Amnesia

Chapter Five

It was almost like we were living in a dream world, Daphne and I. For two weeks we've been doing everything together and it's been nice. The memories haven't been coming as much as it did in the beginning but I don't mind. The burden of remembering them put too much sadness in my life and having Daphne by my side, makes me happy and happy is where I want to be.
    But today, Daphne had to go into work. Something about a emergency business meeting so I'm alone with Midnight in the now spacious apartment. After our kiss that night when we both had confessed a small amount of feelings for each other, we've only kissed since then or held hands or even snuggled. I still don't sleep in her room out of respect for her space but sometimes, she'll come in and crawl in the couch to cuddle me. She makes this place warm and fuzzy but I know I can handle things on my own here too.
    Just as I begin to fold Daphne's clothes, the house phone rings. It still amazes me that she has this thing. But then again, there would be no way for her and I to talk on the phone if she didn't have this fossil of a phone.
    "Daphne King's residence, Melissa speaking." I answer the phone after the second shrill and hear Detective Oslo on the other end.
    "Hey, Melissa, I'm actually glad you answered." He starts. "I've got some news for you."
    "Just news?" I ask. "Not good or bad?"
    "Well, the way you see it is up to you so this is just news we picked up at the station I think you'd be interested in hearing." Detective Oslo sounds a bit nervous on the phone which makes me nervous now.
    "What is the news you found?" I ask and I can hear him sip something on the other end of the phone.
    "Well, we found out your full name," he says. "Care to know what it is?"
    The minute he tells me my name, I may or may not have an effect by it. It may trigger memories again or it may not and if I know my full name, will I be more inclined to find my family? What will happen to my new relationship with Daphne once I find out who I am? I know she would be jumping for joy at the thought of me finding out my full name. So, after a deep breath, I nod.
    "Tell me my full name." I reply and he chuckles.
    "Melissa Anne Baker Vale. You are twenty-six years old, you live in Beverly Hills with your husband, Alexander George Vale. You work for Interim which specializes in advertising for big name brands like Adidas, Nike, Calvin Klein, that sorta thing."
As he explains who I am, nothing really happens to me at first. No painful memories or even happy ones of my husband and I being together like before. But his name is Alexander and now I have a name to a sort of face.
"Would you like to know about one of the most important things about your family? Aside from Baker being your maiden name." Detective Oslo asks.
"Please, I really want to know." I reply because nothing else is popping up for me. I can't muster up any memories about my family which is alarming me.
"Your father, Kevin Baker, is in the oil companies and one of the biggest name companies in the world. He is planning on retiring in a year and giving the company over to your brother, Damien who from what I've read on my own, is a pretty good candidate for the job. Your mother, Sandra Anne Baker, is old money from lumber and seemed to have helped fund your father's oil company when he first bought it. Anyways, it's all history mumbo jumbo so I won't bore you with the details."
There's no need for further explanation. I can remember everything about my family now and even Alexander's family too. I know all of the stories of the family companies and their merger ideas, the marriage arrangement between Alex and I when we were young. Five years ago young. Man, time flies. But something is blocking my memory from trying to resurface and I can't explain what is it. I don't know if it's good or bad but it won't come back to me no matter how hard I try.
"Mrs. Vale?" Detective Oslo catches my attention through the phone and I almost drop the phone, being scared.
"Sorry, my memories were taking over for a second." I reply and he makes an agreed noise like he forgot I had amnesia and remembered just now. "Anyways, thank you for calling and telling me."
"Yeah of course," he says.
"If there's nothing else-."
"Oh, right!" He makes me jump and I feign from scolding him about scaring me. "I almost forgot to tell you that your family has been trying to find you for three weeks now."
"Are you obligated to inform them of my whereabouts?" I ask and he sighs.
"Well, usually, if the family asks us to contact them once we've found their missing loved one, we're under obligation to inform them of their whereabouts but it's up to the missing person to contact back. In this case, your family did in fact ask us to let them know once they found you but your husband, Mr. Vale, insisted on being the first to know your location the minute we found you."
"And have you informed him of my whereabouts?" I ask and pause. "Or anyone of that matter?"
"No, I haven't yet," he says and admits to me. "No offense, but your husband, he rubs me the wrong way. So I told him it would take some time."
What kind of a man is he to rub a detective the wrong way?
"How long ago did you find out who I was?" I ask.
"About two days ago." He admits and I feel my heart pounding fast and loud. While he's found out who I was, I've been playing pretend house with Daphne who I still barely know.
"I can let your husband know where you are if you want." Detective Oslo suggests and I'm conflicted. If I say yes, I lose my friendship with Daphne completely. If Detective Oslo felt he was being 'rubbed the wrong way' just by having small talk with my husband, I doubt he'd let me keep a friend like Daphne around. But if I say no, he may pursue me and take me away forcibly from Daphne and I couldn't watch that happen before me.
"I give you permission to let him know where I am." I finally reply and I feel this sense of sadness. No, my reality hitting me so hard, it's tilting my axis the wrong way and turning my whole world into chaos. I mean, it really can't be the end of the world. Can it?
"Alright, I'll inform him of this right away." He replies back and after saying goodbye, we hang up and the whole room feels colder than before. I go to sit on the couch and pull the blanket around me. I can remember living in such a beautiful home up in Northern California and meeting Alex there. We went to UCLA together to pursue our dream jobs but Alex ended up taking the family lawyer business anyways while I was able to get my dream job in L.A.
I remember the condo that Alex and I live in not far from Interim and I was trying to hurry through that alley because Alex was the one who told me he was going to be home soon and I had stayed later than I hoped for at work. So, to make up for lost time, I walked through the alley. Alex warned me not to go through the alley without someone at least a man and I didn't listen. I wanted to come home to him and make dinner for us. But the man came for me before I could make it through the alley and attacked me.
I pull my knees closer to my chest and feel Midnight rub its body against my legs and I remember everything about that night now. I let out a small cry for a few minutes and then look up when I can't breath. I breath in and out, trying to calm my nerves and my anxieties. I wipe my eyes with the blanket and take a deep breathe. I look over to Midnight and the cat looks at me with curious eyes so I pet the cat, hearing it purr. I smile and shake my hands and crack my neck.
This will be good. Good to go home and good to get out of Daphne's hair.
Even though I don't believe what I'm saying, I have to tell myself this or else I'll never want to leave and I can't be difficult to a husband who hasn't seen me in three weeks.