(Shoutout to Caralia! Here is draft #33!)

———

Project Tennessee, or just Ness, has a weird feeling of Deja vu. She really shouldn’t. Her and the rest of her rag tag group are standing in front of an amusement park entrance.

They shouldn’t feel out of place here. Loads of teens have come and gone through the big archway with a big, shiny monkey climbing near the top.

But they aren’t normal teenagers.

They are——were science experiments.

This is probably a bad idea. Young people with destructive powers in a highly crowded area is a recipe for disaster. But when they originally saw the sign with a similar looking monkey on it, Ness felt her feet move without even thinking about it.

“This could be fun,” Penny says, a smile gracing her face.

“Or bring attention to ourselves,” Tex grumbles, arms crossed, intimidating anyone who even spares them a single glance with his own glare.

Ness’ stare is fixed on the cartoon monkey. It’s smile takes up so much of its face. It feels familiar. The sign brings about an inner joy but also fear? “I feel like I know this place.”

“Really?” Landen asks. All three of them turn to her, curiosity taking over. The experiments either intentionally or unintentionally took away their memories of their lives before the cells. So her having a wisp of something from her past life is certainly intriguing.

A family passes by them. Ness isn’t sure about her friends but a sense of longing from witnessing the happy family washes over her bones. “Maybe we can drum up some memories if we go in,” she says.

“We deserve a break! It’s free admission anyway. Let’s just have a look around,” Penny exclaims, waving her arms up, gesturing vaguely to the welcome sign.

Seeing that he’s outvoted, Tex shakes his head, but Ness swears she sees a small smile on his face.

Penny links her arm with Ness and they practically skip through the gate. Tex and Landen follow them a bit less skippy.

For the next two hours, they got to act like normal kids. With the money they swiped from an open car, they got to play a couple of the games and even got to treat themselves to some snacks. They couldn’t go on any rides, but that didn’t matter.

The bright, joyful colors have a way of cheering them up. Yesterday they were hungry. Tomorrow they may be struggling. Right now though? They are happy.

While Tex is scamming a game where you have to hit a bunch of bottles with a ball (in which the bottles shatter from the sheer force), Ness closes her eyes and breathes. If she could bottle up this moment, she would to savor it forever. In a rainy, cold night, then she could open it and experience the sights and the sounds. The emotions.

The scent of crispy funnel cakes has her almost foaming at the mouth. It’s as if she can already taste the fried dough and sugary topping.

It’s like a freaking eighteen wheeler drive through and smashed into her body. She opens her eyes and the amusement park is different. Her friends aren’t there anymore. It’s less crowded, far less kids. The games and stands are brighter. Newer. Everything has a gloss over it. A filter.

“Thank you for the funnel cake!”

That’s her voice. But it’s not laced with fear or exhaustion. Full of life. With so much cheerfulness, it makes her sound younger.

“Of course, sweetie. What do you want to go on next?” Ness finds herself turning even though she doesn’t feel herself doing it. A woman comes into view. She has silky black locks that has so much body in it that it looks alive when it bounces. What stands out the most to Ness is this person’s eyes. Brown in the center and a muted green at the edges. Ness knows her. But yet she doesn’t recognize her.

Those eyes. She’s seen them before.

“Maybe the roller coaster,” Ness answers, again without her control.

“Don’t they scare you?” The woman asks, glancing at the tall contraption.

Shrugging her shoulders, she says, “Yeah, but I don’t want to not try because of fear.” The statement is familiar. It’s important to her. But why?

“That’s really wise. I wonder where you heard that from,” the woman had a teasing lilt to her voice. Her grin is wide. Ness doesn’t think anyone has smiled like that at her before.

“Ha ha. I learned from the best Mom.”

_Mom._

One word that has so much meaning.

They’re her eyes. They share the same eyes because that’s her mom. How could she forget her?

Just as she was adjusting to seeing her mom, suddenly the scene changes. There’s no funnel cake or Mom. Instead, she’s alone. Waiting for her mom by the bathroom. It’s darker, maybe dusk.

There isn’t distinct words that she can make out. Only muffled screaming.

Her vision is blurred and is shaky. She feels constrained though she doesn’t see the ropes. Her limbs feel heavy. As do her eyelids. There’s only thing she can visualize before they shut completely.

Dr. Marken’s face.

“Ness!”

A violent shake to her shoulder brings her out of her vision. Her memory.

It takes a few blinks to comprehend that she’s in present day. She’s at the amusement park. With her friends. Her mom isn’t there and neither is Dr. Marken.

“Are you okay?” Landen asks, concern swimming in his features.

They all have lines of worriedness in their foreheads. Even Tex. And he doesn’t get stressed over anything.

“I just remembered something,” she breathes out.

Penny lays a hand on her arm in support. As if her power was giving comfort through touch. It did feel nice to have her friends there. The touch feels grounding. Reminds her that they are here for her. “Do you want to tell us what you saw?”

Ness nods. Shakily, she sits down on a bench with Penny aside of her and the boys crouching down in front of them. “I saw my mom. We were here. At this amusement park. And then Dr. Marken kidnapped me,” she recounts.

Blinking away tears, she thinks of her mom’s face. She wants to etch that in her brain so she never forgets her again.

“Here?” Landen questions, eyebrows raising in surprise. It’s a very public place to kidnap a kid.

When she can’t think of anything else to say, she just simply answers, “Yeah.”

“So maybe you lived around here?” Penny brings up. Ness supposes that’s true. It’s hard to concentrate when all she can think of is her mom’s eyes that mirrors her own if she stares in a mirror.

“Yeah. Maybe.” It’s almost like she’s detached from her body. While her friends are talking and she’s answering, it doesn’t feel real.

Seeing the forlorn look on her face, Tex fumes. Steam practically comes out of his ears. “That piece of shit took so much from us.”

Even though Ness doesn’t respond, she knows it to be true. They escaped with nothing but the clothes on their backs and powers that they didn’t want. No name, no memories, no families. Just each other.

“And we are going to get all of it back,” Penny states with so much conviction that Ness almost believes her. Penny commands attention when she speaks. It’s just the energy around her that pulls you in.

“How?” They turn to her. Penny always seemed like she had all the answers. Even if she didn’t, she acted like she did.

“We are going to train our powers, and then we go back to the lab stronger and get his files. Know what he took from us and expose him.”

Ness would see her mother again. They would all see their families again.

They can’t make up for the lost time with them or reverse what he did to them, but they can sure as hell make Dr. Marken go down for it.

He better be careful. Because his days are numbered.