Ok, Jefferson isn't in this one. Sorry. But I will be putting him in my next chapters. He's going to be helping Belle.

Slowly, very slowly, the days passed. Each minute felt like an hour. And every hour felt like a day. Even though Belle had lost track of time, that's what it felt like to her. And the only thing worth moving out from her little corner of the room, was when food came. And nothing came after the food. It didn't even feel like a life anymore. More like a prison sentence.

After a few weeks, Belle felt herself start to lose it a little. The person giving her food merely became a hand. Just a hand that gave her the food she needed to live. She could've sworn that hand once hand a name. And it was important to her. Who was it? Jeffery, Jarred, Joseph? No that wasn't it. Oh well, she'll eventually remember. It was just some guy.

After what seemed about a month, Belle began to forget why she was even there. No matter how much she thought, she couldn't remember the reason why she had been put in here. Well, that didn't matter. Just as long as she was surviving. She remembered she needed to survive. So that she could have hope. Hope for…what was it again? She knew all this time there had been a little hope in her for something. Something important.

What was it?

Belle lay against the wall and began to bang her head against it a couple of times, trying to remember what it was.

Then just before she could knock herself into unconsciousness, she saw the flap on the door open. Sitting up on her bed in the corner of her room, she could only see mouths moving through the flap, and decided to pay attention to what they were saying,

"That's her?"

"That's her." The other mouth confirmed.

"It doesn't look like her."

"Trust me Dr Hopper, it's her."

"How exactly are you running this place, Regina? How can she look like that in only a week?"

"I guess she's just decided to let herself go." The lips belonging to, as the man called her, Regina, curled into a wicked smile and disappeared from the flap, "Nurses, Dr Hopper's here to speak to the patient."

Belle brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Were they talking about her? What were they talking about?

Suddenly, the door opened. The door opened! It was the first time it had ever opened since…since she could remember. Were they letting her go? She got up from her bed and started to walk towards it, squinting her eyes a little from the light.

But before she could even touch the door, a lady dressed in white quickly came through and held her arm tightly. She struggled to try and get free but they wouldn't let go.

"Stop it! Let go of me!" she moaned.

"Stay still. Someone's here to talk to you."

Then a man stepped into the room. He looked a lot like the man she just saw talking outside her door.

"Mr name's Dr Hopper," Dr Hopper…the name sounded familiar. She'd heard it somewhere before. Not just when that lady was talking to him, but way before. Someone had told her about him. But she couldn't remember what they said, "I'm going to talk to you for a bit. Have a little chat. Is that okay?"

Belle stopped trying to struggle and relaxed. The nurse let her arm go, and walked out. Whispering something to Dr Hopper as she left. Belle thought she heard her tell him that the patient hadn't proven to be dangerous yet. But they'd be watching them.

Are they talking about her again? She's not dangerous! What are they going on about?

Dr Hopper looked at Belle and smiled kindly. But she didn't smile back.

"Why do you want to talk to me?" They both stood still in the middle of the room.

"I just want to ask you a few questions."

"Yes, but why? I won't answer anything unless you tell me." Dr Hopper took a while to think before speaking again.

"Well, answer this question, and I'll tell you why. Do you know why you're here?"

Belle opened her mouth to answer when she realised, she didn't know. She couldn't remember.
She shook her head, "No, that's not fair. I've been here too long to remember why."

"You've only been here a week."

What? No, that's not possible. Only a week? That didn't make any sense. She could've sworn it was much longer, "You're lying to me."

He shook his head, "I'm not."

Belle's eyes started to fill up with tears. Oh God. What was happening to her? Why was she forgetting everything?

"Now," he carried on calmly, "I'm going to ask you a few more questions. Then when I'm done, I'll leave you alone. It that okay?"

Belle pressed the palms of her hands up to her eyes and sat down on her little bed. Then she took her hands away and nodded, "Yes."

Dr Hopper sat down next to her and waited a bit before asking the next question.

"What's your name?"

She looked up at him, slightly confused. Why had he just asked something as simple as that?

"Belle." She replied confidently, "What's yours?" the Doctor smiled,

"My name's Archie." Belle smiled back,

"Can I call you Archie then? I prefer it to Dr Hopper."

"Sure," he smiled back, "So, Belle, can you tell me about your family? What about friends?"

"Well, I have a father. His name is Moe French. My mother died when I was little, so I don't remember anything about her." Her smile faded a little, "And Ruby is my only friend." When she said it out loud it didn't seem like an amazing life, but she was proud she could at least remember these things. Just the little things made her happy.

"Sounds simple enough. And, how do you feel being in here?"

"It sucks." She said with a half-hearted smile, "And the worst part is, I can't even remember why I'm here? Did I do anything wrong? Is this jail? Did I hurt someone?" she started to panic a little more with each question.

"No, no, you haven't hurt anyone. This isn't a jail. We're just keeping you here for your own good. To make sure you're safe."

"Am I staying here forever?"

Archie hesitated a little before answering slowly, "No. Not forever."

"What is this place, Archie? Tell me honestly."

He shook his head, "I need to finish talking to you before I can answer anything like that."

Belle sighed and sat back against the wall, "What do you want to know?"

"Just, talk to me. Tell me about yourself. Any likes, dislikes, hobbies…anyone you care about, anyone you miss?"

Belle thought for a moment. Why did he look at her that way on the last question? Anyone she cared about? Her father, Ruby. She felt like there was someone else though, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Well, she couldn't truly care for them if she couldn't remember.

"I just want to go home. To see my father. To see Ruby. I just miss everything about the outside world. I've only been here a week and it feels like forever. I still don't get why I don't remember anything about why I'm here, or where exactly I am."

"Are you scared?"

She seemed to have to think a bit before answering. But she shook her head, "No. I'm not scared. Just unhappy."

"Why are you unhappy?"

"For starters, being in here. And, I can't help but feel that you're not being honest with me. It's already weird that you've been sent in here just to have a 'talk' with me," she gestured with her fingers on the word 'talk', "But you're asking me questions and I still don't know why. You want me to talk with you. So why can't you answer my questions?"

Archie was silent. Belle could tell he was thinking. He was here for an important reason. And she wanted to know what it was. "Okay. I think I can now."

Belle moved forward a little. Eager to start. "You're going to be completely honest with me?"

"I believe that honesty would be the best way to help you."

Belle smiled. Now she felt a little better. "Where am I?" she asked simply.

Archie took a deep breath before answering, "You're in a psychological hospital."

Belle's eyes widened, "A what? Why?"

"You don't remember being put in here, or who put you here." He said it as more of a fact than a question.

"No I don't. So do you want to tell me?"

"I was sent in here-"

"Answer my question." Belle said fiercely, raising her voice slightly, getting irritated at the way he was ignoring her questions.

"I will answer all your questions. Just please let me finish. I was sent here to talk to you, to make sure you were sane."

"Well, what do you think?"

He shrugged, "You seem completely normal to me. Nothing that means you have to be kept here. I'm just a little puzzled of why you can't remember much of being in here. Maybe your suffering from amnesia."

"Maybe. I have no idea. Who put me in here?"

Archie seemed to look sympathetic, "Your father."

"What? My father?" Belle began to shake her head in disbelief, "No. He wouldn't do something like that? Would he?"

"Well, he did. He seemed to feel pretty strongly about why he was putting you here."

"Why did he put me here?"

"I think you can ask him that yourself. I say you're not insane, therefore it is not legal to keep you in here."

Belle's eyes widened and the corners of her mouth curled upward.

"You mean I can leave?"

Archie smiled along with her.

"Yes, Belle. You can leave."