During the drive home, Sophie surreptitiously texted Chloe, asking her to come to her house. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t just tell the Heathers about her memory loss, but something told her not to. Heather M. would probably be annoyed, anyway, or tell her that she needed to start eating better or something.

When Sophie arrived back home, the first thing she did was check her notebook journal for any clues. She was unsurprised to find no clues. After all, she had only started keeping it. Chloe arrived shortly afterward and Sophie explained everything she knew about her memory loss.

“Wow, you’ve been keeping all of that to yourself?” Chloe asked, placing a hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “You must be worried sick.”

Sophie nodded. “The first time it happened I thought it was just because I had been drinking, but then it happened again and again.”

Chloe nodded. She looked at the receipt with its ominous message. “Do you have any idea where this came from?”

“That’s my handwriting, but I don’t remember writing it,” Sophie replied, shrugging.

Chloe held the receipt to close to her face, reading the small print outlining the store’s return policy. “It looks like it’s from the grocery store. Do you go there often?”

“Not really, unless I’m with my parents.” Suddenly a thought struck Sophie. “Hey, maybe my mom knows something about it.”

Energized, the pair made their way to the living room where they found Sophie’s mother.

“Hey you two,” her mother greeted.

“Hey, mom,” Sophie replied and held out the receipt. “Do you know anything about this?”

Sophie’s mom looked at the scrap carefully under the light. “Oh, I remember this. A few days ago I went to the grocery store and forgot to buy eggs. I asked you to pick some up on your way home after school and you wrote yourself a reminder on the receipt. Of course, you ended up forgetting them anyway. Did you find that in your bag?”

Sophie frowned. She had no memory of any of this.

“Yeah, it must have gotten torn, and when I found it I couldn’t remember what it was,” Sophie said. “Sorry about forgetting.”

“Don’t worry about it. I ended up having to pick up some noodles anyway.” She offered the receipt back. “Do you mind throwing this away for me?”

Sophie took the receipt. “Thanks, mom.”

Sophie and Chloe returned to Sophie’s room to discuss their discovery.

“So the note was just ‘REMEMBER EGGS’? That’s not very enlightening,” Sophie said.

“Maybe it isn’t connected to the missing memories at all,” Chloe replied.

Sophie thought about this for a moment. “It’s definitely from one of the missing periods, and the fact that it’s torn so that it just says ‘REMEMBER’ leads me to believe that it is connected. There’s no way it’s a coincidence.”

“But if you knew you were going to lose your memory, why’d you leave it in the Well instead of putting it somewhere you’d be sure to see it?” Chloe asked.

“Because I knew that if I saw it in the Well, I’d get the message. If I found it anywhere else I probably would have just seen it as a piece of an old reminder and not questioned it. But leaving it in the Well made it clear that it was a message to myself. Even though I would have known that meant risking not finding it at all. I must not have had time to add any details, though. Which sucks because I must have known what was causing my memory loss.”

“Well, it has to be the Heathers, right? They were around twice when it happened,” Chloe said, her voice tinged with anger.

Sophie shook her head. “They wouldn’t do that to me. Maybe I’ve been using my power too much. I remember I’d used it right before it happened the first time.”

Or maybe it has something to do with those strange animals she thought. She considered telling Chloe, but she remembered Heather M.’s warning about not telling others. Chloe probably already thought she was losing her mind with this whole memory loss thing. There was no need to start talking about invisible animals and make herself sound completely insane.

“But the note was in the Well,” Chloe argued. “That proves it was them.”

“That could mean a lot of things. Maybe it’s a side-effect of certain wishes. I completely changed my body. It’s not far-fetched to think that that could cause something like this.”

“You’re deluding yourself,” Chloe insisted. “I’m telling you, they can’t be trusted.

“They’re my friends. I trust them. They’ve done so much for me. And why would they erase my memory, anyway? Just for the fun of it?”

Chloe sighed. “Okay, you have a point there. I don’t really know why they would do something so comic-booky.”

Sophie smiled. “I know you’re just worried about me, but it’s not like I can just go up to my friends and accuse them of erasing my memory. Especially when I have no reason to mistrust them.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Maybe it is a side-effect of your powers or the Well. But how do we figure out which?”

Sophie held her head in her hands and sighed.  “I’m not sure.  We’ll just have to think of something, some way of testing it.  Maybe if I don’t use the Well for a while, it’ll go away?” 

Chloe wrapped her arm around Sophie’s shoulder and gently kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.  “I know this must be scary for you, but we’ll figure it out together, I promise.” 

Sophie raised her head and nodded, a look of grave concern still on her face.  “Thanks, Chloe.  That means a lot to me.”

At this moment, they heard the sound of footsteps as Sophie’s mom re-entered the room.  “Sorry, girls, I hate to ruin the moment, but I need to borrow Sophie for some errands,” her mother said cheerfully.

“Aww, Mom!” whined Sophie in a veritable archetype of an annoyed teen girl. 

“Hey, there’s ice cream in it for you,” she smiled. Sophie’s mood shifted immediately as a smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth. Her sweet tooth always had a way of making her more compliant.

“Well, that changes everything, Sophie,” Chloe said with a smirk, “I know where your true love lies.” 

Sophie couldn’t help but giggle. “I suppose you know me too well.”  

Before turning to leave, Chloe gently stroked Sophie’s chin.  “Hey.  We’ll get this fixed, OK? Just stay strong for me.”

Sophie blushed.  “I will, I promise.” 

Sophie and her mom waved Chloe off as they climbed into her compact and pulled out of the driveway heading towards town. 

“So what errands did you need help with, Mom?” Sophie asked as she began to fiddle with the radio station. Her mom had a thing for classic rock and Sophie couldn’t call herself a fan.

“Just a couple of overdue things like shopping and such,” her mom said softly as she looked ahead at the road.

“Oh, alright.” Sophie shrugged. She looked out the window as the town passed her by. She smiled as a portion of her reflection came into view in the car window. She could look out the window at a brand new computer being smashed to bits and still smile as long as part of her face stared back.  

“So,” her mom began, “how are you and Chloe?”

“Huh? We’re good. Sophie turned to her mom. “Why?”

“No reason, just wondering. You two have been friends for a while and taking such a big step in a new direction together can be scary and it can feel like things are changing faster than you’d like them to.”

“Er, yeah, I guess,” Sophie hesitantly agreed. “But I mean… we’re doing well. At least, I think we are.”

“And you haven’t felt pressured to do anything that you weren’t comfortable doing?” her mom continued.

“What? No, no. Chloe is really cool about everything. She wanted me to try wearing fewer heels lately I guess, and she doesn’t really like the Heathers but--”

Her mom raised her eyebrow. “I’m talking about sex, Sophia.”

“What?! We… I haven’t… what?” Sophie stammered.

“I know, I know. Talking to your mom about sex can feel really weird. Lord knows it did when my mom asked the same questions,” her mom said dryly.

“Mom, we haven’t had sex,” Sophie practically shouted. 

“Sophie…” her mother trailed off, clearly not believing her.

“I swear, god, I haven’t had sex, mom.“ Sophie pouted. Was this normal conversational fare between a mother and her daughter? Sophie furrowed her brow. With how awkward it was she sure hoped it wasn’t. She turned towards the window again in time to see Dastardly Dips pass by into the distance. “Mom, we just passed ice cream,” Sophie added.

“We’ll grab some later,” her mom stated as she pulled into the parking lot of a large brick building with several different businesses and offices located inside. Maybe it was all of the thinking she’d done about her memory lately, but immediately she recognized why this place was familiar.

Twin Oaks Women’s Care

“Mom isn’t this the place you go for your appointments with your--”

KA-THUNK

The locks on the door retreated down into the door frame. Panic began to swell in Sophie’s chest.

“We’ll get ice cream after the appointment I booked for you,” her mom said wearily.

“Mom, I already said we haven’t had sex before, you don’t need to have me examined or something,” Sophie pleaded.

Her mom frowned. “Sophie, I was only asking that both out of my concern for your safety and for the sexual history part of the patient forms. You’re a young woman now, and it’s about time that you have your first OB/GYN appointment.” Sophie whimpered in reply. Was this what Heather K. felt like all the time? “Don’t worry, it’s not so bad,” her mom added cheerfully.

 

* * *

 

As it turned out, it was in fact ‘so bad’. Reflecting on it later, Sophie had several important realizations during her first ob-gyn appointment:

First, whenever possible, she would seek care from a female ob-gyn rather than a male one — not out of any sense of reverse sexism or anything. It was just — it was too weird for a guy to be looking at her like that. To be probing her in that way. Her extreme discomfort must have been readily apparent as they thankfully brought in a female doctor partway through to continue the examination. Even still, it didn’t make the speculum any warmer to the touch.

Secondly, if the nurse offered you a pad afterwards, you took it; she now had a pair of shorts she would have to wash as soon as she got home, in hopes of keeping the bloodstains from setting in. When the nurse had mentioned a pap smear, she’d assumed that meant she’d be getting something smeared on, not scrapped off!

Third and finally, she was still struggling to process how much...volume she had internally. Some of that equipment should not have fit by any right!

Still, in a weird, strange way, she was thankful for the misery--it provided a distraction from her increasingly disconcerting memory lapses.  By the time she made it home from errands, still sore and a little cranky despite the promised ice cream, she found herself too tired to ponder the matter further. The next day, when it came time for Home-ec, Sophie headed to the classroom as usual and joined the Heathers in their corner. However, today, Heather M. looked her up and down with a doubtful frown on her face.

“I’ll tell you what, Sophie,” she said, “why don’t you take the day off? Go home early?”

Sophie gave her a confused look. They’d practically forced her to join them here originally. “You don’t want to hang out like usual?”

“The grown-ups have important stuff to talk about. You go have fun.” Heather gave her a dismissive wave.

Sophie picked up her purse and left the classroom feeling perplexed. There were so many secrets the Heathers kept from her. They just expected her to follow along with whatever they told her without question. Usually, she complied because they knew so much more than her about girl stuff and because she owed them so much, but for some reason today she felt like she couldn’t let it slide. Maybe it was just because there were so many mysteries in her life right now, her power, the mysterious animals, her memory loss, but she felt like she had to resolve something. To answer at least one mystery.

She remembered that the windows in the Home-ec room were cracked open. So she slipped through the hallways and outside, making her way to the other side of those windows. Staying low, she hid herself just below the window nearest the Heathers. She could barely hear them, but she just managed to make out what they were saying.

“I don’t know, I know she’s insufferable, but haven’t you done enough to Stephanie?” Heather S. was saying.

“No, I haven’t done enough to her,” Heather M. snapped. “I took away her family’s wealth, made everyone forget about her, stuck her working at that trashy diner just so that she could wait on me for shitty tips and somehow she’s still so sickeningly cheerful. I swear, she’s like a fucking Disney princess.”

“Oh! Oh!” Heather K. said eagerly. “I’ve got all kinds of ideas for--”

“Yes, I know, Heather.” Sophie could practically hear Heather M. roll her eyes. “You’ve got all kinds of horrible tortures in that twisted little mind of yours. The problem with you, Heather, is that you lack subtlety. You know how to cause someone pain, but you don’t know how to make it enjoyable to watch.”

Stephanie. That was the girl who had waited on Sophie on the night she had been transformed. The first thing the Heathers had done with her, after giving her the greatest gift she had ever received, was to parade her in front of someone they’d taken everything from? Suddenly fear gripped Sophie’s heart. What if they caught her out here right now? What would they do to her?

She crawled away from the window and away from the Home-ec room. She found an out-of-the-way spot to sit and try to process this. Part of her wanted to believe she had misunderstood. After all, it was hard to reconcile the cruel words she had just listened to with the girls who had treated her with such kindness. But, no, she told herself. She couldn’t deny what she had just heard. There was no greater context that could reframe words like “torture” and “pain.”

But if it was true, then that meant that the Heathers were not only extremely dangerous, but they had immense power over her in the form of the Well. If they wanted to, they could do anything to her. In her mind, she heard once again the thud of a sandbag landing next to her. The Heathers could be ruthless when they wanted to be. Sophie couldn’t handle this alone. She needed help.

Chloe would be in English class right now. Sophie made her way to the correct classroom and spent the rest of the period waiting outside the door. At one point, an administrator questioned why she was hanging out there, and she managed to convince him that she had a free period but that she had to wait for a friend who was her ride home.

When the class let out, Chloe grinned at first on seeing Sophie, but her grin quickly turned to concern when she saw Sophie’s worried face.

“Hey, Soph, is everything okay?”

Sophie pulled Chloe aside and in a flurry she explained what she had witnessed.

“Shit,” Chloe said, running a hand through her hair. “I figured they weren’t as nice as you thought, but I had no idea they were that messed up.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Sophie admitted. “If I try to pretend like everything is normal, they might figure out that I know and do something terrible to me.”

“In that case, the only thing to do is confront them.”

Sophie felt another stab of fear. “Confront them? But if I do that then they’ll definitely do something terrible to me.”

Chloe took Sophie’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You have to take control of the situation, otherwise they’ll be pushing you around forever. Look, the Well is all the way on the other side of town, they can’t do anything to you right now.”

Sophie took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re right. If I stand up to them now, maybe I can make them see that what they’re doing is wrong. I don’t think they’re really bad people. They just have so much power that they don’t realize how much they can hurt someone with it. Maybe just seeing that they’ve disappointed a friend will be enough to make them realize how wrong it is.”

Together, Sophie and Chloe marched back to the Home-ec room. Sophie felt her stomach twist in knots as she imagined how this conversation might go. Would the Heathers listen to her? Would she really be able to make them realize that what they were doing was wrong? They were her friends, they had to listen to her, right? But, so often it seemed like the Heathers just swept her up in their plans without even thinking to ask how she felt.

The pair arrived just as the Heathers were leaving. Heather M. frowned at Sophie.

“You look serious. Don’t be getting any frown lines in your makeup.”

Suddenly, Sophie felt the pinpricks on her neck. A thousand possible conversations flashed before her. Unexpectedly, they passed too fast for Sophie to pick up the individual paths. Perhaps her power had more difficulty with conversations. In the end, Sophie was left with no clarity, a lot of confusion, and one silent, haunting image.

Chloe, alone in the classroom, and herself nowhere in sight. 

Disoriented by the visions and uncertain of how to approach the issue, Sophie hesitated. Heather M. raised an eyebrow impatiently while she waited. Finally, Sophie found her voice. “I… I heard what you did to Stephanie.”

Heather S. groaned with frustration. “Seriously? Again?”

Heather M. crossed her arms and closed the distance between herself and Sophie, her eyes narrowed. “You know what? Fuck this. We’re not doing your shitty plan anymore, Heather. We’ve had to erase her memory, what, five or six times now? And now we have to erase her girlfriend’s memory too?”

Heather K. closed the door behind them. Heather M. continued to glare into Sophie’s eyes.

“It’s time for you, little girl, to learn. No more forgetting.”