Out of the Shell

4 - Reminiscence

December 6, 2404
13:00

"...and you got these on your last day of school." Harper was explaining what everything was that was in my room. She showed me a high school diploma and college scholarship with the name Amielle Valentine written on them.

"So..." I began to speak, but my thoughts stumbled. "Who does that make me?"

Harper sighed. She grabbed a mirror and held it in front of us. "Look at me," she said and paused. "Now look at you."

I looked back and forth between her and I. Something in my mind clicked. The girl that happened to be my sister looked quite similar to me.

"So, you are... I am..."

"Yes!" Harper shouted, and smiled. "You are! You are Amy Valentine, my little sister! God, I thought I had lost you forever. Ever since you were taken from this house, I couldn't help but think of you every day. I looked back to when you were little. You always had your head in a book. Growing up, you always had a pen in your hand, eager to write something or crunch numbers. Mom and Dad were so proud of you, Amy. You were going to go to college when you turned sixteen. Sunset University. One of the best colleges in the world! And you did it all, at fourteen. I'm twenty years old, and I don't even know nearly as much as you do. You're my role model, Amy. I love you so much."

I had been paying very good attention to everything Harper told me. My only choice was to rebuild what was lost and take back what is needed. I smiled.

"There's that cute smile of yours," She returned an almost identical smile. "Never gets old."

As we both sat in my room, that 'cute smile of mine' began to fade, as my mind began working. "What happened, then?" I asked.

Her mirrored expression died. "I... I don't know."

"How do I know that what you're saying is true if I don't have the right answer?"

"Amielle..."

"I need to know!" I shouted. Nothing could truly make sense if I didn't know what I was dealing with. "I need to go back to the Institute."

Harper grabbed my arm. "No, no, please! I don't want them to take you away from me!"

I threw my arm away from her grip "This isn't your decision, Har! I make me.." I stopped right there. Something didn't feel the same. A long moment of silence followed by a staring session occurred.

"You used to call me that when you were little." Her eyes glimmered with moisture. "Remember?"

I didn't respond and proceeded to exit the room.

-----

December 6, 2404
13:30

"Where is he?" I asked, forcefully. "Where's Brandon?"

The lady at the front desk of the Institute looked confused, as Brandon walked in my direction. "F-404? What are you doing here? You checked out earlier-"

"Brandon. What happened?"

He scratched his black curls and young face in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Why is everyone acting like I'm someone else? Everyone's telling me that my mind has been erased. What happened?"

"Your mind wasn't erased, you-"

I pointed a finger at him. He looked pretty confused, due to the fact that a short blonde girl was yelling at him. "Don't you lie to me!"

Brandon sighed. He came closer to me. "Okay, look," he whispered. "Let me walk you to my office and I'll explain."

I followed him down the hall to the elevator. We stepped inside, ascending forty levels above the ground floor. There were rooms parallel to each other on the walls, starting at room number four hundred. I followed Brandon into Room 404. He allowed me to walk inside and shut the door behind me.

"Okay," he began speaking, taking a seat. "As much as I want to tell you exactly what happened, I can't. I can only tell you what I know."

"Then tell me what you know," I interrupted. "That's what I'm here for."

"Your memory wasn't exactly erased. We tried to further investigate the issue by looking deep into your IDM, but someone encrypted your files."

"What does that mean?"

"Someone locked your files. They sent a strong pulse through your network. We know this because the IP address coming from the attacker did not match yours."

I looked down at the floor in confusion, then looked back up at Brandon. "Why would someone lock my files?"

"From how your parents described yourself to me, I can see why somebody would do that. You held a gift not many people hold."

"What's that?"

"Astonishing intelligence. You were a mastermind. A genius." He put his finger on my forehead. "That knowledge still lies deep inside your mind."

"Will you be able to catch the person who did this to me?" I asked, somewhat enraged.

"No," Brandon responded. "But you can."

I looked at Brandon with a blank stare. What he said didn't make much sense to me. He seemed to realize that I was confused, so he rolled his chair closer to me.

"You can do this," he said, pointing at my head again. "That girl that you used to know lies deep within you." He smiled. "And so does the person who attacked you."

I sat there, comprehending the thought of a girl being trapped inside my mind. What exactly did it mean?

Answers were needed.