Vibrant Eyes

Chapter 16 - Haunting Memories

I woke up with a start. Visiting my father last Friday awoke nightmares that I had buried deep inside my mind. The same ones that plagued my younger years. They always started the same. I'm running into the line of fire, watching all of my comrades die right before my eyes. They call for help and I can't get there in time. But I never get there because they're dead already. All around me lie corpses. Some of them are crying out but they aren't able to speak. Their mouth is covered in flames, and their face contorts as if it was screaming through its pain. These dreams have haunted me for as long as I can remember. And they still do every night when I sleep. There's a part of me that just keeps hoping they'll go away eventually but I know better than this, they won't leave.

As the tears welled up in the corners of my eyes I quickly wiped them off with the back of my hands. I didn't want to wake anyone else up. Even though I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of, this was something I never wanted to talk about, not even to the most important person in my life. I took a deep breath and sat myself down on my bed. I laid myself down and curled up into a ball. My body shook slightly as I tried to keep the tears from streaming down my face. I heard soft footsteps padding towards my room so I turned to look at who it was. To my surprise it was none other than Haruto. He stopped in front of my doorway and looked down at me.

"Hey Alana, what's wrong?" Haruto asked. He slowly walked into the room and set himself down next to me on my bed. 'Don't tell him... please don't tell him' I thought.

I sighed and began to explain to Haruto how I've been having these nightmares since I was young. He was silent for a while after I finished explaining. Then a thought occurred to him and his face became concerned.

"Do you think maybe this isn't really a dream?" He said. I thought for a moment. "What do you mean by that?" I asked, now intrigued by his way of thinking.

"You said you can remember most things that happened in the past correct?" Haruto said. I nodded.

"What if your brain is trying to remember? What if you do remember, but something is keeping you from reliving those memories?" I looked down at my hands. "You mean... something is keeping me from remembering?" He nodded. "Precisely." He sat cross-legged in front of me.

"I don't know if you know this already, but clearly all of us came from the same place correct?" He said showing the symbol on his arm. I nodded. "CyberCorp..." He nodded.

"Exactly. None of us remembered any of that until the grand master told us!" I tilted my head. "Grand master?" He nodded.

"The grand master was our old leader. He died in battle and past on his leadership to Haru as he had no kin to pass it on to," Haruto explained. I nodded in understanding.

"I see, so he knew what was going on and managed to get you all to remember?" Haruto nodded rapidly.

"Mhm! Anyway. Maybe CyberCorp gave us something so we didn't remember anything!"

I thought for a moment. "You might be right," I said. "We need to tell the others."

I went to get up but my arm was grabbed rapidly.

"Alana...? Could we keep this between us for now?" Haruto asked. I smiled.

"Yeah, we can." He smiled back and let my arm go.

"Sorry, I just want to be sure first before we go jumping to conclusions." I nodded. "That's understandable." He smiled warmly at me.

"And hey, if you ever need to talk, you can always come to me," he said as he got off my bed. "Thanks, I'll take you up on that!" I said with a laugh. He laughed and walked away. I sat on my bed, deep in thought. "Hmm..." Salem yawned loudly.