Kidnapped Memories
Chapter 1: It Can't Be!
Sanji jerked awake with the horrible screams that were bellowing out of his wife's throat. The screams filled the bedroom and he was certain their neighbors heard them. Still dazed from sleep he looked around expecting to see an intruder only to realize that the screams were coming from his sleeping wife besides him. Taking her arms he began shaking her until the spaghetti straps of her silk nightgown fell off her shoulders.
"Mika! Mika, wake up!"
Suddenly her brown eyes popped open and she glanced around the room wildly before realizing that she was safe in the comfort of the bedroom and her husband's arms. Sagging with relief Sanji held her until her shudders eased into slight trembles. Whispering comforting words into her violet scented hair he rubbed her back in circular motions until she pulled back and stared at him, her eyes shimmering with tears.
"I saw him this time Sanji. I saw who was chasing after the car," Mika began shakily. "Ever since I started having those strange dreams three months ago the man who was chasing after the car I was in was always faceless. Of course I assumed that person was you. But now…now I know it wasn't. I didn't even recognize him but I knew I needed to go to him. Who was that man? Who kidnapped me? And why am I even having these dreams?" asked Mika
The last question held a bit of hysteria that worried Sanji so he took her by the hands and helped her to the adjoining bathroom for her to wash her face. After settling her back in bed he held her until her rapid breathing became even. Rolling over onto his back he placed his arms under the cool side of his pillow and stared up at the ceiling. He felt the panic creep up on him starting from his toes and inching up until his whole body broke out into a cold sweat. And as the pale glow of the moon turned into the bright yellow rays of the sun the one thought that kept running through his mind was, "She's beginning to remember."
Mika yawned widely and blinked as tears of fatigue filled her eyes. Blinking them rapidly she winced, hating how the insides of her eyelids felt like sandpaper. After her nightmare last night she was determined to get some answers. When she first started having the dreams they were fuzzy and unintelligible, but as time went by the dreams started to become vivid and too real for her to simply brush aside as a nightmare. Every time she had the dream she was being pushed roughly into the back seat of a car. She would always look up into the back window to see a faceless man running after her his arms stretch out as if the extra length would get him closer to her, and as the car sped off into the distance and the figure disappeared into the night Mika would begin to scream only to wake up in the arms of her husband. She always assumed the man running after her in her dream was Sanji but last night she finally got a clear image of who the man really was. He was tall with dark wild hair. His face would have been handsome had it not been contorted with fear and anguish. And for a fleeting moment she would remember who he was only to have the memory slip from her fingertips. Who was that man? Why was he running after her? Where was Sanji? So many questions with no answers—it was driving her mad and it brought her back to the dark place that she hated to think about.
It was soon after the car accident a year ago. The doctor said she hit her head against the steering wheel hard enough for her to lose some of her memory. She remembered lying in the hospital bed with machines attached to her making rhythmic beeps and groans. She couldn't remember her name or even if she had any family. She didn't even recognize her own husbands face. When he touched her for the first time after the accident she thought she would have at least felt a bit of familiarity with him. But it was as if he was a stranger. After learning from Sanji that they were only married a few months ago and that she didn't have any surviving family members she made the decision of focusing on rebuilding her life and holding on to the hope that her memories will someday come back to her. It took her a while to build a life not only with her husband but with herself. And when she finally started feeling content with her life the dreams began, leaving her in turmoil once again.
Reminded of the car accident Mika got up from the breakfast table and made her way to the medicine cabinet. She was lucky that Sanji was best friends with Dr. Chopper who owned the private hospital she was in. Thanks to Chopper she was able to recover in the hospital without too much medical bills and he even prescribed her with a tiny pink pill that she took every morning. Although it wasn't approved by the FDA yet and was only tested on animals, she took the pills all the same. Chopper told her it helps memories resurface and it was only through sheer desperation that she took them religiously.
About to pop one of the pills into her mouth Mika was suddenly struck with a horrible headache that left her breathless. Sliding onto the cold tiled floors, Mika cradled her head in her hands as images came flying back to her in a rush. It was the dream she soon realized. She was reliving the dream again only this time she was wide awake. Afterwards as the images began fading and she was able to catch her breath did she realize she saw the name of a street she never saw before in her dreams. Getting up on shaky legs she rushed to her laptop in her bedroom and quickly typed in Melrose Street only to find out it was a location in Boston.
"Why would I dream about being kidnapped in Boston? I live in New York," thought Mika. The headache returned only this time it was out of confusion.
Spurred on by the images Mika began typing in "kidnappings that occurred in Boston," specifically Melrose Street. After an hour of searching with no results Mika was about to give up when her eyes caught an article with an image. The article was written a year ago about a woman named Nami being abducted from her home never to be seen again. The woman's husband has been searching for her ever since and refuses to give up even though the police did. Clicking on the image to enlarge it Mika held her breath as the picture slowly downloaded on her screen. When she finally got a clear view of the picture her breath caught in her throat and her whole body began to shake. There in front of her was the man who is always running after the car in her dream. His eyes were a shocking dark black and his nose a straight line. His smile lit up his face and after taking a closer look she noticed he had a scar beneath his left eye. In the picture his arms were wrapped around an orange haired woman. Her hair was long cascading down to her tiny waist. She had a great body and seemed to work out daily. Shooting off from her bed she ran to the mirror and examined herself. Like the woman in the picture she knew she had orange hair but Sanji always preferred it to be blond and insisted that she always dye it once a month to please him. Her hair was cut short and was up to her shoulders. Sanji placed her on a diet soon after coming out of the hospital causing her body to stay willow and toned. At a glance she looked nothing like the woman in the article. But at a closer look she knew that the woman in the article was the same woman staring back at her through the mirror.
"Damn it Chopper I thought you said the pills were supposed to erase her memory not bring them back!" Sanji paced back and forth in the doctor's office and shoved his hands through his hair leaving the blonde strands standing up in every direction on his head. After kissing his beloved Mika goodbye with her thinking he was off to work he drove to the hospital in record time and pulled his so called best friend into his private office.
"I thought so too! How would I have known there was a chance it would return? I told you man, we only tested it with animals. It wasn't even approved by the FD freakin' A yet. But you just had to have her for your own. This is NOT on me Sanji."
Sanji growled knowing his friend was right. He hated that and hated himself even more for screwing this up. All he wanted was a life with Nami. He remembered the first time he saw her, on her knees tending the tiny garden in the front of her house. She had a smudge of soil across her face and her beautiful glossy orange hair shimmered in the sunlight. She took his breath away and he knew he had to have her as his own. When he saw her husband come out with two glasses of ice tea and watched from his car as he rubbed the smudge off of her cheek and kissed her Sanji saw red. He should have been the one to do it. Then and there he made the decision to take her away. He watched her for a month afterwards and his yearning for her increased with each day. With the help of Chopper they were able to come up with a plan to kidnap her and rob her of her memory. For a year he worked and making her his own. He changed her name to one that suited her. Mika…so pretty as it rolls of the tongue. And her hair…he hated having to chop the beautiful tresses off but he had no choice. He couldn't risk anyone recognizing her. The blond suited her complexion and her toned body only made him a happier man. She still had questions but then those pills she took solved that problem for him. They were set to live in New York, raise a family and live a happy, happy, joy, joy life. Damn her memories, those pills, Chopper and his luck. Hell, damn the whole freakin' universe. He needed to do something and he needed to do it quick. He couldn't risk losing her.
"I'm out of here. I'll find a way to make her forget. I don't care if I have to bang her over her head again and start from scratch, she will be mine." said Sanji
Leaving the stunned doctor in his office Sanji hopped into his car and drove back to his home. His heart stopped when he saw the flashing lights of police cars. Getting out of his car, not bothering to close the door he ran to the front step of his house screaming Mika's name only to be jerked back by an officer's beefy arms.
"Officer, is my wife okay? What has happened?"
"Sir, are you Sanji McGowan?"
"Yes, yes I am. What about my wife? Is she okay?"
He began fighting the restrains of the officers arms until he saw his Mika standing there with her arms wrapped around herself. Her makeup was smudged, her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. She stood still and only stared at him her. Her face, the one he worshipped every day and night, was blank and emotionless. And that was when he realized the truth. His secret was out. And all he could have said was "she remembered."