Chapter 32: A Memory Forgotten
Archie greeted Mandy when she knocked on the door for her session.
"Hey, Archie!" She said cheerfully as she took a seat on the couch.
"You seem like you're in a good mood." He said pulling her file from his cabinet.
"I am. It's been a good day so far and I'm hoping you don't ruin it by making me talk about the past."
"I don't plan to but that's kinda why you're here, so you can get over your past." He sat down and opened her file.
"Archie, I hate harping on the past. It just brings up bad memories that I would rather forget." She crossed her arms and looked down at her lap.
"I heard you and Regina had a fight last night." He said changing the subject slightly.
"How the hell does everybody know that?"
"Regina called and told me what happened. She's concerned about you." Archie informed.
"Why is she concerned?"
"She thinks there's something going on, something you're not telling her. She just wants to understand you fully but she can't do that if you won't let her in."
Mandy shrugged. "She doesn't have to know everything. Some things are better left unsaid."
"Like what?"
"Again, better left unsaid."
"Miranda, you need to start trusting me. You keep this wall up…you don't want to let anyone in."
Mandy frowned. "Regina said something like that last night."
"Can we try something?" Archie asked hoping she would say yes.
"And what would that be?"
"Hypnosis."
"But I wouldn't know what I said to you." She argued.
"It will be like you're sleeping. It also might make it easier to talk about what's really bothering you."
Mandy didn't feel like fighting with Archie anymore so she agreed to do it. She laid down on the couch as Archie put her to sleep. He brought her back to when she was 4,that was the first time she was hit. He then moved on to when she was 7.
Flashback In Mandy's head.
Corinne was busy trying to get dinner on the table before Mr. Rnadell came home. According to Mrs. Randell, she was old enough to make dinner. Jackson kept bothering her, trying to make her spill something so she would get in trouble. He knocked into her while she was holding a pot of hot water in her hands. He wanted it to spill on her but it backfired and landed on his arm instead. He screamed in pain as the hot water burned his arm.
"I'm sorry!" Corinne said quickly even though it wasn't her fault.
"Mom!" He screamed.
"No, please! Don't call your mother. I didn't mean to spill it on you. I'll clean your arm up and the mess, just don't call her." She begged.
"You're gonna get 20 lashes for this!" He warned.
"No, please! I'll do anything you want, just don't tell."
"Did you need me Jackson?" Mrs. Randell asked on the far side of the kitchen.
He hid his arm behind his back. "No mother. I found what I was looking for."
Mrs. Randell nodded. "Very well then. Hurry along with dinner, girl. Mr. Randell will be home soon and he doesn't like to be kept waiting."
Corinne bowed her head. "Yes, ma'am." She left.
She looked back at Jackson. "Thanks for not telling."
"You still owe me." He glared at her. Corinne nodded.
"If my parents ask where I am tonight, you tell them I'm at Mason's cottage. Gotta it?"
"What are you up too?"
"Do you want me to call my mom back down here?" He threatened.
"No, no. I'll do it."
"Great. Now fix my arm." He demanded extending his arm to Corinne.
Corinne tried her best to cover for Jackson when he didn't return that night but she was never good at lying. They caught her and now she was in trouble with them and Jackson. When Jackson came home the next morning, he was in trouble. He was so mad at Corinne for getting him in trouble so he told his parents about the burn incident. She received 30 lashes, 15 for lying and another 15 for burning Jackson.
She laid down on the floor of her room, which just happened to be the supply closest as well. She laid on her stomach because her back hurt too much from the 30 lashes she received earlier that day. Someone opened her door and shut it quickly.
She looked up to see who it was. "What the hell was that earlier?" Jackson said in a loud whisper.
"I'm sorry. I tried but they didn't believe my story."
"I can't go out for a week because of you!"
"Sounds like they went easy on you."
"I have things to do. I can't be sitting in this stupid house."
"I guess you shouldn't have went out last night." She said glaring back at him. "Now, get out! I would like to get some sleep before I have to make breakfast for you and your stupid family." She put her head back down on the small pillow she had a shut her eyes.
Jackson became enraged. He flipped her onto her back and held her wrists down. She winced in pain as pressure was applied to the cuts on her back. Corinne looked up at him with fear in her eyes. She never saw him like this before. He threw off the thin blanket she was covered with and hoisted up her night gown.
"What are you doing? Stop! Stop it! Let go of me!" She yelled trying to fight him off.
Jackson shook her violently so she would stop screaming and moving. "If you make one more sound or tell anyone about this, I will kill you." He threatened. She didn't say anything after that. She didn't fight back as he forced himself onto her. She whimpered every time he thrusted into her. He left her alone after a few minutes and went to sleep peacefully. She cried quietly the rest of the night, scrunched up into a ball.
Before the sun rose, she snuck out of the house. She couldn't believe what happened the night before. How could Jackson do that to me? She knew he was mean and would do anything to get her in trouble but she never thought he would do that. She just kept running, getting deeper and deeper into the woods. She was going to run away, far away from the people that tortured her. When she finally stopped running, she took a seat on a rock trying to catch her breath. She became enraged as she remembered the events of last night. It was on replay in her head. She wished it never happened. She threw down her hands in frustration and noticed the grass below her feet turn brown.
"What just happened?" She asked herself, her face clearly fearful of what she just did.
She threw out her hands again, this time towards a bird that was perched on a tree branch. It fell instantly. When she walked over to it, she saw it was dead. She looked down at her hands. "I have magic." She said in disbelief.
Her attention quickly shifted when she heard two people somewhat shouting. They were heading in her direction so she hid behind a tree. A little girl about 5 was being dragged by an older man.
"I don't wanna go. Please don't make me!" The little girl begged.
"You have to. Now stop being a baby." The older man yelled.
"No, I'm not going." The little girl stomped her feet.
The man raised his hand as if he was going to hit her. Corinne knew what it felt like to be hit and she didn't want this little girl to go through the same thing she did. She quickly jumped out from her hiding spot and threw her hands in his direction, knocking him down instantly.
The little girl was scared and shocked. "What did you do?" She yelled kneeling down next to the man.
"I saved you. You're welcome." Corinne said proudly.
"What?" The girl questioned.
"He was dragging you somewhere you didn't want to go and he was about to hit you."
"My father would never hit me!" She screamed.
"Your father?"
"He was bringing me to my grandmother's, I was just being stubborn and wanted to stay with him."
"I'm sorry." She said before putting her head down. "I thought he was going to hurt you."
The little girl began crying. "Is he gonna wake up?"
"I…I...don't think so." Corinne said sorrowfully.
"You killed my father?!" She screamed.
A rush of guilt ran over her. "I'm so so sorry!"
The little girl cried even harder over her father's lifeless body. Corinne panicked and started to run. She couldn't believe she just killed someone or that she had magic. She wanted to forget about the last two days. She heard a voice come from the woods around her.
She stopped running. "Who's there?" She screamed into the open woods.
"Just me, dearie." A man stepped out from behind a tree.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"A friend." He said cheerfully.
"What do you want?" She asked cautiously.
"Why, to help you of course."
"Help me how?"
"You want to forget, dearie. Isn't that right?"
"But…how…"
"How did I know?" She nodded. He giggled making a shiver run up Corinne's spine. "I know everything, dearie. You killed that man because you didn't want the same fate for that little girl as you have. You have magic that you don't know how to control."
"How do I forget all of that? I don't want magic. I don't like killing people, it's not nice." She said meekly.
Rumple held out his hand as purple smoke surrounded it. A tiny bottle appeared when the smoke dissipated. "Drink this, and you will forget everything that happened in the past 48 hours. You won't remember having magic, killing someone, or anything else unpleasant you wish to forget."
"I don't have any money to offer you."
"Oh, I don't want money dearie."
"Then what do you want?"
"Let's just say, I'm invested in your future." He dangled the bottle in front of her.
She didn't know what that meant but she was desperate to forget. She grabbed the bottle from his hand. "You won't remember meeting me so.." He bowed. "Until we meet again." He disappeared in a cloud of red smoke. She quickly drank the potion. It took a moment but she soon forgot everything that had happened recently. She looked around, wondering how she got so far into the woods. She had no idea so she headed back to the Randell's cottage like nothing ever happened.
End Flashback
Archie gently shook Mandy awake. She quickly sat up, her eyes wide. She couldn't believe what she remembered.
"Mandy, what happened? What do you remember?" Archie asked when Mandy awoke.
She was hoping she didn't say anything to revealing to Archie while she was sleeping. "What did I say?" She asked nervously.
"You said 'Don't tell', 'Stop', 'Let go of me'. Then you began crying and kept saying, 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to'. So what happened?"
"I have to go!" She quickly said before running out of the office.
"Miranda! Miranda wait!" Archie screamed after her.
Mandy ran out of Archie's office as quickly as she could. I have to get away, forget all of this. No one can know what happened back then. Emma was just about to get into her car when she saw Mandy coming out of Archie's. She yelled after her but she was ignored. She figured she was in a hurry to get home. When Archie came out moments later, she knew something was up.
"Archie, what's going on?" Emma yelled from across the street.
"Emma!" He yelled before running over to her. "Have you seen Mandy?"
"Yea, you just missed her. I tried to stop her but she just kept running. Is something wrong?" Emma asked.
"She might've remembered something from her past, something she clearly wanted to stay hidden."
"Does Regina know?"
"I just informed her moments ago."
"Alright, I'll go talk to Regina." She said getting into her car.
"She's a bit stubborn. I don't know if she'll accept your help."
"Won't be the first time." She said before driving off.
She pulled up outside of the Mills Mansion, bracing herself for the confrontation she expected to have with the brunette. She walked up the walkway and knocked on the door. Regina was quick to answer, hoping it would be Mandy but was disappointed when she saw Emma.
"Are you here to pick up Henry?"
"Actually no. I heard about Mandy and wanted to help."
"News travels fast I see. No matter, your help is neither wanted nor needed."
"Look Regina, I know we have a complicated relationship but are you really going to let that get in the way of Mandy's well-being?" She asked her voice rising.
Regina walked back in the house, leaving the door open. Emma assumed that was her way of inviting her in so she did and shut the door behind her.
"And how do you propose to help, Emma?"
Emma followed the sound of her voice into the living room. "Well, where do you think she went?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be here talking to you now would I?" She snapped.
"Regina, enough with the snide remarks! I'm on your side."
"What's going on?" Henry asked walking into the living room.
"Henry, not now. Could you just go to your room?" Emma asked sounding a little aggravated.
Henry wasn't expecting to be sent to his room by Emma, Regina maybe, but not Emma.
"Maybe I can help." He offered.
"Kid, please." Emma pleaded with him as she put her hands on his shoulders.
"Fine." He said reluctantly running up to his room.
"Why do you care what happens to Miranda? She's not your daughter."
Emma shrugged her shoulders. "I'd do it for any kid, and she's startin to grow on me."
"Are you going to steal another child away from me?"
"Regina, why can't you accept the fact that someone wants to help you without having an ulterior motive?" Emma shouted.
"Because everyone has their own agenda!" She snapped.
"I don't want anything to happen to her and I'm sure you feel the same way." Emma argued.
Regina took a moment to compose herself and lower her tone so she wasn't shouting anymore. "Why were you talking to her earlier?"
"What..?" Emma asked feeling blind-sided by the question.
"Henry told me you were meeting her this morning. What was it about?" She wanted to know.
"She just wanted to talk, that's all." Emma said waving off the question.
"She was going to Archie to talk." Regina snapped.
"She didn't feel comfortable talking about a few things." Emma said truthfully.
"And she felt comfortable with you?" She asked doubtfully arching her eyebrows.
Emma nodded. "Yea, we have a lot in common and it's easier to talk to me about some things."
"What could you two possibly have in common?" Regina scoffed.
"A lot more than you'd think."
"Which is..?" Regina asked wanting to know more.
"If she wants to talk to you about it she will, but we need to find her first." Emma said not wanting to tell Regina any part of their conversation earlier.
"Emma, I need to know what's going on with my daughter. I want to help her through whatever it is she is going through." Emma could see the desperation in her eyes. She did promise Mandy that she wouldn't repeat anything but Regina new about the abuse already and she didn't see the harm in filling Regina in a little bit. "It was mostly about the abuse she endured. She was just having a hard time dealing with it."
"You were abused?" Regina asked.
Emma felt uncomfortable at Regina's realization. "Regina, we need to find Mandy before she does something." She wanted to get off the topic as quickly as she could.
Regina got her answer when Emma avoided answering her question. "Okay." She agreed with Emma.
"Well Archie told me she might've remembered something that happened to her, something traumatic." Emma said.
"He made it sound like she was fighting someone off…" Her eyes grew wide. "You don't think someone attacked her, do you?"
Emma thought the same thing but didn't want to confirm Regina's theory. "I don't know. But I have a feeling she's going to want to forget. Could a potion do that?" Emma asked since she knew basically nothing about magic.
Regina nodded. "We need to visit Gold."
Regina and Emma entered Gold's shop quickly, to find no one in the shop.
"Gold!" Emma screamed.
"What are you two doing here, together?" Gold questioned when he appeared from the back room.
"Has Miranda come here looking for a potion to help her forget something?" Regina asked.
"Not lately, why do you ask?"
"She remembered something horrible and now she wants to forget." Emma said.
"What do you mean, 'not lately'?" Regina asked catching on to Gold's little word play.
"Just a figure of speech, dearie."
"No, there's something else. Spit it out Gold!" Regina demanded.
"Maybe he doesn't know anything." Emma suggested.
"You're starting to catch on, Regina." Gold smiled wickedly.
"What do you know?" Regina asked angrily.
"You may not want to hear this story, Regina. Miranda has suffered a lot more than you know." Gold warned.
"No, I'm her mother. I want to know everything about my daughter. Tell me." Regina commanded.
Gold nodded. "Very well. Your precious daughter had been abused form a very young age."
"Yes, I already know that." Regina said quickly.
"Not just physically and emotionally." Gold added.
Regina's eyes grew wide when she realized what Gold was saying. "You mean..?"
Gold nodded. "She was 7 when the older boy in the house took advantage of her. She was going to run away but she then realized she had magic. She killed a man to help out a little girl but it turned out to be the little girl's father. She couldn't live with herself. So that's where I stepped in. I gave her a potion to forget the past 48 hours. Something must have reawakened those memories."
Regina's heart sank. The things her daughter had to go through, alone, pained her. She should've been there to protect her.
"Why did you help her?" Emma asked.
"No child should have to endure such abuse." He said.
Regina shook her head in disbelief. "Why did you wait years to train her when you could've started then?"
Gold shrugged his shoulders. "It simply wasn't the time."
"You're reprehensible! You could've taken her away from that horrible place. You could've given her back to me!" Regina screamed.
Gold leaned closer to her face and squinted his eyes. "It wasn't in the cards." Regina was so angry with him she was lost for words. She stormed out leaving Emma in the shop.
"I can give you a potion to help her forget." Gold offered Emma. "No charge of course."
"Fine, but make it for 24 hours." Gold nodded and quickly returned with the bottle. "She's going to the town line to forget everything."
"And how do you know that?" Emma asked.
"It's the easiest thing to do when you don't have anything else on your mind except forgetting your past. You better hurry, Miss Swan."
Emma ran out of the shop as quick as she could to find Regina waiting in the car for her. She got in the front seat and began driving off.
"Where are we going?" Regina asked.
"Gold thinks she's at the town line." Emma said keeping her eyes on the road.
"If she crosses the line she won't remember me. I can't lose her again, I just got her back. We need to get to her quickly! I need to talk to her." Regina said nervously thinking about the worst possible scenario.
"I realize that, Regina. Why do you think I'm going well above the speed limit!" Emma shot back.
Mandy was sitting inches away from the town line contemplating her decision to cross the line or not. If I cross the line I won't remember all the painful memories that haunt me but that means I won't remember Regina. She was too deep in thought that she didn't hear the car pull up behind her.
"Miranda?" Regina said softly from a distance.
Mandy was startled by the sudden mention of her name. She quickly got to her feet and spun around. "What are you two doing here?!" She asked angrily.
"To stop you from crossing the line." Emma said quickly.
"I just want to be left alone!" She screamed.
"We can't do that." Emma said.
"Just go away! I don't want to talk to either one of you!"
"Miranda, we know what happened to you when you were younger." Regina said calmly although she was heartbroken for her daughter.
Mandy felt a lump in her throat. "Know what?"
"Honey, I know what Jackson did to you when you were 7. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you." Regina saw the tears beginning to fall from Mandy's dark brown eyes and wanted to hug her daughter but she knew Miranda was dangerously close to the town line. She didn't want to risk anything so she remained still.
The last thing she wanted was for Regina to find out what happened when she was 7. "I didn't want you to find out!" Mandy cried.
"It's not your fault, kid." Emma added trying to calm Mandy down although it didn't help.
"I just want to forget everything!" She screamed.
"And you can…" Emma said. "If you drink this!" She pulled out the potion bottle Gold gave her.
"What's that?" She asked.
"Gold gave it to you before to help you forget. This one will let you forget the past 24 hours." Emma said.
"Give it to me!" Mandy commanded.
"On two conditions!" Emma said. Regina looked at her funny and Mandy didn't say anything at all. "Come here, away from the town line…"
"And?" Mandy asked without moving.
"You talk to Regina before you drink this. You two have some things to sort out." Emma said.
"No we don't!" Mandy screamed.
"The last time you talked to her you were fighting. I'm sure you can find something to talk about." Emma said.
"I could just cross the line and forget everything…" She threatened.
Regina took a few steps closer. "Please don't sweetie! I know this is painful for you to remember your past, but I can't lose you again." Regina said trying to convince her daughter not to do it.
"Do you really want to forget everything? You'd forget about the time you spent with Regina, and Jake. I saw you talking to him earlier. Is that what you want?" Emma asked.
Mandy lowered her head, thinking about what Emma had just said.
"Miranda, please!" Regina pleaded.
Mandy could see the fear and desperation in her mother's eyes. She didn't want to hurt her; she's been hurt way too much. She thought about the fight she had with Regina earlier and how stupid it was in the first place. She slowly began walking towards her. She was scared what Regina was going to do, if she was mad or not. The only thing Regina did was hug her and sighed in relief when she held her daughter.
"Thank you." She whispered in Mandy's ear.
Mandy hugged her tighter, not wanting to let go. "I told him to stop but he wouldn't. He hurt me." She sobbed into Regina's shoulder.
"He can't hurt you anymore. I've got you, you're safe." Regina stroked her daughter's hair trying to calm her down.
It took a few moments before she was ready to talk again. "I'm sorry…for fighting with you, giving you a hard time, making you worry about me….just everything." Mandy said looking up at Regina. "You were right…about people not liking me because I'm the daughter of the Evil Queen. I should've listened to you."
"I'm sorry too. I didn't want to be right, especially about that."
Mandy shook her head. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at Henry, it wasn't his fault anyway. I let my emotions get the best of me and I said things I didn't mean."
"As did I. But you're allowed to be angry or jealous or sad about things or situations, just talk to me next time." Regina begged.
"I will. I should've told you everything when I found out you were my mom. You were just so amazing and I didn't want you to find out about my past. I was afraid you wouldn't want me…" Mandy said not making eye contact with Regina.
"I will always want you, no matter what you did or do in the future." She said reassuring her daughter that could never happen.
"I just didn't want you to know everything…" She put her head down. "It's too painful and humiliating."
Regina lifted her chin up so their eyes met. "I understand. I just want to help you through it all, but I can't do that if you won't talk to me."
Mandy nodded. "I'll talk to you from now on but I can't promise you'll like what you hear."
"I don't care what bad news you have to tell me, as long as you're talking to me and telling the truth."
Mandy smiled. "Can I take the potion now?" Regina nodded.
They walked over to Emma who happily handed her the potion. She looked at it for a moment before throwing it into the woods.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Emma yelled.
"I realized that as long as I have Regina, I can get through anything." She said smiling up at her mother.
Regina put her arm around her daughter and smiled. "Let's go home."
"Wait. You guys can't tell anyone about what happened to me back then and don't bring it up. EVER!" Mandy said.
They both nodded. "So you were talking to Jake earlier?" Regina questioned. Mandy laughed before she told them on their car ride home.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was on vacation and I was a little stuck with this chapter. Let me know what you think. The group session is next and it gets pretty heated. Enjoy!