Especially Gifted

13 **Memories and the Fakes**

        We sat there all in silence for a while, trying to soak in all the new information. I wondered what Grey must be thinking, but I really didn't want to find out. I was too scared; scared he'd leave me because of this, scared of his future and leave, scared he'd fall for another girl, and fear for his life that he'd run. All of these devastating thoughts came to me... I didn't know what to do. I was scared and felt alone all over again... I really wish there was someone I could talk to about all this stuff, someone that understood what I was going through...

        I looked over at Grey sitting on his bed. His eyes were dark and lifeless. I had the feeling this new news wasn't settling well. Before I could hear any bad news, I bolted out of there like a freight train on a mission. I felt scared, weak, insecure, and alone. Mainly alone. Ever since I was little I was always scared of being alone. When I was five, my parents thought it would be a good thing for me to learn how to sleep in my room instead of with them. I was so worried, that's how I found out about my "gifts". One night, I was huddled under the covers imagining I was in the room with my parents when I heard the faintest voice. I peeked out from under the covers and saw a little girl in a white fluffy dress looking down at me. She was so young and beautiful that I was awestruck. I didn't know what to think about her. She was my age and had golden eyes with black hair. We talked often, almost every single night. One night when mom came in to check on me, she saw the little girl I called "Genny" (pronounces as Jenny). Mom freaked out and banned Genny from our house. When she didn't listen, mom got rid of her. Still to this day I don't know what happened that night...

        But when I got to my dorm room, I didn't know what to do then either. It was only a matter of time before mom came looking for me. I took my almost all access pass and left the room. I darted past everyone in the hallway. I was going so fast, it all seemed like a blur of colors and shaped mending together. It was almost a grotesque scene. The shapes of people, lights, and other objects bending together formed something resembling a monster. It would have been a sickly beautiful sight if I wasn't trying so desperately to run away. Once I was outside I took to the air. My angel wings were easy to spot so I turned into a fairy. Making sure that I blended in with the others, I went deeper into the forest. I could see a few werewolves out tonight. There were also a couple shape-shifters, fairies, and angels out. I tried to mesh together with the other fairies and people to make sure mom wouldn't spot me so easily. While I was flying, I found a small hole in a tree. Probably there for fairies when it rains. I went in and sat down giving my wings a break and me time to think.

        I couldn't believe this is happening. She basically told me that I could break Grey's heart...in front of him! That's just horrible. I mean, I know what I'm going through, but he was basically just told that I will fall for two other guys. That's just mind boggling. I was thinking more in depth about this when I decided to erase his memory of that. I flew to his room, and thankfully, he was still there. I turned invisible and crept toward him. Once I was there, I began the excruciating process. I shouldn't say that I erased them from his memory...It's more like removing it and taking it. I take it away and replace it of a fake and different memory. Instead of him thinking my mom came in during our date, I put a memory in where we watched the movies and weren't interrupted. Now I just needed to let my mom know. See, the thing about this is, its technically temporary. The real memories can come back if he thinks too hard about it. Like for instance, someone mentioning something about the removed memory. It'll sound familiar, and the person will start thinking and trying to remember where they heard it. This is when all that hard work back fires and the person remembers what really happened.

        As soon as the memories were replaced, I went to find my mom. Sure enough she was in my room, waiting for me to get back. Before she could say anymore, I told her that I removed that scene from Grey's memory. If he does remember, at least I hope he'll know I was doing it to protect him. She thought for a while before slowly nodding. It was her fault she did that, she needed to pay the price. Once we got off that subject, I asked her to remove it from my memory. Replace it with the same one as Grey's and leave the page in the book for me to find next time I go through it. Reluctantly she agreed. But on a few conditions....

        "Cassia, your going to need help discovering the good from the bad. At least let me stay here with you. I'll feed and take care of myself, just let me stay." she paused for a minute before continuing. "That is actually my one condition." I was mad, but there wasn't anything else I could do. I agreed to her one condition and had her remove the night and replace it. It took a while since I'm more powerful than her, but she eventually got it. I went to sleep shortly after dreaming of how tomorrows re-meet with Xander and mom would go. I can see her balling her eyes out, while he's giving her an awkward hug. I drempt they would get along though. Maybe we can be that one big, happy family again. I never know what to think of my family anymore. It's all been a wreck since Xander took off that night, Mom never adopted again, still hoping he'd turn up somewhere.