PART TWO

Twelve

She awoke in the dark, being held by someone. She sat up, unsure of her surroundings. The person holding her allowed her space, letting go of her. She turned to look at him, and stared in shock at what she was seeing. Though faint, she could see that the man was… glowing, warm golden light suffused across the surface of his skin. And he had… wings. They shimmered in the air at his back, there, but not there at the same time. His eyes, infused with the same light as the rest of him, were blue, and beautiful. He gazed at her in concern, watching her every move, as if afraid she would hurt herself.

She could feel tears in her eyes, and they ran down her face as she continued to stare at him. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and a sense of peace and calm seemed to exude from his being.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his voice deep and gravelly, but so gentle that it was heartbreaking.

But she gasped at hearing it, for she heard it not just out loud, but… in her mind. And the voice that spoke in her mind was powerful and piercing and… right. She stared at this man—if that was what he truly was—and slowly lifted a hand to touch his face. As if on instinct, he leaned into her hand, eyes closing for a moment, as if enjoying the sensation of her touch. His eyes opened again, slowly, and gazed at her with a look so full of contentment that it caused her to want to lay back in the grass and sleep.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"I… I don't know," he replied, though he did not seem very bothered by this fact.

It was then that she realized… She did not know who she was, either. She racked her mind, panicking, trying to remember her own name. Why couldn't she remember—

"Shhh." He pulled her into his arms again and held her, reacting immediately to the alarm building up in her mind. "It's all right," he murmured, gently.

And, suddenly, it did not matter that she didn't remember her name. They could be nameless together. Somehow, despite remembering nothing, and no one, she knew that this man was connected to her. And he knew it, too, for she could hear his thoughts, loving and protective, flow through her mind, working to soothe her. She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around him, and let him hold her.

But they could not stay there forever. Despite not remembering who she was, she knew enough to understand that being naked in a public place was probably not the best idea. Neither of them had any idea what he had been doing in the reservoir, but they couldn't stay there all night.

They stood up in tandem, and she held onto his arm for a moment, steadying herself. Her legs were numb from sitting for so long. Then she pulled her jacket off and handed it to him. "Wrap that around your waist," she said.

He did as she instructed, turning and pulling until he was mostly covered.

She stood back to study him, and shook her head a little. "That's not gonna work," she muttered. "Especially since you're all… glowy."

He looked at the ground, and she could feel his sadness at having become a burden which she had to care for.

"Don't," she said, gently, touching his face.

He raised his face to look at her, his blue eyes very intense, focused on her as she spoke.

"Look, whoever we are… we clearly knew each other, before. And we were close. We should both be terrified right now, at having lost our memories, yet, somehow, I am completely calm. And it's because you're here." She smiled at him. "You're the only reason I haven't gone insane yet, so don't… don't feel bad. We'll go get you some clothes from a Walmart and then… figure out what to do next."

She smiled and shook her head. "How do I know what a Walmart is, but I can't remember my own name…?" she mused.

She felt, in his mind, the sympathy and empathy he had for her, for he did not know who he was, either. The two of them were alone in the world, save each other. She took his hand, and they began to walk.

###

They walked for hours, having no idea where they were going. She was both grateful and annoyed that it was nighttime. It wasn't very late, yet, judging by the amount of cars driving down the roads. Not wanting anyone to see the strange, naked man walking with her, she kept him on the inside of the sidewalks, and as far from the cars as possible. But hiding him this way was becoming stressful, and she did not know what would happen if they had to physically pass someone walking down the sidewalk. They'd been lucky, so far, but—

She cursed under her breath, immediately regretting that she had even had the thought about someone else walking down the sidewalk with the two of them. God, it seemed, was taunting her. Coming towards her, up ahead, was a man. Heart pounding in her chest, she turned and nearly rammed her naked partner into the fence to their right, praying to God that the man up ahead would simply walk past without, somehow, noticing the naked man with the jacket tied around his waist.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and also squeezed her partner's hand, hard, too tired and dealing with too many other things at the moment to have deal with this on top of everything else.

The man walked past them without slowing down.

She opened her eyes and watched him go. He had not even seemed to notice them. She turned to look at her partner—

He was not there. She stared at the spot where he had been standing a moment before, but he was nowhere to be found. Yet… She looked down and saw her hand, curled, still, around… an invisible hand?

Suddenly, he appeared before her, again, as if he had never left. She blinded at him, dazed. "Did you just turn invisible?" she asked, faintly.

"I… I think so," he replied, brows drawing together in confusion.

"So, you glow… you have wings… you're telepathic. Now you can turn invisible?" She stared at him, shaking her head slowly. "Are you sure you're human?"

His mind was troubled as he answered, "I'm not sure of anything."

She regretted having worded everything like that, and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "You've got me," she said. "Be sure of that."

He smiled gently, and nodded once.

###

Somehow—she chose to believe it was divine intervention—they found a twenty-four-hour Walmart. The twenty-four-hour part was good because, at this point, she had no idea what time it was, and no real way to estimate it, other than by the fact that there were less people on the roads and sidewalks. There were a couple dozen cars parked in the Walmart parking lot, but most of those were probably employees.

It wasn't until they reached the parking lot that she remembered that, in order to buy things, one needed money. Awkwardly, she patted her pockets, and felt a wallet in the back pocket of her Jeans. Standing under a street light, she pulled the wallet out and went through it, wondering why she hadn't thought to do this before. She could probably find out who she was! Heart pounding, she stared down at her driver's license. Brooke Harris. She expected to feel some kind of recognition, but no such feeling washed over her.

The man with the wings and the light stood beside her, silently offering moral support.

Pushing aside the anxiety slowly building in her chest, she went through the different sections in the wallet; she had a little over a hundred dollars in cash, and multiple credit cards. "Well, we're not hurting for money," she muttered. Then she pulled out one of the credit cards and squinted at it. The name on the credit card was not Brooke Harris. She yanked out another card; this name was neither Brooke Harris, nor the name on the other card. "Oh my God," she said. "I'm a criminal."

She stared at the cards, her mind spinning. Should she throw the wallet away? Was the cash even hers? If she had stolen credit cards, then… She looked, again, at the driver's license. It had her face on it, so maybe it was hers, and her name really was Brooke Harris… Yet the name still struck no chord within her.

In the end, she stuffed the wallet back into her Jeans pocket, realizing she must be wearing men's Jeans if the back pocket was even big enough for a wallet. She didn't remember seeing a purse anywhere near her when she awoke in her partner's arms. The jacket she had given him had been big on her, too. She walked up to the Walmart entrance, simultaneously trying to put an image of herself together and wondering if she should be using any of the money she had found.

Her partner, invisible beside her, placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying the whirlwind of thoughts in her mind. She closed her eyes for a moment, allowing him into her mind, allowing that sense of peace and purpose to wash over her. One thing at a time. She needed to get him some clothes, and whether the money in her wallet was hers, it was all she had. She took a breath and entered the store.

Okay, underwear first…

She gazed at the signs hanging above each section of the Walmart and found what she was looking for, marching forward as if she belonged in the Men's Clothing section. After getting underwear and socks (fifteen and eleven dollars, respectively), she went over to the shirts. He was walking along beside her, still invisible, but she could see a kind of glittery outline of him if she squinted hard enough.

What do you like? she asked.

He stared around at the options, but nothing seemed to be calling out to him. I… I'm not sure what I like.

She riffled through t-shirts and long-sleeved shirts, wandering through shelves and stands. Something plain, she thought. I can't see you wearing some t-shirt with the name of a band across the front, or something…

He did not respond in words, but there was a feeling of silent agreement in his mind.

Eventually, they landed on a simple, black, fleece, long-sleeved shirt. Eight dollars. She held it up against him, aware that no one else could see him, so she was going to look insane to anyone walking by, but there wasn't much of a choice. She had to see if it would fit him, and he couldn't put it on in the store. It looked good enough, she supposed.

You gonna need a jacket, or something? she asked him.

I don't… think so, he replied, slowly. I don't feel cold.

She stared at him, completely naked other than the jacket tied around his waist. You don't feel cold?

No.

She shook her head, moving on to the pants. I shouldn't be surprised, she told him. Just another strange ability you have. She wondered, then, why she wasn't more freaked out by him, but somehow, being freaked out—or afraid—of this man was so far outside of what felt natural that she couldn't even conjure minor concern. Clearly, back when they'd both had their memories, they had known each other for some time, and she was sure she had already known about his strange powers.

They spent another fifteen minutes in the store, and ended up with: socks, underwear, one long-sleeved shirt, one pair of Jeans, one pair of shoes. Together, with tax, it was about seventy dollars. Most of her money, if she wasn't counting the stolen credit cards—and she wasn't.

Before leaving the store, she went to the restroom, taking the bag in with her since it would seem weird to leave it outside the restroom where someone could steal it. Her partner, of course, would watch over the bag, but no one would see him. After coming out of the bathroom, she went over to the drinking fountain, and started to bend down to drink from it.

Stop!

She jumped, and immediately stopped. W-What? she asked, turning to stare at him, even though she knew it made her look crazy.

There's… there's something wrong with the water, he said. I can smell it. Don't drink it.

She turned and stared down at the drinking fountain. Broken sewage pipe? she wondered.

No, he said, coming near and pressing down on the button so that it looked like the water had come on by itself. He bent down and stared at the water. After a few seconds, it turned black.

"Oh, nasty!" she said, backing away from the drinking fountain. "Water bottle it is, then."

Later, as she paid for her water, and a protein bar she had added as an afterthought, she told the cashier about the drinking fountain. The young man said he would tell a manager, but she wasn't sure he was being honest with her. She grabbed her water and protein bar and walked out of the store.

She had her partner—she really needed to think of a better word—change behind the Walmart, out of sight of the security cameras. Nothing fit him, exactly. He was a mouse of a man—strange, for the power he held within him—and she had a feeling any clothing she gave him would somehow look too big on him. But he looked much better than he had. He also gave her back her jacket, for which she was grateful. She pulled it on. Vaguely, she worried that the chemicals in the unwashed clothes would irritate him—especially in the boxers—but she assumed that a man with wings and glowing skin and the ability to turn invisible probably wouldn't be bothered by something like that.

###

With nowhere else to go, and not wanting to use stolen credit cards to pay for a motel room, they wandered about, looking for a homeless shelter. It was all she could come up with, but the night dragged on and they found no such shelter. They had, on the other hand, passed a church a ways back. It had been closed, but…

They returned to the church, a simple, small building on a corner, and sat on the steps. It would be a shitty night, but in the morning, someone from the church would come and be able to point them in some direction. The police were considered briefly, but they'd want to know who the two of them were, by name, and they did not have names, or any paperwork. The police might be able to discover who they were, which almost made her take them around to find a police station… but she kept remembering the stolen credit cards in her wallet. The last thing she wanted was to finally discover who she was, only to be thrown into a cell a moment later.

They sat down on the cold steps and she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. There was a phone in one of the pockets. She pulled it out and clicked a button, but nothing happened. The battery was probably dead, and there was no way to charge it. Much like with the credit cards in her wallet, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what was in this phone. She stared at it for a while, then put it back into her pocket.

Despite the jacket, she was beginning to get cold. Walking had kept her heart rate up, somewhat, but now there was nothing to keep the cold from seeping into her bones.

The man sitting beside her, the only person keeping her from having a meltdown from all of this, wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against his side. He radiated warmth, and seemed to push that warmth through and into her. "Thanks," she murmured, and began to feel sleepy. Her eyelids drooped, and right before she fell asleep, she slid down the front of his body, her head resting in his lap. He placed a warm hand atop her head, fingers brushing through her hair.

She slept.