Namine's Story: Do You Remember Now?

Hello. My name is… Well, that’s not really important. You can call me… Nero; after two of my favourite video game characters. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a bit of a gamer. I especially like Kingdom Hearts. It was actually what first got me into games. But that’s not the point here. You’re probably thinking, ‘What is this crazy chick going on about? Get to the point already!’ Well, be patient for a sec. I’m getting there.

So, as I was saying, I love Kingdom Hearts, got all the games and stuff, even made my own Kingdom Key in art class a couple years ago. So, a few hours ago, I got a package in the mail. It was just a little thing with a DVD disk inside. On it was written, ‘NAMINE’S STORY: DO YOU REMEMBER NOW?’

I stared at the disk for a while, not really sure what to make of it. ‘Namine’s story?’ I thought, ‘I’ve never heard of anything like this being released.’

Shrugging it off, I decided to go put the disk in my PS2. I wasn’t sure if that was what it was for, but I figured I could try putting it in my laptop if it didn’t work. While I waited for the console to process the disk, I went to grab some chips and a glass of Pepsi.

When I got back, the disk was loaded and showed a picture of Namine, standing in the middle of a white room with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face. I couldn’t explain it, but she looked… different somehow. Like, her lips were forming more of a smirk than the sweet smile I was accustomed to, and her eyes looked like they were narrowed, almost glaring at me.

Shaking it off, I sat down on my couch and picked up my old light grey controller and pressed start. When prompted, I selected ‘New Game’ and the screen cut to black. For just a split second, I thought I saw… something. Thinking back on it later, I realized that what I’d seen was a close-up of Namine’s face, but… It was splattered in something red.

Deciding not to worry about it for the time-being, I shook my head and focused on the game. It started out with a cutscene. Namine was sitting in the room she’d stayed in at Castle Oblivion, drawing something that I couldn’t see.

Suddenly, she looked up at the screen and smirked at me, mouth forming words that I couldn’t hear. The screen glitched a bit and, for just a second, it looked like she was splattered with red, but when I blinked, it was back to normal, and I shrugged it off as my imagination.

Then, the image cut to looking over her shoulder to see her sketch pad. There, written in bright red crayon was, ‘REMEMBER NAMINE’. I didn’t understand. What was that supposed to mean?

She began scribbling again. I watched each letter form, large, red, and sort of messy. ‘D… O… Y… O… U… R… E… M… E… M… B… E… R… N… O… W… ?’ I stared blankly at the screen. What…?

‘DO YOU REMEMBER NOW?’ What in the world was that supposed to mean?

“Do I remember… what?” I asked myself out loud. The screen changed again to show Namine glaring at me, an expression of malice I’d never seen her wear before. What the hell was going on here?

Suddenly, Namine spoke, and this time, I could hear her, though her voice was oddly static-y. “Do you remember me, Nero?”

My eyes widened and I stared at her, my mouth slightly opened in shock. “W-what? Of-of course I re-remember you. You’re r-right there…” I told her, wincing slightly at my shaking voice and the fact that I was speaking to a fictional character on my TV screen.

She smiled then, but again, it looked different, more like a smirk, and her bright blue eyes seemed malicious and slightly psychotic. She giggled softly, though her voice was still filled with static, and glanced off the screen to her left.

Suddenly, she was covered in red splatters again, but this time, it stayed that way. She came close to the screen, still smiling and seemed to tilt it to where she’d been looking earlier.

“That’s good,” she said cheerfully as I stared in horror at the scene. “Because, if you didn’t you’d have ended up like poor Sora over there…” She giggled again.

Sora… He was… hardly recognizable… His body was completely stripped of flesh, and what was left was leaned up against the wall, head tilted up and mouth open in a silent scream. There was a pool of blood around him and, written on the wall beside his body, were the bloody words, ‘DO YOU REMEMBER NOW?’

Something caught my attention, and I looked back at Sora’s mangled corpse. No… I wanted to throw up then and there because… Sora was still alive! He was looking at me, blue eyes wide with terror, and he seemed to be screaming something. Suddenly, it clicked, and just as it did, I could hear it.

“RUN! ESCAPE BEFORE SHE GETS YOU!” His voice was strangled and filled with unbearable pain. There was a flash of something and… There were crayons lodged in both of Sora’s eyes, and he stopped moving, the pain too much for him. He was dead now.

Then, there was the sound of static-filled giggles again as Namine walked around the camera and into view, standing beside Sora’s body.

“Oops. Looks like Sora gave the game away.” She turned back to the screen, smiling calmly, though her eyes were glaring at me through the TV screen. That smile combined with her malicious glare made me want to turn around and run for the hills, but I couldn’t. I was frozen in place, hardly able to breathe, let alone move!

“Don’t worry, Nero…” Came the static-y voice of the girl I’d previously thought to be so sweet and caring. “You can help me with my new picture. I’m sure you’ll like it. Remember when you used to draw me all the time? Well, this time, I’ll draw you!” She laughed.

I was shivering, but not because I was cold. I was terrified! What was going to happen to me? Suddenly, Namine disappeared from the screen, and my trance was broken.

I shot to my feet and ran as fast as I could. I slammed my front door open and sprinted down the street, not sure where I was going. I just knew that I needed to get away from there.

I ended up at my friend, Becky’s house. And that’s where I am now. I’ve spent a couple hours here and I haven’t seen any sign of Namine. Hopefully, I never will again. After this experience, I’m reconsidering having her as a favourite KH character…

Hold on. I heard something from downstairs. I’m gonna go check it out. It’s probably just Becky’s parents coming home.








DO YOU REMEMBER NOW?