I left work three minutes later than I should have. The person I was watching to get the signal of when to leave went a bit over time. He was working rather slowly, so I should have focused on someone else anyway.

As I walked out of the factory, I gave Kristin a call. Putting my wristband to my ear, I waited as the line rang. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, Fae,” she shouted. There was music pumping in the background, almost loud enough for me to feel the reverberations of the bass through the line. “What’s up? You don’t call often.”

“Something came. I can’t come by today,” I said. A twinge of regret poked my stomach. “It’s really important, I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” I sighed to myself as I heard the disappointment in that one sound. “I mean, that’s fine. Things happen, you know?”

She tried to mask her feelings with that cheerful persona of hers. I knew her too well for that to work. 

“Will you drop by tomorrow?”

“Depending on whether or not this matter gets resolved in time, I might.”

“So no guarantees.”

“No.” I paused for a moment. “I’m sorry. It’s just that this is really important and if I don’t deal with it now, it could bite me later on.”

“I get it. Don’t worry, I’m a big girl, Fae.”

“I know. Bye, Kris.”

“Hope you get your problem fixed! Bye~!”

The call disconnected as I let out a small sigh. The last time I didn’t visit Kristin was five years ago and that was because I had gotten sick. She came to visit me that day instead. Close friends were hard to come by. I had promised to always visit her everyday. I didn’t like it when I couldn’t fulfill that promise. I knew she didn’t mind deep down, but still.

I resolved to solve the situation with the girl as soon as possible so that something like this didn’t happen again. The quicker it was handled, the quicker I would be able to return to my normal routine. Having too many unknowns made me uncomfortable and there was one giant one sitting in my apartment.

Ten minutes later, I was at the door of my apartment. Listening closely, I heard nothing coming from inside, though the walls may have been dampening any sound. I opened the door and peered inside the murky room. My hand shut off the ceiling light before it could turn on. Nothing seemed out of place. Everything was where I remembered it. 

I shut the door carefully and crept towards the bed. The girl was fast asleep judging from the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Well, I say girl, but without those innocent eyes and that childish tone, there was no denying that she was a woman through and through. 

I felt a wave of self consciousness wash over me as I considered whether or not to wake her up. I haven’t had anyone step into this apartment after my break up, and even then I rarely let him come in. Shaking my head, I pushed away the creeping embarrassment. The woman wouldn’t judge. And besides, I always kept my place tidy.

Nodding, I stepped closer, reaching out with a tentative hand to nudge her awake. My foot tapped the corner of my drawer, drawing out a sharp breath from my mouth. The woman’s eyes snapped open and her body jerked up into a sitting position. My hand retracted as I took a step back. She had better hearing than I expected.

“Oh, it’s you.” Her eyes brightened before a small frown floated to the surface. Then it was wiped away with a grin. “Fae!”

“I don’t think I told you my name,” I said.

“I heard it from that mean man.” She pouted. “I don’t like that man.”

“Derek is…” I searched for the right word. “Okay. He’s quite normal around here. If you leave him alone, he leaves you alone. A lot of people are like that.”

“Still. I don’t like him.”

“Just don’t take anything that’s not yours. That’s the only reason why he got mad. Got it?”

“Hmph. I know, but I was hungry. It was only one.”

 “Credits aren’t easy to come by around here,” I said. I sat on the ground, my back as straight as an arrow. “People do what they can to squeeze out as many credits as they can. They’ll fight over anything that could give them a few extra credits. That’s why he was so mad about the bun.”

The girl frowned but didn’t protest further. “Okay.”

“Good. Now. Sapphire, wasn’t it? That’s your name?” 

“I think so,” she nodded.

“Well, let’s talk for a bit,” I said. She gave me a bright smile. “Do you remember your last name?”

“Last name?” 

“People usually have two names. One that people call them by and a second one that tells people what family they’re from. Sapphire is your first name. Do you remember your second one?”

“I don’t know,” she frowned. She stared down at her lap and bit her lip. “When I woke up, I just remembered hearing something that said Sapphire.”

“So you don’t remember,” I sighed. This was going to make things a tad more difficult. “Tell me what you do remember. I probably should have started out this conversation with that.”

“Okay. Um, I woke up. It was dark out.” She spoke in a manner that was both rushed and hesitant, stopping after every burst of words. Her furrowed brows told me of the struggle going on in her mind.

“Can you describe to me where you woke up?” I asked. 

“There was a lot of dirt. 

“And?” I prompted.

“Water? I think the ground was wet. I was wet as well.”

At last, a clue. There was much free flowing water within the Outer Districts and there was certainly none with dirt around. That meant she woke up from outside, most likely the Outskirts. 

“A lake?” I mused out loud. That was the only thing that could fit the description. The problem was that there were a multitude of lakes that surrounded Arios. 

“A lake?” Sapphire repeated, her eyes not comprehending that word I said.

I looked at her and frowned. I knew her vocabulary was limited; it was apparent from her speech. I chalked it up to her not having a thorough education and possibly whatever brain trauma she had sustained that caused her memory loss affecting her speech. However, memory loss didn’t remove a person’s vocabulary. There were no adults in the entire world that wouldn’t at least have an idea of what a lake was. 

Could it be that she was lying? I stared at her, watching her every move. She began to squirm from my gaze and gave me a small look of confusion. With a sigh, I averted my gaze and stared at the floor. Either she was an impeccable actress who had a control of her facial expressions that would put a computer model to shame, or she was being completely truthful. My suspicions from earlier in the day began to creep upon me once again. This was not a normal case of amnesia. I had met many people before who had lost their memories. It was almost always because of some drug or a fight that didn’t end well. They still spoke around their age, using words that would be expected from them. Sometimes, their personalities would change, but at the end they were still the same. That was, unless they had become mentally deficient and that was why they couldn’t remember anything. 

“Um, Fae?” My head jerked up. I had forgotten I had company. Sapphire stared at me, her eyes soft with concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was just thinking. You don’t know what a lake is?”

“No.”

“It’s like a big, um…” I pictured a lake in my mind that was filled with water that swayed in whatever way the wind dictated. I didn’t know how to describe that into simple terms. It wasn’t every day that you needed to explain a word as simple as lake. It didn’t help that I needed to pick my words carefully less I say another thing she didn’t understand. “It’s a roundish thing that’s filled with water. It’s also very big.”

“Big? Like, as big as this room?” the girl asked. 

“No. This room is actually quite small. Big as in the distance, I mean, how far you walked from that place where you stole the bun to here.” 

“Oh. I think I was near something like that, yes.”

“Can you point towards it?”

She nodded, turned this way and that for a moment, before thrusting her finger to her left. 

“To the east then. Good to know,” I nodded. That narrowed it down to one fourth of the area at least. “What happened after you woke up?”

“Uh. I didn’t know what to do, so I started walking. The sun came out later and it was pretty hot for a bit. Then it got dark again, but I could see some lights, so I started walking towards them. And then I felt hungry. I got here, and then I smelled food, so I followed that. Then I took one and that man started yelling at me.”

“You’ve been walking for an entire day?” I frowned. Sapphire nodded. “Did you rest at any point during that walk?”

“I don’t think so. I just kept walking,” she said. “I wasn’t tired. I just got a bit hungry.”

I stood up and went to the fridge as my mind continued to try and piece together the mystery before me. It was a puzzle that was missing too many pieces and I had no idea what image it was supposed to create. At this point, it would be easier to just give up on this matter and let the girl handle it on her own, but I had already taken her in. 

“Here,” I said to the girl. I held out a bottle of water. She looked at it with a blank expression. “It’s water. You’ve been walking for an entire day. Even if you don’t feel it, your body needs water.”

She took the bottle and began to fiddle with it. I watched her, considering whether or not to help, before she twisted the lid off and began to sip. There was something that felt off when I observed her. She said that she was walking for an entire day with no rest. I believed her. There was no reason to lie about such a small detail. 

However, when a person doesn’t have water or food and walks out in the sun for hours on end, it would be expected that said person would be devoid of energy and quite dehydrated. Because that's how human bodies worked. The girl before had none of those signs. She did say she was hungry, but all she ate was a single bun. None of the food in my refrigerator was takens, and nothing in the room was touched. Even now, as she drank from that bottle of water, she looked no more thirsty than a normal person. She sipped the water like a person would sip a glass of wine. 

“Thank you,” she said brightly. 

“Do you feel tired?” I asked as I sat on the bed beside her.

“I took a nap, so I feel good right now.”

I didn’t reply. I took a closer look at her face, observing every part of her in more detail. The lack of light in the room made her eyes an abyss, a far cry from the soft night sky I saw in the morning. 

“Wait. Can you see me?” I asked with a frown. She nodded. “There’s no light right now though.”

I held up three fingers and leaned as far away from her as I could.

“How many fingers am I holding?” 

“Three,” she answered without any hesitation. She tilted her head. “Why?”

“Nothing. I was just curious,” I said.

She could see in the dark. That combined with her description of her day meant one thing: she had enhancements. Enhancements were nothing out of the ordinary though. What made her odd was how strong these enhancements were. Even people from the City would feel the effects of dehydration despite any genetic enhancements they had. I stared at Sapphire some more. That metal plate under her right eye drew my attention. It stood out like a neon sign in the middle of a desert. If that plate was there, she would have looked just like any normal person in the City. Minus the dress choice. That plate couldn’t be just for aesthetics though. 

“Under your eye,” I said as I tapped the same place on my face, “do you know what it is?”

She gave me a perplexed look, reached up, and touched her face with tentative fingers. Her eyes widened as she stroked the metal plate.

“What is this?” she asked.

I frowned. That’s what I wanted to know. I reached out with one of my hands.

“Can I?” I asked. She nodded.

I brushed a finger across the metal plate, feeling its smooth surface devoid of any bumps or blemishes. I traced the outline of the plate and felt where it connected to the skin. It looked to be a part of Sapphire, embedded into her skin. 

“Can I feel your limbs? I won’t do anything weird,” I said to her. She tilted her head but consented with a nod. 

I reached out slowly and took her wrist. I began to press my fingers into her skin, trying to get a feel for whatever was underneath it. Going up and down the arm, I checked every inch as I felt a frown forming on my brow that grew heavier and heavier with every touch. 

“Sapphire. Can you lay down on the bed and relax your entire body for me?”

She complied and her arm went limp in my grip as she laid on her back. I lifted her arm, weighing it. Then I nodded and touched her leg. She tensed a little at the feeling of my fingers.

“Relax,” I said softly. “I’m not going to do anything to you.”

The muscles in her leg slowly loosened, and once it felt as relaxed as it would get, I lifted it up gently. It was heavier than it should have been. I let her leg down and rubbed my eyes for a moment. 

Sapphire was a cyborg. There were cybernetics installed within her limbs and probably throughout her entire body that were amplifying her abilities. They likely had other functions, but there was no way for me to discern what those functions were. There was no way she could have been from the City.

“I have a question,” I said. She sat up and stared at me, waiting. “Did you recognize anything when you entered the Outer Districts? Or recognize anything in general?”

“No. But…”

“But?”

“I felt like I’ve been here before. I don’t know how to describe it,” she frowned. 

“Is it like something tickling the back of your mind and when you try to focus on it, it just goes away and annoys you?” 

“Yeah.” Her eyes widened. “You know that feeling?”

“A lot of people do,” I replied. “It’s good that you felt that though. Narrows down the area.”

What to do next though? I know she was from the OD now. Should I go and find her home and take her back? If she had a home though, then they should have been looking for her, and there still was the small detail where she woke up on the banks of a lake with no memories whatsoever. The extent of her modifications worried me as well. They weren’t simple ones and would have cost a fortune. Maybe she was wealthy in the life she couldn’t remember. Or maybe she had a benefactor somewhere that was wealthy and out searching for their investment. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking me right in the eye. 

“Just thinking. I’m not sure what to do with you. Maybe tomorrow—”

A soft beep rang out, cutting my sentence short. I shot up from the bed, hooked my fingers around a monitor, and brought it towards me. On the screen, the feed from the cameras installed around my apartment was broadcasting. There were people approaching. Their light blue uniforms informed me who they were. Outer District police.

“Get under the bed,” I said quietly. 

“Why? What’s happening?” Sapphire asked, her eyes filled with confusion.

“People are coming by and they aren’t nice. I don’t know what they want, but it’s safer for you to hide,” I explained as I grabbed a wig and a pair of glasses from a drawer. “Just do as I say. Everything will be fine.”

She nodded and complied, though her expression betrayed her lingering confusion. I checked to make sure that no part of her could be seen and then waited for the inevitable knock on the door. I watched the screen as the officers approached the entrance to the apartment. As I put the monitor back, a sharp rap came from the door. 

“Police!” a muffled voice yelled.

I wore the wig and slid the pair of plain glasses over my eyes. I waited a few moments before opening up the door, raising my brows and widening my eyes as I did. There were two officers standing there at the door, one hand on their waist touching their weapons. I hunched forward a bit to lower my height, bring me eye level with the front most officer. 

“What you want?” I said with a slur. I squinted at them. “I dun get people often.”

“Hello, ma’am,” the front officer said. “We’re here because we got reports of a suspicious person running around. Have you seen anyone like that?”

I shook my head.

“I got back ‘round ten minutes ago? I dun see anything. Got like one window too. That thing covered most the time.”

“I see. Well, do you recognize this person?” The officer gestured to his partner who showed me a holographic projection of a man’s head. I stared at it for a moment. “This is the suspect.”

I shook my head and said, “I dun recognize him. He look kinda common.”

The first officer poked his head into my apartment to take a quick look around. I resisted the urge to hit him and waited until he pulled back and tapped his partner on the arm. 

“Alright then. We’ll be going now. Tell us if you see that person,” the officer said before turning to leave. I watched them until they went a block away. 

I shut the door and brought the monitor back out to watch the police officers and make sure they left. When I couldn’t see them any longer, I went to the bed and looked under.

“You can come out now,” I said to Sapphire. 

“Who are they?” she asked as she slid out from under the bed. 

“Police. If you see people in light blue uniforms, make sure you stay as far away from them as you can.”

“What were they here for?”

“They were looking for someone,” I replied. I took the wig off and folded the pair of glasses. “I didn’t recognize the person though.”

“You don’t like the police?”

“I’m not sure most people do,” I said. “They don’t try to make themselves likeable either. I just don’t like them snooping around my place.”

“Why not?” Sapphire asked. I stared at her. Her question seemed genuine. 

“I like my privacy,” I replied. Glancing at the clock, I said, “It’s getting late. You don’t have anywhere to go, so you can stay on the bed for the night. Do you need something to eat for dinner?”

“I am a bit hungry,” she nodded. 

I prepared dinner for the two of us. By prepared, I meant getting out two premade meals from the refrigerator to heat up. The two of us ate in silence which I appreciated. Whether it was because Sapphire was naturally quiet or she had nothing to speak about, I didn’t know. 

When we were done, Sapphire began to explore my apartment. I let her dig through some things here and there, watching her to make sure that she didn’t disturb anything. After some time, she got bored and went to the bed to sleep. 

“Good night, Fae,” she mumbled softly. She was fast asleep before I could reply.

I pulled up a chair and sat with my front facing the entrance to the apartment. The monitor I had pushed aside was before me again. On it, the entire day’s worth of footage from the cameras installed around the apartment was playing at double speed. I skipped through parts here and there, going back when I thought I missed something, or let it play at normal speed when things were moving too fast. I watched until my eyes felt like prunes before I shut off the monitor. 

No one that matched the person the officers showed me came by at any time. I wasn’t lying when I said the person in the projection looked common. It was a face that took common traits from most men in the Outer District. Of course, there could be someone out there that looked that unremarkable, but if there was such a person, he never came by. 

‘They must have been looking for someone else. I wonder who.’

I laid back in my chair and stared up at the ceiling. I shut my eyes and cleared my head. Tomorrow, I’ll decide what to do. For now, I needed rest.