Without Them... (Sequel to Long Lost Sister)

You Don't Remember Me?

"Emily! Hey, so these are my friends Ian and Anthony. Ian and Anthony, my roommate, Emily"

"H-hello." I was able to mutter shyly.

Time froze, they both stared at me and there was a couple of seconds of us just looking at each other. I couldn't make out any facial expressions from either one of them though. Did they really not remember?

All the sudden their faces lit up with animation.

Anthony then suddenly spoke, "Hey Emily! It's nice to meet you!" he said as kindly as when he met me when I was Molly.

Ian then added, "Hey." He said this in a casual manner that reminded me of how sad and angry he used to be when I first met him.

I simply couldn't comprehend it. How could the people that were once my closest friends and even family just not remember me? I'm even more confused now and I just couldn't wait to eaves drop more so I decided to add on to the conversation. I know that it may seem intrusive, but I needed to know what happened. Rather, what actually happened.

"Sorry if I walked in on anything, I didn't mean to intrude. However, I couldn't help but overhear something about an alleged car crash and memory loss. Do you mind if I join in on this conversation? If not, I completely understand." I tried to sound a bit confident given my irrational yet sorta rational fear of them both hurting me again. I wonder if they ever talked to Felix about me without connecting the dots. That would be questioning for later.

Felix looked at Ian and Anthony looking for an answer. Ian kept his head down and Anthony looked like he was looking for an answer in himself.

"Uh, Em, I'm really sorry. It's kind of a serious situation and I'm not sure if they would be comfortable with talking about this specific stuff quite yet. But also, don't let me put words in my mouth. It's up to you guys."

Anthony just shrugged and solemnly remarked, "Yeah, I'm sorry. To be fair, this is hard to talk about with Felix, our best friend. I'm sorry if that hurts you. It's just a bit sudden."

I immediately felt a wave of guilt wash over me. This wasn't the Ian and Anthony I knew, of course they weren't going to open up to me right off the bat. They have no idea who I am, I could be a serial killer for all they know. I'll be fine with just eaves dropping and having Felix do the talking.

"I understand, I apologize if I stepped over any boundaries. I'll just be heading back upstairs. Don't be afraid to come up and get me whenever you guys are done though. It was nice meeting you, and I look forward to getting to know you." I replied in the kindest way I possibly could.

I then turned around and began heading upstairs. Before I was able to pass the point of sight I turned my head over my shoulder to look at Ian just once. It was then I had realized that he lifted his head for the first time in the entire conversation to look at me.

He then blurted out, "No wait!" He then looked to Anthony and Felix.

He then continued, "If you don't want her here because you don't think I'll be comfortable with it, I am. Maybe she'll have a good second opinion or something who knows."

I saw Anthony give him a very taken back facial expression because that doesn't sound like something that Ian would say at all. He doesn't- I mean, could he? I mean, if it was a car accident it's virtually impossible that they both experienced the exact same amount of memory loss so maybe he at least faintly remembers me?

Anthony then turned to look at me. "I mean, if he's okay with it I'm okay with it."

It made me a little happy to know that a little sliver of Ian may remember who I am. Even though the last time we saw each other wasn't the greatest of interactions, that didn't make me forget all the good ones. I still feel guilty about everything, but I also understand that he must've also felt guilty. I mean, I guess I at least hope so. After therapy, I was able to learn that it's not healthy to place 100% of blame on yourself. It was able to help me realize that most situations aren't entirely one persons fault. It's multiple people making little bad decisions until it develops into one big bad mistake or event.

After having a quick mental moment to myself, I smiled and sat on the couch right next to Felix and almost grabbed his hand but, I quickly realized that that probably wasn't the best idea given the circumstance. However, he didn't seem to mind and grabbed my hand anyway. Anthony raised an eyebrow at Felix for a bit but I believe he realized that it was a conversation to be had later. Ian just began staring at our hands for a bit with his head now not completely down, but still tilted downward. Anthony had then continued with his explanation.

"Well, like Ian was saying. We don't remember the crash happening. Like at all. And like you said Felix we had some very questionable bruisings and marks to go along with a car crash. For instance I had a black eye and Ian had marks all over his wrists. There weren't any like actual cuts anywhere besides our arms, faces, and stomaches. Besides that, they were all severally minor, like nothing compared to severe memory loss. Additionally, we know that the odds of us both having the same exact brain injury are close to nothing. However, our closest friends are the ones that told us what had happened and we have no reason to not believe them. Ian and I fully believed everything up until the car ride over here when we had time alone to talk together about the things that went down since our friends haven't left our sides since the crash or whatever happened, happend."

"That's insane, who were they?" Felix questioned.

"The entire Game Bang." Anthony then looked at me. "Uh, we have a gaming YouTube channel with our closest friends and we call our selves the 'Game Bang'"

I just nodded, I felt like I didn't really have any place in this conversation. I was just glad that they were both okay with having me there. Weird how there was a sudden change of mind though.

"Well have they been acting any differently since it happened? And why are they sticking around so much?"

"Well keep in mind that the only memory we have of them if from 6 years ago so we don't really know if that's how our relationship with them just naturally changed or if they are acting suspicious of something. I can't really tell. But they claim to be around a lot to help Ian and I get back on our feet. Having the past 6 years completely erased from your life is a lot. And it has been, and now this whole new can of worms as to how the memories disappeared in the first place is opened-" He started to tear up a bit and visibly fought incredibly hard to hold himself together. "It's just really hard to process it all."

Felix then looked at the ground, I could tell he was feeling sorry for them but didn't know what he could do. I have never so desperately just wanted to hug Anthony, even after everything. No one deserves to have their memory ripped away from them like that. It's just not okay and the fact that these once dear friends of mine had to go through it absolutely broke my heart. This is when it was my turn to try and step up with more questions, because Felix looked as if he were at a loss for words.

"So you've obviously been to the hospital about this right? Did the doctors mention anything about a possibility of eventually getting your memory restored?"

Ians head then looked up incuriosity and possible realization, what was he thinking? He then looked at me for another couple seconds until returning to his assumed position of looking downwards.

"Well that's the thing, we don't remember being at a hospital at all. It was a long recovery process and our friend Matt said that the doctors had sent us home to try to gain as much memory back as possible ASAP. But now come to think of it, Matt mentioned on more than one occasion how it might be better off for us that if we forgot. That kinda lead to a few arguments on how it's never better to forget something especially since it's a whole six years but I guess that he just doesn't understand."

I knew I shouldn't have said this but I simply had to ask, "Has anything seemed familiar to you at all since it happened? Like maybe they left out something that happened and once you think about it or see it you can't help that you've seen them- uh I mean uh- whatever it is, before?"

Ian now looked me dead in the eyes, he had to be on to me.

"Yeah."

Shit.