My thoughts start racing as I let the words sink in. Emotions hitting me like a train. I look at the man holding my shaky hands, studying his features and connecting them to mine. The man looked at me with hopeful eyes as I looked around the room for some sort of confirmation or denial. His hopeful eyes now turned to a concerned denial of lost hope. He lets my hands fall before walking over to Jadestorm and asking something from him. He walks back with an object in hand, then kneels down to my grassy cot, beginning to speak in a soft tone.
"Maybe this will help remember me," his hand raises to my forehead and lightly presses.
I look around frantically. The man only nods as to say it's ok, so with his nod, I close my eyes. Within the instance of closing my eyes, vivid colors fill my head, then noises of a small child giggling in the distance. The sound grows louder. The colors fade become softer, and more autumn toned. Adjusting, I make out what seems to be a small forest behind a clearing that filled with a hut with and a play hut further back. The sound of laughter fills the air around me as I walk closer without hesitation. As if I'm being pulled closer. The image is now crystal clear, a small child with lushus brown curly hair, like mine. As well as a man with the same features as the same who claims to be Apa. They're holding hands while spinning around, looking happy and perfect. Suddenly, a voice calls for them. The voice sounding familiar, we all turned in sync, it was Muder. The mini me drops the man's hands and runs to her as I break out in tears. I run to Muder, reaching for her to embrace. A cold sensation runs through me as I pass the Muder. The girl giggles as Muder picks her up, I drop to my knees, accepting that I'm not home. Only in a memory, a faint one, though, for I do not remember anything but the warmth on Muder. The man now walks up and hugs Muder, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before walking in the hut. The girls do the same, and so do I after regathering myself.
As the circular door opens, Muder sets down the little me and walks back into the kitchen. I followed the younger me to the same table I had ate my porridge this morning. She sits down next to the man, taking a sip of the orange juice in a small cat designed cup. I take a stand in the corner of the room where I can see the kitchen as well as the table. Younger sets her drink down after a long gulp, spilling a bit of the juice on the table. The man quickly turns to the rag on the chair and wipes the mess.
"Careful dear," he says as he sets the rag down on the chair next to him.
"Sorry, Apa, I'm just so thirsty I could drink all of the juice in the world!" The little replies with beaming joy.
I replay her words in my head, and she calls him Apa. Little me, the exact little girl that looks just like me, called the man Apa. The man that sits right beside her, the same man that I awoke to. The room blurs, and the air becomes cold, the area around shifts and swirls. I'm outside like before, but it's much colder, and there is snow on the ground. I turn hearing the crunch of snow under boots. The man runs around a tree hiding behind it. He's bleeding, panic runs throughout me, and Apa was bleeding. I dash towards him, reaching out a hand only now remembering this was a memory, and I was not in control. Apa holds his side, low by his hip, and he turns looking around frantically. More crunching of snow sound throughout the forest. Apa takes off his scarf, uncovering his unusual pointy ears. He wraps it around his lower stomach, covering his wound. The footsteps become louder, and shouting is now heard. Apa mumbles something before disappearing into thin air. Right in time for a tall, lengthy man to appear, he's cursing in a language I never heard of. His face is not visible due to his long dark scarf. Before I can turn to try and see him from a different angle, the world goes dark.
I feel a hand covering my eyes and another holding my hand. I reach to dismiss the hand on my face, I make contact, and slowly pull the hand down. I hold the hand and inch upward to a sitting position. I look around before seeing Apa, who's crying soft tears.
My eyes start to water as I lead forward, "It is you, Apa!"
Tears were pouring from both of our eyes as we held each other in a tight hug. I embraced the warm hug, with a small memory of the same scene popping up in my head. It was very fuzzed by I could see younger me hugged Apa, smiling and not having a care in the world. For a short second, I felt like I didn't have a care in the world, but the realization of what happened hours before, maybe even a day before, ran through my head like a tornado. Messing up every happy memory that has happened in a short amount of time. Letting my hug loosen Apa does the same. We sit in silence for a second before I fill it in with the question that accumulated while sitting there.
"What happened, in the last 'memory'?" Was the first question to race out of my mouth.
Apa replies, dread and regret in his tone, "I had to run. If I didn't, they would have hurt you and Amarah, your Muder. I loved you guys so much, and there was no chance I wanted you to get hurt. So, I ran from them, and as you saw they did manage to catch me. So, I ran again to this place."
"Who were you running from?" I ask before thinking of the outcome.
"Artenous and his group of 'rebels," Apa adds without hesitation, confirming that the man with the scarf covering his face was Artenous. Quintin's Apa, the same man I was running from. Dread rises from my stomach, reminding me of the chase, reminding me that they are still out there. Somewhere, hopefully somewhere far. I look around and find Jadestorm, who had been sitting on another grassy cot near me. I turn off of my cot with a hiss of pain and stumble my way to him, clutching my side slightly as I walk. My movement makes Apa jump up to the other side of the cot to help me. Jadestorm stands with a smile and hugs me. Hugging him back, knowing he had been protecting me the whole time he was with me.
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