A few months later.

Beep

Beep

I peeled my eyes open.

A blindingly bright light brought tears to my sore eyelids and my mouth felt as dry as a desert.

Everything else past my neck felt numb.

Beep

As my body began slowly regaining its senses, a terrible pain penetrated my skull...like someone had taken a huge brick and smashed it against my head.

Beep

Next came…immense confusion.

One thing became obvious though.

I'm in a hospital.

Something had gone terribly wrong...

But what? What in the world happened?

How did I get here?

I tried to remember, but the headache was too overwhelming.

Beep

Something cold and wet flew down my nose and lips.

A nosebleed...

Beep

While I sat there sniffing, a nurse entered the room.

She immediately ran up to me and told me to lie back and relax, but how could I do that?

Beep

I couldn't remember anything past my 15th birthday...

Beep

Not a single thing.

Beep

3rd Person POV.

Beep

Beep

Beep

The hospital room was spacious, but its cream colored walls and limp white curtains gave it a dull appearance.

In one of the three white beds laid a girl.

Beep

Her body including her head was wrapped in bandages and an IV drip was pierced into her vein.

The large casts supporting her left arm and leg were indicative of broken bones.

Beep

Even though her eyes were half-open, she appeared to be staring into nothingness.

Her look was…empty, unfocused…as dull as the room itself.

Beep

The only audible sound was the steady beeping of the colorful heart monitor until the door slid open and two adult women entered the room.

One of them appeared to be a nurse while the other was a much more mature looking, professionally dressed woman.

Her static face showed traces of stress lines which were accentuated by her frown.

The woman was her mother.

She approached the girl's bed and looked at her with disappointment.

''It's time to go.''

One week later.

The day was miserable.

Heavy grey clouds hovered above, completely obscuring the sun and thick fog crawled across the wet pavement.

It swirled and twirled every time a chilly breeze ran through it.

Skinny, tall trees stood their ground on the roadway observing a lonely jeep roll by.

There were boxes tied to its roof, holding on for dear life.

Droplets of water began relentlessly crashing against the vehicle.

On the backseat of the car sat the girl from before with eyes as empty as before.

Her mother sat in the front alongside her father who was gripping the wheel.

''I expect you to behave well'' spoke her mother ''it's bad enough to have to take care of a fully grown daughter with a brain damage, don't you dare embarrass me in front of my mother in law.''

The girl simply nodded in response.

She was used to her mother's strict attitude and her father's indifference.

The only thing bothering her were the lost memories...

She had laid in the hospital for three and a half months, but had no recollection of how she got there.

This meant that she onlu knew what other people told her.

So far she only knew that she'd gone on a trip to a prestigious asylum, but on the last day - 21st October- the entire building had burnt down to the ground due to an unknown cause.

There were traces of gunfire found in the remains as well as...her shoulder, which led police to believe that the incident was an inside job.

It is speculated that many of the prisoners managed to escape that day, although she was the only known survivor thus far…

The entire situation was weird.

It bothered her...

She felt like…she'd lost something very important. . .something more than memory.

The jeep pulled into a driveway and the girl carefully climbed out of the car.

Her father handed her a single crutch, it helped her walk properly.

The mother rung the doorbell and an elderly lady opened the door inviting the three into the house.

The girl's father and mother ha to leave that same evening, but the girl was always happy to stay with her grandmother.

However, this time she felt more alone than ever...

From time to time her grandmother would bring up the incident and comment on how horrible it must've been, but it was hard to care for people she'd never met. Or at least...didn't remember meeting.

To her it was only another story on the news.

She didn't feel any personal involvement.

Even so, every day the girl would sit alone and try her best to recall something – anything – with no result.

No real memories ever resurfaced, but life still coninued.

Hours, days and weeks passed.

The girl gave up on trying to forcefully remember and redirected her energy to other things such as catching up on 2 years of lost schoolwork.

And yet…a strange feeling of emptiness ate away at her.

The feeling of missing something or…someone…important.

The answer constantly seemed to linger on the tip of her tongue and yet completely out of reach.

''OC dear, can you come here for a moment!?'' grandmother called.

OC placed the book she'd been reading aside and entered the kitchen.

''You called?''

''Could you be a sweetheart and hop to the store for me? I forgot to buy flour, but I can't leave the kettle alone'' her grandmother pleaded.

OC wanted to argue and complain that she'd literally have to 'hop' to the shop, but she swallowed back her protests settling on a frustrated sigh.

The shop isn't that far anyway…

She grabbed her crutch and was on her way.

The weather was lovely. Not.

It had been raining all day so the streets were completely wet, slippery and cold.

Thankfully the rain had subsided, but it was starting to grow dark.

OC stretched her right arm, deciding to take a shortcut through the park.

Even though she didn't remember anything from the events that left her with a broken leg and a bullet wound through the shoulder...there were noticeable changes in her behavior like being jumpier, not wanting to go outside and becoming less social…

She looked up at the lush, green trees and took a deep breath.

The park was quiet and peaceful.

It felt weird to have lost two years of her life and yet…she wondered if perhaps it was for the best.

What if she unconsciously blocked out the traumatic events to protect herself?

'Do I even want to remember?'

'Maybe this is for the best?'

'Was I given a chance to start over..?'

Bump! - ''A-ah!''

A sudden impact sent OC flailing backwards.

She lost hold of her crutch, ungracefully landing with her ass in a puddle.

The park turned eerily dark...

''S-sorry'' OC stuttered, but did not receive any type response from the culprit who simply stood before her.

She tried getting up from the ground, but it proved harder than expected.

The wet cast refused to bend to her will, so she ended up squirming around like a fish on land.

To her surprise, the stranger bent down and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up.

Unfortunately, he'd grabbed the injured arm...

OC tried her best to not cringe from the sharp pain in her shoulder, before awkwardly thanking him.

To her surprise, the man did not let go of her.

She took a moment to have a better look at him.

He looked rather intimidating.

He was very tall and slim, wearing tight black pants and a white hoodie.

His skin was startlingly white, a complete contrast to the raven hair.

She couldn't see the face behind all that hair, but...he was wearing a…surgical mask.

''I-I'I'm sorry…but d-do I k-know you?'' the girl stuttered attempting to pull her arm away, but his grip didn't loosen.

He didn't reply.

OC tried to keep her composure, but was growing increasingly anxious.

''Could you…please let go? I need to go buy some flour..'' she smiled, but it proved futile.

Instead of letting go, he started laughing with a voice that sounded like a rusty swing in an abandoned playground…and yet…so familiar….

The worry on her face became painfully obvious, but the man didn't seem to care. In fact..his laughter only grew louder.

''HAhahaha! I'm hurt! I didn't think you'd forget me this quickly considering how…close we were….'' the words smoothly rolled down his tongue and he leaned in, only inches away from her face.

From this distance the girl could see his eyes.

'He's dangerous...'

She was about to scream, but the man released her arm and covered her mouth.

''Shhhhhh…..come with me…'' he whispered and the girl's anxiety skyrocketed.

She tried to scream and cuss him out, but her words were muffled by his ice-cold hand…

She continued squirming until a large kitchen knife appeared in her line of vision making her fall mute.

''That's better. Now come'' his hand slid down from her face and grasped her wrist.

He dragged her deeper into the park.

A million dreadfilled thoughts crossed the girl's mind when they arrived at a small clearing.

It didn't take long or her to notice the man lying on top of a nearby rubbish bin…as well as the pool of blood around him….

He was wearing a tattered white lab coat and had ash brown hair which was combed to the side.

His body was covered with burns and stab wounds.

OC turned stiff from terror.

The raven haired male ordered her to stay where she is and she didn't dare disobey.

She watched as he walked up to the middle aged man's body and raised his knife up in the air plunging it down into the already dead man's back.

He repeated the action a couple of times before pulling the bloody knife out of the corpse and walking back to where she stood, stopping a mere foot away.

She stood still while he slowly wiped the bloody blade across her cheeks.

''So…how do you like my reunion present? Beautiful, isn't he?'' he asked as if it was the most innocent question in the world.

In place of words, the girl's teeth started clattering.

She flinched when he raised his fingers to his mask and moved it away from his lips revealing the carved smile...

''Anyway…he and I have played enough. I think it's now your turn to-'' before he could even finish the sentence, OC whirled around and hopped away as fast as her leg could carry her.

She didn't get very far though, because her cast dragged her down eventually causing her to trip and land on her hands and knees.

She attempted to rip it off, but wasn't quick enough.

The psychotic man emerged from behind a tree with that…insane smile on his face.

The sky had long since turned black...and a lone streetlight was the only source of light which illuminated his monstrous frame.

Their eyes met and something about his face expression changed.

He was still grinning, but...it felt different.

''Hmm…you keep shaking…how boring. You almost had my hopes up you bitch…'' he spat moving closer and closer to the trembling girl.

''Y-you m-make n-n-no sense! What hopes!? I h-haven't seen you before in my life! You're insane!'' she screamed as tears flooded her eyes.

The man paused ''…and you're pointing out the obvious~!'' he laughed and stood there for a moment..almost expectantly.

The pause didn't last long though and he soon resumed his advance.

OC closed her eyes and shielded her face, but the male grabbed her by the collar and hauled her up, holding her mid-air.

I'm going to die!

''. . .''

All of a sudden, she was forcefully thrown back to the ground.

She hit her head against the cold gravel, the shock sent the world spinning, but she could still make out the crazy man's retreating figure.

He disappeared into the darkness, leaving her alone.

Relief washed over her, but then...a different feeling became dominant .

A hot, screaming sensation of...fear.

But…what's there to be scared of? He's gone! I need to run!

She couldn't understand, but with every second that she remained on the ground…the feeling grew stronger.

The crunching of leaves was gone and her wild breathing had been reduced to small huffs of breath.

...

'How could I...forget?'

...

''JEFF! WAIT!''

She fumbled up to her feet, hopping in the direction he'd left.

''WAIT! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEAASse!''

She passed Aceberg's dead body.

''WHERE ARE YOU!? Where-'' she choked on her own screams.

''…Behind you.''

The voice startled her.

She spun around coming face to face with an A class murderer.

While a normal person would've been freaked out of their mind -just like she had been a while ago- there was something about him that pulled her in.

That 'something' was by no means acceptable, healthy or even sane…but it was…and that's what matters.

She extended her arms and moved forward, embracing him with all her strength.

What she didn't see was...Jeff raising his knife and pressing it against her back

...One movement of his hand and the blade would slide right through her heart...but neither of them moved and silence ensued.

. . .

Finally, Jeff moved the knife away letting his arm fall to his side.

His other arm moved to the small of her back pulling her even closer.

''Until…death do us part…then'' he said and began laughing like a maniac, but the sound was music to her ears.

She wouldn't lie to herself no longer...

She found him and no matter what follows...be it luck or misfortune…she would never let him go again.

'Even if…

It costs me…my sanity. ….'

The End...for now.