In Memoriam

Chapter 1

It was very late. Or very early. Depending on how you looked at it. In Cherizel's humble opinion, it really depended on how you felt about time in a certain moment.

And right now, she felt like it was too late to still be up and out of the house. But it wasn't like she had a choice. She sighed and resisted rubbing her eyes, some part of her brain shouted at her to remember all the makeup she still had on.

Cher preferred to save looking like a raccoon for when she got home.

She gave the bar one last look, before finally heading outside to lock up. Every inch of her body was aching and sore and Cher could practically hear the bubble bath singing to her, luring her home. That was a siren she was more than willing to follow.

"So this is where you've been, Ma Cherie."

Cher froze. Her heart started banging against her rib-cage like a war drum. Was it possible that the voice wasn't talking to her?

It was never good to have random strangers talk to you in the dark. Never.

Especially ones that acted a little too familiar with you.

Cherizel fixed her expression to something more neutral and turned around to face the stranger, "Can I help you with something? I'm afraid the bar is closed now, so if you're here for that you're out of luck."

"No, I'm not here for the bar," the stranger chuckled and stepped out of the darkness. The very first thing she noticed about him was the long, soft blue hair. Something tugged at the back of her mind, some familiarity. Didn't she know someone with that same hair color?

Cher tugged on a stand of her own dusty pink hair. There was some strange familiarity there, something she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Let me guess, you're here for the bartender?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her. Cher had more than her fair share of both men and women coming to hit on her. And a stranger on the street trying to get closer was nothing new, either.

"Yes, I came looking for you, Ma Cherie."

Cher took a small step back. She had yet to fully lock the bar, so she wondered how feasible would it be to run in there and hide.

"Okay, well, you found me. It was nice to meet you, but I really have to run," she said. She didn't feel like getting murdered by some random stranger today.

The man didn't move at all, nor did he respond. He looked at her with a crooked smile. Cher took that as her queue to leave. She knew that it could be dangerous to turn your back on someone that came up to you like this, especially someone who claimed to have been looking for you. But what else could she do?

Cher planned to book it the moment she turned around the corner.

But not even three steps into her escape plan, the man called out to her again, "Does anyone know you don't remember anything about your life?"

Cher felt her heart drop to her stomach. She whipped around and stared at the man, wide-eyed and trying to stop herself from shaking.

"No... how do you know that? How could you possibly know? I haven't told anyone..." Cher whispered. It was her secret. Her deepest, darkest secret. She had no memories of her life before a few years prior, but it was something she kept to herself.

Perhaps it was foolish of her, perhaps she should have told someone. But Cher didn't know who to trust with something like this. She was terrified of being used by someone just because she didn't remember the truth.

Yet here was this strange man who appeared out of nowhere — a man who knew the truth somehow.

"How could I not know?" The man smiled, his golden eyes seemed to glimmer under the neon lights. "I was once a part of that life."

Cherizel narrowed her eyes at him. She had no real way of knowing if he was telling the truth or not and some part of her wanted to run away and pretend like she never met him.

"Prove it," Cher challenged. "Prove to me that you're telling the truth and that you're not some stalker."

The blue-haired man laughed, offering her a wide toothy grin, "Even when you can't remember me you still challenge me? Good to see you haven't changed, Ma Cherie."

"You keep calling me that, why?"

"Why do you think?" He smirked.

"I don't know! If I knew I wouldn't be asking!"

"Mhm, but you can guess, can't you?" The smirk widened. Cherizel never liked jumping to conclusions, but in this case, she would make an exception. This guy was definitely trying to wind her up, she was certain of it.

"Ugh! Why are you like this?! Just give me an actual answer," Cher threw her hands up in frustration. There was something about this man that made her almost unreasonably irritated. But that didn't appear to phase him at all. If anything, he seemed amused and delighted to get such a reaction out of her.

The man took a step closer, then another, and another.

"I know how to get your memories back, Cher," he said. His voice was quiet and firm as he looked down at her with an odd sort of determination.

"What...? How?" Cherizel's irritation faded away at that, now replaced by a spark of hope. For years she felt so clueless, so lost, so afraid of trusting anyone.

But now, against all reason, she trusted him.

"Oh, no biggie. We just have to pull off a little heist," the man grinned down at her. He looked around and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "This isn't the time or the place to talk about it. I'll come find you later."

Cher ignored the way his hot breath tickled her skin and lit up something inside of her. A longing that twisted itself in her heart like a knife.

As the man turned to leave, Cherizel's hand shot out to grab him by the arm. She didn't even stop to think about it.

"Wait. Before you disappear all mysteriously, what's your name?"

"My name..." the smirk returned. His golden eyes glowed gently in the darkness that surrounded them, "...is Regis."

Regis slipped a finger under her chin, tilted her head up and pressed his lips against hers. It was a soft kiss, barely there really, but Cherizel's whole body felt as if it was on fire.

She felt so alive.

But Regis pulled away, taking a big step back.

"I'll see you soon, Ma Cherie," he winked, giving her a little salute as he walked off into the shadows.

Cherizel stood there, staring off to where he disappeared off to. She blinked. That was...

"Hey...Regis, you dick!" She called out, even though she didn't expect an answer back. He left her with more questions than answers.

Cherizel swore under her breath. The next time she saw him (if she did), she wasn't going to let him go until she got some solid answers from him.

Anything would do at this point. Anything.

All Cherizel wanted was to remember.