Aberrant: In the Beginning - The Scent of Memory [Complete]

[Renee Byrnes]

"Do you know what it's like to remember everything, Rox?" Renee Byrnes asked her best friend as they and her mother were settling into the generous suite of rooms that the Aeon Society had provided for them in the rural manor. They were decorated in that classical English country style - chintz and lace, flounces and oak, white china and floral motifs. It was all very pretty and cliched - much like Renee's life promised to be, if she weren't careful.

Roxy, a buxom young woman with dark curly hair, shrugged. "I wouldn't know," she admitted easily. "Aren't you the one with total recall?"

"Yes, yes I am," Renee answered with a chuckle. She dropped her single suitcase and backpack on the chintz lounge, then looked over her shoulder at her mother. "You guys wanna settle in?"

Lyn narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Because I'd better go meet the other SPBs." Renee opened her suitcase and got changed into a grey business suit and white blouse. Since her powers came to the fore, she'd gotten a whole lot less body-shy.

"Don't want to be seen with us?" Roxy asked.

"Not exactly. It's... I have to scope these people out for myself, and I'd rather do it without you," Renee explained easily. "It's... well, I love yas, but it'd be like me inviting you to a gaming group, you know?"

Lyn pursed her lips. "If that's how you want to put it..." Renee could sense her mother's hurt, but there was little she could do about it. How could she explain that she wanted to be around people like herself without really hurting her mum?

I remember everything I ever saw since being born, Mum. I remember how you were like with my dad, when he was such a dumbass and you were dying intellectually. I'm having experiences that you can't understand and never will. How do I explain that to you?

She couldn't. Not without implying that her mother was an idiot - which Lyn was not, but compared to Renee, she was.

Is this how the inevitable Mutant Liberation Front will start? she wondered solemnly as Lyn and Roxy spoke in the background. Some intelligent person feeling isolated from humanity until they snap and start believing they're superior?

Maybe. And Renee couldn't let herself be disconnected from the memory of who she was. Her fingers touched the sachet of scented herbs stuffed into her suitcase. Not the lavender she preferred, but the sharp, cleansing scent of rosemary. For memory. For remembrance. As a reminder of her own humanity.

There will be those who forget where they came from. For my sake, for humanity's sake, I can't. And for everyone else's, I can't let the other novus forget.

"So, do I look decent?"

"You look fine, Renee," Lyn said.

"Thanks... Mum, I love you..."

"I love you too."

Roxy grinned. "If there's any cute ones, can you introduce me to them?"

Renee laughed. "Maybe. Seeyas soon."

She left the room... and walked into her destiny, the scent of memory teasing her nose.