Remembered Read Online Free PDF

too large for her tiny frame.
    “Emily, guess what I have?” she asked, holding one
hand behind her back.
    “What do you have?” Emily questioned.
    They were in the bedroom they shared at the group home, and
for once, it was empty except for the two of them.
    “It’s a surprise,” Susan replied. “You have to
guess.”
    “Is it a good surprise?” Emily queried, taking the
bait like a typical eight-year-old.
    “It’s pretty good,” Susan answered in a sing-song
voice.
    “I can’t guess, just tell me,” Emily pleaded.
    “Just try,” Susan insisted.
    “Is it something to eat?” Emily asked. Her answer was
obviously satisfactory for Susan. She pulled her hand around, revealing two very
large, chocolate chip cookies.
    “Where did you get those?” Emily asked excitedly.
    “Lemar, the new cook, made them. One for you and one for
me,” Susan answered, beaming.
    “Wow, for what?” Emily questioned, holding out her
hand for half the treasure.
    “Dunno,” Susan responded, stuffing her mouth.
    Emily could taste the warm, freshly made cookie in her
mouth, the melted chocolate chips.
    “Good, Emily,” Dr. Lewis’s voice called out. “But can you go
back further. Try to locate your very first memory. Can you do that?”
    Emily forced her mind back further; as far back as she could,
through a haze of lava-like patterns behind her eyes, and flashes of familiar
faces and scenes, sinking down into unknown territory. She finally honed in on
one memory, as though it was at the bottom of a murky hole in her mind.
    She came to settle in complete darkness and absolute
silence, yet she was very aware that she was lying on a cold floor.
    Suddenly, she realized that it wasn’t dark necessarily but
that there was something covering her eyes. She felt a rush of fear immediately.
Her heart felt as though it would jump out of her chest.
    “Wait…wait…there’s something wrong here. I’m terrified. Something
is very wrong,” she said aloud. “My eyes are covered with a cloth, some kind of
material.” She wanted to remove the cloth, but it wasn’t possible. She couldn’t
lift her hands to uncover her eyes; they were bound, tied behind her back.
    “What is it, Emily?” she heard Dr. Lewis ask. “What’s
happening? What do you see?”
    “I can’t see anything. My eyes are covered, and my hands are
bound. I think I’m being held prisoner,” Emily answered.
    The silence was more unnerving than the darkness. She waited
for something, anything to happen.
    “What’s happening, Emily?” Dr. Lewis asked again.
    “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. All I can hear is my own heart
pounding in my ears.”
    All of a sudden, in the distance, she heard a noise break
the silence—footsteps, two sets of footsteps. “There’s someone coming,” she
called out to Dr. Lewis. “I can hear people coming, and I’m so afraid.”
    “What happened? How did you get there? Try to remember,” Dr.
Lewis urged.
    “I don’t know,” Emily moaned.
    “Try to remember,” Dr. Lewis said forcefully.
    Emily pushed at her memory as hard as she could until
something came forth. “I…I think I was alone. He left for…something…” she
trailed off.
    “Who left?” Dr. Lewis pushed.
    “I don’t know,” Emily answered. “I can’t remember who, but I
think it had something to do with a cat…maybe…”
    “What happened after that?” the doctor questioned.
    “I think…I think I felt a hand covering my mouth. The hand
held a cloth that smelled bitter and made me dizzy, and then everything went
black.”
    The footsteps grew louder. “Someone is coming,” she said
again, panicked. “Help, please help me!”
    “Who’s coming?” Dr. Lewis asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Can you hear anything?” the doctor called out.
    “Only footsteps…wait…I can hear a woman’s voice,” Emily
said.
    “What is she saying?”
    “Can’t hear… ‘Are you sure this will work?’ she asks.”
    “ ‘No, I’m not sure. I know nothing of