Forgotten Touches

One

Isobel

When Isobel thinks back on that night, she wonders what she was doing alone on a hilltop wrapped in a thin afghan blanket in the rain. Up until then, nothing in Isobel's mind is a solid picture. She can see her hands on a leopard-print steering wheel, fingers white in a tight grip. A garage door getting stuck halfway down, or possibly up. A book with every page torn out of the binding. A pair of shredded pants hung on an otherwise-empty clothesline in the rain. And a lonely flower in a field of dying grass.

Yet, when she tries to remember, there's no wall there like that of an amnesiacs. Instead, it's like a game of hide-and-go-seek tag; just when you're about to find someone, they manage to sprint away and leave you right where you were to begin with. Though, Isobel doesn't even bother chasing her memories anymore.

Two

Elsie

Elsie take photos. They aren't very good; usually blurry and out of focus, the lines tilted at awkward angles and distorted. But she kept taking them because when you have pictures, you can't forget.

It had been long enough that the muddiness in her mind didn't bother her anymore but more so scared her. What if it happened again and she lost everything as she had before?

But then, Elsie hadn't really lost everything. There was a single light bulb dangling from a chord in the ceiling. A sunburn that had started to peel. A bubble math smelling of lavender and mint and sunshine and warmth. A pair of shoes tied together at the laces. And a pile of typed pages that she doesn't remember ever looking at.

When she stares at her face in the mirror, two unfamiliar eyes gaze back.

Three

James

Two beautiful faces, one of sunlight one of the moon's glow. The soft, velvet touch of full lips on his own and a warm hand tracing his jaw. The softest of touches, the urgency in one final hug. A fateful glance and a deciding smile. And a pair of sweaters off the softest materials he'd ever encountered.

This isn't all James can remember; his memory is perfectly intact. Except for one subject: these two girls that both grace and plague his every thought. It's only when he sleeps that he can remember them in his dreams, yet when he awakes, they've left him once again.