Hypnotized

Dana opened her eyes. All she saw was some sort of grayish dust in the air and dark skies. Her hearing was gone, replacing it with a ringing in her ears.

A boy, looking roughly Dana’s age, was crouching down over her, staring at her, and looked like he was yelling something.

“Dana” was all she could make out through lip reading. This boy knew her. Why did Dana have no memory of him?

She tried to stand, realizing there was something that she was clutching in her hand, a necklace, a locket in the shape of a heart. Confused, Dana studied it, opening it. Inside was a picture of Dana and another girl, also roughly Dana’s age. She also did not recognize the girl.

The boy got in her face again, trying to talk to her, shaking her.

“I can’t hear you” She yelled back in his face. “Who even are you?”

The boy stumbled backward, looking astonished. He reached into his wallet and took out a picture of three people: Dana, this boy, and the girl in the picture in the locket.

So Dana was friends with both of them. What was going on?

The boy rolled his eyes and put the picture back in his wallet and into his pocket. Then he looked behind her, fear coming over his face. The ground shook. Dana turned to see what was happening. There were multiple buildings on fire, like an explosion just occurred. Well, probably two based on the ringing in her ears.

The boy grabbed Dana’s arms and draged her up so that she could run away from the catastrophe. He picked up speed, not realizing that Dana was limping behind him. Finally he turned around and saw her lagging way behind. He rolled his eyes again, but ran back to her to help the progress move along.

They went on like this for what seemed like hours, walking and limping in the direction of the sunset, away from the dust and fire.

Eventually the ringing started to die down and Dana could hear a bit better. It wasn’t perfect, as the ringing had not gone away completely, but it was a good start to potentially being to fully hear again.

The boy was muttering to himself. It sounded like he was complaining and was exceptionally livid.

“stupid… I told her not to… what did she think would… I cannot believe… we are never going to get anywhere at this rate…” was all Dana could pick up, but she had heard enough.

“Hey. Butthead.” Dana started, “I am starting to get my hearing back and I can hear some of the things you are saying. If you are not going to speak nicely or directly to me, why don’t you just shut your mouth? Okay?” Obviously, she was irritated now as well.

The boy just stared at her, still fuming, but silent.

After about another hour, the boy sat her down. “We’re obviously not going to get to the safe house before it gets dark.” He said, rolling his eyes again. “We might as well get comfortable and rest for the night.”

Dana looked around. “Here? Are you serious? We are out in the middle of open space! Didn’t you see those explosions? We are going to be found! What are you even thinking?” She was hungry and confused and tired and exasperated, but she knew that this was not the best they could do. There had to be another option. Had to.

The boy rolled his eyes again. “Do you really not remember anything? No one will be coming after us. They think I am dead and they took your memory so you aren’t a threat.” He looked away from her, and Dana could see that he was holding back tears. “Plus,” he said, clearing his throat, trying to hide the emotion, “there is no place else and it will be easier to get the supplies to at least start a fire before dark.”

Dana nodded, accepting this fate and the boy walked off to get some wood for a fire. Her stomach grumbled, but there would be no way to eat tonight.

When the boy came back and they were sitting around the fire, trying to get warmer in the darkening, windy air, Dana looked at him. He wasn’t unattractive. He had dark skin, dark hair, but bright green eyes. His clothes were just jeans and a black t-shirt, both raggedy, but that wasn’t a surprise based on what they just went through. There were also smudges on his face, which could be from either fire that they experienced. His face looked kind enough, though, even with all of the eye rolling and frustration radiating off of him. So she decided to be the first one to talk. The ringing in her ears had quieted a lot more and it seemed like the time to find out some answers.

“So,” Dana started, trying to sound casual. “Are we gonna talk about it?”

The boy looked at her, confusion overcoming the anger.

“You mentioned that they took my memory, and I still don’t even know your name.” Dana finished.

The boy rolled his eyes again.

Before he could respond, Dana spoke. “And if you could quit it with all that maddening eye rolling, that would be great too. Thanks.”

The boy actually laughed at this. “You did always hate when I did that. So at least you are still you.” He said, still chuckling. “My name is Seth. We are friends. And I guess to sum up some things: We are running from the people that took our friend. Her name is, I think she is still alive, Riley. They took her because she was learning too much about what our government is actually doing. There is a safe house close by housing a rebel group that we are a part of. They think I am dead because they bombed all of the safe houses that they know about, including my home. I do not know why they took your memory. I didn’t even know that they could do that. But obviously they took your memory so that you would no longer be a threat, or else they wouldn’t have done it.” He looked away from her and sighed. “I don’t know, Dana. After today, I am just trying to get back to the only people I have left and piece some things together so that we can try something new tomorrow.”

Dana stared at him. Seth and Riley. The two people in that picture he showed hdf and two names that meant absolutely nothing to her. Why had this happened?

They decided that it was time to sleep the day off, but it took Dana longer to fall asleep than she would have liked.

Seth woke up with the sun and woke Dana up as well. There was nothing left to do but get up and start walking again, but Dana felt sorer than yesterday. It was a very slow start, but at least Dana was excited to notice that the ringing was gone and her hearing was back.

They kept walking and walking, but finally when the sun seemed like it was at its highest and Dana was about to give up, Seth stopped and looked down. About 10 feet away from them was an old and rusty looking seller door.

Seth walked up to it and knocked in a long and funky way. The doors opened inwards, even though they looked like they should have opened outwards, and there was a steep flight of metal stairs, with a door at the bottom.

At this door there was a key code. Seth put the code in and this door opened as well. On the other side, there was what looked like a common room and three people standing there, staring at them.

Immediately, a woman a little older than Seth and Dana came over to them and wrapped Seth in a big hug. Then she did the same with Dana.

“We were so worried about you!” She sang. “I guess you weren’t able to get Riley back. Don’t worry. We will keep trying. She is one of us. We will never stop.” Then she noticed Dana’s confused look and made eye contact with Seth.

“They took her memory.” Seth explained. “How is that even possible? Dana, this is my Aunt Colleen.

Colleen just stared at them, not knowing what to say. Then, without warning, she shouted. “Mark! Come here! We need you!”

An older man barged into the common room, through a door that Dana didn’t even realize was there. He had dark hair and a beard, fear on his face. Once he realized there was no imminent danger, his expression turned to confusion and frustration, looking at Colleen.

“It happened again.” Colleen whispered, shock overcoming Seth.

“This has happened before?” Seth asked. “Why didn’t I know that they could do this? Why did you let us go there without all of the information?”

The man Colleen called Mark gestured for them to sit on the couch against the wall of the room, but they didn’t budge.

“It has only happened once before, that we know of.” He explained. “We were able to fix it. They seem to use some sort of hypnosis and a word to undo it. We did not tell you because you two ran off with only a note to let us know where you were. Plus it was new information and we didn’t need a lot of people to know.”

Seth and Dana still have not moved from the spot they were standing when they came in. “Please. Dana. I need at least you to sit so that I can help.” Dana obliged and sat down, Mark standing in front of her.

“Now, Dana,” Mark continued. “You remember nothing? At all?”

Dana shook her head, but then considered. “Well, actually, I know all of the basic stuff, like my name, and that I am 19, and that I grew up in South Oddicia, and that I had parents. I think I might remember my childhood, but the details are fuzzy. I don’t know where my parents are and I don’t know who you people are, and I definitely do not know what is going on or where I am.”

Mark considered this. “Okay. So, the exact same situation. I think they hypnotized you. I just need to find the right word to get the information back. ‘Adda’ worked before. Do not ask me how we got there.” He chuckled to himself and looked at Dana to see if it worked. It didn’t.

They spent the next hour talking about random things, saying random syllables, trying to find the correct word. Finally Seth was exasperated and said the longest word he knew, “pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism,” and somehow it worked.

Dana started. “Wait.” She said.

And suddenly it all came back to her.

The people around her, her best friends, Riley being taken, Seth and Dana going after her, Dana realizing that the mission was only meant for her or else Seth’s cover would be blown, Dana finding out that Riley had actually stabbed them in the back and was a double agent, Dana ripping the locket she gave to Riley off her neck, Dana getting strapped down and her memory being taken, the first bomb going off as she was leaving the building…

“You did it.” Dana said finally, “I remember. But okay, wow. We have so much work to do.”