Remember

My eyes fly open. There is a pounding in my head and the sterile lights above me are blinding, forcing me to squeeze my eyes shut, though the lights still penetrate my eyelids making everything burn. I turn my head away from the ceiling, towards the floor I am laying on. More sounds start to register in my ears. I hear shouting and a scraping, bending noise.

“Sal!”

A man’s voice. I recognize it but it’s like my mind is being suppressed and I can’t register who he is.

“Sal! Wake up!”

I force my eyes open and blink rapidly to adjust to the light. His figure is hazy above me and his hand is outstretched. I reach up and take it and he tugs me to my feet. The pounding continues from a door that is firmly shut and barricaded. My vision clears and the man holding me to him is a head taller than me and breathtakingly handsome. I tilt my head, long blonde hair falling into my eyes as his name suddenly comes to mind.

“Percival,” I say quietly.

He grins and lets out a relieved sigh. “I thought they hit you.”

“Who hit me?” I ask, confused. “With what?” I look around, realizing that I have no idea where I am.

Percival’s face drains of color. “They did hit you.” He completely deflates and lets me go. The sorrow in his eyes makes me feel guilty and I don’t even know why. The noise from the other side of the door pulls my attention in that direction. The metal door starts to bend and creak by whoever is trying to get through. 

Percival turns my face to his and meets my eyes. “Sal, listen. I need you to trust me, okay?”

Trust him? I know nothing. I can't even remember life before just now; it’s all a blur of memories that don’t fit together in my brain. How can I trust him when all I know is his name? He seems to know who I am but what is that supposed to mean for me? 

“Why are you calling me Sal?” I ask.

Percival’s voice shatters when he explains. “Your name is Salome, remember?”

“Okay. But I don’t know you.” A memory hits me with vehement clarity. “Only my family calls me Sal.” 

“But we’re…” He trails off and the pain in his words makes me feel sad too.

The door sounds like it’s about to give. I stare, hearing the yelling on the other side. Fear builds inside of me. 

“Come on,” Percival says, grabbing my arm. I run with him down the hallway and when we pass into a huge, empty room with windows, I stop. My eyes widen. We’re in space. How is this possible? I don’t remember getting on a spaceship. I don’t remember anything.

Percival stops and faces the door that we came through. He pulls out a gun that whirs from its holster at his hip. By some reflex, I do the same and hold my gun with perfect form. I must’ve done this before though I can’t be certain.

“Don’t give them a chance to hit you again. You remember how to fire that thing, right?” Percival asks.

“I…I don’t…I’ve never–” I start to panic when I hear a crashing sound, probably the door being broken from its hinges.

“Sal, you have. You can do it.”

My hands are trembling. I can hear footsteps pounding in our direction. When the first movement comes into view, I don’t wait for anything. I pull the trigger of my gun and the soldier falls to the metal floor, black smoke fizzling from his chest. 

“Come on!” Percival shouts. “More will come.”

I follow him numbly-howcouldihavejustdonethat-through more hallways and then he lunges to the right and shoves open a door. I run in after him and he slams the door and locks it. The room is small with medical supplies on shelves. Percival is breathing hard and staring at the ground.

“Percival–”

“Percy,” he says quietly. “That’s what you called me.”

“What? I don’t know what’s happening,” I say, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

Percival sighs heavily. “They shot you with their new weapon. It removes memories, targeting ones that have anything to do with this war.” His eyes meet mine and I can’t help but note again how incredibly gorgeous he is. “We’ve only known each other for as long as the war started. You’ve forgotten me.”

“. . . War?”

“Our Overseers and Higherups wanted too much. Experimentation went too far and the aggression trait they’ve acquired has made them…volatile. There was already enough tension with the lower class so it was easy enough to form an army to fight the Overseers. But they’re dangerous. This mission has already failed. We have to get out of here.”

“What mission?” I ask. Panic has been building in my chest since he began retelling what’s happened and now it’s pressing on my lungs, making breathing difficult.

“We were supposed to assassinate them but they spotted us.” Percy sighs. “This ship contains most of the Higherups and their loyal soldiers. We could’ve ended it all, right here.”

I don’t know why but a sense of loyalty to this mission, this cause, hits me harder than a landslide. I’m about to tell him that we can finish the mission when I notice Percival’s eyes. They gleam with tears and his chin wobbles.

“You don’t–don’t know me–a-and you have no–no idea–” He cuts off, unable to finish.

I feel sorry for him. How horrible it must be for him to know me when I only just met him minutes ago. I move closer to him and find myself reaching out and touching his cheek. 

“I wish I could remember.” My eyes blur with tears at the loss of my memories and his emotions are making me want to cry with him. “What were we?” I whisper.

Percy’s hand slides into mine. His free hand brushes the tears from my cheeks then cups under my chin. He leans forward and my stomach leaps. He’s going to kiss me and I don’t even know him. I take a step back.

Percy looks heartbroken. His hands float down to his sides and his eyes well with tears. “I’m sorry,” he says.

I look down. “It’s just that I’m confused and…” I’m not sure what to say.

Soldiers right outside the room talk about the low class scum and the street rats in the city center then they pass us by.

Percy looks at me, a new fire in his eyes. “We have to finish the mission.” 

I nod as firmly as I am able. My body trembles at the thought of having to fight those soldiers again. 

“I will protect you.” Percival says, sensing my fear.

I can’t answer but the way he looks at me takes my breath away. It’s like the way any girl would dream of, such love and adoration. Like I’m the most important thing in the world to him. And the look is familiar.

Percy turns back to the door and opens it a crack, looking out. Then he pulls it open farther and indicates that I need to follow. We silently walk down the halls and I scan up and down for any sign of the soldiers. 

The sound of energy building up comes from behind us. 

“Duck!” Percy yells. 

I twist around and Percival tackles me. We slam into the ground. Pain lances up my hip and shoulder and I’m half dazed when I hear the whir of Percival’s gun. He fires then everything goes quiet. We stand up and Percy looks me over. 

“Are you okay? Do you remember me?” His words are choked out.

“Percy.” I put my hand on his arm. “I remember.”

“Thank goodness.” He smiles a little and then continues forward. “Our best chance is to take them out from the cockpit.”

We sneak to the front of the ship and kill the soldiers that cross our path like the perfect deadly team and I find that my eyes keep straying to my companion. Something about him feels so familiar and real but I can’t place it in my memories. It’s tickling the back of my mind, a whisper that I can't hear. 

At the door of the cockpit Percy counts to three and we throw ourselves into the room, shooting everyone in sight. My brain shuts off and my body takes over while I’m horrified at the carnage and proud of myself for completing this odd sense of duty.

One of the soldiers slams Percy into a wall with inhuman strength. There are too many for us to fight off with guns. I look at a wire sticking out of the control panel and get an idea.

“Percy!” I scream. “Get behind me.” 

With my toned muscles, I aim at the wire and shoot. It explodes, throwing me backwards. The ship lurches to one side. The soldiers get caught up in the explosion and lay dying. A fire has broken out in the room and I know the ship will blow soon. 

I push myself to my feet, help Percy up, then we run for the escape pods. I jump into the circular pod with two benches across from each other and settle in while Percy closes the doors and detaches us from the main ship. He puts in coordinates then finally sits and lets his body relax. 

He looks at my face and tenses. “You’re bleeding.” Percy sits forward and brushes his fingers over my chin. When he pulls his hand back, blood is smeared over his fingers. “It’s not bad, it’ll be fine. We’ll have someone look at it when we get back to Base.”

“Base?” I ask.

“That’s where we report for missions.” Percy smiles. “You actually did it. Things are looking up for us now.”

“Oh.” I don’t know how I feel about that. I just want to go home but I don’t know where that is. “What now?”

He sighs. “I don’t know.” When Percy looks at me, his eyes are soft and that sadness has crept back into his expression.

A question burns on my tongue and though there’s no ring on my finger, I have to ask. “Are we married?” I ask softly.

Percy shakes his head. “No. But…” he hesitates and his words stick. “I was thinking about asking.”

“Oh.”

“This must be a nightmare for you,” he says. “You have no memories and you were thrown into this war while I’m making it more complicated. I’m really sorry, Sal.”

My heart melts at his sincere kindness. “You don’t have to apologize, it’s not your fault.” 

“I should’ve kept you safe. I could’ve done more.”

“I’m sure you did everything you could.”

Percy shrugs. His eyes go to his hands in his lap.

“We were close?”

“Very.”

I get up and sit next to him on his bench. “Who am I?”

Percy gazes at me. “You are the bravest girl I’ve ever known. You have so much compassion for others, that’s why you decided to join the war. It’s no wonder I fell in love with you.”

“You love me?” I ask, shocked. It’s hard to comprehend such a thing when I don’t know him anymore.

He nods. 

“Tell me something about us,” I say.

“Well.” He looks up to think. “We met during training.” Percy launches into a story and that turns into another one and another one. I start to understand who I was and how I fell for him before.

As he speaks, a feeling flutters into my stomach. He knows so much about me. That feeling grows as he talks and I don’t know how it is possible for me to recognize it but I do. I am being reminded of what’s happened through Percy’s stories. And now I am starting to remember how I felt; about him and about other things. My heart has memories too. Things are starting to come back to me and I don’t have the full truth, I’m not exactly myself yet but somehow, I think I still love him.