Watching Valon jog away from her, Mai stood there as if her shoes were cemented to the ground. Trying to process what had just occurred, she stood there, staring dumbly at Valon's back until he rounded a corner and disappeared from her field of vision.

Valon. Doesn't. Remember me.

Mai shook her head in disbelief. She chuckled nervously and continued walking. No, she decided, shaking her head; of course Valon still remembered her. You did not forget everything about a person you knew—very well, she might add, for a long time—over the span of a few weeks, unless you hit your head and forgot everything, or if someone used magic or advanced technology to wipe your memory. Although she had seen her fair share of strange happenings, had experienced them herself, she seriously doubted that was the case for Valon, now that he was free of Dartz. Valon was just lying, wasn't he? He was just an astoundingly convincing actor and was only pretending so he didn't have to face facts.

Although...

Why would he feel compelled to lie? Valon, for the most part, was a straightforward kind of guy. No playing, no bullshit. She felt that he'd become a little more cautious around her since they'd happened upon each other for the first time in a while months ago, but not to this extent. True, it had been a bad breakup, and she knew he was hurt, but why lie? Why pretend?

She distractedly walked back home and found Joey and the gang either playing video games or watching the tomfoolery in her living room. Truth be told, having lived alone for years, it was still strange seeing so many people in her apartment at one time. Sharing a living space with just one person was bizarre enough for her, even if her months with Valon had helped her grow somewhat accustomed to it, but having so many loud teenagers in her apartment this early on a Saturday was a little off-putting. But it made Joey happy, and she did love them all, so she would sacrifice some peace and quiet for Joey's sake. She...she was happy to do it. She was happy so long as Joey was happy.

So happy.

So, so happy.

So, so very happy.

She was happy.

Really.

Valon was tempted to strip off all of his clothes as soon as he walked through his front door, but he knew he should hold off til he got to the bathroom, so he settled for kicking off his shoes and peeling off his shirt. Draping his soaked shirt on his shoulder, Valon trudged to the refrigerator to pull out a water bottle.

He thought about the blonde stranger as he upended the cold plastic bottle. He closed his eyes as he allowed the chilled water to collect in his parched mouth before taking a grateful swallow, all the while thinking about the strange encounter. The woman had seemed so sure that they knew each other, but Valon didn't even know her name. He realized that he kind of wanted to know her name, that he wanted to get to know her, but given what had just happened, that would be too strange.

The more he thought of her, of her soft-looking hair, of her captivating violet eyes, her curves, her way of carrying herself, he felt a strange tugging within himself. It was similar to the feeling he got whenever he felt like there was more behind his story to running off to Europe. It was like the name that wanted to be spoken.

Valon exhaled and set the water bottle down on the island. He was just being weird, he realized. If he knew that woman, he would have remembered. True, it was strange that she seemed to know him, but that must be a coincidence. A very strange, specific coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless.

Valon shrugged, capped the water bottle, placed it back in the fridge, and then walked off to take his shower.

"So how does this work, Doc?" Valon asked Dr. Curtis.

"We're going to give you something to help you stay asleep during the night," Dr. Curtis explained, holding up a small plastic bottle. He shook it so Valon could hear the medicine rattling inside. "You said you don't have any allergies, right?"

"Right," Valon replied as Dr. Curtis handed him the small plastic bottle over so he could read the label over. "So I take these. And then what?"

"Two of my employees will enter your house about thirty minutes after the lights go out to make sure you are asleep," Dr. Curtis replied. "You'd do well to leave your door unlocked so we don't have to worry about spare keys. That is, unless you have one outside for us to use and then put back?"

Valon shook his head. "I don't."

"Very well," Dr. Curtis responded. "If you don't feel like giving us a spare key, my employees will enter your house via the unlocked door, work through the procedure, and then you will wake up the next morning without memories of Lacuna and, ah, Ms. Valentine."

Valon quietly entered his home with a few grocery bags and the small paper bag Dr. Curtis had given him. He entered the kitchen, tossed the paper bag onto the kitchen table, and set the grocery bags on the island. Slowly unbagging his purchases, Valon set to putting up the things he'd bought under the watch of the paper bag. Once he was done, Valon opened up the paper bag and pulled out the plastic bottle, holding it up to the light and studying it. He turned it over slowly, causing the pills to shift loudly.

Valon let out a sigh as his eyes glazed over. Well, it was happening. Come next morning, he'd have no memory of Mai Valentine.

Having made sure that the door was unlocked for the Lacuna guys to enter without problem, Valon entered the kitchen. He stopped at the island and leaned forward on the counter, staring at the bottle of sleeping pills. Nothing to do but to take them now, he mused. He contemplated whether he should really go through with this or just call it off. This was a big decision he was making, but his gaze wandered to the kitchen table, landing on the chair where he'd seen Mai drinking her coffee many a time. He could see her now, sitting in the chair the way she'd always sat, one leg crossed over the other, as she sipped her drink while the early sunlight filtered in through the partially open wooden slat blinds she'd convinced him to buy once.

Valon swallowed and set his jaw in determination, looking back at the plastic pill bottle with newfound resolution. Yeah, he decided. He was going to do this.

He snatched the bottle up and unscrewed the top, shaking out the recommended dosage of two pills onto the palm of his hand. He tossed the sleeping meds into his mouth and swallowed without bothering to grab a glass of water. Valon took one last look at the kitchen table before turning on his heel, walking out of the kitchen, and switching the lights off.

He turned the living room lights off and crept up the stairs, wanting to disturb the silence in his house as little as possible. The Lacuna guys were out there, he knew, counting down the minutes until they could enter and get to work, watching for all of the lights to go out in his house.

It was just that easy, wasn't it? Go to sleep and let some other people take over for you and you'd wake up like nothing had happened.

It was just one of his problems solved, Valon realized as he entered his bedroom, flicking the light switch off, and that would make things easier for him.