"Brinley, wake up."

Someone shakes me awake. I open my eyes, confused at first. My head hurts. My throat hurts.

Clarin is leaning over me, looking concerned.

"What?" I ask quietly, voice hoarse.

"You were screaming," she says, eyebrows drawn together. "Are you okay?"

It's only now that I notice the tears on my cheeks. I brush them away and nod.

"I'm fine," I say.

"Okay," she lets out a breath, crossing her arms. "I'm going back to bed now. Let me know if you need anything."

She takes one last glance at me and leaves my room. I reach over to my desk and grab my phone. It lights up, telling me it's 3:45.

There's no hope of me falling asleep now that I'm wide awake. I decide to go through my pictures on my phone.

A few of them are of Clarin and I, younger then. We both had bangs and missing front teeth. Even then we were indistinguishable.

Some of them are of me and Jackie when we were young. We're smiling or laughing, and it's apparent that she really did mean a lot to me.

A few of them contain Owen and I. Some of them are from past years, I can tell. But some have to have been taken more recently. In one, I'm laughing and he's got his arm around me. In another, we're smiling and happy together. In the most recent picture I have on my phone, he's kissing my cheek. I've seen this picture before, the first night I was home.

I spend the rest of the night going through old photo albums I find in the top of my closet.

_|_|_

"You're awake," my mom looks surprised opening the door at around six in the morning.

"What gave it away?"

"You're hilarious," she rolls her eyes. "Jackie's mom called. Your old best friend, you know?" I nod my head. "Well Jackie says she wants to take you to the mall today."

"Wait, don't you have work? Don't I have to go to Owen's?" I ask.

"It's Saturday," she replies. "I don't work on Saturday."

"Oh," I say, and something inside me deflates.

"She'll be here at eight to get you," she says. Then she shuts my door and leaves.

I sigh and put down the photo album I was looking at. I feel guilty not wanting to go to the mall. I know Jackie and I used to be best friends. She used to be important to me, and that's hard on her. But every time I've run into her, she's cried. I know she's sad, but that doesn't help me. If that's how today's going to go, I'm going to kill myself.

I get myself ready after a warm shower and wait in my bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

When I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket, I pull it out and look down.

'I'm here.' -Jackie

I walk down the stairs and wave my mom goodbye before exiting. There's a small blue car in the driveway. I go over to the passenger side and open the door.

Jackie's a small girl, very skinny. She has light brown hair and dark brown eyes. Her long eyelashes make them look stunning. I give a small smile when I get into the car.

"Hey, Brin," she says. She's not crying yet. That's a good thing.

"Hi," I say cautiously, and she turns on the car.

We start down the road, and I watch out the window feeling uncomfortable. I want to talk to her, but I have nothing to say.

"Um..." She says. "Do you remember anything at all?"

"Not yet..." I sound just as unnatural as Jackie.

"You'll remember, though. I promise," she says.

"I hope so," I sigh. "But supposedly, I should be recalling events by now."

"It'll happen," she says, sounding confident.

"So we've been friends for a long time?" I ask after a while of being silent.

"Yeah," she nods, taking a deep breath.

I look away again. This isn't going to be an easy day.

_|_|_

"Do you think these shoes look better with this shirt or those darker ones?" She asks, holding two pairs of shoes up.

"Darker," I say, looking up at the options.

"Thanks," she smiles. I nod. She lets her arms drop by her sides. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I nod. "I'm fine."

"Something's bothering you," she observes, sitting down on the little bench beside me. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I let out a sigh. "Alright. Do you... You know Owen right?"

She nods, raising her eyebrows.

"And I guess we were dating, yeah? Or at least, we were," I say.

"Yes," she replies.

"But he hasn't brought it up," I let out a breath. "There have been multiple opportunities to tell me about it, but he hasn't. Is there anything that might be a reason why? Was something wrong recently before my accident?"

"Not that I'm aware of," she shrugs. "From what I knew, you two were just happy as ever together."

"Huh," I rest my chin on my hand, my elbow against my knee.

"That might be it," Jackie says. "He could just miss that. The two of you perfectly happy together and he doesn't want to remind himself of that."

"But then why would he volunteer himself to take care of me every day for seven hours?" I ask.

"Maybe he wants to try and bring back your memories?" She suggests, letting out a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess," I say. But I'm not entirely convinced on the matter. I think there's something more that I'm missing. I just need the right time to figure that out. Maybe that will be when I get my memories back. Maybe that will be when I confront Owen about it.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I take it out and look down.

'Would you care to come over tonight and finish that Harry Potter marathon?' -Owen

I sigh, looking up at Jackie. She leans over to see my screen. Then she smiles at me, as if telling me she's got to be right.

"You used to love watching Harry Potter," Jackie smiles. "That's why he's watching it with you."

"Yeah. That's what he told me," I sigh, looking back at my phone.

"What are you waiting for? Say yes!" She urges, laughing.

"Right."

'Sure, sounds fun.'

I guess if I'm going to find out anything why not have it be tonight?

"Why don't we get you home so you can head over right away?" Jackie says with another warm smile.

"Sure, thank you," I say. "For today. I've had a good time."

"Thank you, too," she says. "You'll remember. You will, okay? Don't worry."

With that, we walk through the mall and out to the parking lot where her car is parked and drive home so I can head over to Owen's place.

"Good luck," she says as I walk up the pathway to my house. "Hope you have a good time tonight."

I turn around with a grin. "Thanks."

Then she drives off, leaving me at my house with other things to worry about. I enter the house with a sigh, dropping my shopping bags onto the couch.

"Oh, good, you're here!" Clarin exclaims, hurrying over to me. "Owen called and said he wants to come pick you up in about ten minutes."

"Oh, okay, sounds good. I'll just go eat something," I say, starting to walk past her.

"No," she stops me. "That was like ten minutes ago. He should be here any-"

The doorbell rings.

"There he is now," Clarin smiles, and she pulls open the front door.

Owen smiles at the two of us. I walk over to him through the door. Clarin waves us goodbye, and we walk over to his black car together.

Once we're on the road, I can't find the right words to ask. I don't know how to bring up the subject I want to talk about. I mean, I can't just say, 'I know we used to be together, so why are you not telling me? Because I already know.' That's just so straightforward. I don't want him to think I'm bothered by the subject of us being together.

"Brinley?"

I look over at Owen, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Uh.... I've been talking to you for about a minute. Are you alright?" He asks, glancing at me for a moment.

"I'm fine," I nod. "Just thinking."

"Anything you want to share?" He asks, still looking concerned.

"No," I say. Not yet, at least.