Janet and Jane: The Case of the Amnesiacs: Part Four

      I was walking through Neopia Plaza with the Korbat. It has officially been a whole day since all of this started. Maybe I would remember something today.

      "So..." I said as we were walking. I was trying to remember the Korbat's name. Eh, I didn't need to say it. "What was I doing at that building?"

      She looked at me and asked, "What do you mean?"

      "Well, yesterday, I woke up on a table in a random room in that building. What was I doing there?"

      A worried look came across her face (so much worry over the last two days). The Korbat said, "I was just walking home two nights ago I saw you passed out on the street. Our building was closer than your house, so I just brought you there. After that, I stayed there just in case you woke up." She sighed. "Long story short, I didn't get much sleep that night."

      "You didn't have to do that."

      "Of course I did." The Korbat combed some of her hair with her fingers. "You're my best friend, after all."

      This Korbat said I was her best friend. Did that mean that she was my best friend? Maybe? I didn't know what to think about this. It was clear that she was very concerned about my amnesia, but that could be just a knee-jerk reaction. Who wouldn't be concerned with amnesia?

      Speaking of amnesia, I was also wondering how that pastel Xweetok was doing. She seemed about as confused as me with her amnesia - she just seemed more confident about it than me. She wasn't afraid to admit it, she didn't seem worried that she didn't know what happened, she went somewhere that she didn't remember. That didn't seem right to me. Maybe I could talk to her later.

      As we were walking, I came across the Wishing Well. The Korbat kept walking while I stood by it for a little bit. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a couple Neopoints. This seemed to be about enough. I threw the Neopoints down the Wishing Well.

      "I wish I had my memory back," I whispered under my breath.

      "Janet! What are you doing?" the Korbat shouted. I looked at her to see she was about thirty feet away. How long was I at the Wishing Well? "Come on!"

      I quickly ran up to the Korbat. She was tapping her foot. Once I was by her side again, she began to walk. I walked with her, being careful not to stray from her again. Neopia Central was different from that building I was in a while ago. If I got lost here, it'd be a lot harder to find the Korbat.

      The Korbat and I were just walking when that pastel Xweetok (I knew her name began with the letter D) from yesterday ran up to us. She seemed happy to see us.

      "Dee, what are you doing here?" the Korbat asked. Alright, so her name was actually Dee.

      "Well," she said. She was tapping her foot. I thought she forgot what she was going to say. "Oof, I forgot. But I wrote what I was going to say on some paper because I knew I would forget what I was going to say. Now where did I put that paper?" Dee checked her pockets. Her face lit up and she pulled out a folded up sheet of paper. "Ah, here it is."

      The Korbat unfolded the paper after Dee gave it to her. She read the paper intently. By the end, it looked like she was surprised. I asked her if I could get a look at the paper, to which she agreed. I instantly began to read the paper.

      "Alright, so I was walking around and I overheard two Neopets talking. They said something about Neopets getting attacked recently. Some of whom got amnesia. I heard the word Jackie a few times, but they didn't mention who she was. I assume that she was the one who's attacking other Neopets, but I don't know who she is," the note said.

      "Jackie," I said, trying to think of where I heard that name before. Dee's ears perked up, but quickly went back to their natural position (alright, that was a little strange). I turned to the shadow Korbat. "Do we know a Jackie?"

      The Korbat shook her head and said, "No, we don't know a Jackie. But this does prove that you guys getting amnesia wasn't an accident."

      "So Jane, what are you going to do?" Dee asked.

      "Well, I'm going to stay off the streets at night for the next few days." She looked at me. "You are going to rest and try to remember what happened. Okay?"

      I nodded my head and said, "Alright," in a rather confident yet nervous voice. I tried to sound confident, but I was still unsure about all of this. Something told me that this wasn't something the usual me did, but I didn't know what made me think that.

      Jane and I parted with Dee and continued to wherever we were going. I was going to ask Jane where we were going, but I didn't feel like mentioning it. Besides, I had a better question I wanted answered.

      "Jane, what type of stuff do we do?" I asked.

      "You mean in our detective business?" she asked.

      I nodded my head. "Yes. Natia said something about not making a lot of friends with our job. I would like to know what could make her think that."

      The shadow Korbat sighed, "Well, she's right, Janet. We, or more often, you, get on the bad side of lots of Neopians. We even made Faeries mad."

      "Faeries? Mad?" I scratched my head. "How on Neopia could we get on the bad side of a Faerie?"

      "That's a long story." The Korbat looked at her watch. "Janet, it isn't too late in the day. You want to talk to some Neopets who might have seen what happened?"

      I shrugged. "I guess."

      I was walking down Neopia Central's street. It was night. Stars peppered the sky, but there was no moon tonight. The street lights lit the street so I was able to see. The day I had was a blur to me, but I knew it was an eventful one. I couldn't remember where I was going or where I was before, they were blurs, too.

      A chill wind blew by me. I responded by putting on my jacket. The wind made a few bushes and trees rustle. This didn't really matter to me, as rustling bushes was something that wasn't exactly uncommon when the wind blew. I just ignored the sounds that were made and continued to my destination.

      It was when I heard another set of footsteps behind me that I became nervous. I was the only one out at this hour. When I turned around, I saw nobody. The footsteps stopped. Not a sound was heard. That was a little strange. It was if someone was behind me and they suddenly vanished. That would be impossible, right? Right?

      No matter. I still continued to walk to my destination. My mind couldn't help but think about the footsteps I heard. Could it be just me? It had to be just me, right? Ugh, I didn't know, so I just paid no mind to it and focused on where I was going.

      "Uhmm, excuse me?"

      The sudden sound made me jump, as I was rather apprehensive. I turned around to see a figure walking up behind me. I couldn't make out what the figure was, but from the voice, I could tell it was a female Neopet.

      "Yes, what do you want?" I asked

      "If you don't mind, I need some help. I was trying to move this new desk into my Neohome, but I can't do it on my own. Could you help me?" she asked

      Alright, the lamest attempt at a story I ever heard. I didn't know why, but I said, "Why not?"

      The Neopet walked off in some random direction. I followed her. Why was I doing this? Help a total stranger in the middle of the night with a completely fake cover story, yeah, great idea. What was I thinking? Maybe that was the problem - I wasn't thinking. Too late now, though.

      Suddenly, the figure stopped. I looked at her. I saw a glint in her eye and a grin on her face.

      "Alright, so now what?" I asked.

      A pounding began in my head. I held my head and winced at the pain. The Korbat instantly stopped walking and stood by me.

      "Janet, are you okay?" she asked.

      Janet. There was that name again. I assumed the question was for me and I said, "I'm okay."

      "What happened? Do you feel sick or anything?"

      "No no, I don't feel sick." I stood up straight and looked at the Korbat. She looked very worried. I knew this Korbat cared about me, but I didn't know she was this concerned about me.

      "Sit down and tell me what happened."

      The shadow Korbat walked me to a nearby bench and sat me down. She sat down next to me. Nobody else was nearby. It was just the two of us. I looked around to double check that nobody was close by or coming by. I didn't feel comfortable with the idea of different Neopets hearing what I had to say what happened.

      "So Janet, what happened to you?" the Korbat asked. "Are you sure you're not sick?"

      "I'm not sick..." I replied. I tried to remember her name. "Gina?"

      "Jane."

      "Oh, right." At least I was close to her name. "I just got a headache."

      "That seemed more than just a headache."

      "I know, I know." I sighed. Maybe I should tell her about what I saw, no, remembered. I was sure that was a memory - probably the night before I lost my memory. "Also, I think I remembered something."

      Jane's eyes grew wide. It was as if she didn't believe what I told her. She said to me, "Are you sure?"

      "Not really," I answered. Truth was that I wasn't sure if that was a memory or not. Maybe it was. "Do you still want to hear about it?"

      Jane nodded. I looked around a bit more before I started to explain what I saw or thought or remembered- whatever that was didn't matter. I didn't leave out any detail about whatever on Neopia I experienced. I didn't want to leave anything out that could lead us to what happened.

      "Janet, did you really remember that?" Jane asked.

      "Or thought, I'm still shaky on the details," I informed. "Dangerous stuff did happen to us before, but that's different from what happened in the past."

      "Hold on. You know we do dangerous stuff in the past? Did Natia tell you that?"

      "I don't know if she said that to me. She just mentioned how we got on others' bad side yesterday."

      "Do you remember what type of stuff we did?"

      I tried to remember what this Korbat and I did in the past. I couldn't remember anything. Not one thing. I kept trying to remember until I got a headache. At that point, I was holding my head.

      "No, not really," I said.

      "That's okay," the Korbat said. She got up. "Why don't we go back to our base? There are pictures and familiar settings there. You can try and remember stuff there."

      That was what I have been trying to do for the last couple days. Nothing was working. I only remembered little things. My memory was beginning to come back, but I wanted my memory back now. No matter how fast I got my memory back, it would be too slow. I was with strangers who said they were my friends. I believed them, but it was terrible not knowing my past with them. I couldn't even remember their names.

      Even with those thoughts in my head, I said, "Alright. Let's go."

      To be continued…