The Heart Collector (Under Editing)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Dream

Fare and Novus sat at a stone table in the park a couple blocks away. Novus felt it was best for them to leave and compose themselves away from the building. Between them was the file Fare pulled out from underneath the shelving in the archive. She stared at the document. The information that she discovered rocked her to her very core. She felt as if she was underwater. The sounds around her were muffled and her body felt as if she was moving through cement. Fare was attempting to process the information that was thrown in front of her.

Novus looked at her with concern, "Fare?"

No response.

"Fare?"

Still no response.

He reached across and placed a hand on her arm, "Fare?"

She startled and made eye contact with him.

"Are you okay?"

Fare shook her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Fare stared at him. Did she want to talk about it? This was part of the answer to a life-long question.

"Guenivere."

Novus was surprised. Of all the things he anticipated she would say, that was not one of them.

"I'm sorry?"

"My name was Guenivere."

Novus was unsure of what to say, "That's pretty."

Fare raised an eyebrow at him and snapped, "'That's pretty.' That's all you have to say?"

Novus sat back, "I'm sorry. I really don't know what to say right now."

She leaned back and crossed her arms, "It's fine. I'm sorry I snapped. I don't know how to process what I'm feeling right now."

"I don't claim to know how to help you process what your feeling Fare. I'm by no means a professional, but I do know that talking about it helps and I'm willing to lend my ear."

Fare stared at him; weighing her options. She had never been good at processing her own feelings because of the air-tight bottle she kept them in.

She sighed, "To be honest, I don't exactly know how I feel right now. I think the closest word I could label it with is...disappointed."

Novus was visibly surprised, "Disappointed?"

Fare nodded, "I feel a little disappointed. Not in the information that was presented, but that it was only a piece of the bigger picture."

"In other words," Novus said, "You were hoping for more."

She nodded again, "I always imagined that when I would find information about my past, it would all become known at once. That was just wishful thinking."

"Fare, there's nothing wrong with wishful thinking. Humans may think that we're emotionless creatures that cause nothing but chaos, but in all reality, we are like them. It's only natural for us to show our emotions through expressions or actions. Sometimes its on a higher scale. Other times its as simple as hoping for a better outcome."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Is it working?"

"I'm not sure. I'm still upset, but my chest doesn't seem as tight."

"Well, I guess that's progress. Would it help even more if I said that we've all been there at one point or another? Including myself."

"Perhaps. What happened to you?"

"That's a story for another day. Let's recap what we've learned."

Fare paused for a moment. She wanted to know more about the Truthfall captain in front of her. She realized that she knew nothing about him. That epiphany made her curiosity wander back to the story Novus placed on the backburner. Fare was under the impression that whatever it was, it had left a significant scar. While he wore a mask, Fare saw the signs of something running deeper.

"Well," She started, "We found the file that Kila hid. It contains articles and fragments of other files. One of which has a younger me on the front page."

"Kila must have found something that connects your past with everything else."

"Agreed and that concerns me."

"How so?"

"The deal I made with Commodore Link was that I was to solve this in a week. With these new developments, I'm worried that I won't be able to."

"Let's try and not dwell on the what-if's Fare. Doing so will only slow us down. Now," He opened the Kila's file, "Let's look at this again in more detail. Maybe we'll find something to guide on where we can go next." 

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Fare woke up with a start. Her eyes landed on a ceiling. As they wandered, she found herself in the familiar ambiance of her apartment and recalled that they returned once the weather turned sour. She moved her arms and discovered that she had a blanket over her. Novus must have covered her when she fell asleep. As she sat herself up, she heard the flushing of a toilet flushing and Novus reentered the room.

"I see your awake."

Fare ran a hand through her hair, "How long was I out?"

"Not long. About an hour. I thought that you would have slept longer. For how quickly you passed out, I take it that you haven't slept much lately."

She rubbed the back of her neck, "That's sort of an understatement. I don't think that I've ever had a full restful night."

Novus furrowed his brows.

Fare sighed, "It's always either nightmare related or my brain can't shut off from something that had happened during the day."

"You have nightmares?" He took a seat in front of her on the coffee table."

"More like one nightmare. Its always the same one. I'm bleeding out somewhere in the snow. I hear someone talking but I can never make out what they are saying. This time was different though."

"Really? You didn't seem like you were in a middle of a nightmare. Was it that that woke you up?"

Fare thought back. Why did she startle awake? Did she have a nightmare? If so, why can she not remember it. She normally recalls it if the usual one, but her mind was blank. It was then that she realized that the scar on her stomach ached. She placed a hand over it and furrowed her brows in confusion.

Novus noticed that action, "What is it?"

Fare rubbed at it, "I'm not sure, but I have a bad feeling. I feel like that something big is coming and whatever woke me may be connected."

"How so?"

"Normally, I have the same nightmare, but this time I don't remember anything. I think that it's another forgotten memory because my scar is aching. It only does that when I dream of how I received it."

"Do you think that seeing yourself in that newspaper article stirred something up?"

Fare nodded, "I do, but its frustrating because I can't figure out why."

"I have an idea, but it's a long shot."

"What?"

"Hughes has experience in using hypnosis to help victims remember details of events, but I have no idea if it would work for blocked memories."

"What about the other papers in Kila's file?"

"I'll continue to look into it. I think that figuring out where you fall in all this is more important. It wouldn't hurt to spend an hour or two with Hughes trying to do just that."

Fare did not know what to say, so she just nodded. She just hoped that she would not regret the decision later.