Our Darkest Memories

12. Revelations

6 weeks after forgetting

Nadia and I walked towards the place where dinner was being served. It was a big open area with many tables, wooden benches, and tree trunks spread out evenly over the field.

When we arrived, we walked past Raiden and Blaze. Blaze energetically waved at us, which resulted in Raiden poking her in the arm. She simply responded by sticking out his tongue. The sight was so familiar that I could only stare at it until Nadia tapped my arm and I noticed they had already walked away.

Remembering our conversation earlier, my cheeks turned red and I bowed my head. Where did I get the confidence from? I talked to him like I knew him for ages, but I only just met him. I don't even know anymore why I was so nice to him earlier. It had all felt so natural. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have said what I said. I wouldn't have made small talk with him at all.

I felt Nadia poking me again, and we hurried to the row of people. From a big pile of plates, Nadia and I both grabbed one and joined in line for our food.

"So you really don't know how you got captured by the PSF?"

Thinking back to getting captured by the PSF, I realized I couldn't think back to that. "No. I can only remember waking up in their car."

"Which is weird," she concluded. I could only agree.

"Can't we ask Clancy? I mean, he is your boyfriend and he knows everything about this camp."

I hesitated. "I'm not sure.

"Why not? I'm sure he would be willing to help. Definitely when it comes to you. He can be trusted right?"

"I trust Clancy more than anyone. But I don't know if I want to involve him yet. He is so busy with the camp and I don't want him to worry. Maybe it's best if we involve him later."

Nadia shrugged. "Sure. Whatever you want. But we do need to start somewhere. At the moment I'm not even sure what we are looking for."

I walked past the table that had the food of today on it. Macaroni. A tall girl with a big spoon threw a scoop of it on my plate and then moved on to do the same to Nadia's plate. When we were looking for an available place to sit, I finally answered, "Me neither. Answers, but to what?"

We finally found a spot that wasn't occupied yet. Nadia sat down on a wooden chair, while I used a tree stump and used my lap as a table. "I guess we could try to figure out where we have met each other before. Then later we can maybe find out where you met those other two kids."

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

We started discussing where we had been before the camp. I told her about how I traveled on my own through a few states before ending up in Virginia. Trying to remember the few people I met along the way, we found out that it wasn't her. Nadia only came later to Virginia. She first traveled from North Carolina to Nevada, where she met an older woman who helped her survive a few weeks. But then she got shot in the abdomen by PSF and she had to run away. When she told me that, she got a guilty expression, but she quickly moved on. "Only then I went to Virginia and I quickly found the camp."

"So there is no way we could have met each other. You weren't in the same states as I was at the same time."

It remained silent for a while.

"You know, what if we just saw each other in East River before? We are searching for a whole explanation behind this, but what if there simply isn't one?"

But Nadia immediately pointed me to the fact that Raiden and Blaze hadn't been in the camp before, and I couldn't deny that.

Though I was about to continue brainstorming, it never came to that, as Buz came walking towards us with a sly smile. I was already preparing for his comments, but instead, he said that Clancy had requested to see Nadia.