New discovery

"I felt it too, the wave."

He grabbed her hand, looking deep into her eyes, he said, "Are you sure?"

Staring at him, she felt a bit blushy and couldn't speak, so she nodded instead, Willaim let out a deep sigh of relief.

"So I'm not crazy." He looked around, they were people walking around the campus, sitting and talking to each other. He turned back to her

"You remember my great-grandfather, right?"

"Yes, and the ceremony too"– she looked away from him and said in a lower tone – "and how you acted too"

"Thank god, I thought I was going crazy, but something is wrong somewhere, and how is it that only you and u can remember?" his eyes lit up. A thought occurred to him and he blurted it out. "My father! We have to go see him, he'll know what's going on."

****

Willaim knocked on the door of the headmaster's office.

"Come in," a voice from within said.

He saw an unfamiliar woman. He looked around the room, and everything looked different than he'd remembered; pictures of cats hung on the walls, which seemed very strange when he considered the fact that his father despised cats.

"And how can I help you, sir?"The secretary said,

"I'd like to see my father, is he in?"

"Your father?" the woman said, seeming confused at his request

"Yes" with a troubled look on his face as he considered the possibility that his dad may have been forgotten as well.

"What are you talking about? Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I am." the intensity he felt doubled in an instant, any moment now he knew he'd hear those dreadful words

"But this is Miss Mary's office; she is the headmaster, remember?" – Her words stunned his heart; where could Dad be? He wondered as tears filled his eyes – "your dad's upstairs, on the top floor."

"That's where the dean stays?"

"Ding, ding, ding," she looked at him with a forced smile on her face, wanting to lighten the mood for the seemingly troubled young man, she looked at Ruby, who avoided eye contact entirely.

"You're saying my dad's the principal? +"

"Yes, are you sure you're alright, William? Should I call the nurse"

"No"

"You seem like you need to, I could phone they could come get you, and you wouldn't have to walk"

William let out a deep breath, shook his head, and said, "I'm alright, thank you, we'll be leaving now." They turned and left the room.

"It seems grandfather was not the only one affected," William said as they walked up the stairs. "Now my father's been made principal, I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one doing this."

"But there's you too," she said.

Me? He said, in

"Yeah you, you're the successor now, some could say you did this"

He thought about it for a second, "I guess you're right."

"I know it is not real, but why does it feel like your father has always been the principal."

William stopped, she stopped, he looked her in the eye and said, "What if we're forgetting too? What if this reality is starting to set in on our memory."

She thought about it too; she felt with the passing moment, you couldn't quite tell what was and what is anymore.

"Let's go," William said. "I hope my dad remembers something."

******

"Master Williams," the secretary said with deep affection. William was stunned. She made it feel like they were quite close, but he had no clue who she was. He quickly looked around her desk and found a plaque with her name on it

"Hello, Miss Delores," he said

The woman looked at him oddly and he knew he'd done something wrong, but she couldn't tell what.

Is my father in

"Yes, but young master are you alright?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"It's just, that you're never so formal with me"

"I'm not?" Willaim was doing his best to act like his regular self to her, whatever that would be. "So, what do I call you?"

She laughed and said, "Are you sure you're alright, sir? Did you hit your head or something?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, thank you." Ruby leaned into him and whispered a word to him. She did her best to hide it from the secretary, and it seemed she had no clue.

Dolly, willaim said; he saw the look in her eyes, and he immediately doubled down and said, "That's what I call you," she smiled.

"How do you like my acting, dolly"

She rocks back on her chair laughing, "My young master, I never thought you could put on quite a performance."

"I've been practicing," he said with a bright smile on his face, he glanced at Ruby and went back to the secretary. "May we go in now?"

She smiles and pushes a white button under her desk and the black door by her side opens

*You know the way, right?

"Yes," he said. He pulled Ruby alongside him and walked in; he turned back to the secretary, realizing he wasn't so sure after all; it then he realized why she was there, to begin with; if he made her a bit suspicious, she wouldn't let him in and had it in her right to immobilize him.

The door shuts behind them; Ruby lets go of his arm and brushes the dust off her blue sweater; she adjusts the red hair clip that styled her short black hair.

The whole room smelled ancient; it reeked of dust, and the walls were dry, with the paint coming off in chips. It was styled like a cathedral; the light came into the paned glass windows, most of which were closed. In front of them was a short passageway lit with different colors, green, red, and yellow, as the sunlight streamed through the tinted windows.

They could hear their footsteps echoing through the passage, William thought it wise to speak in a lower tone

"Your memories are changing more and more, aren't they?"

She looked a bit nauseous, and then she covered her mouth. William looked at her; beads of tears were hanging out the corners of her eyes.

"Are you alright?" he said. She shook her head as his words echoed through the passage. She ran off to the side and threw up by the wall. William looked away.

"Are you okay!" he said but She threw up some more. "It's making you nauseous, isn't it?"She stopped vomiting and took out her wand

"Obliterate!" She said, and all her vomit vanished in a pail of smoke

It's not that they're being replaced, she said. They're fighting each other, it feels uncomfortable

"I'm sorry," William said, he let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "What's going on?"

Ruby turned toward the end of the passage; she looked at him and said, "Let's hope he has answers."

"But what if he doesn't?"

"Then we'll figure it out, somehow"

"What if we were the only ones that knew? What if no one else does? Would we be forced to live this lie?"

"I don't know, William," she exhales as tears begin to well in her eyes. "I'm remembering things about my family that I know aren't true, but I just wanna get through this, so let's just go."

William looked into her eyes. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and memories of him with his great-grandfather streamed through his mind. He opened his eyes and a bead of tears rolled down his cheek.

"Alright, let's go," he said."