The Berkshires, September 2004
Exhausted.
Maia was always exhausted. Daytime, nighttime, all the time.
Nothing brought her joy anymore, not even writing. She was sick of having everything in her head, tired of every single detail of her life plaguing her thoughts.
Let it go, Maia, she told herself. Clear your head, clear your head.
Impossible, said another voice in her head, a familiar one. There is no clearing your mind.
Shut up, Eloise, Maia told it.
Eloise, also known as her mother, the source of most of Maia's problems.
Her condition had to come from somewhere, after all. Eloise had photographic memory, but it was nothing like Maia's. Eloise was allowed to forget.
Not just that, but Maia's mother was… not a good person.
Well, nothing she could do about that now. Instead, she had to face the problem in front of her.
She wasn't the only person in her family with memory issues.
…
London, May 2001
Maia burst through the door of the hospital, not caring who she disturbed. She walked right up to the reception desk, startling the receptionist.
"I need to see Daniel Faraday," She demanded.
As soon as she heard about the incident, Maia had raced over as fast as she could. An experiment gone wrong, they said. Only two people were hurt. No need to worry as long as you didn't know either of them.
But one of them was the only thing Maia cared about.
"I-I'm sorry ma'am," The receptionist said nervously. "This is out of my hands, Mr. Faraday is in emergency care."
"I don't care," Maia replied. "Take me to him right now."
"Maia, dear, perhaps it's best if-"
"You," Maia growled, recognizing the voice that came from behind her.
Eloise Hawking looked as neat as ever, although there was a worried air around her. It made Maia even more livid.
"This is your fault!" She continued angrily. "This wouldn't have happened if you had just left Daniel alone, if you hadn't kept pushing him to meet your impossible standards!"
"Don't blame me," Eloise scoffed. "I only wanted him to be the best version of himself."
"Your version, you mean," Maia replied, her voice dripping with bitterness. "I know you don't care about us, but Daniel doesn't and you used that against him."
"How dare-"
"Um… sorry to interrupt," The terrified receptionist began. "Daniel Faraday just woke up, the doctors are allowing family-"
Maia didn't waste a second before racing through the halls, trying to find her brother.
Eloise was hot on her heels as she opened the door.
Inside, a groggy Daniel was attempting to sit up on a bed. On the bed next to him, his partner Theresa was unconscious.
"Daniel?" Maia said gently. "Hey, Dan, it's me."
"Maia?" He whispered. "What… where… how…?"
He looked over at Theresa with an odd expression on his face, confusion and fear.
"What is it?" Maia asked.
"Who is she?"
…
The Berkshires, September 2004
Maia pulled up in front of the house, hoping she got the right address. She let out a long sigh before getting out of the car and walking to the front door.
It was opened almost as soon as she knocked by Caroline, the nurse who took care of Daniel.
"Hey, Maia," Caroline said tiredly. "I'm glad you're here, something on the news triggered something bad, and I don't know why."
"Yeah, you can take a break, I'll take care of this."
Caroline nodded, and Maia walked inside, where her twin brother was sitting in a large armchair and staring at the TV.
"Hey Dan," She sighed. "What's going on?"
"This plane," He whispered. "They found it in the ocean, and everyone's dead."
Maia glanced at the screen, where the crawl read "Oceanic Flight 815 Found" and the plane wreckage took up the rest.
"That's horrible," She said. "Do they know how it happened?"
"No idea," Daniel replied. "Or… maybe I just don't remember."
A silence settled over the twins at that painful reminder.
"Someone came to see me," Daniel said. "I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. Widmore, that was his name. He said the crash was fake, he said people survived."
"How would he know that?"
"I…" Daniel furrowed his brown in concentration. "I don't remember, I didn't write it down. But he wants me to go to this island to help find them. And… he said it'll heal me, Maia."
"This is ridiculous," She pointed out. "How does he even know you?"
"Well… you can't get mad."
"Eloise?!" Maia exclaimed, knowing that was the only thing that would make her angry at Daniel. "She sent him? Are you kidding me?!"
"Maia…"
"This isn't happening," She whispered to herself. "This is not happening."
"H-he said he wanted to talk to you too," Daniel added nervously. "About a job."
She sighed before standing up, realizing that the visit was going to have to be cut short.
"I'm going to figure this out, okay?" Maia said, pulling her jacket on. "I promise."