Part 6/11: she made us forget (Michael)

The minute I opened my eyes I could sense something was wrong. There was a weird empty feeling in my head as I sat up and looked around. I almost fainted. There was a girl I'd never seen before sleeping peacefully next to me on the couch.

I stood up immediately and looked around the rest of my apartment feeling completely disoriented. Think, think, think. What happened here yesterday night? I searched my memory frantically trying to remember something, anything. There was nothing. My mind was pretty much blank. I saw the pod chamber. I remembered coming out of the pod...

But the rest of my life...where had it gone? I stumbled to the bathroom, looking into the mirror. I must've been at least 16...17 years old. What's going on? Why can't I remember?

I walked back over to the sleeping girl and stood over her, wondering what to do next. I yelled, "Wake up! What are you doing in my..." I trailed off when she opened her eyes. Familiar eyes...

"Where am I?" she demanded. "Who are you? Why am I here?"

But I barely heard her. Suddenly everything in my life started coming back to me in short, abrupt flashes. Max, Isabel, my "brother and sister." Hank, the only father figure I'd had when I was younger. Maria. I saw us together. Through her eyes, through my eyes; it was all the same. I had cared about her; I'd loved her. So why didn't I remember?

She stared back at me, a confused look on her face. I knew she was getting the same flashes. "Michael?" She sounded scared.

I nodded. "Maria?"

She nodded.

There was a long moment of silence. "What's going on?" she asked, near tears.

"I don't know," I admitted. I dug around in my pockets for anything that could tell me anything and came up with a key. FLASH Kyle. Alex. Tess. I saw them all. I saw Tess kill Alex. Her attempt to mindwarp him again and again until he crumpled to the floor, unable to take anymore. Tess in Maria's refrigerator, moving random containers around. Me, getting out drinks for Maria and me. Snapples that had been in the refrigerator... END FLASH

I was pulled back into reality. I grabbed Maria's arm, sending all the flashes, making sure she remembered everything.

It was a lot to take in all at once, but she just swallowed and said what I'd been thinking. "Tess put something in the drinks?"

"She must have." I grimaced. "I was stupid; I didn't think. I'm sorry."

"What do we do now?" Maria wanted to know. "She apparently knows where I live and everything about me. We know nothing about her."

"We must know something," I said, not willing to lose to Tess.

We sat and thought in silence for what seemed like an eternity, but neither of us had any clue where Tess might be staying or what she'd been doing the last seven years.

"Let's face it, Michael. Whatever she's trying to do, whatever her plan is, it's obviously working. We have nothing on her."

But I refused to believe we'd been beaten. Maria was right; Tess had clearly thought this out pretty thoroughly. "Did the Valentis clean everything out?" I asked.

Maria nodded her head. "But even if they hadn't, that was her past. I mean, she couldn't have known where she'd be now. She couldn't have anticipated that you'd stay and she'd stay too..."

"We don't know that. Everything we do, Tess seems to be a few steps ahead. It's really getting annoying."

Maria started to reply, but was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. I had a strange feeling it was Tess.

Maria and I both got up and she flung the door open. Standing in the doorway was a very innocent-looking Tess.

"Tess!" Maria exclaimed as if they were old friends. "What a pleasant surprise! We were just talking about you."