The Woman With The False Memory

The Woman With The False Memory
by
� chibilunacat

The woman sat in the hard wooden chair a bit stiffly, she was concentrating on
the smoking end of the cigarette, watching the broken curling smoke drift towards
the yellow-white ceiling, her hand was shaking wildly. The policeman sitting at the desk across from her was waiting patiently for her answer to question, forgotten in her wandering mind, he knew he would have to ask again. She took one last draw
off of her cigarette, even though it wasn't half gone, and crushed it out while
exhaling the bluish stream, a smile gave rise to only the very corners of the mouth.

"Ma'am" the policeman started.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about how untill now I had only really seen people in movies put out a cigarette mostly unsmoked, seems impossible for people as far into the habbit as me." the smile had remained through this, but now drifted away.

"I see" he nodded in agreement. Then he shook his head as though clearing his thoughts. "Your name." he said. "What did you say your name was again?" he
hoped he wouldn't have to repeat this question again, he could already tell this
was going to be a long night.

"Sylvia Dorn" she stated, a bit matter of factly, looking at him with her chocolate brown eyes, the lights danced merrily inside them. Her dirty blonde hair was swept back carelessly in a clip. There was a swollen bruised lump on her forehead over her left eye with an angry cut splitting it, it had been hastily cleaned up, a bit of dried blood still lined the edges making it appear wider.

"Alright Miss Dorn, I'm Officer Barker. Now you say you were assaulted in your
home by a man wearing dark colors and a black mask?" he more stated than asked. The brass on his uniform picked up the light as he shifted in his chair and began writting in a pad of paper. He paused and looked up at her, his blue eyes
questioning.

"Yes, thats right." she nodded at him, she shifted in her own seat and her purse
nearly tumbled to the floor, she caught it by the strap and then set it on the edge
of the desk. "Do you have any idea why you were attacked?" he asked, readying
his pen. "Have any enemies or are you involved in something that would cause someone to want to do you harm?" he asked her more out of routine than genuine curiosity.

"I don't have any enemies, no..." she started "I am not involved in anything more dangerous than a sewing circle, however, I feel perhaps the intention was robbery. My late husband left me a substantial ammount of money when he died, and thats
no secret." she stated rather bluntly. "Besides, they did take money and my jewelry." she informed him.

"Yes, I see" he stated, scribbling away in a pad. "You also said you were able to remove the mans mask, and as I understand you pointed him out in a mugshot?" he asked.

"Yes" she said.

"I know its been a long night, but I need to hear the story again for the report." he said. "So please, run me through the story one more time."

"Alright" she sighed. It was obvious from the tired and drained look on her face that she was ready for the night to just be over with. She got a fresh cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply, she held the cigarette up for a moment "I haven't smoked in two years, can you believe it?" she smiled that light humor smile again and then set her arm back down, she looked at her hands, and began her story again.

"I came home around nine thirty tonight, I parked in the garage as usual and went
in the house through the garage entrance, into the kitchen. I went to shut off my
alarm and realized it was already off. I figured maybe I had forgotten to set it, but
as I thought about it it didn't seem likely. A bad feeling started in the pit of my stomache and I tried to laugh it off, you know how it is, alone in a house at night
and you begin to scare yourself with thoughts of what if, especially when you're
sed to living with someone, then suddenly that someone is gone." she laughed a bit nervously at this and drew on the cigarette again.

"Well, I poured myself a drink, some milk, and proceeded upstairs to my room, the house was dark except for a light I leave on in the hallway so I can see. I was planning to take a bath and retire for the evening, I hadn't had much sleep lately
and I was pretty tired." she paused to take a sip of coffee that was brought to her in a styrofoam cup, she smiled lightly again as though savoring the flavor. Then she cleared her throat and went on.

"As I neared my bedroom I began to realize that I wasn't alone in the house. I could hear the sound of someone rummaging throught my drawers, tossing stuff about and whispering to them selves. Though I realize I should have run downstairs, got out of there, called someone, something inside me kept pulling me towards my room. I pushed my door the rest of the way open, for it was only standing open a bit, and I could see the flashlight beam playing back and forth across my dreser, and reflecting in my mirror. I gasped and the person turned to face me, putting that glaring beam of light right in my face.

"He grunted something I couldn't understand and moved quickly towards me. I had time to run, I know, but that same force that moved me forward before now held me firmly in place. He grabbed ahold of my shoulder, turned me slightly, and
pushed me towards the bed. I fell onto the bed face down and quickly rolled myself over, he came at me, making a noise that almost sounded like laughter and raised the hand with the flashlight. I looked around for something to fight back with and saw nothing. When he was close enough I kicked him in the stomache and he went reeling backwards, almost falling over. Unfortunately he caught his balance, and as I struggled back out of the bed he hit me in the head with his flashlight." she gestured to her forehead, at the angry cut and nasty bruise, brushed it lightly with her fingertips and went on
.
"I nearly blacked out, I could almost literally see stars, then, I realized I was back
on the bed. I felt him on top of me, he pinned me down and was tearing at my
clothes. My head throbbd tand still I tried to fight him with all my might.

"He had his way with me and hit me in the stomache several times." she put her
head down looking at the cigarette that was burning away, she reached up almost without thought and stubbed it out. "Before I lost consiousness I grabbed his mask
off and my fingernails tore open his neck some; it bled anyway. He had been a man I had hired as a landscaper for my lawn, trim hedges, plant some flowers, mow the lawn, that sort of thing. If I am correct I am not the first person he did this too." she looked up at Barker, for confirmation.

Another officer called Barker over and began to discuss something with him, he
was holding some papers in his hand. The two officers kept looking at her the whole time. Finally Barker nodded and came back over to where she sat, she was sipping the coffee, with that flavor savoring look of someone who is having a favorite dish for the first time in a long time. He sat down, put a few papers in front of him, looked at her, then back down at the papers. He made a noise in his throat, almost like clearing it, then clasped his hands together on the papers and looked at her with a tight lipped almost non believing expression.

"Ma'am" he started, with a snotty tone in his voice. "You mind letting me see your drivers liscense?" she handed it to him and he looked it over.

"Whats your date of birth Miss Dorn?" he asked her.

"September sixteenth nineteen sixty five" she stated fluently. He nodded, asked her for her social security number and upon recieving that he nodded again.

"Ma'am" he said, looking directly at her, a bit of confusion dancing among the non-belief. "Are you aware of the fact that the man you named as a suspect of tonights crime was arrested breaking into a house a year ago? He is serving in the state penn as we speak. He is in his cell even now, it was confirmed by the warden." he looked at her for a reaction, and she showed none.

"Furthermore" he continued, "I don't know who you are, or if you think this is some kind of joke, but I am sure Miss Dorns family would not appreciate you trying to impersonate their late daughter, though I must admit you are a dead ringer for her." he stated, setting the liscense down on top of all the papers. "Miss Sylvia Brannon Dorn was murdered two years ago on this date by someone who robbed, raped, and stabbed her. She had a head injury matching yours yes, but she is dead. I have the crime scene photos and the autopsy report, care to take a look, maybe you won't think this is so funny." He stated, studying her face.

She sat still in the chair, not moving at first, then she set her purse in her lap and shifted her gaze to the floor. She smiled at Barker and stood up, he began to rise
with her and to ask her to sit back down but she motioned for him to stop.

"I just wanted you to hear my side of it" she smiled, she put her purse over her shoulder, then lifted the bottom of her shirt to show several stab wounds on her stomache, the blood long washed away from her deadly pale skin. She lowered her shirt again and walked away, leaving Barker flabbergasted.

"But it's impossible!" he shouted after her "You can't be right, how can you
remember what happened to someone else? How can you have those wounds and walk?" He sounded near hysterics. "You just can't be her!" he shouted. He turned
to another officer and pleadingly said "Did you see that? Those can't be her
wounds, she wouldn't be alive! I saw her body that night, when I arrived on call,
she was dead!" he told the officer. "Long dead. If that is her how does she know I
was on that case, she was dead then!" he was trying to reason loudly.

"Calm down!" the other officer said "and tell me what you are talking about!" the officer said to Barker.

"The lady I was just talking to!" he nearly shouted at the other officer.

"Alright, alright" he stated. The two officers sat and talked it out, and Barker
calmed down. About an hour had went by and his phone rang. He talked to the
person, and as he talked he paled. The other officer looked at him questioningly.
Then Barker put the phone down.

He swallowed deeply and pulled at the collar of his shirt. "He's dead!" he
exclaimed.

"What?" the other officer asked, not understanding.

"The man the woman said attacked her, the man she pointed out in the mugshot"
he stated. "Stabbed to death in his bed, several times, in the stomache...." he didn't finish though it looked like he was going to say more, instead he shook the thought away.

"What is it?" the other officer asked.

"The guard who ran to his cell when he heard the scream said that he thought he heard a womans voice in the cell with him. He said it sounded like she said 'Don't worry, they say the dead have no memory........'"

Terra Mae
9/8/2001