"Okay…I'm going to ask you a series of question…please try your best to answer them to the best of your knowledge, can you do that?"
"Yes."
"Okay…what's your name?"
"Liz Parker."
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"What's your date of birth? Liz? Your birthday?"
"I…I don't know."
"Okay…what do you remember from the night you lost your memory. Why were you in the woods that night?"
"I'm not sure…I can't remember."
"Is there anything at all, Liz? Any emotions you associate with the woods? Anything?"
"No…I'm sorry. There's nothing before I woke up and saw Maria."
"Let's reach a little further back, Liz. Do you remember anything from your childhood? What were your dreams when you were five?"
"I…I'm sorry…"
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Parker? Mrs. Parker?" The doctor greeted them solemnly as he entered his office, and sat across from Liz's parent.
"Yes, doctor…what's the diagnosis?" Jeff asked anxiously.
"Well, your daughter definitely has a severe case of amnesia…the thing is that there is absolutely no explanation of it. Our tests show that there is nothing wrong with her brain at all."
"Nothing wrong?" Jeff exclaimed in disgust. "What do you mean? Of course there's something wrong!"
"Whatever is going on within her head is a block of some sort…possibly even self-initiated, which hopefully she will eventually come out of on her own."
"On her own?" Nancy's brow furrowed as she tried to comprehend what the doctor was telling them. "But how long will that take?"
"That's the problem…we don't know. She could come out of it tomorrow…or she could never come out of it at all."
"What can we do to help her?"
"Mostly just be patient with her. Try to help jar her memories by telling her stories, answering her questions, but I don't recommend that you push her too far. This is going to be a very hard time for Liz."
Nancy and Jeff both nodded in understanding. "Thank you doctor."
The doctor smiled sadly at them as they stood to leave. "Good luck with her."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Liz?" Maria asked carefully as she peeked her head into her friend's bedroom.
"Yeah…come on in." Liz replied in a distracted voice.
Maria entered the room, and froze to see her friend standing by her desk, studying everything carefully. Occasionally she would pick an object up, and turn it in her hands for a few minutes, before setting in back down.
It was still extremely frightening to Maria…to see her best friend there, but to know that her best friend wasn't really in there…or was really in there, but wasn't active in there. It was like Liz was a walking shell of her old self…and Maria would do almost anything to get her friend back.
"How did it go at the doctor's?" Maria pushed, as she stepped into the room.
"It was fine…I don't know. He asked me a lot of questions and didn't come up with any firm answers. There's not much to tell." Liz replied, her eyes never leaving her desk.
Maria followed Liz's gaze, and sucked in a nervous breath when she saw what Liz was staring at this time. It was a framed picture, prominently displayed among her variety of figurines and statuettes.
Maria watched as her friend reached out hesitantly, and picked up the picture, studying it closely for a few seconds, before reaching out a finger and tracing one of the faces with a feather light touch.
"Maria…who is this?" Liz finally asked, of the tall, lanky dark-haired boy in the picture, turning to show it to her friend. Liz didn't miss the way that Maria's eyes darkened sadly.
"That's Alex." Maria answered softly.
"He's a friend of ours?" Liz asked curiously.
"Yeah…he was our best friend." Maria responded, her eyes tearing up in pain. "The three of us were inseparable.
"Was? Where is he now?"
"He's dead." Maria told her shortly.
"Dead?" Liz gasped. "How?"
"He was…" Maria stopped herself about to say 'murdered by an evil, vicious, slutty alien'. "It was a car crash." She informed her friend with a sigh. "About three months ago."
"Oh." Liz murmured, uncertain how else to respond. "I wish I could remember him."
"Yeah…I wish you could too." Maria smiled gently. "He was…the greatest person in the world, Liz. He was so strong, and brave, and protective of us. He was hilarious…he always knew how to make us laugh, even when we were down in the dumps. And he was such a great listener. You and him had a really special bond, Liz. His death…it destroyed you."
Liz felt her own tears starting to fill her eyes, only tears of frustration, not tears of sadness. Maria was crying over the memory of a friend, but Liz had no memory of this person who was such an important part of her past…and he was important. She could feel it in her heart.
"Maria…I need…I need to be alone right now. Could we maybe talk later?" Liz quickly requested, turning her back to her friend. "Please?" She asked again, a little desperately.
"Yeah…of course." Maria replied a little too cheerfully. "Call me if you want to talk, okay, Liz? I'll come over right away."
"I will." Liz promised. "I just…I need a little time to let everything sink in."
"I understand." Maria nodded stiffly. "I'll talk to you later, Liz."
Liz waited until Maria had shut the door behind her, before setting the picture back down, and turning her back to the faces that were mocking her to remember something, anything. She was trying so hard to get a flash of anything familiar, that it was making her brain hurt, studying every object in her room, touching anything she could…hoping something would conjure up some feelings, emotions. The picture was the first thing that made her feel anything at all…but it made her feel frustration, that this person could look like such a complete stranger to her.
Suddenly, Liz felt exhausted.
All of this was too much for her…she just wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. She felt like she was nothing anyway…just a walking zombie with no past, and a future that hung in the balance. She had no known dreams or aspirations, except to find out who she was before…and that was so overwhelming she didn't even know where to start rediscovering herself.
Walking in circles for a moment, Liz's gaze finally settled on the room's one window. Walking over to it, she slid it open, and looked outside. For the first time all afternoon, a true smile of joy filled her face, as she crawled outside and stood amongst all the unlit candles, plants, and blankets that littered her balcony. Grabbing a blanket, Liz wrapped it around her shoulders and sat on the lawn chair, and stared up at the slowly darkening evening sky.
Almost instantly all of her frustration slipped away, as she hugged the blanket around her and studied the sky, feeling almost at peace with herself.
Liz knew, without a doubt, in that moment, that this place was important to her. It was the first place that she had actually felt close to her previous self.
Smiling softly to herself, Liz sat on her balcony for hours, watching the sun slowly set in a beautiful array of oranges and reds, until the sky finally darkened to a deep black, the stars slowly sparkling to life.
