Remembering Family Secrets.

Every time my memory is sparked and I remember something, a panic attack will probably occur, unless I am asleep. This is what the doctor said, along with the obvious fact that all my memories wouldn’t return at once, but in little bits and pieces.

I’m not sure I want to remember everything in Amelia’s memories.

I pushed the humungous black sunglasses farther up my nose. Travelling back to Amelia’s family house was something that needed to be kept low profile, both for the safety of my life, and my reputation. Seeing a journalist or paparazzi would be deadly.

I would know, since I had kept my eyes peeled most of my life for a glimpse of a celebrity and a chance of gossip…

That life seemed so far away now.

The car stopped in front of a modest bungalow. My heart rate was above the usual average since I didn’t even have a vague idea of how I would be treated. According to Manager Oh, Amelia’s mother and sister had both been informed of the poisoning and attempted murder, but no reply came from them.

So yeah, I’m assuming Amelia has a terrible relationship with her family. Yet another mess and puzzle she has left for me to clean up and solve.

I released a shaky breath and got out of the car.

Since the plan was to stay low profile, Manager Oh had insisted that I take only Woo Bin with me for the duration of the three weeks, and in case of any emergency, there would be back-up ready to step in and help.

Woo Bin closed the trunk with a thud, and struggled to balance the bags he retrieved from the compartment. “Home sweet home…” He said to me with a smile.

I smiled back. In a regular blue polo shirt and jeans, he looked more like a final year college student than an actual bodyguard. Just deflate the muscles a little bit, and add to the IQ; then you’ll have an aspiring science student.

Home sweet home…

Not for him, and definitely not for me.

I walked up to the front door, and rang the doorbell. A split second later, a teenage girl swung the door open, and stared at me wide-eyed.

Immediately I laid eyes on her, my instincts told me she was Amelia’s little sister. The long black hair, bulgy eyes, and plump lips were almost too identical to be missed.

“Hi.” I said awkwardly.

“Do you really not remember?” She asked, barely above a whisper, her eyes not leaving mine.

“I don’t…”

“Not even my name?”

The hurt in her innocent voice broke a piece of my heart, and I felt the sudden urge to drag her into an embrace and apologize for not being her real sister. For not having the courage to tell her, or anyone else the truth even if they won’t believe me, for infiltrating her family in a cowardice effort to hold on to the second chance I was given, for being an imposter…

“I’ll remember everything in no time, Mira.” I replied, mustering up all of my courage to form a smile that might seem reassuring.

She looked so much older than I had seen her in the pictures I was shown during therapy. Despite the slight appearance of a hunchback due to bad posture, her height still reached up almost to my shoulders.

Sixteen…

Her seventeenth birthday will be in late August.

“Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes forgetting is a mercy…”

I blinked at her.

“What?”

“Mira? Mira who’s there by the door…”

Amelia’s mother trailed off at the sight of me. Her once calm features instantly changed into a stone-cold, unmoving gaze. “What brings you here?” She asked emotionlessly, taking Mira by the arm and pulling her behind, as if she was shielding her from a monster.

“The doctors said…” I began, unsure of what to say, but wanting to say something to fill the dreadful silence.

She cut me off. “Oh, I know what the doctors said. Is it not enough that you’ve stripped this family of the only dignity it had left? Must you come back into our lives with lies and deceit in asking for sympathy you don’t deserve? Must you… oh Amelia, must you poison my daughter’s mind?”

Mrs. Gwon was now full on sobbing, her face dissolving into a look of hate and disgust.

I stayed rooted in place, my heart hammering against my ribcage.

“Mom, I think she really is…” Mira started.

“Silence…” Mrs. Gwon replied authoritatively, effectively making her daughter zip up and gulp down whatever she was about to say.

“Mrs. Gwon, Miss Amelia needs your help. Everything Manager Oh told you is true, unlike the last time. She was poisoned, got in an accident, and lost some of her memories.” Woo Bin ensured in a squeaky and small voice.

What does he mean by ‘the last time?’ what happened?

“She might as well have died, and atoned for her sins against her own father…”

The next thing I know, my body had hit the floor, and everything else turned black.

.

{FOUR YEARS AGO}:

The moon shone bright and full, like it usually does on Halloween night. Maybe it had been the fog, or the promise of the sublime and unearthly gracing reality that unsettled Amelia to the bones. But either way, she found herself jittery, and unable to sit still.

The bunny costume lay on her bed in perfect condition, but disregarded.

What was the use? She had no one to spend Halloween night with, and nowhere interesting to go. Her mother and sister were spending the week in Canada, and her father; almost always too busy to spend quality time with any of them, was away on a business trip.

She was the only one in their family house in Seoul.

“I hate this…” she murmured to herself, getting off the chair she had sat on only a minute ago to pace the length of her room back and forth. “And I’m too agitated to go to sleep. God, Halloween sucks!”

Knock.

It was only one knock. One unsettlingly loud knock…

It must be Oliver here to apologize; Amelia thought to herself. Why then did he knock instead of using the doorbell? “What an idiot…” Amelia whispered with an eye roll. Nevertheless, she smoothed down her hair, added a coat of gloss over her lips and stomped downstairs, already imagining how she would first pretend to not accept his apology, before agreeing to reconcile with him.

Without even checking through the peephole, she unlocked the door and swung it open.

“You’re not Oliver.” She said with disappointment, but her curiosity had been piqued by the peculiar stranger, dressed up in a costume that resembled the grim reaper.

“Trick or treat…” The stranger said, his voice muffled and obstructed by the ghoulish mask he wore to complete the costume.

“I don’t have any candies. And you’re not a child, why are you trick or treating?” Amelia deadpanned, with one hand on her hip, and one eyebrow raised in question.

“Trick then…”

A wickedly sharp knife glinted in the moonlight, and Amelia’s blood-curdling scream pierced the still night air. She tried to slam the door shut, but between panic and malicious intent, the man dressed as the grim reaper got in, and Amelia’s personal night of horror began.

.

{PRESENT DAY}:

Waking up was getting kind of boring.

I scanned the room, and appallingly recognized it as the same room from Amelia’s memory that Halloween night. But what did it all mean? Why did I remember that now?

“Oh, you’re awake.” Mira noticed with surprise as she entered the room with a silver tray containing a bowl of chicken noodles and a glass of water.

“Mira, where’s… mother?”

The word tasted sour and uncomfortable in my mouth, given what had happened and the fact that I never got the opportunity to call someone by that title.

“In her study… you can stay, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She assured with a small unsure smile, and carefully placed the tray on the edge of the bed.

I wriggled my lower body and got up into a sitting position, chewing down on my bottom lip to distract myself from the atrocious headache making my vision slightly blurred.

“Mira, what happened to… father? How did he die?”

The glass cup in her hand slipped, and fell to the marbled floor, shattering to pieces. The water it contained pooled around her feet. She didn’t even flinch, or waver with eye contact, and the only tell-tale sign that she was shaken was the blood that drained from her face.

“Sister, if the universe doesn’t want you to remember, please don’t try to… he died of a heart attack. That’s what the newspapers say, and what it should stay like.”

Well, what a wonderful way to make me awfully curious about the truth of what really happened to Amelia’s father.