The Days I Remember

3

I woke up to the smell of coffee. I looked at the clock and realized that I had slept in longer than I usually did on the weekends. I got out of bed and walked downstairs following the aroma of the coffee.

I arrived in the kitchen and heard my parents laughing. I had rarely heard them laugh. I thought they were incapable of laughter.

My parents sat close to each other as they sat across from Elaina. Elaina looked over towards me and noticed that I was watching all of them laughing and having fun without me. "Good morning, Liam," Elaina said to me with a huge smile on her face.

~

"Good morning," Elaina said to me shyly.

I smiled. "Good morning," I said back to her, delighted by the unusual happiness this early in the morning.

She looked around the kitchen, obviously lost.

"Do you need help finding something?" I asked her.

She blushed with embarrassment. "Your mom said I could help myself," she started rambling. "I was going to make some coffee. I found the coffee...I just need a mug."

I laughed at how nervous she seemed. I walked over towards her and reached for the cabinet she was standing in front of. I opened the cabinet and grabbed a mug.

"Oh," she said blushing.

I handed her the mug and her fingers caressed mine. It felt like there was a spark of something between us. We both looked into each others' eyes. Hers were a vibrant green that made her look so innocent. They were drawing me to her. I felt an instant connection between us. My heart started beating faster and I could feel my pulse beating throughout my whole body.

"Are you going to kiss me?" She asked hoarsely.

"Do you want me to kiss you?" I said almost whispering.

She continued to look into my eyes. "Yes," she said confidently.

I placed my hand on her cheek gently and slowly leaned towards her. I could feel her soft breath on my lips as I got closer to her. I slowly pressed my lips against hers. Her lips were warm and soft, and delicate.

"Was that your first kiss?" she asked.

I couldn't speak so I just simply nodded.

She smiled. "Me too," she explained biting her lip.

~

"Liam?" I heard someone say.

I ran my fingers through my hair and cleared my throat. "Yeah," I said.

"Are you okay?" Elaina asked. "You spaced out."

I looked down at Elaina's hands. Her fingers were embraced around the mug—the same mug she used every day she was here in the summer. "Yeah, I'm fine," I explained. "I'm just tired."

"How did you sleep, sweetheart?" My mother asked me. This was really odd. She never called me "Sweetheart" or asked about how I slept.

"Fine, I guess." I walked over to the coffee maker, poured coffee into a mug and then sat down at the kitchen table.

"How about we give them time to get acquainted with each other," my father explained.

My mother nodded and followed my father out of the kitchen.

Once they left the room, Elaina looked at me with a smile. "I had a dream last night," she explained with embarrassment.

This interested me. "You did?" I asked. "What was it about?"

She smiled as she looked down at her cup of coffee. Her fingers danced around the rim of the mug. "I couldn't tell if it was a dream or a memory."

"Well, what was it about?" I asked again.

"You and I kissed," she said bashfully. Her cheeks started to turn pink.

I smiled. "Which time?" I asked.

She looked shocked. "Are you saying that we did, in fact, kiss and not only did we kiss but we kissed more than once?" she laughed disbelievingly.

I nodded.

"Oh," she said with surprise. "So I guess I really did miss a lot."

"Back to the dream," I said.

She nodded, ready to answer my questions.

"Where were we at? What were we doing?" I asked trying to get more details.

She sighed. "We were in the kitchen. I wanted to make coffee. I didn't know where the mugs were and you showed me and then we kissed."

It was more than just that simple, but she remembered. Not just any memory, our first kiss. Her memory was starting to come back. What if she actually knew more than she thought she did? "Yeah, sounds about right," I explained.

"So it was real? It was a memory, not a dream?" She asked excitedly.

I smiled. "Maybe you will remember me after all," I explained taking a sip of my black coffee.

Her smile faded slowly as she started thinking. I couldn't imagine what she was thinking about that was so sad. It was probably her family. If I went through the same traumatic experience as her, I probably wouldn't be able to stop thinking about that.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

Her eyes looked into mine and I felt like I remembered everything that happened between us within a matter of seconds. "It's not the same," she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Was she talking about her life after the accident?

I saw tears forming in her eyes but she was trying hard to blink them away. "My memories," she said quietly, almost inaudible. "They're not the same. I don't remember them happening, they just seem like a dream."

I didn't know what to say. What could I say?

"I remember every single haunting moment of the car accident," she started to explain. "One minute, we were all happy, listening and singing to music. Then, I look up and it was like it happened in slow motion." Tears started pouring down her eyes. "I saw it coming but my parents were still smiling and happy. My sister was totally oblivious."

She couldn't look me in my eyes. She stared down at her mug and cried. I was listening to her but she was done sharing. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know more about her.

She wiped her eyes. "Excuse me," she said faintly. She stood up and walked away as fast as she could without being rude.

She was broken.

Author's Note:

I feel like this was a very emotional chapter for me to write. I promise not all of the chapters will be sad and emotional.

This was also another chapter with one of the flashbacks. I would love it if you could tell me if you like the flashbacks!

Hit that little star to tell me you like the chapter or leave a comment!

Feel free to comment any suggestions or correct some of my spelling and grammar mistakes. Sometimes I don't always check the writing that carefully so there are probably going to be errors.

Lydia