Remembering Us

After: during the period of time following (an event)

Eli

Cara doesn't remember me. Apparently, whatever had happened, her mind had blocked it out. All of yesterday was gone, a blur, and apparently a good amount of time before that too. She remembers her father's name, and she knows how old she is, and she has all of the knowledge of all 12 years of school, but none of the memories after the eighth grade. No idea of who she was like before the accident, which happened just five short days ago.

"Did you know me?" Cara was hesitant to let me into her room after the "family only" ban had been lifted, but curiosity must have won out in the end because she let me in.

I tried not to notice the green of the hospital blanket covering her legs, or the band around her wrist. She might not be allowed to leave for a while, because they don't know why she was up there. They didn't know if she had jumped. What could I tell her that would make me seem less of a creep? God, I wish I could lie and tell her 'Yes I knew you, I'm your boyfriend and I know that your favorite flavor of ice-cream is not chocolate because you are allergic to it'. I stared at the melting carton on the bedside table, the water dripping down it and tried not to think too hard about why she was here. "Not really? I talked to you, you know, before, but I don't know much more than you do about what you were like."

Cara was confused, that much I could tell. "Then why are you here?"

"Honestly?" She nodded her head, and I had no choice but to give her a sheepish smile. "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much..."

She cut me off with a laugh and I mentally patted myself on the back. Who knew lame could be funny?

"I meant in the hospital, silly," Cara sent me a lopsided smile and something in me shattered.

"I—uh well, I guess I just wanted to see how you were doing and if you, you know—"

"I don't remember anything about before, or what happened if that's what you mean." She sighed and toyed with the edges of her blanket. When she looked up her eyes were a little glassy. "I tried, I really did, but there's like a complete white space where all my memories are. Every time I try to think about it I just get a headache."

"It's okay, I'm sure that they will come back eventually. You just have to give it time." She scooted over on the bed and patted the space next to her. I looked at her like she was crazy, and got an eye roll in response.

"I won't bite." She smiled and the room got a little brighter.

This Cara was nothing like the one I met in detention. I was almost expecting her to snap back into her closed off self and scream at me to get away when I sat on the bed. Instead, Cara asked me what I knew about her. I told her what I could; and I wished I could tell her more.

Cara

It didn't sound like me. But then again, I only have a vague idea of who 'me' actually is nowadays. Still, two years ago I wasn't a skipper, I was a strait A student. I had friends; I was in yearbook, what changed? What happened the summer before freshman year? "How come we haven't talked before now?"

Eli shrugged, "I don't really know. You never talked to anyone all that much, except for this boy named Caleb."

I tried to remember if a Caleb had come to see me. There seemed to be a lot more faces then there actually had been. "What does he look like?"

"Sort of tall, muscular, brown eyes..."

"Oh." Caleb was the boy who dropped off flowers. I pointed at the vase near my table. "He brought me those yesterday."

Eli tensed and looked at the flowers as if they were poisonous. "He brought you flowers?"

I frowned, "It was sweet of him!"