parents weren't who they seemed, but she thought she was younger than she really was? "Okay, so you're in the.. 8th grade?"

She nodded. "Exactly."

"Wait, wait, wait, you've got the comprehension of a Junior! How can you get by with being an 8th grader? They'll have to notice!" By this time, he was pacing, driving himself crazy with trying to convince her that she wasn't who she thought she was without driving her into complete denial.

Amelia bit her lip, and looked up to him innocently as he paced back and forth. She smiled, he unaware that she was secretly admiring him.

"Okay, I've got an idea." He left for a moment and returned with an Algebra book. "Surely, Mathematics is still branded into your mind." He opened the book to a slightly complex equation. He handed her paper and a pencil, and within minutes, she had solved it.

"Hey, neat! Junior work is easy!"

"No, no, you don't understand! Agh!" He was getting slightly frustrated, but remembered that he had to have patience with her. "Habits, habits.."

He heard a cracking noise and turned back around to see that she was cracking the joints of her fingers. "What habits?"

"That's it! You used to crack your knuckles!"

Amelia immediatly stopped after he said that, she tilted her head slightly in confusion. "I've always cracked my fingers.." She looked down to her hands, and studied them. "I guess.. I have?"

"See, things are becoming familiar, aren't they?"

"I still don't understand what you mean."

"Things that are repeated by pattern or habit tend to be remembered, so I gotta think of something that you used to do out of habit." He thought a moment, went to his computer, and opened up a window. He typed in the user name to her account. "Figure this one out for me."

She joined him at the keyboard, and looked to the keys. She looked to her account name: Amelia19880788? Who was this Amelia? Nevertheless, the name seemed familiar, the user name, that is, and she quickly punched in 19880788321, the correct password.

"I knew it! You logged on everyday, so the password is branded into your memory!"

"But how is that possible? I don't recall my parents ever having a computer! I don't recall--"

"Exactly, you don't recall because that memory doesn't exist! What's happened to you?"

Amelia was pounding her fists at her forehead. "What's going on?"

"Amelia--"

"And why do you keep calling me that?! Why was my supposed account under 'Amelia'?"

He took a shot at it. "Your name is Amelia McKinley. You have a younger sibling named Alyssa--"

"..Lies.."

"--An older brother named Mathew, who's in college--"

"..That's wrong.."

"--You are sixteen, not thirteen, and you attended Enka High School, and now, you're being transferred to Erwin Middle because you think you're thirteen. You were in a car accident and that's why you have this amnesia--"

"I do not have amnesia! My memory is just fine! Why would the doctors say something is wrong with me, then?!"

"Maybe they're wrong."

"When are doctors ever wrong?! Do you think they're working under some.. evil cult or business? No, they're doctors, they help people, not destroy their lives!"

"They said you'd go into denial.."

"Denial of what? Denying that I have amnesia? I'm not denying it because I don't! If I had amnesia, I wouldn't 'assume a new life'.. I wouldn't be able to remember anything!"

"There's one other thing.."

"And what is that?"

"You had a boyfriend--"

"I don't wanna hear your--"

"Named Rodney."

She stopped, and the angered look on her face quickly vanished.

("Well, I'd better get off the phone, Rodney. My mom needs to use it.")

"Amelia, are you remembering?" Rodney asked her.

("Okay, Amelia. I'll talk to you tomorrow. I love you.")

Tears welled in Amelia's eyes. Was it true? Was this why he looked so familiar?

("I love you too, Rodney.")

"You are remembering," he said, smiling a little.

"Satan.. Satan is putting these thoughts in my head!"

Rodney's frown quickly returned. "No, you're not hearing voices, you're just remembering--"

"Enough! I will find the truth in all these holes to be filled myself! I don't need your help!" She ran into the guest bedroom, slammed the door shut, and quickly locked it. Rodney's mother, who had been sleeping, awoke with a start in the next room.

"What was that slamming?!"

"The door shutting on any hope of me helping her," Rodney murmured.