Remembering What Happened

They stop in front of a building with a sign reading: 'BOOKSHOP' and are about to enter it when I shout.

"Hey, Drew!"

He turns, and for a moment he seems really shocked, then a wide smile covers his face."Hey, Ian!" he says as he waves a bit.

I stop in front of him."What's up!"

I can finally see the faces of his friends. The two boys are twins, one blonde and the other a redhead, both wear blank expressions on their faces, just like the girl beside them, who is also a redhead. She pays no attention to me, instead choosing to stare at my feet. I have to resist the urge to check if there's anything wrong with my feet. The last girl can only be defined by one word. Stunning. Even Cassandra can't compare to her. Some part of me begins to wonder where Drew found her. She is wearing a smile that lights up her face but her eyes have a confused look as she looks at me.

"I didn't know you liked reading." I look pointedly at the building's sign.

He glances at the sign and chuckles awkwardly."I'm not the one… well… Lathia is the one who dragged us here. She saw some book that she wants to buy."

"Lathia?" I ask wondering which of the two girls is Lathia.

"Oh um...guys, this is Ian. He's a friend of mine in school. Ian these are David, Daniel, Emma, and Lathia." he motions to the twins, the redhead girl and the beautiful one respectively.

"'Hey," I say, nodding at his friends. My eyes stray to Lathia as I speak. I have this strange feeling that I have met her before, but I cannot remember meeting her.

"I feel like I've met you before," I say to her.

She raises an eyebrow."Really? That's new."

It takes me a moment to realize what she means. She thinks I am hitting on her. She is beautiful so guys probably try to flirt with her if they get the chance, but that's not what I was trying to do. My face heats up with embarrassment.

Drew elbows her stomach."Stop teasing him."

She laughs as she tries to dodge and fails. I realize she was just playing with me and calm down a bit. As I look at the rest of the group I realize something, the feeling isn't just restricted to Lathia. I feel like I have met all of them before. But where?

I hear some sounds in my mind and voices, and try to grab the memory, but no matter how hard I try it stays out of my reach.

"What?" the blonde twin, David, asks as I unknowingly stare at his face, "Haven't seen a handsome guy before?"

It would have been funny, if not for the bland way he said it which made it sound condescending instead. But his voice, the first word he said sparked my memory, and I remember.

I take a step backward, my eyes wide with shock as I stare at them."You," I say to no one in particular, "I remember… that night… you all..."

The redhead girl suddenly looks up at me, surprise written all over her face.

All of a sudden, an indescribable weight hits my mind, forcing me to my knees. I forget everything that I am and have ever known and at that moment I am nothing more than an overgrown vegetable.

Suddenly I hear a voice."Daniel, what on earth are you doing, stop that!"

The force lifts and I am back to myself. Fear grips my heart, and an irrational thought takes over my mind: they want to kill me.

I get up and begin to run. More than a few curious people look my way, but I ignore them all. I have just one thought, run away, and am spurred by the memory of forgetting everything about myself.

As I am about to take a corner, another thought enters my panicking mind: what if they are following me?

I turn around and the last thing I see of them is Drew standing with his hand on Daniel's chest, none of them moving as they watch me run away with weird expressions on their faces.

I do not stop running until I get home. I unlock the front door and run to my room, locking the door behind me before collapsing on my bed. I stay still on my bed, my mind blank, as I stare at my ceiling. I lay there until fatigue overwhelms me and I fall into a deep sleep.

As I sleep, something in my mind unlocks and the memories I had lost come pouring back in. Drew and his friends, the Minotaur that seemed intent on attacking me, and also how I actually got my injuries.

Once free of whatever was holding back my memories, I plunge into an even deeper sleep.

* * * * * *

My eyes snap open as I wince, reacting to a pain that I expected to feel, but which is not there. I let out a deep breath as I realize everything I had just experienced as I slept was a dream. No, not just a dream. A memory, the memory of what happened that night.

Then in a rush, I remember all that happened to me today. At that moment, a melancholic feeling fills me as I realize that my life will never be the same again. Everything I thought I knew about the world suddenly seems insignificant compared to what I know now. Magic is real, and Drew has it. I compare the Drew I thought I knew to the one I know now and wonder if I ever really knew him.

I turn my head and notice it's dark outside. I had slept for a long time. I am more relaxed than before though, at least I have enough presence of mind to know that Drew and his friends did not want to hurt me. Or at least I don't think so.

A craving for fresh air suddenly hits me hard, the air in the room becoming stuffy and difficult for me to breathe. I get up from my bed and go and open the window. I close my eyes as I enjoy the feel of the cool air against my clammy skin. What am I going to do now? Or more importantly, what will Drew and his friends do now?

The memory of that agonizing pressure on my mind comes back. I remember how helpless I felt at that moment, how I couldn't even remember my own name. Drew, shouting for him to stop.

I shake my head to clear my head of that memory. At least I now know why I could not remember what happened that night. They must have wiped and replaced my memory.

No wonder the police couldn't figure out how I got hurt. I don't think they factored in people and monsters that can use magic. But now I know. The memory of me flying through the air comes back and the back of my head tingles. I don't think I can handle remembering that now.

I open my eyes to see the surprising sight of someone looking up at me. My neighbor, the one Emily said is never home but coincidentally always appears wherever I am. He is stalking me, I know it.

I am about to step back from the window when he motions for me to wait before promptly disappearing.