I Remember

Chapter 10

I can feel the smile start to fade off of my face. "Wh-what do you mean? I just want to know how you know me." I was having so much fun with Asher that I totally forgot why I came here in the first place, to find out the truth.

"Maya, before I start, I just need you to trust me that I am telling you the truth." He pleaded. The sun has now fully set, but the sky was still a musty blue. It wasn't exactly day, nor night,  but the turning of one page to the next.

"Ok, I'm listening." I say.

"Right after your pl-umm, tragic event, you met me. The first few months I could tell that something was going on, even though you insisted that you were fine. Every time I looked into your eyes I could only see fear and sorrow." He pauses.

Why haven't my parents or Rose told me about this?

He continues, "Once it became closer and closer to the date of the incident, you would get more and more anxious, until I finally broke you. You vented to me the whole night, and I listened to every word of it. You kept crying to the point where I couldn't take seeing you like this anymore. I snuck out of my house, rode my bike over to yours, and snuck into your window. The second I hugged you-you stopped crying, and went into a state of total calmness."

"I'm sorry I don't know what to say, but thank you."

"You're welcome, but I'm not done yet.' I let him continue.

"This went on for about 2 months. Every time you would have a panic attack I would come over, and you would be better instantaneously. What you didn't know was that I was dealing with my own problems too. The last thing I wanted to do was to scare you, so I kept it hidden. I was in a very bad place and you pulled me out of it. I saw the dark, and you saw the light. I saw the cup as half empty, but you see it as room for more. I saw lightning as destruction, you see it as a painting in the sky. I saw cuts and bruises, that come with traumatic memories, but you see battle scars that prove me to be strong. I had so little faith in myself, but you have all the more. I suppose that's why when I looked at you I saw light as well.

"Were we-"

He cut me off "No, we were the bestest of friends, but I took you for granted. I thought I had better things to do, so I stopped responding to your text messages and answering your calls. I left you to deal with your battles alone, I left you in pain. Your panic attacks started to get worse, and I had no idea. Your parents, well, they umm got jealous that I was the only one that could help you, so they started researching. They found a medical team that could take away memories, so that's exactly what they did. By the time I came to my senses and realized what I have done, I lost you. Your parents took away your memory of me and the event."

"Why haven't you told me this after my procedure? You could have came back into my life, why did you wait so long?" I said with anger rising in my voice.

"Maya you don't understand, let me finish."

"No, I don't think you understand." I screamed back. He turns so we are face-to-face. The moment I feel my feet skim against the sand bottom, I realize that the water is lapping over my neck. The tide is coming in fast. A wave lifts and breaks against my back. And then I'm under.