They both strolled into the ice cream shop. No one was there except them and the person behind the order counter.
"What do you want to order?" He asked her. She jumped in the air with excitement yelling,
"Chocolate milkshake!" He laughed at her enthusiasm over a sugary treat.
"I should have known."
A week later, the woman, who she soon found out her name was Jillian, took her home. Everything seemed new to her. Everything around her wasn't familiar at all. Jillian brought her in what was supposed to be her room. It was small with a desk, computer, bed and posters all over the walls. Most of them were posters of movies or Korean pop stars. The walls were painted a forest green, and her bed sheets were black and brown.
Sitting on the bed, the mattress bowed at her weight. "It's," She looked for the right word. There was no way to describe this room in just one word. She felt as if this was a room that she had dreamed about. However, she hadn't slept in days, and whenever she did sleep she only had the same nightmare. Over, and over of that wicked clown man. "Incredible." She finished. That word would have to do. Jillian smiled sadly,
"You and I painted it." She said quietly. She had no memory of that. Nor did she want to. She would just have to get new memories. She understood that she had Dissociative Amnesia. So she wasn't in denial. At least, she didn't think she was. All she knew was that she didn't want to remember what happened to her. She would do everything in her power to make sure that she never remembered. That's pretty selfish, don't you think? Jillian is your mother, can't you see how much your Amnesia is hurting her? She ignored the thought. She wasn't being selfish... Was she? You are being selfish! Now, you need to go ask for help so you can remember! "But I don't want to remember! You saw what happened when I tried!" She screamed back at the thoughts. "Crap. I'm going crazy." The voices continued to chastise her, but she did her best to ignore them. She wasn't being selfish! She was doing the wise thing. And that was to forget.
"Dinner will be ready soon. Just come downstairs whenever you want." Jillian smiled, and left the room, closing the door behind her. She stood and walked around the room picking up small knick knacks that were littered around. She stared at them, partially longing to remember any story that may lie behind their existence in her life. But the other half of her knowing exactly what that mean. Remembering. Fear and Want fought inside her. And she knew for a fact Fear was winning. Setting the item down she went to the bed and curled up on it. Tears rimmed her eyes. Threatening to spill out at any moment.
"You alright?" Someone said. Looking over, she saw Chris walking in. She hadn't even heard the door open. She quickly sat up, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"I'm fine." She said. It took everything inside her to make sure her voice didn't break.
"You look terrible." He pointed out. She scoffed.
"Thanks, you're so nice." they both laughed. Sitting down on the bed beside her, he set his hand on her shoulder. "What's going on in there?" He asked, motioning to her head. She smiled, but looked to the floor.
"I don't know what to do. I'm just confused." He didn't say anything, it was a silent invitation to continue. But she didn't. She didn't want to.
"Well I'm staying over for dinner. So if you need to talk at any given moment I'll be around." He patted her back and got up.
"Thanks Chris." She said just before he left. Looking back at her, he smiled.
"No problem."
After dinner, Maggie (who had finally accepted her name) went for a walk. She needed time to think this all over. Even though Chris hadn't said much, it was enough to get Want back in the game. It fought back at Fear. Which now left Confusion and Choice. These two options were neutral. They didn't belong to either side; Fear and Want. But they made things so much more complicated for Maggie. Confusion; the terrible feeling of not knowing what to do next. And then Choice; the thing after you escape the fog of Confusion. Once out of the thick air you'll find two roads and a fork in between them. The fork is different for everyone and their different problems, but in this case there was Fear and Want. Fear; too afraid to remember everything you once knew. And Want; pushing your fears and hesitations aside and jumping in head first into the unknown.
Maggie sat on the grass, next to the sidewalk. Putting her head into her hands she groaned loudly. Why couldn't she just have both? Remembering the good things, and just throwing the bad into the pit of nothingness. Sighing, she laid back, staring up at the sky. It was starting to darken because of the hour. But the dark blue made the white clouds look so much prettier then in the day. Smiling, she closed her eyes. Everything just needed to always be like this. She didn't want to deal with all her troubles. When was it actually like that? "As a child" she thought to herself. Yes, as a child. She was so free. No responsibilities, troubles or worries. To be a kid again. That would be nice.
On the way home Maggie had lost herself multiple times. But when she finally found her way back police cars parked all around the front. The front door was ripped off it's hinges and inside vines grew up the wall and various plants broke through the floor and ceiling. Jillian cowered in the corner, crying into her husbands chest. Two police officers stood in front of them. They turned, looking at Maggie then walked to her. It was a man and a woman. The man was tall with dark skin, he had no hair atop is head. He wore a blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black pants with black suspenders and a black tie.
The woman was thin. Maggie could tell she was Asian, Japanese possibly. She wore her black hair in a high ponytail, a red windbreaker of sorts with a black shirt underneath it and some blue jeans and high heels. She put her hand out and smiled,
"I'm Detective Ellen Yin. This is my partner," she pointed to the man next to her, "Detective Ethan Bennett. And you must be Maggie." Maggie hesitated before reaching her hand out for the woman to take. They shook hands then let their arms fall back to their sides. They sat in silence for a minute until Detective Bennett broke it.
"You must be wondering what happened here." Maggie nodded. "What your parents are telling us is that a wanted criminal here in Gotham broke in and stole your friend," He paused, looking down at his notepad, "Chris Mallock?" She bit her lip, nodding again. "Was he a close friend of yours?" Maggie shook her head.
"I don't know." She replied. Detective Yin raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean you don't know?" She asked. That's when Jillian stepped up.
"Maggie has just come back from the hospital. She's suffering from Dissociative Amnesia. She doesn't remember much about anything, but she and Chris were-" She stopped. Then corrected herself, "are close friends." Both detectives thanked her for informing her of Maggie's 'condition'.