Chapter 6
A ghost
Elisa was coming with us. We flew across the country and Owen drove us to where my house was. Elisa showed me old news articles. I guess my house burned down after I had got missing a few weeks before. I wondered how much time I was missing while I was asleep. My parents were dead; they died in their sleep as the house burned down. Elisa said it was an accident from a candle that was left lit. Owen stopped at a blackened lot and we got out.
"Well, Talia, this is your old home." David said.
I looked over the space where the building used to be. I felt nothing. Well, not nothing. I was conflicted. I wanted to feel sad that I lost my home and parents, but I couldn't. I sighed. "There's nothing here."
"I know, Tali." Elisa told me.
"I wish…" I frowned.
"You know that might not happen." She reminded me.
"Yeah…" I looked at her. She pulled me in for a hug and rubbed my back.
"Talia, we don't have to stay here." Fox said.
"Just a little longer." I said.
We were about to leave when someone yelled, "TALIA SAMANTHA JONES!"
I saw a brunette girl storming toward us. I had no time to react as she slapped me across the face. "Do you know how worried I was when you disappeared?! Then your house burned down! You just left me all alone after we finally…" She trailed off.
"You… You were important to me, weren't you?" I looked her in her dark blue eyes.
"Talia? It's me, Adriana. Your girlfriend." She said, taken aback.
"I… I don't remember anything before I woke up in Manhattan." I said sadly, pushing past Owen.
"You don't remember?" She asked.
I shook my head.
"Nothing?" She pushed.
"Nothing." I repeated.
She teared up and I felt an instinctual urge to comfort her. I stepped forward and she met me the rest of the way. Adriana buried her head in my chest. "I missed you so much."
"I never would have-" I paused. "left if I knew what would happen."
"I waited so long for you to call." She whispered.
"I'm sorry." I told her.
"It makes sense now. You never would have otherwise." She looked at me.
I cupped her cheek with my hand and wiped away a tear. "I wish I remembered you."
"I thought you hated me." Her voice shook.
"I could never hate you." I smiled sadly.
"I-I'm still yours." She sniffed.
I closed my eyes. "I'm not the one you love."
"Tai…" She protested.
"Please forget me. You deserve better." I whispered.
She kissed me. I kissed back after a moment. I felt a tear roll down my cheek as her hand went to my hair as she desperately tried to get some emotion out of me. Her nails dug into my shirt. I wanted to feel something. I did: I was sorry. Sorry that I had hurt her so much. I knew she loved me. It was obvious.
I gently nudged her away. She lingered and then pulled away. "You were my first."
"Don't let me haunt you anymore, Adriana." I said breathlessly.
"I don't know if I can…" She paused, biting her lip.
"I have no place in your life now. I can't give you what we had." I looked in her eyes and saw the all the sadness and grief I caused.
"I still want you." She said softly.
"I am a ghost, Adriana. A ghost who can't love you." I frowned.
She smiled. "Still poetic, I see."
"Please let me go. I have nothing to give you." I said again.
She sighed. "I won't forget you… but I will try to move on."
"That's all I ask." I smiled, running my thumb over her cheek.
"You still know how to charm me even when you don't remember me." She chuckled.
I paused, surprised. "I, uh, I'm sorry."
"I'll miss you." She smiled.
"I know." I said.
"I'll still love you." She looked at me with a strange sort of sadness.
"I know…" I leaned in and she melted under my lips. Adriana whimpered as I pulled away and stepped back. "Goodbye, Adri-ana. I may not remember you, but I know I missed out. You'll find someone else. I'm sorry I hurt you so much."
"It wasn't your fault, Tai. Something happened to you." She smiled forgivingly.
I nodded and looked away awkwardly. "I… Goodbye, m- Goodbye." I got in the car and didn't look back.
I felt tears in my eyes and anger in my heart. I grit my teeth as I cursed Puck for granting my wish. I lost so much. Adriana can't even grieve properly. Elisa got in the car and sat next to me.
"Talia, that must have been hard." She said softly.
"Yeah…" I agreed.
"Talia." She hugged me.
"I don't even remember her! It's not fair." I cried for a bit.
"I know it's not." She soothed.
"I hurt her and I wasn't even aware of it." I growled.
"That's how amnesia works, kiddo. You can't blame yourself for that." Elisa said firmly.
"I could have tried harder. I know I had a life before I woke up in Manhattan. I could have asked…" I blinked hard and shook my head.
"I wouldn't have trusted Xanatos to give you an accurate view of your past." She said.
"I know." I sighed and wiped my face. "I fucked up. It's… my fault."
Elisa frowned.
"This is not what I wanted. I thought, I'd, you know, not end up in across the country if I woke up." I sighed.
"Talia… You were tricked." She said softly.
"I know, but I'm still mad about it." I crossed my arms.
David and Fox got in the car now. Owen was in the driver's seat. "Talia, what do you want to do now?"
I looked out at the window to the burned lot. "There's nothing here for me anymore." I breathed out and opened my eyes. "Let's go home."
The reason why you're getting so many chapters of this is because I hadn't originally planed to publish it, but then I decided I would.
