Irium 81 A Game Of Words Part 2

"… Yato-"

"Don't you dare lie to me again!" Even though she says so with a smile, I can feel the coldness in her voice.

So, having no choice, I say, "Secret!"

"Secret was the first word that came to your mind?" I nod. "Why? G.o.d and secret; any connection between the two?"

"I … I don't know." I really don't know. It just came to mind.

"Okay, let's move on." She says. To be honest, this game is starting to become a little uncomfortable for me now. "Secret?"

"Memory" I answer, again not knowing why this was the first thing that popped to my mind.

"Memory?"

"… … …"

"What's wrong? Id didn't come to mind this time?" She says with a mocking smile.

"It did. And the word that came to mind after it was 'erased'. Then, 'invasion'." There is probably a lot of confusion on my face right now.

"Memory erased? Id Invasion? Hmm … interesting!" She remarks and continues the game, "You?"

"Me." Nothing else came to mind this time. And seeing that, Priscina smiles.

"Me?"

"Disappearance" Once again, I don't know what my mind is thinking.

"Jason?"

"Brother."

"Kylie?"

"Sister."

Her smile grows wider and brighter, which kinda makes me happy. But, I have no idea what is going on and why I am giving answers I clearly don't think make any sense.

"Kaylith?" –is her next word. It seems like she is just repeating all the words from the start at this point.

"Father." And, guess what? That is the word that comes to my mind.

"Mage-craft?" She continues, with a smile growing wider.

"Zero capability." I say. Well, I may have zero capability for it but I don't know – I would still put it in the list of answers I don't know why I am giving. The list, by the way, is quite long by now.

"Glice?" She continues, knowing how uncomfortable I am getting with this game of hers

"Family." I say.

"Lucifer?"

"Challenge."

Challenge of what? I am asking my own mind questions like that at this point in time.

"Aknin Vielos?"

Want to say 'b.i.t.c.h' again but what comes to mind is, "Defeat."

"Roswaisa?"

"Wife."

That … is quite embarra.s.sing to be honest. Priscina tries to hold in her laughter and goes on to the next – the last one she has to repeat, "G.o.d?"

"…"

It … just doesn't make any sense.

"Come on! Does nothing come to mind?" She asks, looking a bit worried.

"It does." I say, "Lie."

"Alright then," With a single jump, Priscina is back in the place she first appeared to me on, which was a good 20 feet away. "You have successfully finished the game."

"And I have been left more confused about everything than I was before." I say with irritation.

"I know, I know. I wish I could clear your confusion Irium, but I can't." She looks actually troubled and sorry that she can't help me, "I'll just have to leave figuring things out to you. But don't worry, just remember to follow your conscience even if it seems to be making confusing decisions and you'll be fine."

As soon as she says that, she disappears.

"Wait! What the h.e.l.l!" I say, "Where … where did you go?"

I turn around and look at the back and then turn around again and again and again. I can't see her anywhere though.

"Priscina!" I yell her name. No response.

"Grimma!" I yell her human name. Still, no response.

"Sis!" I yell a t.i.tle I have the right to call her by. And still, no response.

"No … way!" I fall to my knees. "This isn't fair. You can't just leave like that. You have to … have to … have … to …"

I can't think straight. I can't speak straight. There is a tank full of sadness in my heart that is seeping out, making me want to cry over the disappearing of a person I had met a few minutes ago.

I see. So that's how it is. All those thoughts; all these emotions; they were inside me the whole time, locked away. But now, even though my memories aren't back, I feel those emotions and thoughts related to those memories come to mind. There must have been a trigger somewhere that she pulled during our game that is making this change.

That … was probably her intention all along. But, now what? I am in a bind. I know nothing of what I have to do now.

I am left in … darkness.

"AH!!!" I exclaim involuntarily.

Left in darkness? The mirrors? The room is full of the mirrors. The light in the room is barely anything but because of the mirrors, it becomes something. And the room is brighter than it actually should be. If that is the case then, could there be a clue in these mirrors that are kept in this room. I feel like that's true. And she said to follow my conscience so … so, let's give it a shot.

I stand up and look back at the mirrors in the room.

As I do so, I see a 4-year-old boy instead of me ... and he looks sad.

I turn to look at another mirror. It shows the same boy ... but he is smiling.

And, for whatever reason, my vision gets blurry and a cold liquid drop starts flowing down from my eyes and from my cheeks.

"They adopted us."

Roswaisa mentioned this before but … but I actually remember now. They adopted us.

In that orphanage, I remember that all those times Grimma and Jason made sure that neither I nor Kylie had shortage of anything. And I remember all those times they were scolded, teased and beaten down for it by others, for the envy on the fact that others didn't have anyone to do the same for them.

Kylie or Jason would always cover my eyes and my ears but I remember that Grimma was always called by girls who looked angrily and enviously at her. I also remember every time she would come back a bit bruised.

I remember every time someone would hit on Grimma, she would not respond. She would just take it. And Jason and Kylie, no matter how angry they would become, would not do anything either. She had probably told them not to, because the ones. .h.i.tting on her were always in groups and could have hurt us all easily if they wanted to.

I remember the one time we tried complaining about all that to the sisters and when they asked if something like that had happened, every orphan who had seen it happen stayed silent or denied it, turning us into the villains and making Grimma and Jason apologize to everyone, humiliating them even though they had done nothing.

I remember those things and much, much more now. Kaylith … Glice … that man we were referring to as the doctor, he and his wife adopted us and they saved our lives by doing just that much. But that wasn't all that they did. They didn't just adopt us. They gave us all the luxuries in the world, all the love in the world, everything we could have ever wanted.

I can feel all of those memories being a part of me again when I looked into the mirror just now. And I … feel grat.i.tude.

*****