The Sallow Saga - Vol. 2 - In the Shadows of Memories [A HL Fanfiction]

Chapter 3. The Shadow of a Memory

Cassy lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling. It had been several hours since the surreal events had happened at work. She hadn't said a thing to Ominis since returning home, choosing instead to take her mug of tea upstairs, arrange the vials of the spray she'd made with Gareth on her dresser; along with her other pots and beakers – before flopping down on the bed.

She didn't know whether to laugh at what had happened to the horrible witch or be angry. She was so desperately confused. Ever since that attack with the troll in the Forbidden Forest, her memories refused to come to the forefront of her mind; she couldn't even recall why she would have felt the need to go after a bunch of trolls in the first place! By all accounts, prior to her time as a potioneer apprentice, she'd only really served as a stall holder in Feldcroft, making belt buckles. Cassy could only assume she'd ventured to the forest to gain inspiration for her next buckle project. What frustrated her, however, was that no one seemed to want to help her rejig her recollections!

Being trapped in her own mind was the loneliest place she could imagine. Desperately, each night, she would close her eyes and strain the walls of her mind to recall even a glimpse of her past. Occasionally, she would be awarded with a remembered smell, the distant sound of a voice – but it was always too distant or faint for her to really pin down. All she could surmise was that the people around her, had known her longer than she could remember them! She couldn't even remember her own father!

Aesop Weaver would swing by her cottage once in a blue moon. He claimed he was a trader too, yet to see the ugly scar on his face combined with the stern, sometimes cold mannerisms and lack of charisma; Cassy wondered how he ever did a successful trade! In the first month, after her attack, she'd asked him to remind her of what he sold, her father had unhelpfully indicated that he sold 'this and that' and that she was to avoid asking anymore 'trivial questions'.

Ominis was patient with her. He was blind but he never let it bring him down. He was one of her closest friends, yet whenever she complained of how frustrated she found her existence right now; his eyes seemed to brim with tears. He would constantly apologise, leaving very little else for her to do but comfort him and assure him that it couldn't have been helped.

Natty was another confident who would take Cassy out for a drink, when she wasn't 'away on business'. Cassy enjoyed those outings, but of recent, they'd become a rare instance. She was inclined to believe that her inability to recall Natty was damaging their friendship – she couldn't really blame her old friend. If the boot were on the other foot, Cassy could only imagine how hurtful she must come across sometimes by not recalling anything. Surely, anyone would start to wonder if Cassy had even thought their memories together were memories worth recalling.

Finally, there was Sebastian. Sebastian was difficult to read sometimes. Like Natty, he was often away on business, arriving home late at night, but he would always stop by her cottage. He would speak at length in a hushed voice with Ominis, then cautiously approach her as an afterthought, with a shy smile. He'd ask about her day and make small conversation, but it all seemed strained. The way his eyes would hungrily read her every facial twitch. If she so much as sneezed while he was around her, he'd jump and make a fuss. He treated her as though she was made of a delicate porcelain, that could shatter at any moment.

If it was one thing that drew her attention more to Sebastian, it was the different belt buckles he would wear with each visit. She could only conclude that he had been a regular customer of hers while she was a stall holder, and that she must have been good with her trade as they were intricate works of art, each one! She also had the distinct impression that there might have been something more than friendship in Sebastian's mind once upon a time. Sometimes, his hand would rest on hers for a little while longer than one might consider as 'normal'. He would lean closer to her to read her expressions and she would feel his breath gently on her skin, his eyes would dip on occasion as though he was leaning in for a kiss. With any such instance, Cassy would clear her throat nervously, a noise which had the same effect as a Dugbog's attack, Sebastian would hastily back away and usually head home with a quick nod of the head.