She was running down a grassy knoll with a huge grin on her face. The sky above her held two brilliant suns that lit up the flawless blue sky, framed by dark green trees that whispered secrets when the wind passed through. Sun stopped running to admire a bundle of purple flowers that were growing out of a patch of orange grass, kneeling down and breathing in deeply to absorb the flowers’ sweet aroma. Digging her hands into the soft soil, she scooped a coupled flowers up, roots and all, to show her father. They would add them to their indoor garden back at the center.

“Take it easy on me Flora, you know I can’t run as fast as you.” A breathless male voice called out from behind her.

Turning around with a huge grin on her face, she launched herself at the man, eager to show him her find. To her joy, his blue eyes lit up and he tousled her hair.

“A rare find. I haven’t seen a Columbine in ages. Good thing we decided to take an adventure and check out a new sector this time. What do you say we head back and get this baby planted?”

She nodded enthusiastically, clutching the mess of dirt and plants to her chest so she could latch onto the man’s hand. He gave her hand a squeeze, not minding the vast amount of soil her hand was coated in. She let go of his hand only to pet the moss on fallen trees or to gather more earth for the plant she was holding, only to return to his warmth as soon as she was done. When she spotted a large beetle on the upper trunk of a tree and couldn’t get a closer look, the man scooped her up and put her on his shoulders, unaffected by the amount of dirt raining down on his head.

Something nagged in the back of her mind, but she ignored it. She just wanted to live in the moment with her dad. A feeling of happiness welled up in her chest at the thought and her smile grew even bigger.

She and her dad would go back to the center and plant the flower in their garden, and then they would eat sweet cakes and drink chocolate milk together like they did every night before settling down to recharge. They would get up the next day to watch the first sunrise like they always did. By the time the second sun would rise they would be at the research facility her father worked at and she’d help him with his experiments. They’d go on a lunch break and wander the halls often toying with the other scientists by hiding around corners and jumping out when they least expected it. When the first sunset they would head back home to settle in for the night. Because it was what they always did.

She found herself standing in a world of darkness surrounded by floating orbs. In front of her stood the reflection of herself, the one she called Alter.

“How did you enjoy that memory?” Alter asked, mockingly, as if she already knew the answer.

Sun was at a loss for words. She had experienced absolute happiness resting on the shoulders of her dad, but it had all just been a memory? Her knees collapsed from under her as the feeling of utter despair hit her like a brick wall.

“Why are you doing this to me?” she choked out.

“You’re the one that made the choice. Blame yourself, not me. Well, I guess you could blame me since I am you, but I don’t like being a scapegoat.”

Had Sun chosen to forget? Why would she ever choose to forget her father and the world with two suns? Alter was tricking her, Sun was sure of it. Letting out a feral cry, she launched herself at Alter in the hopes of hurting her like she had hurt Sun. She’d been in that new world for a week now and was feeling pretty confident in her ability to throw a decent punch. If she could just punch Alter a few times she would feel much better.

Alter easily moved out of the way, grinning when Sun threw more punches at her and they all missed. Sun grew increasingly frustrating, flashing back to her first session with Leslie.

“Fight me!” Sun screamed.

It just made Alter’s grin grow even larger.

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“I don’t think you want me to do that. We can be quite scary when we’re fighting.”

“Damn you!”

Sun tried to throw in a few kicks but only ended up losing balance and falling.

“I hate you!”

“Oh, believe me, I know.”

A sob racked in Sun’s chest, attempting to break out. She shoved the feeling down and let anger consume her as she threw herself at Alter again.

“As much as I love a good quarrel, you’re only going to get yourself worked up and worn out if you keep at this. This is kind of a one-sided fight” Alter stated while dodging a few more Sun’s punches.

“Then fight back!”

Alter shrugged and suddenly Sun felt a blow hit her square in the solar plexus, leaving her struggling for breath. Gasping for breath and with spots danced in her vision, Sun collapsed again while her lungs attempted to restart themselves.

“Aim where it really counts,” she heard Alter breath into her ear.

Lungs working again, Sun attempted to uppercut Alter now that she was within proximity, but still hit the air. She could tell Alter was getting annoyed but continued her barrage of attacks, knowing that if she stopped she would break down crying. Sun wanted to be able to blame Alter for making her relive a happy memory she couldn’t have anymore. If she could just make contact once!

Sun felt her strike hit Alter and she looked at her opponent to see what damage was dealt. Alter was unmoved by the punch that hit her in her shoulder, looking at Sun with a look of mild irritation one would dedicate to watching an ant attempting to find food on a picnic blanket.

“Are you done now?” Alter asked, clearly having had enough. “Because we can go at it like dogs if you really want. I’m sick of this already, but since you’ve so obviously stated that you want a fight, I’ll give you one. Say mercy when you’ve had enough.”

Before Sun could react, the black reflective surface that surrounded Alter rose up and formed around the girl. Staggering back, the black goo rose above her and started stretching in different directions. Long spindly limbs formed and a glowing orb sank itself to a spherical protrusion in the mass, two holes appearing on the face giving it the illusion that two eyes were watching Sun. She watched in horror as it rose above her, legs frozen in place.

“Let’s have us a good fight now shall we?”

The voice boomed in the dark area, rattling through Sun’s very bones. An arm shot out at her, and by pure instinct, she shifted out of the way. The claw landed on the black mirror of the ground was a crack and Sun watch in fear as the very surface shattered upwards with the force. She felt the air whoosh out of her lungs as the other arm pinned her against the broken ground. The demonic face grew closer to her, the eyes shifting colors from red to blue at an alarming pace.

“Given up already have we?”

Sun tried to find the words, but she had no breath.

“What was that? You want to fight some more?”

“Mer--mercy,” Sun choked out.

In an instant the black creature was gone, replaced by a very innocent looking Alter, her arm outstretched to help Sun up from the floor.

“I told you we can be scary when we fight.”

Sun woke up to Roger shaking her awake.

“Are you alright?” He asked in an urgent whisper.

She tried to nod and reassure him that everything was okay, that everything was okay, but she couldn’t. The sob that she had shoved down pushed through her body with vigor.

Roger wrapped his arms around her, unsure of what she was crying about but wanting to comfort her all the same. This was the first time since he’d seen her so emotional about anything; most of the time she was running around asking questions while he attempted to provide explanations as to how cars worked or why the snow was cold. He’d been so absorbed in his case that he’d forgotten that she was a little girl who lost her memories and needed support even when she didn’t vocalize it. Pangs of guilt hit him when he realized that all he’d been doing up until now was to fulfill his own needs so he had pushed her onto other people. He had done what his parents had done to him. He clutched her tighter to his chest as if to protect her from the unknown.

Sun didn’t know what exactly she was emotions she was feeling, but she felt like shit. The memory of her father and her home still lingered in her mind, leaving her with the bitter aftertaste of loneliness, but the creature that had nearly destroyed her made her want to crawl into a corner and never leave. She was crying over the precious things she had lost and for the terror she felt knowing Alter was a creature that could kill her whenever she wanted. Her sobs died down into sniffles before Roger unwrapped his arms from around her body. She pushed away from him, immediately missed his warmth but needed to regroup in the bathroom before attempting to do anything else.

Sun found that she couldn’t face herself in the mirror because the eyes that were looking back at her were Alter’s.