PART FIVE: The Reason You Can't Remember

ISABELLA WAS STILL THERE WHEN JOHN CAME BACK IN. She gave him a funny look. Mainly she stared at his head.

"Are you ok?" she asked him.
"I'm fine," John said. "Am I bleeding?"
"No."

The play was still going on. At the moment the five other people that had been in there were now sitting together in one group, drinking coffee. There were two actors on the stage. One was sitting on a chair, playing a violin strangely.

"Who are you?" the one actor asked. The other continued playing the Violin in his strange manner.
"I'm the factory man," he replied.
"Well is there any point to this?" the other actor asked.

"I'm just trying to make you forget," the violin player said and he began quickly playing some weird music that made John dizzy. "Just trying to make you forget."

"You're turning the others into zombies."
"Can I help it?" the violin player asked. "I'm just a figment of the ones who love daylight. They can't actually control me. Nor do I have full awareness."

John looked at Isabella. He realized now more than before that this whole deal was very surreal. He knew he was awake and that this was actually happening but was the universe trying to tell him something?

"Isabella," he said. She turned to him.
"Is it me? Is this a figment of my imagination?" he asked her as if she was just another character in a lucid dream.

"That depends," she said. "Do you remember me now?"
"Yes."
"Well then odds are you're more aware than you ever were before."
"But what about them?" John asked and pointed at the actors on stage.
"You have to learn to trust signs," Isabella said.
"You're saying this is a sign?"
"It could very well be," she said. "Just think hard. Focus on them but focus on your memories at the same time."

John did. It was the strangest sensation ever. It was like he was falling into a deep, dark abyss. He was losing awareness but at the same time random visions were appearing in his head. He focused hard on the music of the violin, but not the man playing. When he did a very familiar looking factory appeared in his head. The music seemed to be connected to the factory. He became aware again.

"So," she said. "I'm guessing you figured out who I am?"'
"Yes," John said and he looked to the stage. "You're my sister."
"You're absolutely right," she said and she seemed to be relieved that he remembered.
"Which means the guy on the stage is my father as well," John continued.
"We were very disappointed you hadn't come to see us in so long," Isabella said.

"Well the nights the only time I can and when I forgot about everything that included you two."

"Do you remember the car crash?" the actor on the stage asked the violin player. Isabella looked at her brother intensely when their father said that.

"I was once your son," the violin player said. "I once walked during the day."

"The violin player is me," John said. Isabella just nodded. "The violin represents my amnesia towards you two."

"So you figured it all out?" Isabella asked John.
"Not really. Is this a figment of my imagination?"
"No," she said. "It's just the way the night runs. And it will take you years to discover the secrets that hide in the alleys here. There are secrets everywhere and each one you learn makes you that much more powerfull."

The actor on stage stood up and looked at John and Isabella's dad.

"No longer, will I be confined by the daytime," he said and he smashed the violin on the ground. "I will not let them control me, even if they don't know what they're doing. I shall make them aware but it will take one from a tower and one who's lost a loved one to make it happen."

"That was a specific sign huh?" Isabella asked. John watched, mesmorized.

"What should I do next?" he asked her.
"I don't know," she replied and he laughed.
"This is just weird," he said and laughed again.


to be continued...