Chapter Two: Miranda

"Like those with a vision of the future, we will sail this boat of friendship to Cythera." a young female voice said slowly."

 

A sharp pain hit Miranda and she woke up from her dream.

What came into view were dusty beams and a skylight. Miranda rubbed her temples and sat up from the floor. Directly in front of her was a broken mirror. The dust was partially wiped off the surface of the mirror. Her own face in the mirror looked disheveled, as if a corpse that had been sleeping for a long time had just been reborn again. She looked at herself in the mirror, a terrible looking woman wearing a dark blue sweater with dusty jeans and a pair of canvas sneakers underneath. A pinwheel tattoo on her neck stood out. She touched her neck, but then couldn't remember at all where the tattoo had come from.

Just then she noticed the cell phone dripping beside her. She should have been woken up by this alarm. She looked at the time on her phone and it read 9:30 am. The alarm's prompt was for Miranda to open a memo. Miranda stared at her phone, trying her hardest to remember everything before this sleep and why she was here. But all she got was a blank.

She scrambled to turn off her phone's alarm and tapped on the memo.

"Family Day Convenience Store, southwest corner of Rice City Center Plaza."

It was the address of a convenience store. Again, she immediately tried to organize her thoughts to think about the significance of the address.

Again, it was a blank. Miranda realized to her horror that she couldn't think of anything else.

It was amnesia. She realized what she was facing. She sat on the floor for who knows how long and kept trying to find some snippet of memory for herself. But in the end all she could remember was her name, and a few snippets of her life before that. She had a small bookstore in a small town called Leiden, and she could recall bits and pieces of her life there, but not everything that had happened in recent days. The last thing she remembers is the night before she was about to leave for Rice City. She had learned some bad news then, and her heart was filled with anxiety and unease. As for what kind of news, she couldn't recall it at all.

Miranda supported herself with her still slightly numb arms and slowly stood up. She looked around the place, which looked like an attic. The dusty surroundings told her that no one had been in this attic for a long time. She noticed a row of footprints on the floor. She lifted her foot to look at the sneakers she was wearing and identified the brand of footprints as her own. The marks inside the house told her that she should have come here alone before and fell into a coma.

She then noticed a notebook sitting on the desk beside her. This notebook, she remembered, belonged to her. It was one she had taken from her own bookstore earlier. The notebook was lying quietly on the desk, some of the dust around it wiped away, presumably from her own previous use of the book.

The notebook was clipped to a pen. Miranda stepped forward and turned the page with the pen clipped to it. Written on the page in her own handwriting was the word "Cythera". Another puzzle, she was sure she had written the word in her own handwriting before she passed out for a special purpose. But she couldn't remember the meaning of the word at all. She vaguely remembered as if someone had mentioned the word in a dream while she was unconscious, but as soon as she thought about it, her head began to ache again. It was as if something was preventing her from remembering something.

She picked up her notebook, the headache she'd just had making her suddenly go into a bit of a trance, and involuntarily took a step backward. Then suddenly it felt like she stepped on something. She looked down and it was a handbag. She picked up the handbag and her vague memory told her that the bag belonged to her. She checked the contents of the bag, only some cash and a key chain with an old brass colored key and a car key.

"I was driving." Upon seeing the key, Miranda retrieved some more fragments of her memory. She picked up the key and scrutinized it, trying to find another message on it that her pre-amnesia self had left for herself. But it was not to be; it was just a car key. Miranda couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at herself for not leaving more information. But she also realized that according to her meticulous character, these pitifully small amounts of information must have been left by herself on purpose. It must have been because she had no choice but to provide only these pitiful words to her amnesiac self.

Immediately after that, she realized a crucial problem: her pre-coma self knew about the arrival of the amnesia.

That didn't stop her from being creeped out. An instinct made her realize that this trip to Rice City might be accompanied by some danger. Her pre-amnesia self had only left these hints out of protection for her or for something or someone else.

Miranda proceeded to open the map on her phone, which showed that she was in a neighborhood in the southern part of Rice City. It looked like she had arrived in the city without incident.

She checked her surroundings again, and aside from some dusty furniture, there was nothing of note. To her surprise, the furniture was vaguely familiar to her, as if she had seen it somewhere before. Miranda put her cell phone, notebook & pen into her handbag and went to look for an exit from the attic. A wooden panel with a handle hinted that this was the very exit she was looking for. A ladder on the side of the room told her how she had gotten up here before.

Miranda opened the board, set up the ladder, and carefully stepped down into the attic. She found a small, dark, cramped room below the attic access. She had to turn on the flashlight on her cell phone to see clearly. The room was square, just under two square meters in size. There was a narrow door on one of the four walls. The door was blocked by a block of wood. She shone her flashlight at the board, on which she had written "look down" in her own handwriting. Obviously, it was written earlier by herself using the pen in her notebook. She shone the flash at the bottom of the board and saw a very unassuming metal handle. She knelt down and took the cold handle in her hand, realizing that it was pushable. She pushed the handle as hard as she could, and she realized that it didn't take much effort. And as the handle moved, the entire plank moved outward a bit. A gap was revealed between the plank and the wall, and light poured into the small room through the gap. Miranda stood up and pushed the plank as hard as she could. She found the exit.

She had come to a study. The "plank" she had just pushed away was actually a bookcase. She realized that it was a secret doorway. To hide the entrance to the attic. The pre-amnesia version of herself had written the hint on the back of the bookcase so that she could get out of the trapdoor without any problems.

Miranda looked around the study, where there were only a few bookcases that had been emptied. She lightly toured the entire house again and confirmed that she was the only one here. The owner of this house should have moved a long time ago, the dust and cobweb's that littered the house told Miranda.

But the discovery that immediately followed disturbed Miranda. The door to this house had been pried open. Miranda took out the key chain from her handbag and inserted the brass-colored key into the keyhole.

The key matched the door lock and it turned. Since she had used the key to get in, who was the one who had pried them open?

"Someone else has been in this house!" Miranda pondered uneasily. But she couldn't analyze it any further; the intruder hadn't left any clues other than the pried-open door.

Miranda pushed the door open and took a good look around. There was nothing suspicious around. Judging by the surrounding buildings, this was a neighborhood that had aged quite well. She stepped off the porch, the old wooden steps creaking. She walked straight to a pale yellow car parked across the road, she remembered that it belonged to her and remembered driving it between her home and the bookstore every day in Leiden. She must have driven it to Rice City. And she must have deliberately parked across the road when she reached the old house.

She didn't want anyone to know she was in the house.

Miranda sensed that the hidden attic and the intentionally parked car elsewhere were both actions she had taken to avoid some danger before she passed out. And what was that danger? Could it be the person who pried open the door to the room? She couldn't find the answer now. And the key to it all might be hidden at the address she'd left on her cell phone.

Getting into the car, Miranda turned on the navigation on her phone, which showed that it would take a little over an hour to reach the city center. This was all thanks to the morning rush hour traffic. Miranda started the car and slowly drove away from the neighborhood. Before she left, she glanced back at the old house she had woken up in. The house was vaguely similar to her own home in Leiden. Though shabby, it gave Miranda a warm, familiar feeling. Of course, she also noticed that the house was only two stories tall from the outside. The attic where she had awakened was a complete secret room. The uninformed would never have known that another attic existed in this house. But how did she herself know?

The mystery had grown by this point, and Miranda didn't want to think about it anymore. Mostly because she was now surrounded by another feeling: hunger. Miranda didn't remember how long she had been unconscious, but this hunger told her that she hadn't eaten for at least over ten hours.

It was at this point that she noticed a barbecue restaurant on the side of the road. It was less than a five-minute drive from the neighborhood just now. An inexplicable sense of familiarity rushed to her. She must have come to this barbecue restaurant before! And it was the kind of restaurant that she would patronize often.

"Cheer up, Sister Yang!"

A voice rang in Miranda's head. It was as if the restaurant was whispering to her through the car glass. That voice was gentle and childlike, and it had to be someone Miranda knew. The one that not only knew Miranda's last name, but called her sister. An urge drove Miranda to this restaurant, and she wasn't sure if it was a quest for the truth or a hunger, or perhaps both.

"Welcome." The waiter saw someone come in and spoke listlessly to Miranda. But when he got a good look at Miranda, his eyes suddenly lit up and he cleared his throat, "Welcome! It's been a long time!"

Miranda was deeply surprised that someone here actually knew her.

"You, you know me?" Miranda asked cautiously.

"Oh, I can't say I know you, but I have an impression of you. You used to come here a lot right? It feels like it's been ages since I've seen you."

"Oh, so it has. About how long has it been since I've been here? I can't remember the last time I was here." Miranda asked tentatively. Trying to get more information from the waitress.

"That's a long time. It must have been years. I almost didn't think of you just now. What can I get you today?"

Miranda was a little lost, it seemed the waiter just had a familiarity with her and didn't know her.

She ordered one of her favorite lamb burritos, she used to go to a similar kebab store in Leiden to get this for dinner.

"What a coincidence today, so many familiar faces." The waitress said as she collected the cash Miranda had paid and operated the cash register.

"Oh, is there anyone else?" Miranda asked

"Yes, I saw a gentleman just now. Hasn't been a customer in many years either." The waitress handed Miranda the printed receipt.

"Thanks." Miranda took the receipt and smiled. Then she found a seat in the corner and sat down.

She took out her cell phone and started searching for the word that was written in her notebook, Cythera.

The search showed many conclusions. There were islands, ships, paintings, hotels, and more. The word was rare, but there were still things named after it. She clicked on some explanations of the word and found that the word Cythera came from the name of an island. The island belonged to a distant country, located on the other side of the globe.

"Why would I write the name of this island in my notebook? Geez Miranda Yang, why can't you think of anything!?" Miranda hammered her hand lightly on her forehead in chagrin.

"Your lamb burrito." The waitress interrupted Miranda's thoughts.

" Thank you." Miranda said politely to the waiter.

She picked up the hot burrito and took a bite, ignoring the temperature of the food. The spice-soaked gravy blossomed in Miranda's mouth. The smooth lamb was wrapped in a fluffy burrito that hit every taste bud in her mouth. All of Miranda's insecurities and uncertainties vanished in this moment.

After a quick devouring, Miranda had an empty plate sitting in front of her. She casually placed her tip under the plate, stood up and hurried away. The food she had just eaten had taken her mind off the embarrassment of her amnesia for a while. But once the hunger was removed, reason once again prevailed. Miranda remembered the risks that could accompany this trip to Rice City and couldn't help but feel slightly chagrined at having just wandered off. She clutched her handbag tightly and made her way to her car. It then proceeded to head back towards the city center.

The closer she got to the city center, the more she felt like Rice City was a place she knew well. Even at the turns at some intersections, she completed the turn subconsciously first before noticing that her cell phone's navigation was pointing the same way. For a few moments, she felt that she could detach herself from this navigation and go to her destination entirely from memory. But she still dismissed the idea, because at this point the thing she was most uncertain about was her own tattered memory.

It wasn't far from the destination. A huge building came into Miranda's sight. It was the city clock tower of Rice City. This big clock tower stood in the center of Rice City. Seeing it meant that one was already approaching that convenience store.

Miranda began to think about her next plan. "Hopefully, I can retrieve my memories there, and then I ...."

"BANG!!!"

A loud noise directly blanked Miranda's consciousness for a second. The next thing she knew, she realized her car was careening into a concrete pier on the side of the road at an unnatural speed.

"Car accident!" That was the first words that came to Miranda's mind.

Miranda immediately let off the gas pedal. She observed her car within a split second as the rear of her car began to fling itself to the right from the unknown impact. She then immediately took the steering wheel to the right. She glanced again at the concrete pier that was closing in on her. Then immediately turned the steering wheel more sharply to the right. Her poor little pale yellow car immediately changed to a rear end fling to the left. She then gave the brakes three more quick taps.

There was another loud thud. The rear of the car hit the concrete pier hard. Thanks to Miranda's maneuver, the concrete pier that should have crashed into the driver's seat now destroyed the rear of her car. The interior of the car was a mess. By the time Miranda slowed down, many parts of the car were long gone from their original positions. Miranda realized that the crash might not be that simple. An instinctive desire to survive made her immediately grab the handbag that had been hidden between her back and the seat of the car, and go to the car door. She needed to get out of the vehicle as quickly as possible.

The door had been knocked out of shape and Miranda couldn't even open it. She then grabbed the headrest of the car seat behind her and dismantled it. Inserting the hard metal rod under the headrest into the gap between the underside of the door glass and the door. She wrenched the headrest and the entire door glass immediately shattered into a million tiny pieces. Not caring if the glass was sharp or not, she braced herself with one hand on the door and sent her body out of the car.

Miranda's entire body fell to the ground. She knew she couldn't stay here. There was nothing innocent about this car accident.

She struggled to stand up, still clutching the handbag in her right hand. Strangers came up to her and tried to ask if she needed help, she didn't give any response at all. She spotted an alley by the side of the road and frantically ran in.

"This pinwheel won't keep spinning. It will stop one day."

A voice from the depths of her memory woke Miranda. She curled up in the couch with a few tears in the corners of her eyes. She was in a vet hospital at this time. A thick bandage was wrapped around her right wrist.

Miranda tried to remember everything that had happened before. After the car accident, she had been running wildly in the alley. She felt that there was someone behind her chasing her. In that moment, she actually did not fear death. The danger behind this trip to Rice City might threaten her life. But she was more worried that the mission she came to Rice City would not be accomplished. Although she couldn't recall what this mission was. But a heartfelt urge told her not to die until she accomplished it.

"Don't die, Miranda." She said to herself. The feet kept running.

At a subway stop, she was finally able to stop and take a breath. She glanced at the subway sign, having lost her transportation she now had to choose another way to get to the downtown square quickly. Just as she picked up her handbag and was about to go get some money, a horrible wound appeared in front of her eyes.

It could have been from the car accident, from climbing through the shattered window, or from panicking and running away, when she got a deep cut at her wrist. Because of the adrenaline, she hadn't been aware of the pain. It hadn't touched a dangerous artery, but this bleeding situation in front of her could never be ignored. She pressed the corner of her sweater hard against the wound and began to look for a place where she could treat it. She didn't trust hospitals or clinics, she needed to keep a low profile at this point. The effects of the adrenaline were already slowly wearing off and she began to feel the pain gradually. It wasn't long before she was lucky enough to find a vet hospital that happened to be closed for the day. She managed to "open" a window by the back door and climbed in. Then she found a needle and thread in the medical cabinet. She managed to suture herself through the excruciating pain. Just after the wound was treated, the adrenaline rush caused extreme drowsiness to hit her.

Miranda stared at the circles of bandages, thinking about her skillful over-the-top driving and this masterful bandaging technique. She couldn't help but laugh bitterly. Memory loss was a terrible thing, and she was even beginning to wonder about her past. What exactly had she experienced in this Rice city once upon a time?

Miranda picked up her cell phone and checked the time. It was already 7:30 in the evening. It got dark early in Rice City in the winter, and the vet hospital was awfully silent. She walked to the staff lounge where she found some food and water. After a brief bite to eat, she decided she'd better get out of here and get to that convenience store as soon as possible.

Miranda crept out the window that she had come in through earlier. Closing the window carefully again. Then threw a plastic bag into the dumpster in the alley. It contained the medical supplies she'd brought from the vet hospital that were stained with her blood, as well as snack bags and empty water bottles. It also contained her dark blue sweater. She had "borrowed" a thick khaki sweater from some unlucky employee's closet to replace the bloodstained clothes.

Just as she turned to leave the alley and walk back to the street, the bell rang.

It was the sound of the large bell tower from downtown Rice. Miranda felt the bell as if a gentle hand had gently pushed her. She felt as if she had come out of a chaos. She immediately tried to find her lost memories, but failed. She secretly cursed herself. For a moment she was actually naive enough to think that the bell had cured her amnesia.

Miranda followed her phone's navigation to a nearby intersection. This place felt more familiar to her compared to the run-down neighborhood from the morning. She could even think in her head how many intersections and a few turns it would take to reach her destination. This familiarity made her quicken her pace.

Family Day Convenience Store is right in front of you, or rather it used to be. The convenience store had been abandoned for a long time, the door to the room filled with rust. Miranda was slightly skeptical of her memories. She was a little confused as to why her pre-amnesia self had guided her to this broken house. Miranda sighed and stepped forward to take hold of the doorknob to try and open the door. Just moments after Miranda's hand was on the doorknob, there was a mechanical sound, followed by a crisp unlocking sound. Miranda gave it a gentle pull, and the door unexpectedly opened directly. This rusty iron door seemed as if it was only used to confuse others, but in fact, it had always been fully functional.

Miranda walked into the convenience store, and the lights turned on automatically. What met her eyes was a room with white walls on all sides. She carefully stepped inside, and the door behind her automatically closed.

"I...I....kn...kne..w..y....you...would....d....find.....m...me" A broken voice sounded in Miranda's mind.

"Who are you?" Miranda asked eagerly

" ….Yo…you…m…mu…must..get…t…to..the…..base…basement…o…o..of…the…Smith…Bu…Building….imm…mm..mmediately..ly."

Miranda didn't hear it clearly the first time. But the voice repeated the latter phrase again. It was still intermittent and laced with noise. But this time she understood it all.

Smith Building, basement.

Miranda was pretty sure this was the next location she was going to on her own. This convenience store address was the one she had left herself before her memory loss, so this next clue was all she could choose to believe.

"I'll be there." Miranda voiced her promise. "Do I know you?"

The voice didn't come back.

Miranda was slightly lost. After waiting a few more seconds, she turned and opened the door, ready to head to her next destination.

She made it halfway through opening the door when an inexplicable urge made her look back again. All she saw was still just an empty room.

She froze for a moment as a wave of loss washed over her. The voice she had just heard was both unfamiliar and intimate. It felt as if someone she had been holding onto for so long had met up with her again.

 

"... we will sail this boat of friendship to Cythera."

 

Miranda slowly walked out of the room, closing the door slowly behind her.

Choose a story you don't already know

(both stories can be read in any order)

Suspect: Dura

Suspect: Douglas

If you've read all three suspects' stories

please continue reading:

Chapter Five