The Princess with No Memory

Meeting

Four days after receiving the news about my son and discovering I was now a grandmother. I was anxiously waiting on the living room, pacing back and forth for the next knock on the door, the visitors room had been rearranged and decorated to fit the likes of a 6 year old girl (I just hoped she would like it but if she didn't we could redecorate it with her according to her tastes).

Two days ago they had called me to say there had been a change on her state and she could now come and live with us straightaway rather than having her go to the hospital. The psychologist had advised to have the least amount of changes for her as that could have further impact on her frail mind, she had started talking answering yes or no, but not much more apart from that the only answers she could give were her name: Anya and her date of birth, which actually matched the one on the birth cert it had been found at the house.

"Anya, such a lovely name..." I whispered to no one and thought 'I failed my son, I should have known better than to challenge and try to avoid my visions and go against the prophecies, but I swear on the ancestors that I'll give my life in order to keep my granddaughter safe for as long as I can. I' ve paid the price now please let us live and make this child some good memories that she will be able to cherish'

Suddenly the knock we were waiting, James rushed from the garden where he was finishing setting up the swing set we had just gotten and I ran to the door.

When we opened the door Oficer Carter was there and by his side the most gorgeous little girl looking lost and afraid. She looked up and staring back at me where Thomas hazelnut eyes, I knew without a doubt that she was my blood.

I wanted to hug her but I was afraid of scaring her even more than she looked.

"Hi Anya, welcome home!" I said instead

"Please come in, Richard does she have any bags to bring inside?" said James.

"Yes, we were able to get her items from the house, luckily her room was completely untouched so we could release everything quickly as they won't be held as evidences."

"And good thing it was, as the little unicorn she is holding is the only thing that could settle her down when she started reacting to external stimulation." officer Carter added under his breath when walking past, so that Anya wouldn't hear.

"Come dear, I'll show you to your room, I hope you like it, but if you don't just let us know and we can change anything you want." I said stretching my hand out for her to hold. She looked at it for a few minutes unsure of what to do. Then she hold my pinky for me to lead the way, I felt the tiniest of the zaps running my body and felt her relax somehow.

I showed her the room we had prepared we kept the walls white with just some pink stencil flowers and some fairies sillouettes placed here and there, the bed was a tent styled one that she could close the drapes and pretend she was inside a castle, there was a huge plush bear sitting in a corner with a shelve full of fairytale books, a desk loaded with all types of craft materials and a trunk with some board games and other types of toys and plenty of room to fill with more as we learned about her tastes.

We hadn't been given any information of her preferences and apparently when asked she wouldn't know the answers either.

I kneeled next to her to be at her eye level "Hi Anya, I know I'm a stranger to you, but I want you to know that I already love you very much. You have the exact same eyes as your daddy and he was the most special boy in my life because he was my son. You don't need to be afraid as me and grandpa will be by your side always and if you need anything at all, even if it's just a hug. All you need to do is come to me, my sweetheart".

As she was saying this her little body started trembling and she threw herself at me for a tight hug and started crying. I let her cry for as long as she needed.

"Now do you want to help me figure out which are your favourite cookies? We need to bake a lot of different types to find if you are chocolate chip like grandpa, white chocolate like me or triple chocolate like your daddy what your age."I said when I felt her tears stopping.

She lifted her head at me questioningly, and i added" I need a little help chef and a taster to tell me which cookies are the best."

" I can do it" she said a bit shyly and the tiniest smile on her lips.

At that moment I felt I had conquered the world, as I knew I was getting a chance to be trusted by her, and I'd never break that.

I smiled to her gave her my hand for her to hold and took her to the kitchen where we spent the next hours just baking all types of cookies we could think of.

I let officer Carter to finish talking and setting everything up with James as at the moment Anya was the one who needed me the most.

The following months and years proved to be extremely challenged as she never got her memories back and she would have terrible nightmares that she couldn't remember. After 2 years we decided not to tell her the truth about what had happened to her parents when she started asking and instead tell her that there had been a car accident. It would be easier for her we believe and if she ever remembered anything of that night we could then tell her the facts that we knew.

Eventually we got the confirmation that the other body found was indeed Thomas, and so we held a small funeral for the couple to give all of us some closure when it was possible. They never found any leads on who did it or what was used and with the time we stopped asking afraid that any new finding might trigger a bad memory in our little angel.

When Summer arrived 6 months after her coming to our house a new family with a set of twins slightly younger moved to the neighbourhood and pretty soon the three of them were best friends. Life seemed to be back on his tracks and everything going well for Anya growing up, if it weren't for her nightmares.