Loose ｡ Henry Mills [2]

30 - NOT THE SAME PERSON

It had been an entire week since Teresa Holmes had been found by Calista and Kit by the pond at the park. She remembered being scared and confused when she woke up in the hospital, but everyone had been quick to reassure the girl that she was safe and didn't need to be afraid. She calmed down after a while, got some food in her stomach, and even learned everyone's names.

But as the minutes ticked by, more and more questions stirred in her heart. She wanted to know everything there was to know about her life; her friends and family, how old she was, where she came from, what her hobbies were, all her likes and dislikes, if she had anyone special in her life. Lucky for her, the people with the sad eyes and reassuring smiles were more than happy to give her a history lesson about her life.

They answered every question she had and spent hours telling the girl stories about her life. Some of the stories made the girl smile and laugh, others made her sad, but she hung onto every word they said. Henry Mills even pulled out the storybook, showing Teresa illustrations of everyone's life, including her own, even if there weren't many pages with her name on it. But she had been eager to learn everything she could.

When she had opened up the storybook and began reading everything, Teresa felt like she wasn't even learning about her own life. The girl in the book shared the same name and the illustrations looked exactly like her, but it felt like she was reading about someone else's life. It didn't feel like her story or her life. But maybe that was just because she couldn't remember doing any of it.

Teresa was discharged from the hospital her second day there. She went back to the home she couldn't even remember, and each day that went by was harder than the one before it. She found it difficult to live under a roof with people she couldn't remember knowing. But most of all, she struggled with knowing that everyone was obviously keeping things away from her to spare her feelings.

When an entire week went by since she was found in the park, everyone finally seemed to notice how much Teresa was struggling to return to her old life. It was Doctor Whale and Snow White that suggested she visit the town's best psychologist so she could get everything off her chest and finally tell someone how she felt about the situation.

Now she was sitting on a sofa across from Doctor Archibald Hopper, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a jacket to keep her warm from the autumn chill lingering in the air. She was a little uncomfortable, though, considering she couldn't remember knowing the doctor. How was she supposed to talk to someone about her feelings when she didn't even remember him? How did she know she could trust him to understand?

"How are you feeling today, Teresa?" Doctor Hopper asked, his brow creased with worry.

She cleared her throat before speaking. "I'm okay, I guess."

Doctor Hopper didn't seem to believe that. "Teresa, this is a safe place. You don't have to hide anything while you're here. We can talk about anything you want. Or we don't have to talk at all. The choice is entirely yours."

Silence. That is what he was met with. It caused Doctor Hopper to frown with concern. He understood that she was uncomfortable talking about what happened, especially with people she no longer remembered. But all he wanted to do was help. He wanted to make sure that she was handling everything okay, especially after Snow White told him how much she was struggling.

"You used to come here to see me, you know," Doctor Hopper said. He decided that maybe if he spoke more about her past, she would be more comfortable around him and finally open up about how she felt having no memory of who she was.

Her brow furrowed. "I did? Why?"

Doctor Hopper hesitated, silence filling the room as he tried to figure out what to say. When the girl had been found, everyone at the hospital thought it best they not tell her she had recently died and went on a little adventure in the Underworld. They thought it might be too much for her to handle after she lost all her memories. Now he regretted bringing that up, considering her resurrection is what brought the girl to his office in the first place.