Blank Canvas

Chapter Six: October 27th, 2020 Continued

    Tension filled the kitchen as we all devoured our dinner that Zoe made. The sharpest knife in the world could not even cut through this tension. We all focused on the food in front of us. I felt as if Zoe or Dominic would like to ask me questions, but was unsure of what to say. Even Liam hasn't spoken more than five words and ever since I met him, he would never keep his mouth shut; not like it was a bad thing. Otherwise, the food was delicious and way better than the hospital food that I had been eating the last few days.

    Once all of our plates were empty or close to empty, Zoe placed her fork down at it dinged against her plate and made eye contact with Liam. She cleared her throat before speaking up, "so, Liam, I placed the photo albums on the living room table if you would like to show Clary some pictures from childhood."

    He gave her a small smile before meeting my gaze, "I would love to show her some photos."

    I broke eye contact as I stared down at my empty plate. I did not know what to say. How was I supposed to react to the photos of my childhood that I had no memory of? They wanted me to act a certain way, but yet, I was unable to meet their expectations. I could not act as if I haven't been gone for ten years or as if I remember my parents and Liam. Also, I am terrified the person who took me was drugging me for a certain reason and what if the truth was worse than the unknown? What if he comes back to-

    "Clary." Liam stated my name in his deep voice as it pulled me out of my racing thoughts. Everyone was looking at me with concern written all over their faces. I whispered a quick apology and the only sound that filled the room was the ticking of a clock. Liam stood up as his chair scraped across the floor, "let's go to the living room, Clary." He turned towards Zoe with a smile on his face, "thank you so much for dinner. It was great."

    He came around the table, pulled my chair out, and grabbed my hand to assist me into a standing position. I whispered a thank you before he led the way into the living room as I examined the room. There was no need for light as the sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall. A gray couch lined the left wall that held multiple throw pillows. To the right of the couch was a gray chair and a large wooden table sat in front of both the couch and chair. Underneath the table, there was a black and gray rug. Between the couch and the chair was a black floor lamp. On the right wall, there was a large television hanging on the wall above the fireplace. There were a few picture frames sitting on top of the fireplace, but before I could get a good look at them, I saw Liam in my peripheral vision as he moved across the room.

    Liam ran over to the windows and opened the middle one,"you also have an enclosed porch which you used to love to sit out there and read when you were a child." He smiled to himself, thinking of the memory that I no longer had. He closed the door before pointing over to the couch,"let's take a seat."

    I took a seat next to him on the couch and he placed a black photo album onto my lap. On the front was a picture of two boys and one girl with the saying 'life is better with friends' in red writing. "Do you know who they are?" He smiled in excitement as he pointed to the front cover. I shook my head as a frown appeared on his face, "it's the three of us." He pointed to each person as he stated their name. I was in the middle with my pigtails as Lucas was to my right and Liam was to my left and we all were sitting on swings.

    I flipped the cover over to the front two pages that were filled with four photos on each page. Liam was talking as I stared down at the pages, trying to think of one little detail that I could remember, but nothing was coming back to me. Not only were the two boys strangers to me, I was also a stranger to myself. Soon, my vision became blurry and I tried my hardest to not let the tears escape, but I failed as they streamed down my face onto the photos.

    "What's wrong, Clary?" He placed a hand on my shoulder and I brushed it away before slamming the cover of the photo album closed. I stood up and let the album fall onto the wooden table before running upstairs to the room that did not belong to me. Nothing did. The house was not mine. My parents were not mine. Liam was not my childhood best friend. I slammed the door before walking over to the bed.

    I laid on the bed in the fetal position as sobs racked my body to the core. I felt hopeless as if I would never have anything to call mine. I lost everything without realizing what was taken from me to begin with. What if my memory never comes back? What if I am stuck in this void where everyone is expecting me to remember, but I never end up remembering? What if the person who took me knew where I lived and was waiting for the right moment to take me again?

    A knock at the door broke me out of my thoughts as my hoarse voice spoke up, "come in." The door opened and closed softly as I felt the bed dip behind me.

    "Do you mind if I hold you?" Liam asked in an almost inaudible whisper. I shook my head. He immediately laid behind me as he wrapped his arm around my waist tightly, pulling me closer to him. "I am so sorry, Clary. I shouldn't have pushed you like that."

    I interlaced my fingers with his and gave his hand a squeeze before closing my eyes as I felt the sunlight on my face, warming it. I sighed, trying to shut out my racing thoughts to finally get some sleep, but I failed. "Liam."

    He placed his chin on my shoulder, "yeah?"

    "What if the person who took me finds me again?"

    He sighed before whispering, "I am not going to let them take you away from me again.I finally have you back and I will do anything to keep you here. I lost ten years that I could have spent with you and I am not going to allow someone to take any more time away from us." My body relaxes against Liam's body and with his words, I knew it was safe to allow myself to fall into a deep sleep.

~~

    I saw myself in a semi-dark room as I laid on my left side towards the metal door. There was a figure laying behind me as a small blanket covered both of us. I had the only pillow in the room. I watched as I turned myself around and snuggled up to this figure.

    "Are you doing okay?" The figure spoke up in a deep voice as they wrapped their arms around me. I shook my head as the figure rubbed circles into my back. "I am going to get you out of here even if my life depends on it." He kissed the top of my head.

    After a while, I spoke up, "I do not want to leave without you. You are my person."

    The figure stared down at me, "I know, but one of us needs to at least make the escape. I am trying my best to think of a plan where both of us can, but you know we are both too weak to fight him. I haven't tried the window and I do not want to until we are ready to escape, but I feel as if I won't be able to fit through it." The figure sighed, "you know I love you, right? I want you to be able to experience life outside of this prison. I would love to be able to explore our relationship outside of this Hell as well. But if only one of us can escape, we have to find a way for that person to bring help back. That's the hard part with all these injections we get."

    I began to sob into their chest and they held on me tightly. Once my sobs calmed down, I spoke up, "I love you, too. I do not want to lose you."

    "I do not want to lose you either."

    As I stared down at my body in the figure's arm, I couldn't help but wonder who was this person I loved? If my memory comes back, will I still love them? This person seemed important to me as I was trapped in this prison and my biggest question is will they be alive when I finally find them?