Carnations for Emily

Chapter 4: The boy I can't remember...

Emily, no older than twenty one, with her short auburn hair blowing in the cool autumn breeze, left her house and started making her way to her job.

The young woman these days is a journalist for the "Space Needle Gazette" in Seattle, Washington.
She had moved there after she graduated high school in her little home town.

She was going to college for a while but realized it wasn't for her.
Growing bored of it she started working towards this new goal of hers.

Now that she's got her dream job, she tries to score scoops of unknown artists of any kind.
Though she's never gotten anything she thought was interesting.
Aside from this she does get to travel and meet all kinds of people so that was a plus.

While she is living a fun life no doubt, not struggling too much to get by, there's another thing that comes to her.
In her dreams.

She dreams of a boy...

A boy she doesn't remember, but feels like she should.
She can't remember his face or his name, yet he feels close to her heart in some way.
"I remember that he made a promise to me" she tells people who ask.
"But I can't seem to remember who he was or what the promise was about...
No matter how hard I try."

She's calls her mom and dad about who he was but they don't tell her for whatever reason.
Ever since that accident....

"L-let's not think about that." She said to herself quietly.
Even though she tries not to, she keeps thinking about it.
During her senior year of high school one winter night she was coming home from somewhere...

That, she can't remember either...
All Emily can recall is that the next morning she woke up in the hospital.
The nurse watching over her during her stay said they brought her in with tears in her eyes.
Saying that Emily kept saying:
"I don't want to forget him!"
But Emily doesn't remember who "he" was now.
Maybe a family member?
A friend?
She doesn't know.
But she feels the dreams she's been having may lead her to these forgotten memories.

The accident had caused memory loss.
Though eventually with the help of her friends and family she had regained most of what she had lost, but these dreams tell her she's still forgetting something.
Something precious...
She was only eighteen back then.

While she still tries to pursue this forgotten dream when she's alone, she does make time to go out and hang with her friends in the city.
They always tell her that she needs to get out of the house every now and then.
That staying inside all the time, chasing some boy, that she had probably imagined, isn't good for her health.
She was always a popular girl because of how beautiful she was, and her optimistic personality made it easier for people to get along with her.
She had always been like that.
Even when she was a kid.

Anymore though, while she's still optimistic, her friends, especially her best friend Mary, who had came out to Seattle with her can tell that Emily had become a little more sad since that night.

After work was over and she couldn't find a good story to write out, Emily came home to find Mary watching "Friday the 13th" on AMC.
The room was dark and Mary had a blanket over her head.

Mary isn't scared easily by much, but Emily sure is.
While she tries to play it off well she can actually get scared pretty easily and Mary taunts her about it especially around this time of year.
Mary noticed Emily enter the house and waved over to her.
"Come over here!
Let's watch this together." Mary begged.
Emily had pondered over it for a second and decided to sit down on the couch next to Mary.
"Sure why not.
Which one is this?" Emily asked.
"Part two" Mary replied.
Gritting through her teeth Emily responded with "Oh good..."

Later into the night Emily's mind went back to the dreams she had been having, while she used the movie to distract herself, it was over now and "The Walking Dead" was playing.
When she was done cowering in fear from the movie she turned to Mary.
"Mary?" Emily spoke.
"What's up Em?"
"Are you sure you don't remember that boy at all?
Not his face or his name?" Emily asked.
Mary groaned at this question.
Emily asks her this often.
She gets that Emily wants to remember who this boy was but if Mary doesn't remember him how could she help?
Though the way Emily describes bits and pieces of him Mary does believe that if anything he was in their class.
Yet she's unsure if he graduated with them.
"Emily you've asked me this time and time again.
Has my answer ever changed?" Mary questioned.
"W-well no" Emily replied in a saddened and slightly embarrassed tone.
"Then there's your answer." After finishing her last sentence Mary did pick up Emily's sad vibe and the even sadder expression on her face.

"Cheer up Em, I'm sure he'll come back to you one day." Mary said reassuringly.
"Maybe." Emily replied.
Even though she wanted to believe it and her heart sang that it's true, her mind said otherwise.

When she went to bed the dreams came back to her.
This time slightly better.
She could see the color of the boys hair this time.
It was black and kinda messy.
Try as she might that's all she was able to recover.
Even though the dreams were as bittersweet as can be she did wake up happier the next day.
"Even remembering a little bit of you at a time is good enough for me." She whispered.
Emily placed a hand over her heart and felt it beat away a little faster from excitement.
She made a promise to herself that morning.
"I'll remember everything about you, whoever you are.
When I do, I'm going to find you in this world of ours."

Then Emily got dressed and raced out the door.
Standing on her porch, the cool autumn breeze welcomed her to the morning light.
It was her day off.

And this time she was going to spend it having fun instead of being cooped up.

"I promise I will." -Emily

Chapter 4: End.