- Maya Rose Cohen - נועה רוז כהן

He pulled her into a hug and whispered soothingly, “There there. You’ll be alright. You’re safe now. And we’ll get the others out. It’s scary and traumatic but you’ve made it this far. The worst is over.” He found the kidnappings rather amusing. He admired the Salvatores’ work. But Maya didn’t need to know that. 

“How do you know?” She was on the verge of tears as she spoke. His gesture took her by surprise, and she didn’t know how much she needed a friend until Nachton showed up. 

“I guess it does mean less people to mess with.”

It was clear to her now that this woman really didn’t care about anything that was happening in their town. It made her angry. How could she not care about the people who went missing? Maya only knew a small fraction of them, yet felt sad and scared when each new person ended up on a missing poster. “How can you say that?”

“It’s alright,” he sighed, knowing that was her way of saying no, she hadn’t seen Gracie. He didn’t blame her…she’d been through hell and had come out alive but now….now Gracie was still stuck there and he didn’t know where to begin. “Sorry for all the questions…she’s…my best friend,” he explained, not really sure how else to describe Grace short of savior all those years of his life she’d spent picking him up after he’d been so brutally beaten down. 

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. Seeing someone go through the pain of losing another first hand once again had her feeling guilty. Her up and down emotions were driving her crazy. She couldn’t control them in the slightest. If she wanted to cry, she couldn’t. If she wanted to be angry, she was sad. If she wanted anything, she go the opposite. “It’s okay.” Her words came out just above a whisper again. “I hope you find her. She must mean a lot to you.”

Savannah hesitated; like she always did before she delved into someones memories. It might have been something she could do easily, but that didn’t make it easy on her heart. The things she’d seen; the things she’d taken from people for what she’d hoped was the greater good took their toll, even on her. “Maya.. If I do.. If I pick through your memories, everything I see you’re going to see again. I can’t mask the memory for you, unless you want me to make you forget it after. Nothing about this will be easy, you need to know that.” It might have been the first time she’d warned someone before doing what she needed to; but Maya and Sarah, their memories were the closest thing they’d get to a definite location for where they’d been. For the greater good, right?

Part of her knew the process Savannah spoke of would not be a walk in the park. But really, what other choice did she have? She couldn’t continue to refuse people’s questions, claiming she didn’t know the answers when they were actually buried deep in her mind, or she could be of some use. Finally. Maya nodded her head slowly. Either way she needed to know. What if her memories of those few days never came back naturally. It was possible, wasn’t it? “I guess we’ll see afterwards if I really do want to forget.” Her smile was small and sad. She knew this was the right thing to do.

He watches as the other man walks away from her, before handing her a bottle of water and sitting down beside her, pulling out a packet of cigarettes as he does, lighting one up.”Ain’t no one goin’ ta blame you, ‘eh? Not your fault they let you go and no one else.” He whispers to her, before taking a drag and releasing it.”Do you have family that maybe I could seek out to let ‘em know you’re safe and here?”

“They didn’t let us go.” She played with the water bottle in her hands. They could have wanted to make it seem like her and Sarah had escaped, but what if they really did just allow them to leave? And why them, why not someone else? It was the first time she had thought about a possibility like that one. “They’re here, helping out.” She told her parents to go help out the others that were looking for the rest of the missing people, and that she would be fine alone.

“I don’t either. Telling them all you remembered though is good. It gives them something to work with. Which is beyond good. And I think once you rest for a bit, you’ll remember more. And the more information you remember, the more helpful it’ll be.”

She gave a friendly smile to the girl and took in her advice. She was right, but it was still hard for Maya to accept. “I’m Maya.” Even though the girl might have already known her name, she introduced herself anyway. It was one of those things she never like to wait too long to do.

“Care? No. People die everyday.”

“You live in this town and you don’t care that this many people went missing?” 

“You’re welcome. ” Doing her best to smile, she looked around for a moment before looking back at the girl. “Understandable. Why they feel the need to bombard you with so many questions is beyond me. Especially when you told them all you could remember.”

“I can’t blame them for it,” She paused to shake her head. Everyone handled stressful situations differently, and Maya wasn’t saying she was the best and handling them more than others. “it’s the only hope they have.” If one of her parents, or friends had gone missing she’d probably be a whole different kind of mess. “I’m thinking that I’ll remember more with time, but how much? And how helpful will that information be then?”

“Don’t give me that look, cheer up darling. You’re out, you’re alive, you’re in no danger because the entire town is going to protect your precious little self. You’re the lucky one.”

“I can’t.” She looked away from Callista as she tried to gather her thoughts. “There are still so many people missing, don’t you care?”

“Okay, okay. Let’s give the poor, grieving girl some space yeah?” Callista said, shooing the crowd of people away. Once they had all wandered away, she turned on her heel and faced the young girl with a smile. “Hi. Callista Carmikael, don’t know if I’ve ever had the pleasure.”

A chill ran down her spine as the strange woman turned to face her. She was smiling, which seemed very odd to Maya. She shook her head soon after the blonde introduced herself. “I don’t think so.”

“Just let her be for crying out loud.” Gianna snapped. Walking over to the girl, she sat down next to her. With the water bottle in her hand, she handed it to the girl. “Are you going to be okay?” She asked as she looked at her.

“Thank you.” She said in an almost raspy voice. She nodded her head before speaking again. “It’s just... everyone is asking so many questions and I don’t exactly remember a lot of what happened.” Her eyes cast downward as her sentence came to an end. 

It may have been without her permission, but nonetheless, Savannah uttered a few choice words beneath her breath, an incantation enough to soothe Maya somewhat. She’d been through enough; and unfortunately for the elder witch, her heart bled at the wrong moments more and more lately. “It’s okay. I know you do. And you will, just.. not right now.” It pained her to say, but offering anything in such a state would only make it worse. “When you’re ready.. I can try something, but only when you’re ready.” Skilled was an understatement when it came to her ability to manipulate memories. It was something she’d found beyond fascinating at a young age, and she’d spent countless years reading all she could about it; it only stood to reason, that should she be able to remove, or change memories, she could do something as simple as see them for herself. 

Her eyes shot up to Savannah’s when she spoke. “I’m not going to be any help any longer from now. I’m also not going to be any more ready.” She shook her head as she spoke. If there was a chance that the older witch could help her remember more of what happened to her, it could unlock a lot of other memories. Maybe even enough to remember where they were being held. “I’m fine.” She assured, even though she truly didn’t know if that were true or not. Maya suspected that the wave of emotions would hit her again later when she was alone, but for now she was doing an okay job of holding herself together. “Really, you can try what you need to.” She nodded her head once more as confirmation.