Reset

A young boy died in my hometown 16 years ago. No one ever knew why.

He was found lying face-down in the lake. Dead as a doornail, my mother would say. He was found by a few boys at my school who were playing down by the water. They saw his shoe first. Then a finger. Then him.

Police swarmed the lake for days, trying to find what could have killed him. What could have taken a finger. After about a week, they left, saying he drowned. A funeral was held. Open casket. That was the last time anyone ever saw him.

***

“Anya Yurislava?”

I turned around. Standing next to a car was a familiar face. I racked my brain. Neighbor? Friend? Family friend?

“It’s me, Aleksandr!”

Oh no…

“Your parents asked me to pick you up.”

Smiling politely, I approached him, the hand holding my suitcase tightening. “Hey… it’s, um… good to see you.”

He smiled. I noticed a tooth missing. Right, I thought. That’s the tooth he lost when he fought Paval. “You look good, Annie.” I cringed at the nickname. I hadn’t been called Annie in years. 

“Thanks.” I shifted my weight to my other leg. “So…”

He stared at me for a moment before perking up. “Oh! Right. We should probably get going.”

I dumped my suitcase into the back of the car and settled into the passenger seat. The first 5 minutes of the drive were uncomfortably silent. I began to chew on my thumbnail. Why was Aleks here? Picking me up? I thought he hated me.

“So, what’re the States like?”

I jumped slightly, startled by the sudden conversation. “Oh, it’s, um… it’s good. Loud and dirty. And pretty damn smelly. But you get used to it.”

“Sounds like every damn country out there.” He laughed, and I smiled slightly. He had definitely changed. A lot. “What’d you go to school for, again?”

“Criminal Science. I wanted to understand the minds of, well, criminals.” Maybe to understand Paval, I thought.

“Oh, well that’s cool.”

We fell once again into silence. I looked out the window and watched those oh so familiar landscapes flash by. More stores were being built. They were trying to urbanize the place. It honestly made me laugh, seeing an AT&T squashed between the church and the parking lot where the farmer’s market was set up every Saturday. Then we passed the lake. I sat up a bit, feeling a chill run down my spine.

“Oh shit… I almost forgot about that…”

“Hm?” Aleks looked over my way. “Oh, right… yeah… no one really goes there anymore.”

I didn’t know the kid that died. He was pretty quiet in school and he didn’t go to church with everyone else. Everyone said that he lived alone and his parents were dead or on a life-long bender or some stupid shit like that. And that’s what justified his death to most people. He didn’t provide much for our town.

I was so lost in my memories that I barely realized we were pulling up to the house. I looked out to find my mom and dad standing on the porch. How long had they been waiting for me? I stepped out of the car and Aleks immediately went to grab my bag for me. I would have protested had my mother not swept me up like I weighed nothing and spun me in a circle.

“Oh, Annie, you’re home!” I could tell she was going to cry. My mom cried a lot, more than most moms do. “We missed you so much.”

“Missed you too, Mam… I can’t breathe…”

“Oh!” She let go of me, still holding my shoulders. “I’m sorry. Well, who’s hungry?”

***

“You’re kidding!”

“No! He was sitting right across from me and water shot out of his nose!”

“Isai, that’s disgusting!”

I laughed, shaking my head. I missed my dad’s stupid stories, and Mam's faked disgust at all of them. As much as I loved New York, I missed my parents.

“So, Annie,” Pap wiped at his mouth with a napkin, “d’you make any friends over in the States?”

I laughed. “I mean, a few. Oh! I forgot to mention. Paval’s been writing to me.”

The table fell silent. I realized I maybe shouldn’t have said something. Pap nodded, looking slightly angry and therefore a little scary. “So, he can write to you, but not his own parents.”

“Isai…”

“No, I’m done pretending he doesn’t hate us! It’s obvious he thinks poorly of us and refuses to give us a reason.”

“To be fair,” I interjected, “you did kind of have pretty obvious favorites.”

“Favorites?!” Pap slammed his fist on the table. “I loved that boy, dammit!”

“Okay, well, you can still love him. He’s not dead.”

“He’s dead to me. I won’t have a murderer for a son!”

“Well, I don’t exactly like having a murderer for a twin! Especially in the country where he got arrested! Do you know how many people have called the police on me because they think I’m an escaped convict?” I stood, throwing my napkin down. “Good to know you haven’t changed, Pap.”

“Annie..”

“Don’t call me that.” I clenched my jaw, looking at my mom. “My name is Anya.”

***

I needed air. I could barely breathe, not after what happened. I shouldn’t have brought up Paval, I should’ve known better. But why was Pap so angry about it? Why couldn’t he just let go and forgive his own damn son?

I wandered down to the lake, craving the quiet, still waters. I assumed no one would be down there. People never were, not after that kid died. But there was one other person standing right where the water met the land. I was hoping not to attract any attention as I approached. Until I stepped on a fallen leaf.

The stranger turned to me. He looked pale and ghostly in the light of the rising moon. I waved politely. He looked… familiar.

“Anya?”

I’d never met this man before. “Um… do I know you?”

“You did.” He walked toward me, and I suddenly felt threatened. “Now I need you to help me.”

“Wha…?”

“I don’t remember much, and I don’t know why I remember. But you have to help me.” He put his hands on my shoulders and I flinched. “There are others, others that they say have died but they’re keeping us. They’re changing us.”

I stepped away from this madman, shaking. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I really don’t-”

“They’re coming for you next, Anya! They’re going to take you and turn into-” With a sickening crack, he fell to the ground, limp. Behind him was a man in a suit, holding a now bloody lead pipe. He dropped the weapon and looked at me.

“I apologize for that, young lady. I’m afraid his operation wasn’t as successful as we planned.” He smiled. “But we’ll do better for you.”

Again, I took a step back. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about…!”

“You don’t remember him? Poor little Rolan…”

“Rolan?” I thought for a second. “The Antonov boy?”

“Indeed.”

“B-but… but he’s dead!”

“Well, he certainly is now.” He chuckled at his own joke. I looked down at the Antonov not-a-boy-anymore. It didn’t make sense.

“So how did he-”

“We framed it.” The man tucked his hands into his pockets. “How shall I say this… he wasn’t exactly following our rules. As are you.”

“Rules?”

“There are just certain things we don’t talk about. Not here, anyway. The people that leave this town cease to exist to us until they return. It explains why your parents didn’t speak about you while you were gone.” He paused. “And why they don’t talk about Paval.”

“I still don’t understand..” I stepped back a third time, hoping I could stall him in order to get a chance to run off.

“Rolan’s father died in the war. He continued to speak about the man we claimed didn’t exist. So, we had to stop him. Reset him.”

“Reset?”

“Yes. Completely reset his memories and send him off somewhere else.” I heard footsteps behind me. “Unfortunately, I fear we will have to do the same for you.”

***

The document inspector eyed her up and down before holding his hand out for her passport. He looked it over carefully before jumping into the routine questions. “Name?”

“Annie Waterson.”

“And what’s your business here?”

The woman paused, deep in thought. “Um…” 

It was a simple question. How could she not know?

“Ma’am?”

“Business.” Rolling his eyes, he handed her the passport and she walked off, saying something under her breath.

“I think…”