Queen of My Heart

24: You're Kidding... Right?

  There was a complete silence for a few moments. Then Torri burst out laughing. "Good one Eenie, you had us all fooled!" And Flynn joined in and Alex looked at me, betrayed but also slightly amused. I just looked at them confused and after a little while, the laughter died down.

  "I don't know why I said that. Why did I say that?" I was completely befuddled. My hands were starting to sweat and I clasped and unclasped my hands. "What did I say again? I completely forgot."

  When they registered that I was being completely serious, the trio just looked at me with a blank look on their face. I could see that they were confused too. I just didn't remember what I said, on instinct, just a minute ago.

  "I don't know if you are joking or not, but even if you did, you would have said it really quietly so that only Alex would have heard. What I am assuming, science-wise is that you have some sort of damage to your hippocampus, where it stores memory. If you damage it, you would be unable to remember anything and you would have trouble keeping up with the conversation, or in your case, recalling what you have said just a few moments ago. This is the most likely theory, as you might have hit your head and boom! Easy brain damage. But it also is the most unreasonable theory as, how would you have recalled a nickname?" Torri went on, talking more to herself than to me or anyone else. I thought she would make a great profiler, or a teacher. She was really smart. "Magic-wise, I wouldn't know much about it as it is extremely close to forbidden to study magic, but my best guess would be that someone has put a memory spell on you and being close to your loved ones would have made it deactivate for a short time. When you hugged Alex -sorry, Flynn, you are her boyfriend- it might have been a similar concept to true love's kiss. But these are my guesses. There are a few more, but they sound more ludicrous than these."

  We all just stared at her by the end of her 3 minute, spontaneous speech on the effects of hippocampus and magic. I faintly remembered her talk about the hippocampus, but everything about the magic theory was close to blank. Maybe that was what she was talking about?

  My 2 hours were almost up, so I just gave each of them a hug and Alex gave me a kiss on the forehead, which Flynn watched disdainfully and seemed to amuse Torri. There was a hint of sadness in Alex's eyes and I wondered why. I gave Flynn a kiss on the cheek and his entire face burned up, like we weren't used to it. So I comprehended the problem and said "Oh I'm sorry, did I overstep?"

  "It's completely fine!" Flynn replied. The tables had turned and Alex was glaring at Flynn with fury, and Torri was still amused. I wondered why. Torri quietly handed me a book. I was wondering what it was, and I put it in my bag. It also looked familiar, but personal, like a diary. Perhaps this would be useful in recovering my memories as soon as possible?

  I waved one final goodbye and joined my parents on the journey to Wonderland. It was relatively silent. I realised I had nothing to talk about with my parents. So I asked "Is our house nice?"

  Father looked at me and a look of amusement hit his entire facial expression. Then mother and father both burst out laughing. "What is it? What is so funny?"

  Father exclaimed "If you can call a castle nice, then sure!"

  "Do we live in a castle? Am I the princess of Wonderland?"

  "You are sweetie." Mother told me.

  "Oh,' I said and I gulped. How was I going to be a princess, much less a queen in the future? Especially with an episode like this?

  When I voiced my thoughts, mother simply replied "Well, sweetie, when you get to Wonderland, you will know, but our citizens are different. Crazy, or as Alice described it, 'mad'. We don't mind a queen with slight mental issues, it won't stand out much. Even I was a queen with severe mental issues, and still are but 'crazy' was an entirely new meaning there. Things that are abnormal in Auradon would be completely fine in Wonderland and the other way applies too."

  "Okay. Thank you."

  "You're welcome." And we spent the rest of the trip in silence. I don't know if being distanced was their personality, or they don't talk to me often, probably busy with ruling the kingdom. I wonder what the mental issues that mother had were. She seemed completely fine, even better than most, actually. She was really sweet to me. When we arrived in Wonderland, I was surprised at a door opening from a hole on the floor.

  But I was even more surprised to be introduced to my room covered in dusty red wallpaper with rose prints in lace and thick red drapes. There was a queen-sized bed -ironic, huh?- with black half see-through curtains that looked great for blocking out light, but not completely obscuring sight. There were red sheets and white pillows. The blanket, obviously red. There was an elegant desk that I recognised as rose-wood and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, filled with books. There was a vanity covered with jewels, brushes and various makeup tools. To top it all, I had a private bathroom and a closet the size of my dorm room, filled to the brim with various types of clothing. It was all overwhelming and I felt extremely grateful.

  "I don't know if I said this before, but my room is absolutely amazing and thank you for letting me live in it!" And I hugged my parents. They hugged me back and father said "We recently remodelled your room and this is technically the first time you are seeing it, memories intact or otherwise."

  "Well, thank you so much anyway!" I was really looking forward to living in this room for the next few days and hopefully the holidays!