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Fluctuations of dark and light, I opened my eyes and saw a paper that read “I will kill you” written in blood. I don’t know where I am. The room is full of mess, many statues in the showcase were broken, blood strains here and there, I had my hand covered with a white cloth which had blood, I opened the knot and saw a cut in my hand. As my shirt and pant had shades of blood, I took a dress from the shelf and wore it. The dress is perfect for me. I took whatever I saw and went out to figure out what is happening.  

“Jade, jade!! get on, we got a long way to go and lot to do”

“Wait, wait who are you and why are you calling me jade, my name is Jaxon”

“Stop kidding, we don’t have time, jump in”

I have to know what is happening, where I am headed to, and what is my daily routine. I got in the car.

“What is your name?”

“You are weird man, you call me Joel all the time”

“I did not have my breakfast, stop somewhere, let's grab a coffee”

“Fine”

I went to the counter.

“Hi Jade, what would you like to have”

“Do you know me?”

“Yes, you come here every day

.

.

Why you don’t remember”

She said that and murmured some words, “worked” in one of the words she murmured, which I heard.

“Sorry mam, just give me two cups of coffee”

“Why are you acting weird, calling me mam,

Here you go, 30 bucks”

“Thank you”

We had coffee then started moving. He took me to someplace I don’t know. There Joel asked a girl to jump in. I was just wondering who she is.

“Is your hand ok”

She knew about the wound in my hand.

“Yeah 

.

Yeah, fine”

I just sat quietly, till the next one got in. That girl is too talkative.

“Is your wound fine”

“Yeah”

She knows about the wound too.

“Did you get your breakfast”

“Yes mam”

“Why are you calling me mam, suddenly. You do not even call me with my name.

Is anything wrong”

“No……..”

“Casey”

“No, Casey I am totally fine”

“But, how can you forget our names”

“I just need some rest, allow me to rest a bit”

I don’t know what I am doing with these humans in the car, I don’t know where I am headed to, I don’t know what I am going to do there.

About half an hour later we arrived at someplace, a building called “Tune In”. They took me in.

There were about 6 members mixed with girls and boys, came towards us and asked, why were we late. I was just standing aside, as I don’t know anyone there. 

“Hey how is your wound”

“Fine, not bad”

As I came to the final spot, I got ready to ask it out.

“Does anyone know what I am doing here”

“Yes, what are we doing here, let's move to the dressing room.”

“That’s not what I meant”

No one heard me. Everyone went without me. I just followed them and asked the same question.

“What I am doing here?”

“Don’t be kidding around, change your costume”

“What costume” 

“Where is your costume”

“I don’t have one”

“You don’t have one!! what does it mean, we bought it yesterday”

Everyone started staring at me

“I don’t get what you are up to, just tell me why you brought me here”

“We can't understand you, we have our dance competition in 2 hours”

“A dance competition!! I don’t know how to dance”

“You are the second-best dancer in the club”

Everyone stared at her.

“Okie, maybe the best one”

“We have been practicing it for the past 2 months”

“guys, I think you brought a wrong person”

Someone knocked on the door. Joel opened the door and there came another bullet.

“Jade, I am here”

“Another, who are you?”

“For your notice, she is your active girlfriend for the past 4 months”

“What happened jade? you don’t remember me? don’t be kidding!”

“Guys, don’t be messing with me. I came to this city yesterday eve, fighting with my parents. But…

What kind of a story is this, having a girlfriend for 4 months, the best dancer in the club!!” 

The girl said to be my girlfriend was shocked, and started explaining things.

“jade, what you said is correct, you came an eve, but that eve was 6 months back. You came here and worked in a coffee shop for three months, one month you had no work and then you joined the dance club”

Then I remembered what the coffee shop girl murmured “you even worked here”, 

“Which month is it”

“February 2018, you came here in August 2017”

“Ohh”

I just sat in the chair near me.

“jade this competition is your dream, you worked three months for this”

“Whatever, I don’t remember anything, how can I dance.”

“First, where is your costume?”

“I don’t know, maybe, I left it in the place where I live

.

Where do I live”

The man who drove the car came front.

“oh man, I picked you from your house”

That is why the dress on the shelf fits my size, that is my dress.

“that one, why is it messed up.”

“We fought yesterday night, so you started breaking things you saw”

Then I remembered something, the broken statues in the room, the cut in my hand is because of the fight I had with her.

My girlfriend said that the next second everyone started murmuring.

“jade, you need to help us, we will figure this out after the competition”

“what do you want me to do, I don’t remember anything”

“We have 2 hours before the competition”

“so!!”

“we will teach you”

“what I am telling to you is that, I don’t know how to dance”

“fine, let's try to our satisfaction, this is just a qualification round, top 15 of 25 will be selected, and also it is only for four minutes”

Then they started showing me how to dance. I too tried what they said, but everything was a mess. Still, we were working on it. After some time I got some steps, and they canceled some steps and told me to do some easy gymnast tics. Still, I doubt the letter which read “I will kill you”.

Fifteen minutes before our turn, the girl said to be my girlfriend bought the costume. 

“try your best in the show, if you forget any steps, try managing by doing something, don’t stand there without doing anything”

“ok, I will try my best”

I heard an officer calling “next team will be jade and his crew”.

the others stared at me and started walking towards the stage. My legs were shaking as I walked towards the stage. The performance started and I messed up in two places. The man said to be the jury called my name and told me to step forward. Then he asked me.

“I saw you dancing in the front in the previous audition, then why you stayed in the third row?”

The girl from the group took cover and told them that I am not feeling well. The juries asked some questions and the others replied to them. Everything is fine but what about the paper written in blood. Other things may be right. My mind is not getting stable because of the paper which has words written in blood. 

The girl said to be my girlfriend took me to a doctor. The doctor checked my head and saw a swell in my back head. He said that it might be a temporary memory loss. He asked us to take a scan and wait outside. while waiting,

“May I know your name”

“Riya

.

.

Even you have a memory loss, how can you forget my name”

“.....”

 The doctor gave me some pills, a shot in the hand, and asked me to come for a checkup after 2 days. I returned home and saw the paper scribbled with blood, lying on the floor. The girl took the paper and put that in the dustbin. I lied on the bed and asked her to go to her house, but she stayed.

The next day, I got up from the bed.

“you stayed here?”

“yes . . .”

“We don’t have time, get ready, Joel will be here in 15 min to pick us”

“for what?”

“How can you forget, I have the competition today”

She started laughing.

“Why are you laughing?”

“You are 24 hours late”

“What!!”

“Today is Feb 3”

“Ohh no I slept all day, without going to the competition”

She started explaining things.

“Who is Jaxon?”

“That is what my parents named me, I changed it to jade when I came here”

 She took a paper from the dust bin.

“Do you remember this”

She showed the paper to me.

“I saw a random movie which had a paper written like this, as I had my hand leaking with blood, I tried writing it.”

Again she started laughing, buy seeing her laugh I understood that I have made a mess the day before.

August 18, 2020 15:47

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