Lock and Key

Deleted Memories

It felt strange to be among a group of people traveling again. The last time Grace had been traveling alongside Hazel and Amelia had been before things had gone so far down the rabbit hole of awfulness. That memory honestly felt more like a story Grace told herself than anything that had actually happened. Everything had changed so much since then. She felt that if she could go back and speak to that Grace she wouldn't even recognize herself. And yet here she was, walking with Hazel and Amelia just as she had all that time ago.

"Grace, what are you thinking about?" came the question from Hazel, which indicated to grace that she had been staring at nothing for far too long and her travel companions were concerned she was having a stroke. Grace waved her hand to indicate that it had been a frivolous thought.

"Just remembering the last time the three of us were together like this." she said to the little girl. Hazel nodded and that likely would have been the end of the conversation had it not been for Amelia. Hazel and Grace sat on the ground of a Sudoku themed car. They'd both offered to help solve the puzzle but Amelia had absolutely insisted that she could do it on her own. Amelia had ignored their conversation up till now but seemingly having grown frustrated at the lack of progress with the puzzle she spun around and looked at them.

"Actually last time we were together there were three of us." she said with a level of frustration that was directed at the puzzle but had been taken out on the girls. At the mention of there having been four of them originally Grace recalled what happened immediately after they separated and felt her blood run cold. She remembered what the doctors had said and began breathing in and out deeply. Hazel looked at Amelia with as much frustration as her adorable six years old face could manage.

"Why did you say that?" Hazel asked the old woman who still looked annoyed. Grace gripped at her jeans and continued breathing in and out. Amelia finally noticed this and calmed down and apologized.

"I was just frustrated with the puzzle. Sorry." she said attempting to make amends for her rude comment. Grace finally calmed herself down and Hazel went to her side.

"Are you okay?" she asked Grace sweetly. Grace appreciated the sentiment of Hazel joining her side to calm her. She also felt frustrated that she had to be babied by a literal child. Grace was a leader, she was a survivor. She'd been through hell and walked out alive and now here she was unable to hear even vague illusions to what had happened to her without being on the verge of tears. Grace let out a frustrated groan before turning to Amelia.

"You've been on the train for a long time right?" Grace asked. Amelia nodded.

"Possibly the longest time." Amelia responded.

"Then you know about those memory tape extractor things right." she asked her. Amelia nodded and dug into her satchel before pulling out the item Grace was referring to.

"You mean this thing?" Amelia asked, holding up the item that Grace had requested. Grace shuttered remembering when the thing had been used on her, and who it had been used by. How ironic then what she was about to request.

"I want you to use it to go in my brain and fix me." Grace requested. Amelia looked at her for a minute trying to find any indication was simply joking. Grace did her best to convey with her face that she was serious.

"You're kidding, right?" Amelia asked, still giving Grace an out to retract her statement. Grace shook her head.

"Right now I can't do anything, even the tiniest things set me off, I'm useless. I need you to fix me so I can go back to not being that." she explained. Amelia put her head in her hands.

"I don't think I've understood you correctly so please allow me to restate what I think you've just said. You want me," she gestured towards herself. "To go inside your mind using the memory tape and fix you was it?" Amelia asked. Grace nodded again.