Cooper clears his throat and says, “I don’t need to be present for this so when you both are ready you can do it on your own. You just need to each place a hand on the rock and recite this,” Cooper says, laying down a piece of fabric next to the rock as he leaves the tent.
A moment of silence passes between us before Alexander speaks, “Adaline, you can’t forget me because you don’t even know me.” Alexander tries to say it gently, but his words pierce my heart like a sharp blade.
“But I do know you, I do. I thought I did,” I say, my mind slowly wrapping around the situation we’re in.
“But you don’t. You know Cooper,” he says. I look into his breathtaking green eyes and try to convince myself that I don’t truly know them, that the memories with him aren’t real.
“We’re in this together now,” Alexander says. “Once we erase the lies we can start getting to actually know each other. We will have real memories together. All this time in the woods, me helping you escape, that is all true Adaline. So what if I didn’t know who you were when I saved you? I wouldn’t change any of this.”
“You say that now, but what if, when you get your real memories back, you wish you could have your old life back? What if you wish you never had met me and never had saved me,” I say stumbling over my own words as the horrible thoughts cross my mind.
“I won’t,” Alexander says sternly. “I promise,” he says as he places his hand on the rock while keeping my hand in his other. He gives my hand a tight squeeze of reassurance and I gently lay my other hand on the rock. We both look down to the piece of fabric and start to recite the words in unison:
Help me see the truth in me
Erase the false and bring forth the real
Take me back so I can see
All the past and set me free
I clench my eyes shut as the room begins to spin. My head starts to pound as I see old memories fade and new ones form. There’s a loud pounding noise in my ears accompanied by a high pitch squeal. I squeeze Alexander’s hand tighter and tighter until finally everything comes to a halt and the room falls silent.
I slowly let my eyes fall open and look down at my hand in Alexander’s. In unison, we both pull away. I hardly know anything about him why am I holding his hand? I look into his green eyes, how peculiar they look to me. I search my brain for everything I know about him and all I can grasp is that he saved my life and helped me leave the castle. My mother had messed with my memories and I used to believe he was my childhood best friend, but in my head he isn’t the boy I grew up with. I don’t remember any feelings I’ve had for him in the past, but somewhere in the pit of my heart there’s a tiny piece that cares for him. I remember that he was given completely false memories of me and he truly had no idea who he was before he was put in this mess. He must be so lost.
“Alexander,” I say and his name feels foreign on my tongue. “Are you okay?”
He looks at his hands for a while, the memories obviously flowing through his head.
“Alexander?” I ask again.
“I’m fine,” he says shortly, rising from the fabric on the ground. “Let’s go find Cooper.” I stand and follow him out of the tent, scanning his face to see how he really feels, but his face is expressionless, stern, and cold. That’s it, I think. He truly hates me and regrets ever coming on this trip. He can’t even look me in the eye anymore, but what do I care if he hates me? I didn’t mess with his memories, and I didn’t make him flee the castle. While I do have a part of me that’s, I suppose, sympathetic toward him, I can’t be consumed with how this stranger feels about me. Cooper is standing right outside of the tent and his eyes pass from Alexander to me. “We’re good,” Alexander says flatly. “Everything’s how it’s supposed to be.”
“All right then,” Cooper says gently. “Come on, I want to introduce you to everyone. You are kind of famous around here,” Cooper says still not sure how to treat Alexander and me, and honestly, I don’t know how to act either.
Chapter 12
Alexander and I follow Cooper into the center of the clearing, both of us standing on either side of him like somehow adding distance from each other could make the heavy space between us more bearable.
“So this is where you’ve been living for seven years?” Alexander asks, his face relaxing and his mind drifting from whatever he experienced with the return of his memories.
“Yes, I’d give you the grand tour, but we won’t be staying here much longer. I’ll just introduce you to everyone,” Cooper says as he starts walking toward one of the tents in the clearing. “Over here we have the health center. It’s not much, but we have some basic medicines. This is also where we turn in our dirty garments in exchange for clean ones.” Cooper stops and waves us to follow him behind the tent.
On the other side of the tent, a group of three girls are busy scrubbing dirty fabric and hanging them on a line to dry. When they look up and see us they instantly stop
