บท 71: Amanda Collins

Life is strange.

But we already knew that.

I wouldn't even call it unpredictable. It was way more than that. Life has a remarkable way of shifting the ebb and flow of the everyday. Though us common folks - unpredictable was the only word for it. But was it really?

Cause and effect. That's the paper trail it leaves behind.

You know the cause, you'll find the effect. You can prepare, you can be ready, be always one step ahead of the curve.

Sadly, that curve ahead was a steep one… and I didn't brake in time, didn't prepare so now here I was, staring at the effect in its blonde hair, hazel-eyes complexion in the face - the twitching of her lips, the constant darting of her gaze.

Amanda was a rather nervous effect.

The question was - what caused her to be here?

Hello second horseman, go on and ask your question, fill the empty space where my jaw hangs loose.

"What are you - "

"I wanted to - "

Spoke at the same time. Stopped at the same time. Next thing you know, we'll be apologizing at the same time too.

"My bad."

"Sorry…"

Think maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

The huge intake of breath that streamed into my nostrils was filled with both amusement and bemusement. Then they both funneled out of me with my next set of words.

"Ladies first."

Thanks…" She smiled meekly. "Actually… yeah, that's what I came here to do.

"Which is to…?"

Amanda made eye-contact again, brief, fleeting… genuine, "Thank you."

"Oh." It was the most profound 'Oh' I ever had. Wasn't certain about it before, I was now. "That answered my question too, then. Didn't think… or hope more like, that you'd remember anything at all."

"I still do, sometimes… even when I don't want to," The wind blew along with her heavy breath. "Sleeping pills help, but then sometimes they don't… and then I'm back there in that building all over again."

Her expression went dark, and just for a second, through a simple glimpse, I found myself staring back again at a hollow shell, into vacant eyes, hearing empty moans.

I've also seen enough of that in my dreams already.

"Detective friend of mine mentioned to me that sometimes amnesia would be a side effect of…" I trailed away, shaking my head. "But it doesn't really matter now, does it? You're here now, you found me, and you know."

There was a look on her face that seemed almost apologetic, as if she was some kind of inconvenience to me.

"The doctors… the policeman… they asked a lot of things from us."

"What'd you say?"

She smiled, chuckling faintly as another gust of wind breezed past her long locks of hair. "They didn't believe the first guy… the second… not even the third. I decided that perhaps a simple 'I don't remember', would make the process much shorter when it came time for me. That, now that, they actually believed."

I smiled back at that. "Suspected as much."

"Strangely though, when I first woke up at the hospital, I found myself thanking so many people for saving me… everyone, except for my actual savior. He… how I looked for him, but he simply was nowhere to be found. Even bought a thank-you cake as soon as I was discharged, then I went to his apartment. No luck there, either."

"Don't suppose you still have that cake, do you?"

Amanda raised her empty hands forward, showcasing their empty-handedness by displaying how empty they were, and then drew them back, hanging her head in shame.

"It was a good cake."

"Evidently."

This was one of the most outlandish conversations I've ever had, which was a little ironic, given that I was talking to somebody that wasn't a mystical creature of myth for once.

A flesh and blood bonafide ordinary human being, like me… kinda… I think.

I think it has mostly to do with the fact that with the exception of Adalia, I like to pretend, at least in my waking hours, that that whole entire fiasco didn't happen. That it was simply an isolated incident with no recurring repercussion.

Of course, Ash was also an exception… Ria was too - okay I just want to believe that apart from a few unavoidable ripple effects from that waking nightmare, that nothing else would come out of it. Nothing new to crop out.

Then all of the sudden, here waltzed in Amanda - a living, breathing relic of that incident, and suddenly I'm reliving it again, I couldn't play pretend any longer.

It all felt very…

"It all feels a bit strange… talking to you," Amanda remarked. "Do you get that same feeling too?"

That's third time in sync. She psychic?

"Then again, I suppose not," She spoke again before I could. "When I saw you - smelled a funny smell in town back then… I saw them too. If you're with them, by now, I'm sure nothing fazes you, right?"

Bold assumption. Maybe if I was somebody else that assumption would actually be the truth. But since I'm not, that assumption will remain only an assumption.

Them, huh? Ria and Adalia. The flaming chicken and one of her abductors. I could only imagine how she reacted seeing them again, wandering and roaming about the city streets with not a care in the world. Then also seeing me sandwiched between them?

Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't come up to me right then and there. I would have.

"They… I…"

There were so many things I needed to say, and it was frustrating that I couldn't say them all at once. I took in a breath and reshuffled them into a nice straight line, starting first with:

"You're not going to tell anyone about them, are you?"

Amanda shook her head immediately. "No, no, I would never. I didn't come here for that. I didn't follow you here to confirm that what I saw wasn't a dream. I already knew it wasn't a dream. I just… mmm, I told you already - I wanted to simply thank you… for saving me. That's it."

"I… I see…"

So much sincerity and appreciation. The last time I've had so much of it directed was with Ash, before… well before everything happened. I wasn't used to being thanked and I don't even think I should be. I was a small role in a part played by forces vastly bigger than I. It's them that needed thanking not me.

"I guess, you're welcome," I gave a weak smile. "But really, me being there was just… being at the wrong place at the wrong time, I suppose."

Amanda shook her head again, muttering softly, "Not to me."

So far everything that came out of my mouth has been rigid, whereas she was more along the lines of being anxious if anything. Don't suppose I can blame her for it, though.

"Is that really all you came here for?" I asked. "If I was the one standing there and you sitting here, I'd never be able to close my mouth again from all the questions that'll be coming out of me."

She shuffled in place, an arm over the other. "I ask myself questions a lot these past couple of days. Never really found my answer."

Guess nightmares weren't the only things we had in common from that incident.

"I'd asked but… mmm, I don't think you'd know the answers to them either."

"Probably know a lot more than you do though," I rebutted. "Considering circumstances. Plus, you kinda have the right to know, don't you? You aren't gonna walk outta here even more empty-handed than you are now, that'll just be pointless."

"Not really," She said brightly. "My savior's been thanked, got to see him again too… not in the way I thought I would, cakeless, but… ahh, maybe next time… if there is... a next time?"

I frowned. "Why wouldn't there be?"

"Oh, oh, it's nothing. I just not sure how things will turn out… if I see, uh… her again."

"Adalia."

"Her." Amanda nodded.

Reassurance wasn't probably the thing she needed. Can't tell her that Adalia wasn't actually all that bad, that she was surprisingly pretty nice once you to get to know her. Amanda probably knew all that already, logically speaking.

But fear simply wasn't all that logical. Fear just feared… and that I can wholeheartedly empathize with.

"Yeah, I hear you," I told her. "That's still beside the point though. You sure you got no questions you want to throw at me at all?"

Amana mulled it over for a moment. A moment where her lips tightened and her eyebrows went furrowing downwards. Finally, she exhaled a breath.

"Maybe, maybe just one," She said, as another chilly current drifted her question hurling towards me. "What are Asterians doing here on Earth?"

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