LPS: Angels of Freedom [OLD]

Part 4 - Help...

12:30 PM - Marisa's House - Dixon's perspective

I got back home after having a nice talk with Justice about my problem. She said she would try to figure out a way to help me better understand the flashbacks and what they meant, but she suggested taking my mind off of it for a while, so I decided to go back home and see what my little sisters were up to. I walked inside and found Jade on the couch watching TV, but Evelyn was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Evelyn?" I asked Jade. She shrugged as if she didn't know. I asked Mom the same question, and she had the same response.

I sighed. Knowing how Evelyn could be sometimes, I decided to check the park. Maybe she went to play there?

I was surprised to find that Evelyn wasn't in the park either. Where did my hyperactive little sister go anyway? Then I saw her run past me, seemingly on a sugar rush again. A piece of candy fell by my feet and I picked it up. I shook my head. "Of course...I should've guessed she would go to the candy store."

"YAAAAAAAAY!!"

I put the candy in my pocket and ran after Evelyn. "I'm gonna get you!"

"Nuh-uh! You can't catch me!"

"We'll just see about that!"

I chased Evelyn for a good hour or so, until I lost my breath and had to stop running. "Well...there's my exercise for the day...how does Evelyn manage to have so much energy? I can barely keep up with her!"

Evelyn kept running around while I sat down on a nearby bench to catch my breath. As I watched Evelyn run around, I thought of something. "Now I know how Ashley feels... After all, she's Evelyn's babysitter, so she has to deal with this all the time!"

Ashley walked by just then, almost as if she had heard me. "You got that right."

12:30 PM - Angelina's Orphanage - Valerie's perspective

I slowly woke up in the back room, still tied to the chair. Turns out that Mother's memory-erasing spell was so powerful that I could barely remember what I was doing in that room. The door opened and a blinding light filled the room as Mother came in to see me.

"Ah, hello again, Valerie! Did you sleep well? Let me untie you and you can go back to work in the garden." Mother told me as she loosened the ropes so I could stand up.

"Yes, of course." I replied. I was confused. Why couldn't I remember anything? I tried so hard to remember, but I just couldn't...Mother's powers were too strong, so they prevented me from having any flashbacks of old memories.

I quietly went to work in the garden, pulling out weeds and the like, when I saw the familiar black cat again in the distance. This time, a small gray kitten was walking with him. I could feel myself trying to have a flashback, but Mother's power was preventing it, until eventually the flashback broke through, breaking the spell. After having the flashback, I decided I would keep it a secret this time instead of leaking the information to anyone that could put a spell on me the way that my mother did. I didn't want to forget again. I wanted to try to remember instead.

1:00 PM - Ice Cream Shop - Dixon's perspective

"Vanilla! Strawberry! Mint chocolate chip!" Evelyn cheered at the front counter.

"But without the chocolate chips because she's allergic to chocolate." I added. "So, just regular mint."

The cashier smiled at us and started getting the ice cream ready while Evelyn and I sat down at a table to wait.

"This is so fun! Why can't we go out for ice cream like this everyday?" Evelyn asked me.

"Well, having ice cream everyday would get boring eventually, wouldn't it?" I replied. "Variety is the spice of life as they say, and even though ice cream comes in a lot of flavors, it's all basically the exact same thing."

"I guess you're right. But can we at least come here for ice cream more often than we already do?" Evelyn continued.

"I'll see what I can do about it, but I can't make promises." I smiled at her. A waiter came out to our table with our sundae so we could enjoy.

As we sat there with our ice cream, Evelyn seemed to notice something was on my mind as I kept glancing out the window, not really paying attention to anything else.

"Hey, big bro? What's wrong?" Evelyn asked me.

"Oh, uh, um..." I began awkwardly as I snapped out of my distracted state. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Okay!" Evelyn smiled as she continued eating the ice cream.

After we finished and left, I was still thinking about Valerie. I wanted to know more about her, about my flashbacks. Why was she so familiar? Why did I recognize her so much? I was deep in thought all the way home, wondering if I would ever get to fully understand my flashbacks, or if I would ever be able to completely remember this girl.