Jaclyn

She came home around 9:30, grinning like an idiot. The lights were all off, so she didn’t see me standing there watching. She gently closed the door behind her, the porch light streaming through the window giving me just enough light to see her. She smiled broadly and leaned against the door, hugging herself. 

After a moment, she sighed, still smiling and finally flipped the light switch. The room was instantly flooded with light and Danielle jumped in surprise when she saw me standing there. 

“H-Hi Jaclyn.” 

“Hi Danielle.” I looked her up and down. She wasn’t wearing torn jeans like she usually did to go the park. She was wearing her nice pair of skinny jeans. The tight ones. I could smell the load of perfume she’d soaked herself in before she left. 

“Where have you been?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“Just… at the park.” She grinned slightly. There was a twinkle in her eyes I hadn’t seen in a long, long time. 

I laughed a little. She was so obvious. “Who have you been hanging out with?” I asked, leaning against the doorway that led to the kitchen.

“Nobody. I just like going to the park and walking and stuff.” Danielle frowned.

“Danielle.” I made my voice sterner now, more sincere. I already knew the answer. I knew she’d lie. “Danielle you don’t go the park and ‘walk’ from morning till the afternoon then go back an hour later just to stay until 9 o’clock at night. I’m not stupid.”

“Jaclyn you’re tired and confused. Go to bed.” Danielle made her voice soft and innocent. 

“Danielle stop lying to me.” I stepped closer. Closer, closer. Until I was in her face, “I know what you’re up to.” I glared at her and headed back to my bedroom down the hall, catching her heavy sigh as I left. 

Danielle

I could never hold back the huge smile that spread across my face whenever I saw him. He was my best friend, my confidant, and just recently my boyfriend. And yet he was still an almost complete stranger to me. He still refused to give me his name until I remembered. 

“Hey.” I said, wrapped my arms around him.

He pulled me close, “Hey Honey.” 

I intertwined my hands with his and stared into his big, navy eyes. They were so dark they were almost black and you could get lost in them forever. He planted a kiss on my lips, and I returned it, nibbling on his bottom lip until he granted me entrance and my tongue explored his mouth. It tasted of strawberry starburst, my favorite candy in the world. 

He pulled away and just stared at me. There was a flicker of some kind of emotion in his eyes. A dark emotion, of sadness or… guilt? But it was gone before I could comprehend what the emotion was.

“What are you staring at?” I asked. 

He smiled, “You’re beautiful, you know that?” He pulled me into another tight hug, “I’m so lucky to have you.”

Jaclyn

I had been suspicious for a while now, but I told myself I was just being overprotective. Ever since Chris returned a month ago, Danielle has acted… strangely. She was never home. Barely talked to me. She seemed distant. She never told me of her dreams, so I never gave her the pills. 

I think I began to understand when I noticed she would drown herself in perfume and brush her hair and wear nice clothes when she went out. To ‘walk’ at ‘the park’. 

So I decided to follow her. I waited a couple minutes after she left before silently sneaking out the front door and following her in my black jacket and baggy jeans. I kept the hood on so she wouldn’t recognize my face if she turned around.

I kept about 20 feet between us until we reached the park, where I dashed behind a tree to watch what she would do next.

She met up with a man… CHRIS!

They greeted each other, hugged and started to make-out. The whole thing was disgusting. I needed to get her away from him. He’d hurt her! I had to get her away! Then I needed to overdose her on those pills so she’ll forget! And if she didn’t? I had to try. I couldn’t let her be with him and be hurt again!

I ran out of my hiding spot, dashing towards them.

“Danielle! Get away from him!”

Chris

Our perfect moment of holding one another and staring into each other’s eyes was rudely interrupted by a frantic, screaming woman running towards us, her arms flailing about.

“Danielle! Get away from him!”

Jaclyn quickly wrapped her arms around Danielle’s waist and tore her from me in the blink of an eye. I could and should quickly and easily snap Jaclyn’s neck and take Danielle and just run. But I knew that wasn’t a good idea. I stood back and watched the scene unfold before me.

“Let! Me! GO!” Danielle screamed, trying to pry Jaclyn’s hands away, but she was weak.

“No! He’s evil! He’ll hurt you!” Jaclyn glared at me, and I glared back.

I lunged toward them and punched Jaclyn in the face, grabbing Danielle and pulling her back to me. She clung to me like a scared child.

“Danielle.” Jaclyn growled, holding her sore cheek, “Get over here NOW.”

“You’re not my mom! You can’t tell me what to do!” Danielle shouted.

“Danielle, I’m just looking out for you. That man is evil. He nearly killed you in the past.”

Danielle tensed next to me. Jaclyn had it worded all wrong! It was true, it was my fault but it wasn’t my doing! 

“Jaclyn, I am not evil! The whole reason I returned was to ask for forgiveness! The whole reason I brought her back and allowed them take me and hold me prisoner was for her sake! To make sure she was safe! Yes it was all my fault, I know! But I’m sorry and the guilt is killing me, that’s why I’m here, not to harm her but to make up for what I’ve done. Unlike you, whose been giving her pills to make her forget! Plus whatever else you’ve done because I don’t believe some measly pills can make you forget an entire past.” The words streamed out of my mouth like an endless river. Memories were flooding back into my mind, my eyes were watering.

Danielle squeezed me gently, offering me some support, while she stared up at me, confused, trying to figure out what this all meant. 

Jaclyn laughed, “I did it for her. It was tearing her apart. For three weeks she tried to kill herself. Either slicing her wrists, starving herself, hitting her head on walls… I couldn’t take it! I had to make her forget! So you know what? I took her and I slammed her head against the bathtub. It was the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life, but I don’t regret it. She was better after that. She was happy. Until you showed up again! You’re screwing everything up! Why can’t you just leave us alone and let Danielle be happy and at peace? Why must you keep hurting her?” 

I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. It took a few minutes to comprehend it. Jaclyn had slammed Danielle against the bath tub? 

Anger boiled within my veins, my fists clenching. She disgusted me. 

Danielle let go of me and stepped toward Jaclyn, “What?”

Jaclyn stayed quiet, staring at the both of us.

“You… slammed my head against the bathtub… to make me forget?” Danielle said coldly. I could feel the betrayal, the hate, the fear in her voice.

“For your sake, Danielle. Now come with me. Away from this evil man.”

Danielle shook her head, “No. He’s not the evil one here, Jaclyn.” She took a step backward. I had a feeling I knew what would happen next. “How could you do that to me? You took my life away from me! I have to start from scratch! 20 years of memories and experience and emotion… of me… gone. Just like that. All because you wanted to feel like a hero. Because you didn’t want to waste your time helping me get through a rough spot in my life.” 

Jaclyn laughed nervously, “Danielle, you don’t understand.”

“Oh I understand. Now YOU understand ME, you’re fake. You’re a liar, a backstabber. I… freaking… HATE YOU!” 

Jaclyn’s grin pressed into a hard line, “D-Danielle.”

“Guess what Jaclyn, I ain’t coming home again. You should be happy… since you don’t have to deal with me anymore. Since I’m such a burden. So just… goodbye Jaclyn.”

Danielle walked right past Jaclyn, who was lost and confused. I was also confused, but I followed Danielle. Then Jaclyn followed me. I caught up to Danielle, but Jaclyn kept a 10 foot distance between her and us. We came back to Jaclyn’s house, where Danielle pulled me inside and to her room.

She pulled out an old, black backpack from her closet. I recognized it because she’d used it during 11th and 12th grade. Only then did it hit me what Danielle was doing. She opened each drawer of her dresser, pulling out only 1 piece of clothing from each, and stuffed them into the biggest part of her backpack. She turned toward the table, where I grabbed her and held her still for a moment.

“Let go of me…” She whispered, glaring up at me.

“Danielle, where are you going to go? You need to stay here… where it’s safe and you’ll have clothes and food.”

“Safe? It’s not safe here! I’d rather be cold, naked and starving than live with the woman who took my memory away! What if she does it again? I’ll never know. So I’m coming with you.”

She pulled out of my grasp and took her laptop, laptop charger, mp3 player charger and mp3 player and stuffed these in her backpack as well. A picture frame on her desk caught my eye. In it was a familiar picture of her and Jaclyn at the fair. I picked it up, remembering that day.

“What’s so interesting about that picture?” Danielle asked from the doorway, ready to go with her loaded backpack on her back.

“Um… what’s interesting is what’s not there.” I squinted at it. 

“What do you mean?” Danielle asked, now beside me, looking over the picture as well.

“Where am I? I was in the picture too. Look there’s my hand… around your waist.”

Danielle looked closely, nodding, “The picture’s cut. Jaclyn did that, I guess. She gave it to me like this.” She wrapped an arm around me.

I chuckled a little, “You were so scared to go on the Ferris wheel. Took me 20 minutes to talk you into coming on it with me and Jaclyn. You clung so tightly to me. You were shaking the whole time!”

She smiled, “Not my fault I’m a coward.”

“You’re not a coward. In fact, when we got off, you wanted to go again. My gosh, you were so happy that day! We had so much fun! Any who, let’s go.”

I turned to leave, but she pulled me back and planted a kiss on my lips before following me out the door. Jaclyn stood there, watching us. Her short black hair was all messy and knotted. I gestured for Danielle to wait outside so I could talk to Jaclyn in private.

I stepped over to Jaclyn, staring down at her. She was about an inch or two shorter than me. 

“Give me the letter.”

“What letter.” She squinted up at me, trying to look tough.

“The letter I wrote for Danielle. The one you were supposed to give her but never did.”

Jaclyn sighed, pulling out a small white envelope from inside her jacket. On it, in shaky black Vivaldi, was Danielle’s name. I took it from her and looked her head to toe one last time before parting ways.

“You hurt her, I swear to god I’ll kill-“

She was cut off by the slam of the door behind me. I didn’t need to waste my time with her meaningless blabbering. I took Danielle’s hand and let my heart lead us. I didn’t know where to go. I had nowhere, she had nowhere. 

Should I take her to that house in the woods? The very house we’d been held prisoner in? Perhaps it would let her remember faster. Perhaps it would torment me.

I couldn’t go there. Not yet. Not while those memories were fresh on my mind. I decided I would take her there only when I told her everything.

So I led us to the only place I knew; the park, of course. Where else was there? Danielle felt how tense I was and squeezed my hand beside me, offering some support. It was my job to protect her now. To feed her, make sure she was well. Make sure she was happy, but most importantly, safe. I swore on my life I would. 

We sat under that oak tree quietly for some time, both thinking about the future and how different things would be.

Eventually I grabbed her and kissed her, telling her how lucky I was to have her and that she was safe. Then we both took a trip down to Winn Dixie and Danielle experienced her first theft, even though it was only a measly box of saltine crackers. 

Instead of sleeping alone that night, as I always did, I had Danielle curled up next to me and I laid my jacket over her like a blanket so she wouldn’t be cold. I kissed her lightly on the forehead and whispered, “Goodnight.” Before shutting my eyes and giving into a much-needed sleep, with the love of my life finally in my arms again, where she was meant to be.