Chapter Four - It’s easy to forget

“How do you know I’m cursed?” Gina asked, “That doesn’t sound like a real thing.”

“I’ll tell you how.” The counselor explained, “Do you even know why you are here?”

“Of course,” Gina started to answer, “I’m here because ….” Gina stopped in midsentence. She tried to remember why she was there but for some reason it had slipped her mind.

“You don’t remember, do you?” The counselor asked.

“That is so strange, I know I knew it just a minute ago.” Gina pondered.

“You have some kind of supernatural selective block on your memory. Anything that happens to you that would cause you to remember a specific event or person, the block makes you forget.”

“How do you know all that?” Gina asked.

“Because as Sherlock Holmes once said, when no rational explanation makes sense, the answer must be an irrational explanation.” The counselor said.

“You know Sherlock Holmes wasn’t a real person, right?” Gina offered.

“that’s beside the point, the point is that there is no rational explanation for what is happening to you. You should be able to remember something that happened 10 minutes ago, but you don’t.” the counselor pointed out.

The counselor started writing something on a piece of paper and handed it to Gina.

“When you get home, give your parents this note. It will explain everything. Go back to the nurse’s office and lay down.”

Gina took the note, put it in her pocket and went back to the nurse’s office. Gina lay down and was soon asleep. Once asleep, she began to dream….

She began having the same dream. She was tied up and the man with the flowing robes was there. There was a cauldron and smoke were coming out of it. She looked around the room. It was dimly lit. She could smell something. It was salty. She smelled salt in the air. She looked around and noticed that the surroundings were damp, like she was in a cave. She started to shiver.

She looked over and the young man was also there. When she looked at him, it looked like he was trying to break free of the ropes. If only he had a knife. He could break the ropes if he had a knife.

The man with the flowing robe on spoke, “What are you looking at him for, you think he’s going to save you? He couldn’t even save himself. Some hero he turned out to be.” That’s not right, Gina thought. The words the man in the flowing robe spoke were not right. She was sure his words were different; she just couldn’t remember how.

“You’re not going to get away with this” Gina said defiantly.

“Oh, but I already have.” The man with the flowing robe exclaimed, “You might think this is a dream princess, but I assure you it is very real.”

As the man was speaking, the young man had somehow untied himself and was quietly moving toward the man with the flowing robe. Gina and the man both noticed it at the same time. The young man had almost reached his captor. He just needed another few inches. The man spoke something that sounded like gibberish to Gina and the young man froze where he was.

“I underestimated him, I thought he was a worthless loser like you, but it turned out he had some fight in him after all. While my respect for him has increased slightly, he still much be punished.” Having said that, the man with the flowing robe took the staff that he had been holding and swung it hard against one of the young man’s legs. The force of the blow caused the young man to fall to the ground, still frozen. Gina looked on in horror.

The man went back to his work and when it was done, he continued with his work. Gina woke up in a cold sweat. She remembered her dream but didn’t speak it to anyone. Before the bell rang to go home, she had completely forgotten the events of the day.

As Gina was about to leave, Carla caught up with her. She was concerned about her friend. “Hey girl, are you feeling alright?” Carla asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Gina shot back.

“You didn’t look too good this morning.” Carla explained.

“I just needed some rest.” Gina offered an explanation.

“You didn’t forget this weekend, right?” Carla asked.

“Of course not.” Gina said. Gina and Carla were planning on spending the night at Carla’s house. Although boys would never make it past Gina’s parents, Carla’s parents were a little more progressive and the girls were anticipating such a visit from a couple of specific boys.

As Gina was walking out into the parking lot, she noticed a boy on crutches. He kind of looked familiar but Gina wasn’t sure if she had ever seen him before. Curiosity got the better of her and she went up to him.

“What happened to you?” She said nonchalantly.

“It was an accident, just messing around with the guys. It’s no biggie.” The unidentified male student said.

“It looks like it hurts a lot.” Gina offered.

“Yeah, it hurt likes hell, but it’ll heal.” The young man explained. For a moment, Gina remembered her dream but this time she kept it to herself. She didn’t want to come across like a crazy person.

“When did this accident happen?” Gina asked, trying to convince herself she wasn’t crazy.

“It happened during PE this afternoon. I’ll be alright. Just a minor setback is all.” The young man had a cheery disposition despite his apparent bad luck.

When Gina got home, she felt something in her pocket. It was some kind of note. She wasn’t quite sure how it got there but it was folded and written on the fold was instructions to give to a parent. Gina handed the paper to her mother.

Her mother opened up the paper and as she read, all color left her face.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Gina asked.

“Did anything strange happen today at school?” Her mother asked.

“Of course not.” Gina answered.

“Not according to this note. You spoke with the school counselor. You’ve been forgetting things and he thinks the reason why is because you are somehow cursed. He thinks there is someone who could help. ” Gina’s mom explains.

“That’s crazy. I haven’t been forgetting things.” Gina said lightheartedly.

“Yes, you have, and we’ve got to get to the bottom of it.” Gina’s mother insisted. “We’ll go see this person tomorrow.”