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"I sometimes wonder if this ache is because I've
already loved someone and forgotten....and that 
ache is all the memory I have left....."
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Title:  Mysterious Time
Chapter 2
Author:  nat-chan
Genre:  Romance/Alt. Reality
Disclaimer:  standard
E-mail:  natia_99@yahoo.com or nymphnat@animail.net


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Darien sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath.  He jumped up
tripping over his sheets and stumbled to the window.

Something was wrong.  Something was missing.  Something had happened.
But he could not tell what it was.

His mind was reeling, whispering things that vanished into darkness.

Only two things remained.  

A woman's face.....soft and beautiful, whispering 'remember...' and the
sensation of something even more than love.

He fell to his knees and held his head in agony.  He had forgotten 
somehow.
Something.....something......

He looked out to the busy city streets.....the vague blue of the sky in 
the
distance.....this was not right....


He stumbled through his apartment staring at his books and magazines 
and music....None of it seemed right.....or real.....

He splashed cold water on his face and tried to shake an overwhelming 
sensation of displacement.  As though he had been thrust between 
places quite suddenly.....but could not remember...

Then he sat down with a cup of black coffee and tried to collect 
himself.  He felt terribly disoriented.

~I must have had a strange dream....~

But that did not seem right either.  Dreams often left 
mysterious bits...but this wasn't like that....vague images and 
whispers 
felt imprinted in his mind....as though pressed there quite 
powerfully....
and intentionally.

~I'm going crazy...~  He thought in panic.  ~What does this mean?~

He tried to take stock.  

He was home.  In his apartment.  Downtown.  Near his job.  At the 
newspaper.
He had no family.  And few friends.  He lived alone.

Then, suddenly, it struck him what the matter was.  The last thing he 
remembered 
doing....it wasn't going to bed!  He had no recollection of the 
previous 
night or going to bed at all.

The last thing he remembered was.....at the park....in the 
woods....there
had been something strange.....



A knock at the door interupted his thoughts.  He heard a strange sound 
from 
behind the door and hurried over.  But when he opened it there was no 
one
their....except a basket, with blankets and a note.....and a baby.

He jumped back in surprise and looked wildly down the hall at both 
sides.
Then he gingerly picked up the note with it's ethereal silver writing,
~Take care of our baby....~  It read simply...and the words vanished as 
he read 
them....

The note was blank precious seconds later.  He was shaking terribly as 
he reached
down to the baby.  It was a little girl....new 
born....tiny...trembling...
But as soon as he picked her up he knew....with absolute 
certainty....that she was
his.  

He carried her and the basket inside and sat down with her in his arms, 
taking a
good look at her.  She was beautiful.  Her skin was perfect--though she 
seemed
barely minutes old--her eyes wide and blue.  Silvery hair lay like a 
fine down
over her head.  He touched her cheek with awe.

"Hello...."  He said and suddenly felt choked by an overwhelming 
sadness.  
This was his daughter....he was sure of it.  And yet, he could not 
remember
her mother....

The tiny baby grabbed his finger with her chubby fist and held it 
tight,
watching him with wide eyes.

He gathered her up in her soft blankets and headed out....to the 
park....into
the woods....to the last place he remembered being.

He stood there with the baby staring into the dark nothingness of the 
forest
and felt something....he could not say what.

But he knew with blinding suddeness what the baby's name must be....

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