Amber Memories, Forgotten

-Much Faster than my Footsteps-

It had been you for taught me what living is all about,

Do you remember?

This ugly yet beautiful world would have been nothing without you.

I would rather spend a day with someone I love,

Then to suffer a hundred days with someone I love not.

So, please, come back to me.

"So it does seem that she doesn't remember us then," muttered Crack as he shuffled the current stack of cards in his hands. He prayed for good luck and soon began to distribute the cards to the other two men. The little boy in their company was by the lady's side, observing her as her body moved with her breathing.

Tyki inhaled deeply from his cigarette before sighing out the smoke. He tapped the stick a little so that the ash could drop and took a glance at Ezzz, turning his head as he did so. He appeared so concerned over the lady. The latter was badly injured, and her head had taken quite some time to stop the bleeding. It had been almost two weeks since they met in the rain. Why was it then that the two times he had seen her she was in his two completely different lives? And it was once again as a miner that he could see her in her riding habit- was that all her life consisted of?

"I wouldn't be surprised if a high society lady like her would fail to recognize us though," said the bespeculated man. He was not lying, in a way, as the lack of recognition and emptiness in her eyes when he saw her the previous night showed that there was something more than what it was. He accepted the cards from Crack and cursed at his luck- those bad cards must have been symbolic.

"But-" all three men looked up immediately. Ezzz had not been talking since they brought the lady with them to the train. It was a haste decision made by all of them since they had to rush for the last train and it was inhumane to just leave the woman by her own. "-Ezzz don't believe that Missus doesn't remember us! Maybe her head injury had induced her inability to remember anything?"

Tyki sighed. "There's nothing we can do if she doesn't remember us. Then again, what are we to do with this girl? We are poor miners, barely able to meet our daily needs to even feed another mouth."

"Miss can help out!" burst Ezzz as he looked upon Tyki with large pleading eyes. "Perhaps not with mining, but Ezzz's sure Missus will be able to help out domestically! Ezzz- Ezzz doesn't mind a sister figure…"

"But she is from the gentry-"

Momo smiled as he drew out one of his cards. "I wouldn't mind to find a female in our testerone-dominated group too. It would be nice for Ezzz to have someone accompanying him while we work, that is."

"And we are presuming that she lost her memories to be wandering around injured, that is? That's atrocious," said Tyki. A curse flew out from his mouth carelessly once again when he saw what card Momo had given out. Bad things really come in a package.

Crack grinned as he laid down his cards- a strike. "You seemed to be pretty unhappy with her, dude. Even if she did not lose her memories, her injuries would force her to stay with us for the time being, wouldn't it?"

"YES!" yelled Ezzz as he leaped into the air, carelessly touching the patient propped uncomfortably against the carriage wall.

"…Hmm…"

"Time for us to find out," hushed Crack as the group diverted their attention to her.

"This is-" muttered the lady before sitting up straight all of the sudden and her eyes opened in disbelief and confusion. "Where am I…?"

"You shouldn't sit up instantly after a sleep," said Tyki nonchalantly as he caught the lady who swayed sideway in his arms to stabilize her when giddiness kicked in. Gently, he propped her head lightly against the wall and took back his seat on the floor. "We're in a train."

"I..." stuttered the young woman as she regained her composure. Her eyes flickered as she observed the cabin full of males. "Do I know you- you people?"

"'Told you she wouldn't remember us."

"Tyki, quiet please," chided Crack before turning his attention to the newcomer. "Don't you remember us, Missus?"

"Missus…?" pondered the lady. Her black eyes were on the boy yet her gaze passed through him. "Is that my name?"

The question sent the guys staring at Tyki as a smirk spread on each individual's face slowly. Each grin on their face seemed like a knife that would take a huge slice at Tyki's ego.

"Excuse us while we discuss something, young lady," said Momo as he pushed all his friends out of the cabin, leaving the latter staring after them, before she diverted her gaze out of the window, where the leaves on random deciduous trees were already brown.

It was autumn already, wasn't it?


"I suppose we have proven our point here, Tyki," said Crack as he slid the door closed behind them. "She has to stay with us then."

Tyki rolled his eyes and took another puff of his cancer stick. The idea that they had abandoned their round of poker for a woman annoyed him. A sarcastic laugh escaped from him. He cocked an eyebrow and stared at his friends intensely. "And which proper lady would hang out with a group of vagabonds then?"

The silence from them marked the victory he was long fighting for. Tyki smiled, satisfied. "So now all we need to do is to-"

"Wait," exclaimed Ezzz as he gripped Tyki's sleeves excitedly. "If we make Missus our family, that would be a different thing, isn't it?"

Tyki tried to control the fire in his eyes as he diverted his attention to the young boy. "And who would it be? Your eyes are too blue to be connected to her, Momo obviously has different skin from her and…"

"You, Tyki!" continued Ezzz as his eyes dazzled with elation. "Tyki's black hair and dark brown eyes would be perfect!"

"I…"stumbled the bespeculated man, flabbergasted by the young boy's words.

"Our little friend here does say the wisest things, doesn't he?" laughed Crack as he gave the dumbfounded Tyki a smack on his back. "Brother, you do have a good sister waiting inside, eh? Now go in and clear things up, Bro. Hold on a minute," stopped the lad as he looked at Tyki. "What's the name of your sister? It can't be Missus forever."

A long and heavy sigh came out of Tyki as he shrugged his shoulders. This debate was getting nowhere and his short-termed victory was now seeping quickly through his fingers. The cigarette between his fingers was getting shorter and shorter without him realizing it as thoughts overcrowded his brain.

"ARGH…" he yelled when the stick finally burnt his fingers. Tyki stomped on it when it landed on the floor with a sizzle that annotated mischief. "Aki then," drawled the bespeculated man as he walked off with smoke fuming out of his head literally.

The group laughed as they too watched how the little pile of ash crumpled into dust.

"I don't understand," shouted Momo cheekily after the man as he disappeared behind the door, "how someone who normally enjoys the company of females could be so cold when it was he who treated and bandaged her wounds!"

Until this moment, I had never realized that someone could break your heart twice, along the very same fault line. Didn't they say that lightning never strikes the same place twice? Or was it supposed to be different with falling stars?