6- Agent Lauren’s Memories

The subway terminal had stirred into an uproar in recent minutes. Selena Dresel was summoned almost immediately and had gotten there just as quickly. Agents were inside the space bordered by caution tape, scurrying around and inside a white tent that was set up on the side furthest from the stairwell.

“Mrs. Selena,” an agent with a youthful face rushed towards her. “Captain Macer had instructed me to tell you he’d like to see you in the white tent once you get here.”

“Thank you.” She dismissed him with a nod and after taking a deep breath, headed to the tent.

Selena lifted the flap of cloth that served as an entrance and stepped inside. A bed was positioned by one of the further walls, and a woman was sitting on the edge of it while leaning on the heels of her hands. The tall man Selena had spoken to days before, Elliot Macer, stood by the foot of the bed, but turned to Selena once she had entered.

“Selena, you got here quick.”

“My hotel wasn’t far away.” She turned to the woman toward the bed. “Agent Lauren, my name is Selena Dresel, do you know who I am?”

Lauren nodded.

“I think everyone in the DHI knows who you are.” Her voice was strained, and the paleness of her face wasn’t her natural skin tone.

“You might be right.” Selena smiled gently. “I’m here to help you remember more explicitly what has happened in the past few days. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Lauren nodded once again.

“Good, should we start?” She asked both Lauren, and once getting her approval, her captain.

“Please.” Elliot gave Selena a gesture towards Lauren.

“I want you to close your eyes,” Selena said, taking a seat on the bed next to Lauren. “Good, now when you open them, you’ll find yourself back in the forest quickly, but let me be clear, it is purely your own memories, there is nothing to be worried about as it has already been done, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Lauren whispered.

“Good; now imagine yourself as far back as you can, before the forest, when you got the call. Open your eyes when you’re ready.”

—-

It was a quiet night in the city of Leste, Lauren had just finished a sandwich from a local food cart and was crumbling the piece of foil it came in up into a ball.

Only a few people were in sight as she stood next to the trash can by the corner of the park, and passing cars were even rarer. But such was normal after dark, the only people out now were those coming from or heading out to work. It was a sharp difference from the capital, Basi, but being relocated here wasn’t the worst, especially when she thought of the opportunities to make a name for herself within the agency, and she knew she would certainly have the opportunity to.

It did bother her however, that she was stuck patrolling- on foot- a smaller city, where crime was rampant but also something that she clearly had a hard time finding until after it had already happened, mostly due to her lack of effective transportation, but it was something she had to deal with as one of the agents that weren’t gifted. She tossed the ball of foil into a trash can and then headed out of the park and across the street, down the stairs towards the subway.

It was a new route her captain had her take this week, likely due to her lack of success in even finding the crime let alone stopping it. And it was her first time she would be down in the terminals late at night.

Lauren grabbed hold of the painted green railing, and helped herself down the stairs, as she descended, the bar shook violently in her hand and tremors could be felt beneath the steps. They ended as quickly as they had started, and Lauren tried to shake the irritation out of her hand, wondering what could have made the ground shake like that.

She never felt an earthquake like that but could there really be someone nearby? And could that someone have some ability where they could cause tremors? It wouldn’t be the first person who could do that if so, cautiously she advanced further down the stairs and into the terminal. A single file line of people in white attire marched past her and up the stairs.

“Hello?” She called out to the line. “I just felt the ground shake. Are you guys okay?”

They moved past her dismissively, not bothering to respond to her question or even acknowledge her existence by looking at her. When she turned back around she had seen a white bubble had formed around the train which was yet to leave the station. A man who she figured was the janitor stood examining the bible closely, with a mop in his hand. He began to reach out hesitantly.

“Wait!” She called out before he could touch it. The janitor looked towards her and pulled his hand away. “I'm Agent Lauren Swoll of the DHI.” She fumbled in her back pocket for her badge before flashing it to him.

“Did you see what happened here?”

The janitor's expression hardened when he saw her badge.

“No,” he shrugged. “I was just mopping.”

“Please, I think you could really help here if you could just tell me something, anything.” She pleaded. The janitor studied her closely for a moment, and Lauren could obviously tell he was having a war within himself with conflicting thoughts.

“One moment they were boarding the train and those guys were getting off it.” He pointed at the last glimpses of the men in the line disappearing into the night. “Then when I realized the train wasn’t leaving, that thing just showed up.”

“Alright thanks, will you step away from ‘this’ for me please? I’ll be back with you in a moment.”

“Fine by me.” The janitor shrugged his shoulders and wandered off to one of the walls further away.

Lauren turned back around to look at the bubble once again. The first thing she needed to do was calm herself, she scolded herself for not thinking and reacting quickly. Then she pulled out her phone and tried to call her captain, but there seemed to be no service as the call wouldn’t go through.

She stumbled backwards, reaching out to catch herself but there was nothing nearby to hold onto. She looked back to see the white bubble growing closer and closer, as if it were a magnetic force attracting her, and tried her hardest to escape it.

“Stay away!” She shouted at the Janitor. “Get out of here and call the police.” She couldn’t tell if the janitor obeyed her or not and flinched as she grew closer to the bubble, expecting it to hurt. But she didn’t feel anything, all that happened was her vision faded to black.

“It’s okay.” Lauren heard Selena speak, she turned her head in the direction of the voice and as she did, she seemingly immediately appeared right next to Selena. “You’re safe,” She said with a reassuring smile. “Show me what happens next.”

Lauren watched herself in her distorted form crawl forward, snarling and growling with every breath.

“Is that what I looked like?” Lauren asked, her skin was much paler, and she wore a completely different set of clothes, and the features of her face were concealed with the black hood that she wore.

“Most likely, this is only me filling in the gaps from the little of James' memory I've been able to see.”

The distorted figure that once was Lauren leaped through a group of bushes, and in front of a man walking down a path. Lauren’s past self and James stared at each other for moments at a time without interruption, then she leaped at the man. His run hadn’t lasted long, and quickly turned into a dive through a collection of bushes in front of him.

Lauren could remember the hunting instinct she felt, which was completely new to her. And which drove her to leap after the fallen James, but a blast sent her back flying through the air and a twinge of pain shook through the welts on her midsection.

“It’s only a memory,” Selena said quietly.

“I know.” Lauren nodded.

“That should do for now.” They turned their attention back to a man that wore a suit and top hat with wiry hair and a wand in hand.

“That’s the magician,” Lauren said to Selena. “Did that man really create him?”

“That's the leading theory, it could be something else though, nothings certain.”

The magician had grabbed James by his arm and lifted him off the ground, before running away and guiding James along with him. Selena and Lauren didn’t follow, as Lauren’s memory hadn't been able to follow them exactly to the tree and Selena couldn’t piece it together without more access to James’ mind.

Their surroundings melted and repaired themselves in a matter of moments to another portion of the forest. Lauren had just now noticed how their bodies looked transparent, and she could hardly see either of the lowest parts of their legs or their feet on the ground. She saw herself- now dressed in white- searching through the woods and ending up in front of James, beside two other people. Then she tilted her head up and opened her mouth wide but only muffled noise came out.

“It was much louder, but I figure there’s no reason for us to hear that,” Selena said.

“Thanks,” she responded quietly.

James closed his eyes and tilted his head away, and remained like that for some time while others in white began to surround them. Eight others were with her, they all wore white but also from time to time they would appear to hold batons or handcuffs, and a few even got to keep them. Lauren had been handed one and they closed in on Leon, James and Evelyn.

“I think there was more before this. I just..”

“It’s understandable for you not to remember everything.” She laid a hand on her shoulder.

James fought to gain freedom of movement in his arms once again but to no avail. His eyes closed and any struggling from him stopped. Time froze for a moment, even for Selena and the version of Lauren that was beside her, then it all went to black. Lauren’s head ached as the darkness began to fade, and she began to see spots of two silhouettes in front of her.

“Lauren, are you okay?” Selena and Elliot stood over the bed.

“I am, that was just… weird.”

“It was where your memory ran out, we won’t be able to see what happens next.”

“Here.” Selena pressed her hand against Elliot’s forehead. “Do you see it?”

Elliot grimaced.

“You know I never appreciate it when you do that. But yes, I understand now.”

“An intriguing man.”

“Yes, he is.”

“What will we do?”

“What else is there to do? We’ll go in.”