James blinked at her response. She may as well have said he was purple or a llama for all the sense it made to him. Dead? It didn't make any sense at all!

"What?" he gasped in astonishment. "What are you talking about? What horrible things?" There game a glint of understanding in his eyes, and he shook his head while holding up both hands as if in protest. "Is this some guilt trip your mother put you on, us spending time together being a sin or something? Crap, she found out about us in the classroom, didn't she? Well... Fuck her! It's none of her business! Look, I know we should have used protection but we both got caught up in the moment and the chances of-"

Memories started to finally slide into place. James paused. A frown flickered across his face as he tried again to reconcile the timing of events... They HAD been at the prom. Hadn't they? He and Sara had danced, he was sure of that because it had been a slow dance to some song from the 50's. That was the problem with letting the school janitor be the school's DJ. "Devil or Angel" was playing and they were swaying together in time to the music because neither one of them knew how to actually dance, and then they had kissed. She had led them off after a few lights popped for no reason. That's right, they WERE at the prom! They snuck out and gave each other to one another in the science lab, right up on one of the lab counters. It had been all fumbling and mistakes and apologies and giggling as they worked it all out, and while the experience was quick for both of them it was definitely memorable! Not just the sex, but also the confessions, she as to her powers and him as to his love for her. So how had he forgotten? And what had happened afterwards?

There were flashes, hints of what followed. James spoke hesitantly then, trying to use verbal cues to connect the dots. "We... went back afterwards, didn't we? Back to the prom. And... something about the King and Queen?" Looking up at her with confused eyes and a mouth slightly agape, he tried to soldier onwards. "Only... something happened... They pranked us. Blood. Somehow... they doused us in blood." More flashbacks, scenes of a nasty video depicting Sara in a panic within the shower room, being taunted and mocked in her nakedness as she bled. That truly despicable moment had been shared with the entirety of the prom-goers and teachers, and he had... he had been about to pull her off the stage and out the nearest exit only...

Blood. It all kept coming back to blood somehow: blood in the shower room, blood from his self-mutilation, blood from the prom, blood on her arms now. As he knelt there, the back of his head felt curiously damp. A trickle of something wet was running down the back of his neck. Sweat? His mind was still not making all the connections it needed to yet.

"Sara?" No, she had said to call her something else, and James could never deny her anything. "Anna? Anna, what happened? After... And why can't I remember?"

The look on his face was truly pitiable as he looked up into her teary eyes for answers.