Page 87 of Merciless Sinner

I stare back at him, then realize that my body is completely covered in a cold sweat.

"Olivia," he says my name again,

"It was you. You helped me," I stutter.

"What are you talking about?"

"In my dream."

"What did you dream?"

I pause for a moment as I think of the dream. It was different again. It's different every time I have it now. It's no longer the same run-through scenario where I'm crawling through this hole.

"Sweetie, tell me what happened. What did you dream?"

"Normally, it's a dream that I'm surrounded by darkness, like I'm in a hole. I'm trying to feel my way out. There’s nothing but darkness until someone calls me into the light. A hand reaches down. I can never usually tell who's calling me, but I can hear the words, and I can see the hand, but I never see who it belongs to until just now when I saw you, Virgo, but you couldn't have been more than twelve."

His face pales. "Olivia, that wasn't a dream." He shakes his head.

"What?"

"That really happened. When you were nine, you used to look around rabbit holes in the woods we used to play in. That's why I called you Zayka. You fell through an old tunnel that had caved in, and you were trapped for a few days. No one could find you. It was Cillian, your dad, and me who found you, but I pulled you out of the hole."

I bring a hand to my heart. "Oh my God, that really happened?"

"Yes. Olivia… you're remembering." He touches my face lovingly, and I press my cheek into his palm.

“I am.”

“You’re remembering me.” He smiles with warmth.

"Yes. I've been dreaming that dream for so long.” Maybe it's because that was the first time I felt so lost. I actually fell into a hole. Just like Alice. “You saved me.”

“I did.”

“You were in my head all this time.” I nod.

“Never left, Zayka. I never left.” He pulls me close into a hug, and I think of what all of this could mean.

I’m remembering, and the dream was my mind trying to access my memories.

But… what about the other things?

The other things I saw in that dream that have recently popped up?

Did those really happen, too?

Like the sound of gunfire, my mother telling me to run, the fractured faces.

God… what else did I see?

* * *

I've just finished seeing Dr. Belmont.

Due to the nature of how my memories are returning, he suggested a few sessions of hypnotherapy.

I can't believe I had two memories over the last few days.

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