Zoe's only wish is to be able to run barefoot through grass, but she knows it'll never happen. Ever since she was born, she's been unable to touch anything living without it instantly dying. It's a curse she would do anything to get rid of, but that...
I was in the kitchen. Harry sat by the table eating bacon and eggs. Felix stood on the other side. He was younger than now, a teenager, and his clothes and hair were disheveled. His eyes were bloodshot and in the memory the smell of alcohol from him was almost unbearable.
"Do you think that life is just fun and games, huh! Do you have any idea what time it is?" Harry yelled at Felix.
"I'm sorry, sir," Felix answered and hung his head.
"You're not sorry yet. But you will be. Go shower, I can't stand the smell. And then I have work for you."
"Yes, sir."
Felix turned and left, and that was the end of it.
I understood why Harry would feel angry in that memory, and I had a guess at what emotion was hidden in the gray thread. Worry. That was at least the emotion I could think of that I would feel in such a situation.
I looked at both ends of the memory. There were several threads with the gray branching off on both sides. Trying to find a key memory would be close to impossible. But since several of Alex's memories had cleared when I had unlocked the suppressed emotion in one, maybe that would happen here too.
With that thought in mind, I concentrated on the gray thread and imagined the gray falling off.
All I could feel was resistance. Or resistance was really too mild a word. It was like running into a stone wall. Nothing could make it move.
Was it simply that I needed to find the key memory and unlock that one? That the others were stuck in their place unless that one emotion in that one memory was let forward?
It made sense since the memory I had unlocked for Alex had seemed to be a key memory that affected several others, but I didn't like that idea. There was just too much. It really would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. But I also knew I couldn't give up. I would most likely not get a second chance and if I failed, Harry would probably spend the rest of his life trying to hunt me down and kill me.
I decided to try a new tactic. I moved along the memories until I found one that wasn't red. Instead, it was in a very light purple. Curious, both on what type of memory that wouldn't be red and to see if it would help at all, I dived in.
Fear settled in me as soon as I saw the surroundings. It was the basement, and it felt as bone-chillingly cold as I myself remembered it.
Harry laid on the floor by the chair I had been strapped in. Next to him was a metal rod and the crown he had forced on my head. But Harry was alone. Neither I nor Felix were in sight.
Slowly, Harry got off the floor and put a hand to his head. There was blood sticking to his hair, and I realized what the memory was. It was right when he woke up after Felix had taken me away.
As Harry got to his feet, he groaned and then his eyes fell on the chair I had been in. I expected him to get angry. To curse me and everything. But that was far from what happened.
His eyes widened, and he looked around the basement.
"Felix!" he shouted, and there was no doubt about the panic in his voice.
He ran up the stairs from the basement, and I followed. When he burst through the door leading to the basement, he shouted after Felix again. I watched as he did a quick search of the bottom floor before getting outside. There he froze. His eyes were glued on the spot to the left where Felix's car ought to have been. Then he fell to his knees.
"Not you too," Harry mumbled. "Please God, have mercy on me. Don't take him away from me too."
I left the memory feeling shaken and on the edge of breaking down. In a sense, the memory had been very similar to the previous one I had watched, but it was all so different as well. It hit me so hard that even I was worried about Felix's safety, even though I knew he was alright.
It felt like it took me forever to calm down enough to start processing and thinking again. Mainly I wondered why that memory had contained the fear and worry that the other seemed to have replaced with anger. Was it simply that the worry had been too strong to be suppressed and had overshadowed the anger? It probably didn't make much of a difference to what I had to do, but I still hoped that was the case.
I looked around again, to see what path to take next. I was almost on my way to pick one at random, when I noticed a difference in one of the memories that the current one split into. There was a golden thread mixed in with the red and gray. Because of all the red, I had almost missed the golden. But as soon as I saw the difference, I knew that was where I had to head next.
Harry looked much younger. He was in a black suit and looked charming, almost completely identical to Felix. He had his eyes glued on something before him and I turned to look. My heart sank. A priest was talking. Next to the priest was a picture of a young woman who had the same smile as Felix and behind was a coffin.
It was Felix's mother's funeral.
As soon as I had registered that, a baby started crying. I looked and saw a stroller next to Harry. He bent down and lift up what had to be baby Felix. Almost immediately after being lifted, baby Felix stopped crying and a soft smile spread over Harry's face.
And the memory ended.
I wasn't sure I understood what it all meant. I had guesses, but I knew I needed to know more before I could understand completely. I also knew that I was on the right track to find that one key memory. So I looked ahead and noticed another memory that had a thin gold thread in it.
I took a deep breath and dived.
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