A Small California Town with a Psychiatric Hospital

In a small town in California there is a music shop. Charlie walks to it every day and sits at the piano, looking at the keys. The dim light reflected off the keys and the girl traced them, her heart heavy. She couldn't remember her father getting rid of her mother's piano. He said it was to pay for Charlie's hospital bills, after she couldn't remember any more. On that thought she pulled a battered leather bound journal out of her bag. Flipping to the beginning. The journal itself is fat, filled with many pictures and a few sketches. Maybe a love note or two. On one of the first few pages she recognizes her friend’s handwriting. The journal had been a gift from her best friend, so she could "remember". The note said to keep her chin up, that her memory loss wasn't permanent... but if it was? Charlie shuddered as that thought crossed her mind. The girl looked back down at the page, she could tell it was worn from the crinkled edges and the tear splotches. Her worn fingers smooth the page out and she turns it, looking for something familiar, anything to trigger those days forgotten. She closes the journal abruptly as tears of frustration well up in her eyes. She shoved the book in her bag, this wasn't her, it was another person.

Charlie’s dark hair was pulled back into a pencil bun, the metal tip of the eraser could be seen. Apart from the thin scar on her temple and the medical bracelet with the tracking device she looked normal… Scrubbing angrily at the tears, Charlie began to play, getting lost in the simplicity of the music.

Charlie jumped violently and it caused a massive piano book to wiz past the man’s left ear.
“I’m sorry,” She whimpered before she buried her face in her hands. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
The flash of the hospital bracelet was visible in the dim light. The poor creature didn’t even see his face and yet she was scared… would he tell?

“Are you going to tell? About the,” She raised her head, and made the motion with her hand to represent the book flying by. Charlie’s eyes were hazel and wide, with fear. Her eyes dropped to the band, identical to hers, around the man’s wrist. “You go to the hospital too?”

Charlie asked this in a tiny voice, her nose scrunching up causing her few freckles on her nose to crinkle. The man in front of her looked like he could use a good wash, with matted blonde hair and the strangest eyes she had ever seen. He was also shorter than her, by about two inches. He might have still been growing… he might not have been. Charlie couldn’t tell.
She twisted the identical white band around her wrist and looked at him intently, still a hint of fear in her eyes.

Charlie’s head snapped around, watching the book as it levitated back into the shelf. Anxiously she chewed her lip before looking back at the man, “Do you have a name?”

While she asked that question she pulled her bag towards her that had been sitting on the piano. Out of the bag she pulled an old fashioned camera, a battered leather journal, a pen, and a glue stick. The camera in question was the kind that took the picture and then immediately developed it afterwards, spitting it out the front.

“Smile,” She asked questioningly before taking the picture. Charlie showed it to him with the hand that had the white band around it. It had her full name (Charlotte Ellis, a name that she loathed), age (20), weight (136 lbs), and her mental problem printed in black block lettering. Then she glued it into the leather book, more towards the back. Next to another man named Casio.

“How do you spell that?” Charlie asked, chewing on her lip again. Carefully, she printed the name he gave her out before looking up at him again. The reason Charlie did this was so she had a way of remembering. She didn’t recall reading his name or seeing his face when she read the people she had met in the back of the book.

“You liked the music? Is that what drew you in here?” The man’s facial expressions were priceless, like a seven or an eight year old. Much like that classic look of little kid wonder. “If you were to stick around for a day at the institute you could get a hot shower and free food. Breakfast was good, so I am going to assume that dinner is as well.”
Charlie added this as an afterthought, scratching at the I.D band/tracking device around her wrist.

Charlie winced at the use of her given name, "It's Charlie actually. I don't like the name Charlotte..." She trailed off looking for her fingers, her mother used to call her Charlotte and it hurt more than anything to hear anyone different call her that.

But she offered him an smile before the other guy walked in, he was searching for someone and Ouro got a funny look on his face after the guy left. Charlie could honestly say she had never met the guy because she wouldn't remember.

After he walked out the door, Charlie started plunking lightly on the piano again. A basic tune really, one that allowed her to converse and talk to Ouroboros at the same time.
"Do you have a shorter name I could call you? So, it's easier to remember, yah know?"

Her lips curved up into a smile, her brain quickly flashing back to the irony of the situation. She wouldn't remember this meeting tomorrow, "Oh, and if you do plan on sticking around... your going to need to introduce yourself again tomorrow... I have... eh... memory issues."

     "Oh, eh...I dunno actually. The only other thing people call me are Pup and Pet. But that's a bit different." Ouro said before he looked down at the piano keys. He ended up bringing his thumb up and pressing the bottom of his chin with his index finger curled around the top of it. He looked like a stumped little kid that had just been asked a difficult math problem. Finally, he just concluded that he would borrow a name. The name that other kid said earlier was interesting. Zell huh? Had a familiar ring...and Ouro kind of liked it. "Actually just call me Zell. I don't really have a name so I'll borrow one."He said with a smile.

    "Memory issues? What do you mean by that? Are you okay?" Ouroboros asked. He felt a slight concern for the girl, after all he had not yet been affected by any form of corruption yet. He eventually would come to loath humanity, but that was a story for another time. For now he simply was an ignorant little fish in the big blue sea.

"I am going to pretend that you didn't steal that guy's name," Charlie said, her lips quirking up into a smile. Over her lifetime she learned, life gets easier if you smile. Her dark bangs fell into her face as she wrote Zell in parentheses next to his actual name.

At his question her expression darkened, "I only have twenty-four hours worth of memory. I was in an accident when I was..." She rifled through her journal to find out when. "Eighteen. I was thrown from a horse while not wearing a helmet. So my brain resets to that day every morning. So, I'm not going to remember you tomorrow."    

Charlie shoved the journal out of sight like it was some kind of poisonous viper, not wanting to touch it. Her fingers moved over to the keys and she began playing lightly to distract herself. It was a low chiming noise, pleasant background music quite the opposite to her roiling emotions. Anger, fear, and other all frustration.

  Ouro flashed an ear to ear childish smile as he listened to her. Of course his smile began to fade once he heard her sad story. He just provided a sympathetic ear at the moment. Maybe he'd have advice. But he wasn't a doctor. He listened intently, an uncharacteristically sympathetic look on his face as it sunk in. "I only have twenty-four hours worth of memory. I was in an accident when I was..Eighteen-." But then Ouro sort of dropped off for a moment. It was truly only a fraction of a second, with how his mind functioned so fast and unhindered. He felt like a kindred spirit...having no memory of his own past, although he felt as though this girl was the one who was better off. He snapped back in time to hear her start at "only" he hadn't missed much it seemed. It would eventually come to haunt him that he let her go one, as Ouro now had a strong dislike for the equine creatures.

      "Well...if it makes you feel any better I don't even know who I am..." Ouroboros confessed. He took his sleeve and rolled it up his skinny arm in order to expose the Ouroboros tattoo that adorned his left arm. The tattoo was a solid black Dragon of slivering sharp wings biting it's own tail, like an Ouroboros. "I just use the name Ouro because of this..." He said. The concept of not having a name...a given name...it was sort of depressing. It would not take the Ethereal king long to bounce back from it and go into his own explanation as she played the piano before them. "I just woke up one day in the sand. No other people on the island. Just animals and me. I didn't even know any languages....I was a savage animal that basically hunted and survived off this island in the middle of nowhere. No family, no friends...I ended up getting found because I thought I had discovered fire....and decided to torch the entire island. Then I was picked up by these people in uniforms." He explained he finally sighed, showing conclusion to his sharing time with the "woman" creature.

 
     Carefully, Ouroboros placed his hand on the keys of his side, and began playing backdrop noise to Charlie's, picking it up rather easily and quickly. Soon it was a pretty good musical piece they had going. What do you know...a girl with short term memory and a monster might have just proven to be the second coming of Mozart and Bach. Ouro smiled as the music filled the room, but suddenly stopped and he began looking at the keys, his eyes narrowing in frustration. He had just played the piano...but he had no musical talent whatsoever. How did he do that?

Charlie looked at him with interest, pausing a moment in her piano playing.
"Wow... I guess I'm lucky in a way..."
She offered a slight smile in comfort... since it would be rather odd to hug a person she had just met.
"You could actually check into the hospital if you wanted to. They might be able to tell you something at least."

Charlie was pretty positive that they could help Zell, they did help her on a regular basis. Kept her from going crazy and they kept her from doing something irrational. Charlie was allowed to come to this shop still and play, as well as go to her dance class.

Her fingers moved back to the piano and she began to play a more classical tune. Then to her surprise Zell leaned over her and began to play as well, their hands moving side by side. They played like this for several moments before Zell stopped, suddenly looking unsure of himself. Charlie stopped as well and she swiveled around to look at him.

"Hey, whats wrong? You play beautifully!" Then she recognised the look of distress so often worn on her face due to the confusion of her powers. With Charlie's muscle memory she had no idea how she learned things... her body just kind of did what it was supposed to do.
"You don't remember learning to play do you?"

He didn't. It bothered him deeply. He had never touched a musical instrument in his entire existence....but eh must have learned it from somewhere. Where could he have learned it though? He woke up on an uncharted island in the middle of Flounder-fiddling nowhere and he had no human made items on the island, save the spear he crafted from his own hands. His 'clothing' even was the hide of the native reptilian types. Piano was not present there. Shi seemed sweet enough, especially compared to that other "woman" thing.

      "N-no... I don't" He confessed. He held up his hands and he looked at his fingers. He looked around an then back to the keys. He sighed and tried to play again. It was the same as before, but it was a rather slow tune that sounded rather....sad, but almost...blissful. He stopped as if he were repulsed with the song he played. He smiled awkwardly before turning to look at Charlie with a funny expression. "That was rather...sad heh...sorry." He said.

      "I might as well...I mean...I'm already a patient I guess." Ouro said, dangling the bracelet on his wrist.

Charlie smiled understanding and scooted over so their was room on the bench for Zell to join her. "How do you think I feel everyday? Bewilderment is my middle name." she wrinkled her nose for a moment as it began to itch, then she scrubbed at it vigorously. Stupid Allergies.
"Come on, play again? let's play something less depressing." Charlie's fingers were once again on the piano, playing a much happier and more exsotic. "We should probably go back in the hour. So we don't miss lunch."
She added this as an after thought, her hazel eyes watching her fingers move along the keys. Her muscle memory was a weird ability. Half of these songs she never remembered learning. But she wasn't going to complain... she loved her music.

"Alright, I guess I could eat. Eh,...you remember the way back right?" He asked Charlie with a little smile. He wasn't trying to be mean, he was just making sure she had an idea. He couldn't have his 24 hour friend getting lost on him. He might feel bad and cry a little. He'd wait for her to head with her towards the hospital once more. He was looking around as they entered again, making sure to have seen and accounting for everything. Living as the only guy on an island of predators tends to make you alert to details.

       "So...how does this work?" Ouroboros asked as he followed Charlie, having never heard of a cafeteria, or even been in one. Though he did end up eating at a restaurant once. It was a little bit different from the predatory cat's he used to fry up and eat on a hand made fire.

Charlie gave Zell the stink eye, "Ok, I am not THAT impaired.” She understood that he wasn’t being mean, just being concerned for her well being. The walk back to the hospital was nice; Charlie pointed things out to her new friend. Waving to several people who greeted her and offering a quick smile. That was the thing Charlie had to get used to every day. Every living thing seemed to know her, which she felt, was quite odd.

Upon reaching the cafeteria, Charlie demonstrated how one scanned their wrist band in order to get food and drink. Carefully she balanced her tray and made her way over to her seat. A cookie clutched between her teeth as well as chocolate milk in the left hand. During the process Charlie had showed him what foods he could have and what ones he couldn’t. Then she veered him away from the medication.

“See, that wasn’t too hard.” Charlie praised, taking a bite of her sandwich.