The Dragon King

Chapter Eight

Riverton

Levi raced down the side walk anxious to get to the Sheriff's station.

"Levi, slow down!" he heard Stella's soft French tone call out from behind him, but he didn't slow down. He had to hurry feeling like he'd forget again if he waited.

"What's going on? What happened in Dad's office?" Imani jogged beside him to keep up with his long strides.

He shook his head. "I don't know exactly. It was so crazy. So real. I remembered something from my childhood." Adrenaline kept his heart pumping strong keeping him from having to slow down for a breath.

"What memory?" Imani grabbed his hand causing him to stop.

He balled his hand into a fist and tugged on his arm, but Imani held firm. "Hey, what are you doing? Let me go."

Stella bent over with her hands on her knees as she panted. "Not until you tell us what you remember."

"We're all in this together, remember?" Imani asked in a gentle voice. "Anything you learn we learn. That way we can all be on the same page."

Levi sighed as Imani let his hand go. He looked left and right making sure no one was around. He didn't exactly want the whole town to know he got addicted to fairytales growing up. "Well, you see, Dr. Bones put me to sleep in a memory deep inside my mind." He looked at his arms, and rubbed his right hand over a burn scar on his left forearm. "It was beautiful at first. I was just a little boy. I found these burn marks and bruisings all over my arms, and I heard a girls voice calling out to me. I took off running afraid of this girl, and next thing I knew..." He paused and looked up at the girls. "She was choking me."

He watched as both the girls faces turned grim.

He grinned at them both. "I guess, according to your Dad, I could've maybe died if I had stayed in there any longer. Dr. Bones brought me back out."

"Who was it?" Stella asked. "Who was the woman choking you?"

Levi chuckled uneasily, and rubbed the back of his head. "You'll both get a kick outta this." He lowered his hand. "She was Snow White."

Imani laughed while Stella stared dumbfounded. "Snow White?" the dark complected girl asked. "The Princess?"

He lowered his head. "I know. It sounds silly." He looked back up at her. "Your Dad thinks it was my Mom or sister, and because of my fascination with fairytales growing up, my mind covered up who the true person was."

"That makes sense," Stella agreed. She stepped up to him and patted him on the arm. "Guess we know one thing about your past now." He stared at her blankly as her face turned into a frown. "You were an abused child. No wonder you were always running away."

"How do you figure?" Why would she think he'd been running away? He didn't say anything about that in his story.

Stella shrugged. "I guess it would just make sense. Why else would you be seen at the troll bridge all the time?"

"She has a point." He looked over toward Imani. "The troll bridge was the only place I ever saw you. You always wore the same tattered clothes, looked like you hadn't had a bath in a while, and if I ever did see you in town you were stealing food from a store."

"I'm a thief?" he exclaimed in shock. He'd been shoplifting? That didn't sound like something he'd do. He couldn't see himself as a thief. But what about everything else she'd said? He lived under that bridge? It made sense if that was all people had ever seen him.

Imani rubbed his arm. "Don't worry about that now. You're turning over a new leaf." She gave him a wink. "Just, when you get your memories back don't go back to your old ways."