love, emma | j.brooks

four

THE AIR NIPPED AT HIS SKIN as he walked with his hands deep in his pockets. He did not know where he was going or why he was out so late, but he did know that he needed to clear his mind from everything that has happened from the moment he woke up. Question after question circled through his mind, each one adding to the intense throbbing pain that started in his right temple.

He didn't know why a girl who supposedly said they knew each other was sending him letters of memories he isn't even sure exist. He didn't know why those letter effected him so much, he didn't even know why he kept reading them, but he did. Letter after letter. Some he would read once, others read repeatedly. He would feel some sort of spark, like an itch that wouldn't go away. It was a nagging feeling somewhere deep inside that knew that these memories were real memories, that this girl was real and writing to him. That she knew him, more than just knew him. He trusted her at one point, with things he was too scared to think about.

Judging by the way the last letter was written, he knew that his mother wasn't who she made herself out to be. That part was obvious from the beginning. He could tell, by the over-protective front she was putting for him. He had lost a bit of his memory, not all of it. He knew that she wasn't the typical mother who baked cookies every day after school for her kids. Yet, he also knew she wasn't the worst person he's known. He just knew his mother had some part in his accident that caused him to be this way, and he was going to find out what happened.

The only way how was through those letters.

-•-

Jai,

I remember one of my favourite sounds was your laugh. It would tickle my ears and heighten my senses and I would suddenly open my eyes and see the world as a beautiful place. Your laugh would run through my veins and I would feel alive sitting next to you, I would laugh and smile. A feeling of euphoria would overcome me and I never wanted to be anywhere else but next to you.

I also remember another sound that I enjoyed was hearing you cry. It sounds cynical, but when you cried it opened my eyes to the darkness of the world. Not everyone we thought we loved and trusted was who they said they were. They would take advantage of us, and rip our souls apart until we were nothing but messes of empty bodies. When you cried it was a cry for help. When I cried, it was a sign that I couldn't help you anymore.

-•-

"How did you even manage to get up there?" Emma asked, and couldn't help but giggle at Jai's sheepish smile. They stood in front of a large fence, the other side housing a closed off wooded area that Jai promised wasn't dangerous -Emma still wasn't so sure. Currently, Jai was at the top of the fence, one leg on either side as he held his hand out to the petite girl at the bottom. Emma looked up with wide, wondrous eyes at how quickly the boy in front of her had gotten up the fence, and took his outstretched hand, encasing her palm into his calloused, warm one. She heaved herself onto the fence, the tip of her boots digging into the holes of the metal fence. She slipped a couple times and mumbled curse words, which she heard Jai giggling, giggling, at. The sound was soft and smooth like melted chocolate. Emma decided she would never get tired of that sound.

"Woah, we're really high up," Emma mumbled, as she looked to the ground below her. They were easily a couple feet in the air, but Emma had a vast fear of heights that made her dizzy and she wasn't about to ruin this moment with a stupid fear she had to get over.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of pale," Jai asked, tilting Emma's face upwards to see that her once fair skin had become a sickly, almost translucent, pale shade. She quickly shook her head out of Jai's grasp, still feeling the warmth his hand left on the bottom of her chin.