Here's the entire "Broken Memory Lane" story..well..what I have so far.. :P

[raynebow2]

Prologue

Aprael tried to remain calm but soon her walk progressed into a full-out run. She couldn’t help but run, she knew the truth now, so she ran away from it like she always had. She wouldn’t let them get her again. She wasn’t going to let herself be vulnerable again, this had happened before, she could feel it, and she wasn’t going to let it occur once more.
Her memory was fading though, she knew she was running, but why was slipping away all too quickly. She knew she must be strong, she must make herself remember. Oh, but she was so tired! She’d only rest for a while, then she’d start running again. Aprael collapsed into the soft, warm pine needles.
Everything came back at once, the dinner, the betrayal, the escape, but it was too late. Just before she blacked out she caught a glimpse of that all too familiar and all too sickening face. The bag went over her head and everything she faintly remembered was gone and so was her consciousness.

Chapter One

Aprael Kayta Rotara. That’s what the hospital bracelet said. Is this her name? Aprael couldn’t remember, she couldn’t remember anything, her name, the year, or why she was in the hospital. She knew the simple things though, the terms for everything, but nothing else, not one memory. She swiftly scanned the room. All she saw was a single white chair in a single all white room, everything was white, the floor, the walls, the machines. White. The color of purity.
Aprael jumped in the bed, rolling it a mere inch, as the door came loudly swinging open. “Hey honey, how are you? Are you doing okay? Do you need anything? Have they been treating you well?”, the strange blond woman threw the words at Aprael.
She didn’t recognize the woman or know why she was so concerned. Aprael formed many words on her lips but just didn’t know quite what to say. She finally just decided to ask the surge of questions tugging at her emotionally drained mind. “Who are you? Where am I exactly, I know I’m at the hospital but where? What happened to me?” She noticed a look of fear cross the stranger before she wiped all emotions from her face.
The woman quickly retaliated and spoke to Aprael slowly with caution, “I am your mother, my name is Janea Rotara. Your name is Aprael Kayta Rotara. You are in intensive care in the hospital, the town we’re in is Taiton. We don’t exactly have an explanation for what happened to you yet, your fiancee, Samuel, found you in the woods far from town. We are still questioning people about what happened, we are aware that you have lost all of your memory.” The woman, her mother, had said all of this without the faintest quiver in her voice.
Aprael found it strange that her mother wasn’t feeling some kind of strong emotion at the reunion of her and her daughter. She pushed it aside and labeled it as nothing, after all she was in intensive care. She thought about the fact that she had a fiancee, how old was she anyway? Would she get to see him soon? Aprael was suddenly very eager to meet this Samuel. So she asked Janea the newly formed questions.
Janea seemed very pleased at the fact that Aprael wanted to see him. With quite a large smile on her face she immediately responded, “Why of course you may see him! He’s in the waiting room right now, he was waiting for you to wake. He wasn’t sure if you wanted to see him or not after your dispute. Oh, and dear, you are fourteen. I will go get him, I’m sure you’ll remember him when he comes in, he’s not the kind of fellow you forget.” Janea winked at her daughter and went to get Samuel like a golden retriever fetching a bone.
Aprael pondered the fact that she was only fourteen and had a fiancee, was this young here or was this normal? She also began to wonder how romantic the proposal was, as she was imagining it her thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging and a man walking in.
He appeared to be in his late teens, eighteen or so, and was a sight to see. He wasn’t handsome, he was straddling the border between ugly and cute. He smiled when he saw her and she saw his crooked yellow teeth, he must be a smoker. Aprael assumed that this smile meant that he was in fact Samuel, she could definitely see how her mother thought he was someone you wouldn’t forget.
He was quite strange and had an air about him that suggested that he had money and power, Samuel seemed to take pride in this and it was apparent he was not afraid to take advantage of that money and power. Samuel grabbed a stool and seated himself and stared Aprael straight in the eyes, she barely prevented herself from shuddering. Her mind automatically went to her mother’s mention of a dispute, what did they fight about?
His teeth showed again as he opened his mouth to speak, “Hello Aprael,” his voice was harsh and spine tingling, “I know that we had a disagreement at dinner after the party but I’m here to apologize and to promise that even though you don’t want to marry me that I’ll still be good to you.” Aprael’s daydreaming of their proposal was completely crushed by now. Confusion spread through her like wildfire, “Wait, our marriage was arranged?”
Samuel chuckled and looked amused, “Why of course it was! On my request of course, I found you quite attractive and you appeared to have good characteristics for a wife. No one had claimed you yet, so I thought I would before you found some silly love interest. Your mother thinks you are rebellious and you do read those ridiculous love stories. Nobody ‘falls in love,’ that’s an absurd thought. So I filed a claim request and made you my property.”
Aprael was filled with nothing but raw rage and hatred, how dare this man say such awful things! Silly love interest? Ridiculous love stories? People do fall in love! At least they’re supposed to, she didn’t believe people should get married unless they honestly loved each other! He called her his property, she felt debased and offended.
The anger in Aprael was building up in her but before she could reply Janea started to speak. Good, she’s going to stand up for me, Aprael thought. She was startled when she heard her mother’s reply, “This is correct Aprael, you are his property now. I received the claim request and was delighted because after being on the market for a complete year you hadn’t had even one request yet. I thought maybe you’d never get one and you’d be someone’s house cleaner for the rest of your life so when I got this claim request I automatically sent back a letter that said I approved. You will wed Samuel in four months.”
Aprael could feel herself about to scream, she remembered something, something that she was not supposed to remember.

Chapter Two

Aprael had a flash of memory, she remembered Samuel calling her a worthless little girl and slapping her before tossing her to the ground. The memory was so vivid that she felt the sting of his hand across her face and the rage and humiliation flowing through her veins.
She remembered also that this was what Janea referred to as the “dispute” and what Samuel referred to as the “disagreement,” she knew something was wrong with this. She also knew she had two choices, she could rant and rage about him hitting her or she could ask them what the fight was about.
She was going to test them, she was going to see if they would lie to her, so she asked them, “What did we get into a fight about?” Aprael made sure to pay attention to every detail and every reaction. Janea looked surprised and started to say something but stuttered every time she tried to say a word.
Samuel automatically shushed her, he looked at Aprael and swiftly replied, “It was a small disagreement, hardly even a fight. We were just discussing the wedding and life afterwards and suddenly you looked upset and half-ran out of the room. I ran after you but couldn’t find you, but when I finally did you were unconscious.”
More memories flooded into Aprael’s mind, she knew this was not what happened, she knew because she remembered what happened. They were at a dinner but Aprael and Samuel were on the balcony, he began to speak of how she must act when she became his wife. She told him she would kill herself before she would marry him.
He looked at her with determination in his eyes and said, “You will be my wife. We will have children, strong little boys and no useless girls. You will be my maid, my slave, for the rest of your life. You will do this because the law says so. You will not run, and if you do you will suffer the consequences. I am not afraid to hit a mere girl.” As soon as the last sentence was spoken he slapped her, pushed her down, and called her a worthless girl just as he had in the other memory but this time the memory went on.
She got up slowly and followed him as he proceeded out of the door. She stopped him at the table in front of the grand main course. She looked at him with an apologetic face and spoke in a sweet voice, “ I am terribly sorry for my actions, I will not kill myself to keep from marrying you. Instead...I will kill you.” She smiled like a person of psychotic means and removed the knife sitting of the plate that had been waiting to slice the perfectly roasted chicken. She thrusted the knife towards his stomach and let go and ran so she would not see or feel the outcome of her actions.
The memory ended here but obviously she had not stabbed Samuel, she must have missed. Aprael looked at Samuel apologetically and replied in a sweet voice just as she had in the memory, “I am terribly sorry for my actions.” She did not go on to say what she had in the memory but left it at that. Aprael kept that smile on her face as worried glances were exchanged between Janea and Samuel.
No one could have ever guessed that Aprael could and would figure out what had happened. Samuel, trying to be as calm as possible, asked Janea to step out into the hall with him. “What if it didn’t work? What if she knows? What will happen then? I thought you said you had this figured out!” Every word that escaped Samuel’s mouth seemed to wound Janea. Samuel reared back his hand and hit Janea across the face with a shuddering sound. “I–I thought that the j–job was done. I didn’t know...” Janea’s sobbing and aching face was causing her to stutter. “You should’ve known! Now, hurry up and put yourself back together. You have to go fix what you messed up!” He continued to scream at her not taking into consideration that Aprael was just on the other side of the door.
While all of this was going on Aprael was trying to put together the pieces. Why on earth was her mother letting, and even wanting, her to marry a man like that? She heard her fiancee and her mother arguing out in the hall. Had they found out that she remembered what had happened? She must be more careful next time. She had a feeling that whatever was going on here, she wasn’t supposed to know about any of it. She heard what sounded like someone being hit and some more heated arguing. Aprael knew that Samuel had hit her mother, her mother just didn’t seem like the type that ever fought back.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Aprael, where was her father? Did she have one? Well she must have one but was he around? Was he allowing all of this? Janea entered the room with a very red cheek. Aprael had been right, Samuel had hurt her. Aprael thought that this was a good time to ask her mother what had happened to her father. It was best to ask Janea something like this when she was already hurting, just in case something tragic had happened to him. “Where is my father?” Aprael thought it would be best if she was blunt about it. She watched as her mother’s face sunk just a little more as one more tear filled her eye.
Aprael also watched as hatred filled Janea’s eyes and as the tear quickly disappeared. “Well, the worthless human being that you called your father is dead.” Janea said these words as if they were common knowledge. Aprael felt a small pain come over her whole body. Why must all the men in her life seem so terrible?
Aprael decided to ask the last question that was tugging on her mind, “What happened to him, exactly?” Janea took a small step forward and leaned close to her daughter’s ear to whisper some of the most horrifying words that can ever be spoken to a child, “You killed him.”

Chapter Three

Aprael felt the world stop turning. The silence was so loud that she couldn’t hear the thoughts that floated in her mind. All of her words seemed backward and the entire universe seemed to make such perfect sense that it was destroying everything that she thought she was.
Aprael thought that she was better than Samuel, that he didn’t deserve her. She had killed her father. She had killed her own father. She was a monster. She was a murderer. Why had she done such a thing? Aprael, by this point, had lost herself in her own mind. Aprael didn’t even notice her mother’s crazed smirk or when Samuel handcuffed her to the hospital bed. All she knew was that she was numb and that everything was going black.
Samuel and Janea stepped out of the room. Once again they had a plan, a plan that was going to change Aprael’s future one more time. They thought this would fix the ways of the always rebellious Aprael. What they didn’t know was that every time they gave her more information, she regained another memory. Aprael felt herself cringe as she caught the faint remembrance of her father.
He was tall and looked like he had been handsome when he was younger. His eyes were a deep gray that portrayed that he was proud. He was looking down at a little girl, his smile was full of pure and unconditional love. The little girl was Aprael at the age of seven. They were in a green, plush field. Her father started to speak, “I know that you don’t want to be here in Taiton. I know you miss home but this is home now. You know that your mother is very sick, this was the cheapest place to live. You need to go to school and it’s free here.” The young Aprael understood immediately, “I know, Daddy. I want Mommy to get better. I just miss home. I mean, where we used to live.” Her father cringed at the sight of his daughter acting so grown up.
He longed to pick her up and board the bus that was going to Cadeon, he missed home too. The memory ended abruptly as her dad’s eyes were filling with tears. Aprael knew something was going on. She couldn’t have killed her father, she couldn’t have killed the man that loved her so much.
Back then her mother was sick, what did she have? How did she get better? What really happened to her father? Why did her mother hate him so much? At this exact moment Aprael realized that she would have to question everything from here on out. Nothing was what it appeared to be.
Aprael woke up to the nurses bustling around in her room, packing her things. She was finally leaving the hospital. She silently wondered how long she had been here and how they had afforded it. They hadn’t had a lot of money when her mother was sick, how did they have money now? They were surely drowning it debt.
Aprael then remembered how Samuel had reeked of money and power when she first met him. That had to be one of the reasons her mother wanted them to be married, he was rich. Aprael felt her stomach drop at the realization that she might already be living with him. Oh, what would she do if she had to go home with this man!
Janea glided into the room and looked astonished at the fact that Aprael was awake. “Oh. I thought you were still, uh, asleep. We were just going to bring you home today. We thought it might be good for you to be back where you belong.” Aprael was starting to wonder why Janea’s moods changed so often. “Um, okay.” Aprael swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up for the first time in what seemed like forever.
She realized that some time while she was asleep they had dressed her in her own clothes. Aprael walked over to the wall mirror and looked at the girl that she only remembered from her faded memories. Her hair was dark brown and flowed about half way down her back. Her eyes were large and bright silver with a dark green tint. She was an average height for a fourteen year old and was skinny but not in a gross way. The last thing Aprael noticed about herself was a tattoo that rose from her collarbone up to her neck of a dandelion that had only three petals on it. The letters “T,” “L,” and “R” were written on each petal.
“Come on now, we have people waiting to see you!” Her mother had caught her staring at the tattoo. Aprael followed Janea down the white hospital hallway. Everything was white. Everything at the hospital was the color of purity. Yet nothing about the hospital was pure and it never would be.
Aprael felt some relief as she got into the car with her mother, she was glad that Samuel was not in the car. Janea cranked the car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. “You’ll love our house. I know you don’t remember it but it’s gorgeous. You’ve lived there your whole life.” Aprael knew her mother was lying, they moved here from Cadeon when she was seven. She remembered that from the faint memory with her father. Aprael didn’t say a word about it though, she couldn’t afford to mess up again. Aprael chose to stay silent the entire ride.
She watched as they pulled up to a huge gate, there was a sign above the gate that read “Lafgon Residence.” This meant that this was not their estate. The sign said “Lafgon” not “Rotara,” this sickened Aprael because it could only mean one thing. This was Samuel’s house. They lived with Samuel. Samuel Lafgon. The name sounded so ridiculous yet so full of power. She had a feeling that Samuel was something big in the town of Taiton and that no matter what she did he would be the most believable.

Chapter Four

Aprael walked into a room filled with people that she didn’t recognize, she wondered if this was how it was always going to be. Would she ever remember it all? She looked at the people and tried to place names and faces but couldn’t. They all looked at her and tried to speak with her about normal, everyday things that she didn’t grasp. Aprael decided that it was safe to just smile and nod as if she remembered.
She swiftly scanned the room to see if Samuel was anywhere to be seen. She didn’t see him right off but when she did she took note that he was surrounded by a large group of people. They were laughing and drinking wine, everything about them screamed arrogance. These people were obviously rich and used their power to their advantage. Aprael suddenly wondered if she had been one of those people once, she tried to tell herself that she would’ve fought it.
Janea walked over to Aprael and whispered in her ear, “You better get over there. If they start thinking that there are problems between you two then our reputation will be ruined!” Her mother sounded truly concerned, but Aprael was confused about what she was concerned about. Their reputation consisted of living with Samuel because of debt! For heaven’s sake, they didn’t have much of a reputation to start with! Aprael figured that it would be best to listen to her, she walked over to the group that Samuel was with and instantly a hush befell upon the group.
She began thinking that maybe she had rejected the idea of socialism in the past. Aprael stuttered slightly, “Hi–i guys.” She looked at the floor, expecting no one to answer her. No one did. They all carried about their conversation like she hadn’t come over and spoke. Aprael caught the eye of one of the waiters and felt a flash of memory overcome her.
She was again in the plush field that she had been in with her father except this time she was with the waiter boy. She knew now that his name was Naithen. Aprael was lying on her back beside him, she was also holding his hand. They were gazing up at the clouds and making figures out of them.
Naithen pointed at a cloud, “That one looks like us. You see? It’s a girl proposing to a guy. It’ll happen like that. You’ll propose soon enough.” Naithen was always making funny comments like this but today it was different somehow. His tone had changed. Aprael looked over at him, the guy that she loved. Naithen looked back but didn’t drop his gaze, “We could always elope, we don’t need approval from them. We can just run away.”
Aprael felt a surge of hope but knew that it couldn’t happen, “We can’t. We’ll be arrested. I know that they won’t let you make a claim request but it’ll be okay. It’ll all work out somehow.” They both stayed quiet for a moment, respecting the silence. Naithen sat up and crossed his arms over his knees. Aprael knew that this was what he did whenever he felt upset.
Naithen cleared his throat, “What if it doesn’t work out? What if you find someone better? I don’t have a guarantee that you won’t fall for another guy. You’re an extravagant girl,” he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, “I don’t want someone who doesn’t deserve you to get to have you. I’m just afraid...with your mom acting like she is that she’ll do something that’ll affect you..something that you don’t want.” Aprael rolled her eyes, “Don’t worry about it. Nothing will happen. I’ll be fine. We’ll be together forever. I promise.” Naithen smiled and put his arm around her, “I love you, Aprael.” She looked him in the eyes with pure love, “And I’ll always love you most, Naithen.”
The memory ended there and Aprael felt sick. What had happened to them? That hadn’t happened too long ago, he looked the same there as he did now. What had happened between her and this amazing boy? Why didn’t he speak to her? Aprael had been so wrong in that memory. Something did happen. Something that her mom did that affected her. Something that she didn’t want. Naithen had been so right. She should’ve listened.
Aprael glided away from the group knowing that she would not be missed. She left that group and walked swiftly into the kitchen not knowing if it was acceptable or not. She honestly didn’t care. She just finally wanted to confirm one of her memories. Aprael looked straight at Naithen and held back the surge of tears that were bound to come, “I thought you loved me.”
She didn’t care who heard and she felt a stillness in the room that was almost uncomfortable. Naithen looked her in the eyes and spoke something that changed her life forever, “I do. I always have. The line you just spoke? That should’ve been mine for I was the one who was left here alone.”

Chapter Five

Aprael felt her stomach fall at least four floors. This was not the answer she was expecting, she didn’t know what kind of answer she was expecting but it definitely wasn’t this. Aprael felt herself having trouble swallowing. She avoided eye contact with Naithen and fled the room. She ran into the bathroom and locked the door, she felt herself overcome with a memory.
Aprael was in a room that looked slightly run-down, she had a feeling that this was what used to be her home. She was lying on her bed and she was sobbing. Aprael had a feeling that this had something to do with her and Naithen being split up.
Her mother walked into the room, infuriated. “Aprael Kayta Rotara! What on earth are you doing? You should be happy that a guy actually wanted to marry you! What did you want me to do? Decline the request and have us live in this dump forever?”
Aprael jumped from the bed and got right in her mother’s face, “Yes! That is what I wanted! I was in love, mother! Of course you wouldn’t know what that means! You’re the one who killed my father, your husband!” Aprael shoved her mother against the door and gave her a look of complete hatred.
Janea looked at her like her daughter was the biggest failure in the world, “I killed your father to save us. I did it for you, you might as well have killed him yourself! You are supposed to fix this! You’re supposed to marry a man that will pay off our debts!” Aprael raised her fist and barely stopped herself from punching her mother, “Don’t you ever say that, you coward. Keep in mind that you’re the one who put us in debt. You’re the one who got sick and we all know that if you hadn’t have been with that man—” Janea spoke slowly and wickedly, “He was a better man than your father ever was.” On that note, Aprael pushed her mother harshly and fled the room.
When the memory ended Aprael put her head in her hands. She was wrong to have yelled at Naithen. He hadn’t left her, she was forced to leave him. He probably couldn’t have done anything to help. Aprael knew know that Naithen was her only chance of finding any truth in this crooked town. She sat up and wiped the tears from her face. She was going to go out there and fake it all. She was going to play a dangerous game called “pretend.”
Aprael walked out of the bathroom and acted as if nothing had ever happened. She didn’t search the room for Naithen, she searched the room for Samuel. It was time for her to start her little act. She walked up to the cluster of people around him that were laughing and drinking. Aprael hung back for a second wondering if this was really what she wanted to do.
She walked up to Samuel as if her means were only powered by love. She grabbed his hand and held it, then she looked into his eyes and pretended that she was in love with this horrid man. Wait, he wasn’t even a man, he was a monster, a creature. Aprael pushed all the negative thoughts from her mind and put on her game face, now was not a time for controversial thoughts, now was a time to get the information that she craved and needed.
Samuel gave her a look of utter confusion at first but it eventually became a look of success, he had accomplished something but Aprael wasn’t quite sure what it was. He wrapped his arm around her and placed the palm of his hand on the small of her back. To an outsider it would look like a simple gesture, one that any guy might make towards his fiancee, but the gesture made Aprael’s spine tingle and gave her the urge to run or back away. Aprael swallowed and took a breath, it would take a lot of cooperation from herself to make this “pretending” thing believable.
“So, what were you guys...talking about?” Aprael felt the words leave her mouth and instantly realized that the pause was going to give her away, she glanced around but no one seemed to have noticed. A girl of about medium height with short blond hair was the first one to reply and the only one who even seemed interested in talking to her, “We were just talking about how great it is to have you back. You seem...different. Better.” Aprael tried to analyze what the girl had said, she tried to find a hidden meaning but it was as if there was one but she was unable to access it.
Aprael wasn’t sure what to say to the girl, she wasn’t even sure who this girl was. She decided it was best to ask what she wanted to know, “I’m sorry. I don’t think I remember your name?” The blond headed girl had a look of sorrow and pain cross her face before she replied, “Sadana” and left the room. Samuel excused himself and went after her, leaving Aprael with a circle of people that she didn’t know or recognize.

Chapter Six

Aprael glanced over subtly to see Samuel raising his voice and using a demeaning tone towards the girl. She had the gut-wrenching feeling that it had something to do with the emotions that had crossed Sadana’s face. Aprael turned back around before anyone could notice that she knew something was up. She looked at a friendly enough looking guy and decided that she would try to talk to him. “So, how have..things been?” Aprael hoped that it was a good conversation starter, or even that it was an appropriate question.
The guy looked at her and looked as if he pitied her, “They’ve been good. Kind of strange though without you here. Dika had her baby! You remember her right? Of course you do! Anyway....”
Aprael’s mind began to wander, she didn’t know who Dika was and she honestly didn’t care about her baby, she had bigger thoughts to contemplate.
“Excuse me.” She was almost stunned that she had said those words, she had planned to stick it out, to pretend.
They all gave her a look of an emotion that she couldn’t categorize but they didn’t seem to mind. Aprael slipped from their circle of rich, uninteresting gossip without a single protest. They continued their conversation as she went to do what she hadn’t planned.
She was going to see Naithen. She was going to break the rules of the rich society and the rules that she had set for her game of “pretend.” Aprael walked into the kitchen as if it was perfectly fine and accepted to do that except this time she did what all the other rich people did, she acted like she was better than them.
“I need to speak with Naithen, or whatever that boy’s name is. I have a banquet that I need to discuss with him. Immediately.” Aprael felt the lie roll off her tongue, she tasted the rightness of what she would say mix with the aftertaste of wrongness.
She watched Naithen walk towards her with a face wiped clean of any emotion. Aprael motioned for him to follow her and began her journey for privacy, accidentally finding a door that led to a garden. She was amazed by the beauty, even stunned for a moment.
Lilies, daisies, roses, sunflowers, and many other flowers for which Aprael did not know the name were covering the garden. They were all in bloom and looked as if they were frozen, all the flowers of the same kind looked exactly the same. The beauty of it seemed pure at first, simple flowers in bloom, they seemed as pure as the color white. If you looked deeper, though, it was all stained black. The flowers were corrupted, they were prisoners just as she was, they were game pieces in this little charade as well. It was a very sad garden, it was the grave of what used to be pure.
Aprael was so caught up in the sight that she almost forgot that Naithen was with her until he cleared his throat.
“Oh, sorry. I–I was...distracted.” She swallowed the grief, knowing that being like these flowers would be her almost definite future.
“It’s fine.” Naithen glanced at his shoes and then looked back at her, “What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”
“I know something is wrong, Naithen. Something is terribly wrong. That much of my memory shouldn’t be wiped clean. They did something. Samuel did something. Janea, I mean, my mother, did something. I feel as if..as if..you might know what it is. Maybe you don’t but I’m hoping for the best.”
For a second Naithen just looked at her, just stared with his face holding no emotion whatsoever. When he replied it shocked Aprael, “Well, where do you want me to start?”
He seemed sincere but when she tried to reply, he cut her off, “What do you want me to say? What do you want to hear? Do you want me to tell you that you’re trying to make me believe that you really don’t remember? Do you want me to tell you that you’re doing this because you want me to think that you really don’t want to marry Samuel? Because I think you do! I think you want to marry him! I think you’re just saying all this because you’ve realized that you’re plan is not working!” Naithen was practically yelling at her by this point, she had never felt so much pain, she had never felt like such a fool.
“Naithen, I’m being serious. I–” Once again, she was cut off by him. “No, Aprael, no. I am done with your lies. I am done with you. I really loved you and you used me! You used me!” It sounded more like something that was true than an accusation. It made her second guess herself but she couldn’t remember. She couldn’t remember anything. Had she used him?
While Aprael was lost in thought, Naithen ran from the garden. He really was done though, he meant it this time. He hadn’t been completely serious the last time, he was still trying to talk some sense into her then. Naithen was thinking and considering what to do next when he was grabbed from behind and knocked unconscious. His first thought before he went unconscious was if Aprael was safe and his last thought was if she knew that he still loved her no matter what he said.

Chapter Seven

Aprael turned around to find that Naithen had left. She became worried. Was it normal for him to just run off? Maybe he was running from her, or running from making a decision that will change both of their lives forever.
Aprael searched franticly for him nonetheless. Anything could happen to him in this messed up town. She needed to be careful and so did he. Aprael left the beautiful garden in search of the boy that she had loved. When she came out of the door that they had entered only moments before, she noticed something was strange. There was an eerie quietness in the air that she couldn’t explain to anyone, not even herself.
Aprael scanned the room, looking for signs of a struggle, of any sign at all that Naithen was in trouble. She looked and looked, she wanted to believe that he didn’t completely leave all on his own. Aprael couldn’t manage to find and clues all on her own but she knew that something was up. She knew that Naithen was in trouble. She knew that there was only one thing she could do, one person that she could turn to.
She walked back to the main room, where the party was going on. She scanned the room until she found the person she was looking for. Aprael glided to where Samuel stood and acted as rich and stuck-up as she possibly could.
“Samuel. Have you seen that servant boy? His name is Nick. Wait, Nat? Nate? Naithen! That’s his name! Have you? I was planning a surprise party for you and mother. Kind of like a thank-you party. I know it’s not a surprise party now..but I didn’t know who else to ask. Mother should still get one though...right?”
Aprael looked up at him and kept her innocent face on. He was buying it. “Why a party! How wonderful! I knew you’d come to like it here! Naithen...hmm... I think I might be placing a face with him. Blond hair? Brown eyes? Kind of short?”
Aprael tried to stop herself from slapping him. She detected now that something was amiss and Samuel had something to do with it. She could tell by the hint of a lie staining his words. “No. I think his hair was brown and his eyes were green and his was tall...I think. I can’t really remember, they all look the same.” Aprael felt the lie slip through her teeth. She didn’t think these things, she knew them. She remembered everything about him.
His hair was a dark shade of brown like the night with only a hint of brown color. His eyes were a deep green that would be hard to explain to anyone, and when you got close you could see the gold and blue colored specks of color around his pupils, you would miss them if you didn’t look close enough. He had a tallness about him that made you feel safe instead of making you feel like he was towering over you. She knew all of these things about him, she could feel them wash over her but she knew they were a distant memory. She knew that she hadn’t just figured these things out, they were something that she had found a long, long time ago.
Aprael caught Samuel staring at her and she knew that she had let her face fall for the slightest moment. “Oh. Well, I don’t think I know him or of his whereabouts. Maybe you can just find another servant that can assist you.” She felt her blood temperature rise and she knew it was time to go into rich-snob mode. She knew it would make her look innocent.
“But I wanted him. I wanted him!” Aprael knew she needed to steer this conversation in a different direction because she could feel herself talking about something more than wanting Naithen to assist her with a party. “It would be way too much work to explain what I wanted to another servant. I don’t have time for this! Find him! Now. I don’t care what you have to do, just find him.” Aprael knew that she was screaming and lying through clenched teeth and she knew she was walking on a fine line. What if Samuel didn’t buy into this charade?
“Okay. Okay. I will send someone to find this boy. This Naithen guy. As long as you stop disrupting this banquet.”
“Fine. Okay. Whatever.” Aprael turned on her heels and left the room, not knowing where she was going to go. She had done better at acting like a spoiled brat than she thought she was going to.
Aprael looked around the room and picked out a servant girl. She grabbed the girl by her arm and spoke as if she thought she was obligated to order people around, “Show me to my room.”
She watched confusion cross the girl’s face and she felt herself sigh while they ascended a huge staircase. When would she be able to remember these things on her own? Would she ever remember?