Scarlett & Ethan

Chapter 14

Scarlett P.O.V. 

Nothing could have prepared me for the way Orion seems to be saying goodbye. I half listen as he says he is sorry, says he isn't abandoning me. Well, it sure as hell feels like it, old man. He says he didn't want it to be like this, and I know he means it.

"Find 'E', Scarlett, forget what I said before. Find him if it's the last thing you do," and there's that initial again. I knew I had seen it before. Orion calls me an angel like he always used to growing up and then he tells me he loves me. But the confusing part is when he says, "I will get my memories back, I will," and the voice memo ends there. I don't get much time before my phone lights up with two initials: "RR." I remember now—the guy Orion told me never to interact with for both of our safety. I guess it does change things if he is gone. I don't see the next thing coming as the whole fucking house starts blaring. "Find him if it's the last thing you do," and it seems to be going in a loop. I move to the computer to try and silence it, but it keeps blaring. By the time I've stopped it, it's too late; everyone must have heard it go off.

Orion P.O.V.

I look up to the rainy sky. Oh, how fast things change. I wonder how I ended up here, who I must have been. Convincing the nurse to take me out had been a hard accomplishment, but she is leaving soon, so she gave me this freedom. Being here, looking at the endless sea, I know I'm meant to leave. I know I'm bigger than this small island. I can't explain it, I can't describe it. I don't feel I belong; I feel like an intruder. I wonder if I'm being missed, if there's anyone out there looking for me. But that would be foolish. I've been here for a long time—six years, they say. I wonder how I ended up here. I've all but realized I'm not good at being stuck in my own head, but I feel like a prisoner to it. I can't escape it. I'm isolated in all the sounds in my head, left all alone in a room full of noise, yet there's nothing at the same time, this loud silence. What am I supposed to think about? There's nothing, absolutely nothing, except the small impulses. They give the illusion of remembrance, but the reality is my mind is playing tricks on me. The fucker is teasing me. I barely remember anything.

I searched up the numbers, the coordinates that kept showing up, and I'm positive I've gone mad. It pointed to the middle of the woods. Nothing came of it. If I only knew my name, then it wouldn't be this hard. A few days ago, the caretaker told me I'd been mumbling a name in my sleep. We searched that up as well. There isn't anyone by that name. I'm starting to think I must be going mad. I must be right. But if so, then why have I started to put a face to the name? Scarlett. Even now, the name fills me with comfort. I'm fond of it

Scarlett P.O.V

I did the most Scarlett thing to do: I ignored my problems, locked everyone in the house, and then left. I made a program that searches up the last time the card I sent to RR got used and where it got used. The cameras around are going to look for his face. Until then, I hold on to hope.

You know, a very long time ago I had this friend. He used to say hope was a very destructive thing. He used to write small poetry inspired by small things, emotions he held onto and tried describing. I read one once. It was about hope, and how it could, in the right or, in this case, the wrong time, destroy someone. I hadn't known back then. Perhaps I'd been too naive to see, to realize, that hope could be anything other than something good. Until Orion disappeared, the hopelessness was so bad that I held on with all I had when there was a slight chance he might be alive. But then that small hope started sucking the life out of me. It made me bleed out from inside. It got hard to hold on, but I couldn't give up. Not when he could be alive, not when I'd gotten a second chance. Or a third, depending on how you look at it.

As I listen, a small seed of newfound hope fills my bloodstream, but I know better now. The end of this won't be as pretty as the last time. This time, when the chances are higher, the fall would be worse. I don't think I would look for a way out this time. I don't think I could live with myself knowing Orion had put his trust in me and I had yet again disappointed him, failed him, couldn't save him.