Lost and Found

Six

As Vicky’s body began to calm down, Tessa’s began to ramp up. While Bre immediately gathered gauze to start bandaging the woman’s body, Zane and Leo jumped into action to keep her body from thrashing about. The situation was quickly turning into chaos. Vicky was now in a trance-like stance, mumbling words in a foreign language, her closed eyes darting back and forth as if searching for something frantically. The ritual seemed to crescendo when Vicky raised her hands up, where a mist coalesced up in the air above the woman's body to create a picture. Tessa’s memories.

At first, it looked to be a dark hallway flickering in and out of view. Vicky shook her head, and the picture changed to be of other women's faces. They were tear-stained and grimy. Vicky shook her head again, forcing the picture to continue shifting into a dark room. A large man stood above, bringing a whip down again and again. Welts formed on Tessa’s body, and she cried out. Vicky let out a frustrated sigh. The picture then transformed into a bright, sunny day with a view of a lake. It was quiet and calm, unlike anything else they’d seen so far. An older woman came into view with kind eyes and a warm smile, sitting down. There was no sound, but it seemed like they were talking and laughing. Then, everything went dark. The next memory flickered into a view of metal bars surrounding her.

Tessa broke out into a cold sweat, her heart beating wildly on the monitor. Bre cursed as she fumbled to grab a syringe and inject it into the woman’s arm. Tessa’s heart began to slow, but there was an overwhelming feeling of dread that filled the room. In the picture, a different man came into view. There was a dark intent in his eyes. He wore an expensive suit and had a sickening grin as he gazed down at her. He walked into the cage and caressed her cheek. She tried to crawl away, but he grabbed her throat. Claw marks appeared on her neck, blood trickling down. Bre was quick to bandage it.

The man’s mouth moved, as if talking, and then his shoulders were shaking. He was laughing at her, a malice in his eyes that showed that he would enjoy hurting her.

Before Zane could stop him, Dem roared out in anger at seeing the memories play out. Zane was in partial agreement that they should stop the memory block removal process. It was too much to witness, let alone experience.

“Maybe we should–” he began, but as the next memory flashed into the mist, he stopped.

There was Lara’s face. Though it was obvious that she had been crying, Lara was attempting to smile at the woman. Lara was speaking, and he could hear her cheery voice in his mind telling this woman that everything would be alright. Zane’s resolve broke. He was glued to the memory, absorbing every detail. She didn’t look hurt, but she did look like she’d lost weight. Her t-shirt was baggy on her body. Lara’s mouth opened wide, and her eyes closed as she threw her head back. Zane heard her laugh in his head. It was infectious. Tears threatened to slide down his cheeks. How he yearned to hear his sister’s laugh again. To see her smile.

The memory faded out, and the next one had Lara in it as well. This time, she wasn’t smiling. She had a glassy look in her eyes, disconnected, drugged. She stumbled. The woman ran up to catch her, holding Lara in her arms. Tears dropped onto Lara’s cheeks, and she was hugged closely. Through Tessa’s eyes, everyone saw the clear needle marks at the injection sites in her arms. The scene faded out as Tessa rocked Lara back and forth.

Before the next memory could even form, Tessa let out a blood-curdling scream. Her stomach sliced open with clean, precise cuts. In the new memory, she saw herself strapped down by her wrists and ankles in a mirror as she looked up at the ceiling. Someone stood over her, holding a scalpel in hand. The face was covered by a hospital mask, and the person wore glasses. Tessa's body writhed in pain, and the person looked annoyed and frustrated with her.

“s**t. This is bad,” Bre said, shaking her head. The doctor was scrambling to attend to the new, deep wound on Tessa’s body. “Just how much has this poor woman gone through?”

Leo also shook his head, his face looked pained. “Shouldn’t we stop? Though, thankfully, it seems like her body is regenerating like ours. So, maybe she is a wolf, too?”

True to Leo’s words, the three had witnessed Tessa’s body heal itself as theirs did when wounded, though it was a slower process than they were used to seeing or experiencing. The bleeding from her stomach was already beginning to lessen, which was a good sign. However, none of the memories had shown her wolf or anything other than being a human.

“I–I know we should stop this. But, I need to see Lara again. I need to know if this woman saw what happened to her. That last memory…”

“Alpha,” Bre whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’re here for you, but pushing this woman to her brink just to satisfy your curiosity isn’t the answer.”

“Just one more memory. Please. Let me see her face once more. Vicky,” Zane pleaded, turning towards the witch.

Vicky was sweating, her forehead slick. She nodded, indicating that she had heard Zane’s request. “Only… one more. I… can’t keep this up… much longer. Block is almost… broken.”

“Thank you, Vicky. Thank you,” Zane replied, optimistically turning towards the misty pictures once again.

The mist was black for a moment as Vicky searched Tessa’s memory for not only the last sighting of Lara, but also to completely remove the block from her mind. The witch had gone through many people’s minds in the past. It was something she did rather frequently, since she advertised herself as doing such for a fee. Customers wanted to know whether they were right in the argument, or whether they really forgot to turn off the oven after leaving the house. Some longed to see the face of someone who passed. She accepted any and all requests if the price was right, but she couldn’t help but struggle through Tessa’s memories. Never before had she seen such horrors enacted on another before to such extent. The memories shown were appalling enough, but there were ones not even she could stomach nor bare to show. Vicky didn’t have the heart to expose certain atrocities without the woman’s permission.

Finally, she was able to locate the last imagery of Lara, and projected it into the mist for the others to view. The scene began by showing a huge warehouse with fencing all around. From their point of view, they could see Tessa’s fingers gripping the metal fence, staring out at the sea of different fenced-off areas full of people and creatures. She turned, Lara standing next to her, looking worse for wear. Her clothes were unmistakably stained with blood, had large holes in both the shirt and cargo pants, and were several sizes too big. Her hair was ratted and shoved into a bun, but even with dried blood on the left side of her face, her eyes looked clearer than in the previous memory.

She waved Tessa over, who followed her directions. They, along with the other women in their particular pen, crouched down as the gate opened. A grimy looking man entered, waving a baton around wildly. He whacked a few of the others, turning his back towards them. They saw Lara nod from the corner of Tessa’s view, and then, they pounced on him, tackling him to the ground. The others joined in, removing his baton and keys. They smacked his head and kicked his stomach and legs until the man’s eyes closed.

Turning towards the door, they all rushed at it. Freedom was at their fingertips. Tessa grabbed Lara’s hand, pulling her through the door, after everyone else had been safely evacuated out of the pen. They ran to a door in the corner, using the keys to unlock it. The door revealed a hallway. Tessa watched as the others ran down. She turned her head back and saw Lara being beaten by a different guard. She ran back, punching him in the face. Tessa went to throw another punch, but the man caught it. She was thrown to the ground. She looked up and seemed to say something to Lara because Lara shook her head furiously.

Tessa’s head was abruptly lifted, and she watched Lara finally turn and run down the hallway, to where an opened door stood ajar, revealing a blue sky and a parking lot. Her face was smashed into the concrete floor: Once, twice, and then the memory mist turned black.

Vicky shouted something before grabbing one of the satchels she had placed on the table beside the hospital bed. She dumped the contents into her hands and then flung it into the air. A loud popping noise sounded alongside a flash of blinding light. As everyone’s eyes readjusted to the room, they looked down at the hospital bed, and instead of Tessa, they found a black house cat lying in the bed, covered by a hospital gown.