Chapter Seven: 

Marco 

It had been three days with the girl remembering. Every time she woke up in pain Marco hoped it would finally be over, that her memories would finally come back and end it all, but it still hadn’t happened. He couldn’t remember how many days it had taken Syd. He squashed that thought as quickly as he could and glanced over to Syd who was still sitting on the bed writing something down. The girl had been sleeping for a while this time. 

“Sleep,” he heard from the bed. 

Marco glanced towards Syd. “I’m fine.” 

Syd gave him a look. “Don’t do that.” Syd commanded. They hated when Marco tried lying. It was pointless anyways. 

“I’ll stay up.” Marco said. 

They stared at each other for a while. “She’ll need us when she finally remembers. Sleep now. I’ll sleep later.” 

“Don’t do that.” Marco shot back. 

Syd smiled at him. “Sleep.” They commanded again. 

Marco huffed a sigh and leaned back letting his head rest against the wall. 

“It was five days with me.” Syd finally said. 

Marco nodded. “Sorry.” He whispered before letting his eyes close. 

It felt like his eyes had barely closed before the entire RV was shaking violently. Marco’s eyes shot open and immediately landed on the girl screaming and writhing on the bed. She had gotten free of her binds and her hands were now tugging at her long black hair. 

Marco leapt towards her grabbing both of her arms and shoving them against her sides. Syd was already trying to keep her still. 

“Shh… it’s okay. It’s okay.” Syd breathed out. 

The girl just screamed louder and cracks of lightening and thunder rattled the RV. Marco and Syd met eyes before Syd climbed on top of the girl. “Keep her still.” They commanded Marco. 

Marco put his weight into holding her down as Syd put their hands on either side of the girls head. They scrunched their eyes closed and followed the girls racing mind. 

Another crack of thunder tore through the sky. Marco looked over to see Jer and Lilly both standing at the edge of the room.

 “Go!” He yelled. They both obeyed immediately and he heard the door to the RV open and shut. “Syd… she’s going to tear the roof off.”

“Just give me a minute.” Syd whispered. They finally opened their eyes and looked down at the girl. “Thora!” They yelled. “Thora wake up!”

The girls eyes shot open and just as quickly as the storm had come on it stopped again, replaced for a moment by still skies, only to follow with pounding rain. 

The girl began sobbing and trying to climb away from them. Syd motioned for Marco to let her go and he finally let up. He watched her stumble through the RV before falling against the door. She ripped open the door and fell out. 

Marco and Syd followed as the girl fell to the ground sobbing. Jer raced towards her but stopped at Syd’s silent command to leave her. The girl immediately retched on the ground before falling over, the rain pelting her body into the Earth.

Marco hadn’t realized how hard he was clenching Syd’s shoulder until they pried his hand off. Slowly Syd approached the girl and dropped down next to her. Marco watched as Syd leaned down, whispering words the rest weren’t meant to hear. 

They carried her into the RV and Lilly helped her change before leaving Syd and Marco to it. They both laid themselves on either side of the girl for the rest of the night. Marco didn’t sleep, and he was sure neither did Syd. The rain stopped when the girl fell asleep, and started up again when she would wake sobbing from her memories.

Marco could feel his control slipping as the night drew to a close. He sat up and climbed out of the bed. Syd watched him, but didn’t stop him. The twins were sleeping at the table, their fingers intertwined with one another. Marco watched for a bit before reaching over towards Jer’s jacket, pulling out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He stepped outside slowly and finally surveyed where they were. He wasn’t sure how Jer and Lilly had gotten them this deep into the woods in an RV, but there was nothing around them but trees. 

Marco slowly lit the cigarette in his hand and brought it up to his mouth. He tried not to think about the girl remembering everything all at once. He tried not to think of the sound of her screams. But it was already there. He dropped to the ground as memories of their experiments flashed in and out of his mind. He could feel the needles, he could taste the drugs and the metal. He could feel everything. He bit down on the scream that was threatening to escape him and dug his fingers into the dirt. 

He looked up and stared intently the ground. It was still soaked from the girl’s reaction. He took a deep breath and shoved everything else down. He stood up slowly and picked up his now soaked cigarette off the ground. 

When he stepped back into the motorhome Jer and Lilly were whispering quietly amongst themselves. They both watched him wash his hands in the kitchen sink. 

“Marco, is she okay?” Jer finally asked.

Marco took a breath and turned to look at them. “She has her memories. Now we’ll see what she’s lost.” 

“Christ.” Lilly said glancing back towards the back bedroom. “That was scary.” 

Jer kept Marco’s eyes. Marco knew he was asking, but he couldn’t answer without lying so instead he walked towards the back. He stopped and looked at the two of them again. “Her name is Thora.”