A creaking sound entered my ears, breaking through the soft embrace of sleep. My eyes shot open and my head turned towards the source of the noise. A girl sat on my bed gazing at me with an expression I couldn’t read. My first thought was why was there a girl on my bed. Then the fog cleared and I remembered the events of the day before. I lowered my hands and gave Sapphire a small nod. I checked the time on my wristband. It was five in the morning.

“You woke up quite early,” I said. I looked up. “Aren’t you tired?”

“No,” she replied with a shake of her head. “I’m a little hungry.”

“Alright,” I sighed. “I guess I can get ready now. I need to talk to you about a few things anyway.”

I took two breakfast bars and gave one to Sapphire. She fiddled with the packaging for a moment before tearing it open, the bar almost flying out. She saved it in time and bit into the bar. A frown appeared as she chewed on the bar.

“It’s hard,” she said, her words muddled by the food in her mouth.

“It’s got everything you need,” I replied. “Tastes like cardboard, but your body will thank you later.”

In the amount of time I took to finish the bar, Sapphire was on her second bite, chewing with an expression of intense dissatisfaction. 

“The faster you eat it, the faster you won’t have to deal with it,” I said to her. She bit her lip then scarfed down the rest of the bar. My lips twitched at the sight of her bulging cheeks and disgusted expression. I held out a bottle of water. “Here. Wash it down.”

She took the bottle and downed the water as I took a sip from my cup of nutrient water. I considered giving her some of it, but decided against it. She seemed to have suffered enough as is.

“I’m going to have to work today,” I said. “You’re going to be alone for a bit. Twelve hours unless something goes wrong. You remember the rules I laid out when I let you stay here, right?”

“Don’t touch anything?” Sapphire said.

“Good. I know it’s going to be a bit difficult to be by yourself for twelve hours with not much to do, but you’re going to have to put up with it. I don’t have any entertainment around here. Maybe you can use the time to try and remember anything about your life.”

“Ok,” she nodded. 

“Now, let’s talk about something important. I’m going to be away and so you’re going to need to know about a few things. Like you saw last night, sometimes people drop by without any notice. Oftentimes, they’re people that aren’t wanted. They will think that since I’m gone, the room will be empty and might try to break in. If they’re police, they will break in. Stand up for me.”

She got off the bed and I squatted down to lift the sheets that covered the sides. I gestured for her to sit beside me. It took a few seconds before she understood the message. When she was eye level with me, I pointed towards the floor under the bed. It was made of fake wood, the varnish already faded long before I began living in the apartment. Underneath it was concrete that extended down into the ground for around a meter. I knocked on it with my knuckles. 

“There’s an exit here,” I said to Sapphire. I looked right into those dark blue eyes to make sure she was listening. “In the desk over there, there’s a button hidden inside the right drawer.”

I stood up, opened the drawer, and felt around inside. Embedded into the top of the drawer was a small button whose presence was given away by a thin ring of empty space around it. I gave it a firm press and a soft pop came from under the bed.

“Do you see the opening?” I asked. Sapphire poked her head under the bed. 

“Yes,” she said.

“If someone comes by, you need to go down there and follow the tunnel that’s connected to it,” I said. I knelt beside the bed and reached under, pushing the entrance down to lock it. “You’ll be able to close the entrance from inside. You can see well in the dark, so that’s good. There’s no light down there. When you reach the end of the tunnel, just wait there. I’ll come for you.”

“Why are you so worried?” Sapphire asked with a tilt of her head. 

“What do you mean?”

“You’re only going to be gone for a bit. I don’t think anything is going to happen.”

“I hope nothing happens, but you can never be too sure,” I shrugged. “Just remember what I just told you in case something does happen. If no one comes by, then don’t worry about it. Got it?”

“Okay,” she nodded. 

I looked at the time again. I still had ten minutes left before I had to go. I grabbed my shirt and as I was about to pull it over myself, I realized I hadn’t changed out of my clothes from the day before. The bindings around my chest were still there and were beginning to feel a tad uncomfortable. I sniffed the shirt I was wearing. It smelled like sweat.

I pulled the old shirt over my head and tossed it into a bin with other clothes that needed to be washed. As I put on the new one, I noticed Sapphire staring at the ground with a look of intense focus. 

“Is something wrong?” I asked. She looked up and shook her head. “Alright. If you want to eat something or drink something, just go in the fridge over there. Don’t eat too much though.”

“Okay,” she said.

Lifting my right arm, I inspected the wrappings around it to make sure that it was still tightly in place. It had gotten loose in the area around my wrist, so I started to unwind it and rewrap it. I caught Sapphire staring at my arm as I uncovered the matte red painted metal it was made out of. 

“Your arm,” she said. 

“What about it?” 

“I like it,” she smiled. “It looks pretty.”

I stared at her for a moment before shrugging. I didn’t know how to reply to that. I’ve never heard someone describe my prosthetic as pretty before. It was an odd word to attach to such a thing. 

After making sure that the bindings were on tight, I stood up and checked the time once more. It was 5:30. 

“Remember,” I said to Sapphire as I went to the door. “Don’t touch anything unless it’s the fridge and if people come by, you know what to do.”

“I remember,” she said.

“Good. I’ll be back.”

---

 

“Hey, Fae. Second day in a row you’ve called me,” Kristin said with a laugh. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re trying to send me a message, reaching out this often and all.”

“At least you’re aware,” I chuckled. “I just want to ask for a favor.”

“Oh? What kind?”

“Just some strings that I want pulled. I need some time in the Archives,” I said. “I know you have connections there, right?”

“That Archives? Why do you need to go there?” Kristin asked. 

I took a look around me. The shadows of the alleyway were hiding me. There was no one around or walking by as well. 

“You know that thing I had to attend to yesterday?”

“Yeah. My memory is pretty good if I do say so myself.”

“Well, I still need some time to handle it. One day wasn’t enough,” I said, sighing. “I thought it would be, but the situation is a lot more complicated that I thought.”

“What’s the thing you have to deal with? You never told me,” Kristin said.

“I didn’t. To make it quick, yesterday morning, I was on my way to work and found a girl. She lost all her memories and stole a bun from Derek without meaning to.”

“Poor girl.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I paid for the bun since I had some extra credits. Then I let her crash at my place because I was a bit curious about where she was from. I couldn’t figure anything out though. Her mind is like a blank slate. She can’t remember anything at all. I managed to put together that she’s originally from the OD, but that’s basically it.”

“Does she remember her name?”

“Yeah. She said it was Sapphire. No last name though. Said she couldn’t remember it.”

“That’s odd.”

“That’s what I thought as well. I didn’t believe her at first, but I can tell when someone is lying. She believed every word she said.”

“What does she look like?” Kristin asked, her voice down an octave. 

“Why do you want to know?”

“Maybe I’ve seen her before. I’m good with faces, you know.”

I pictured Sapphire in my mind. I could still see her face clearly despite not having seen her for twelve hours and counting. It wasn’t something that was easy to forget with her long flowing hair and unique eyes. 

“She has long black hair,” I said. I decided to focus on the features of her face. 

“That cuts it down by a lot. What else?”

“She has dark blue eyes. I’ve never seen a color like that before. Whatever color you’re thinking about is probably not the right shade. It’s like the night sky right when the sun finishes setting.”

“That’s really specific,” Kristin commented. She fell quiet for a few moments. “I got nothing. Someone like that would be someone I would remember easily. Alright, why do you want to go to the Archives?”

“There can’t be many people named Sapphire, so I think it’s a good place to start,” I said with a shrug that Kristin couldn’t see. “I can probably get a few leads that I can follow and hopefully will be able to find out where this girl is from.”

“You’re doing an awful lot for someone you just ran into yesterday.”

“I know. But think about it. How would you feel about throwing some girl who doesn’t have any memories off to the side?”

“Depends. Is she hot?”

“I’m being serious here, Kris.”

“I know, I know,” she giggled. “Just a little joke. I get what you mean. I guess I can pull some strings for you. Give me an hour and I’ll give you a call back.”

“Wait,” I frowned, “what kind of strings are we talking about here?”

“I got someone who owes me a favor, don’t worry, Fae. It’s nothing crazy.”

“Good. I don’t want you doing things just for a small request from me. If you need to do something like that, just tell me and I’ll figure out another way.”

A soft laugh came from the other side.

“Deep down, you haven’t changed, have you?” Kristin said. I could hear the smile on her lips. “Don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing.”

“Alright. I’ll leave it to you then.”

“I take it that you won’t be seeing me today as well, then?”

I closed my eyes and sighed.

“Yeah. How about this. Tomorrow, we’ll go out somewhere,” I said. “I remember you like shopping. We haven’t spent much time together outside of your work recently.”

“Hmm. Maybe,” Kistin replied. She went quiet for a few seconds. “Maybe if you buy me lunch as well.”

“You drive a hard bargain, girl,” I smiled. “Alright. Deal.”

“Deal. I’ll get started on cashing in that favor then. Bye, Fae.”

“Bye, Kris.”

The line disconnected and I stepped out from the shadow. A man ran past me holding a bag that wasn’t his judging from the way he was running away. He gave me a look that dared me to stop him. I looked down the direction he came from and saw another man a few blocks away chasing after the thief. 

Well, none of my business, I thought with a shrug and walked across the street.