Long Live

Blank Space

"Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

But I've got a blank space, baby

And I'll write your name."

I spend all night online, looking for any evidence that what I remember is real, but nothing appears. But when I open my phone, her music is there. The pictures I sent Sage of Taylor on the wall are still in our texts, and the videos and pictures we took at her most recent tour are sitting in my Photos app. She exists nowhere except in my memories and on my phone.

I lay in bed, scrolling through my phone to try and figure out what happened. When I open my texts, my conversation with Sage appears.

Power outage. Not sure if I'll get to play.

I sit up straight. The power outage. Something must have happened during the power outage.

I jump out of bed and into Sage's room, throwing the door open before I can realize what time it is, and I cringe.

Sage groans and puts a pillow on her face. "Naomi, I'm gonna kill you."

"Sorry, but this is important. Please." I sit on the edge of her bed and show her my phone. "I think something happened during the blackout tonight, and that's why no one remembers who Taylor is."

Sage rubs her eyes and sits up. "What blackout?"

"The one I texted you about! Right before my set."

She reaches on her nightstand and hands me her phone. "Look for yourself."

I go straight for her Messages app, and it's gone. The picture I sent her, and the message I sent. In its place is something else:

About to go on. Nervous.

Hang in there! Everything will work out the way it's supposed to. Don't stress yourself out.

I gape at the phone and hand her my own. "Read it."

She looks at the messages, takes her phone back, and compares the two. "This doesn't make any sense."

"I'm telling you: something happened tonight. There was a power outage right before I went on. They got it back, I did my set, and afterward no one remembers Taylor Swift or the blackout? You can't tell me that's a coincidence."

Sage hands me my phone. "I'll give it to you; that does sound weird. But you realize you're saying that there's something, someone, you remember and no one else does? Is it at all possible that we're remembering correctly and maybe you're just making a mistake?"

When I hear it, it does make sense. It's hard to blame everyone else for something that only I remember. "Well when you put it that way..." I trail off. I'm ready to throw in the towel when one last idea hits me. "Wait. Just humor me for one more minute."

I open the Photos app, go to the folder I made, and hand it to her. "Look at this."

I sit patiently as she scrolls through the pictures of the two of us at the reputation tour we went to last summer. There are photos of us waiting outside, posing by the stage, and videos of us dancing to a bunch of the songs. Through each one, I remain silent, praying that this is enough to convince her.

The last video turns off, and she doesn't say anything. Once I can't take it anymore, I prompt her with "well?"

She lets out a long breath. "I don't remember it. Any of it. Those songs, that concert, her. But those videos and pictures... I mean, I was there. I sang along! How do I not remember that?"

I shrug. "I don't know. God, I'm just glad you believe me. I thought I was going insane."

"So, since all of this is true, what are you going to do about this meeting with Dennis? If you take it, there's a chance he'll want you to pass of Taylor's songs are your own. And, I mean, you could. No one would know except for you."

"And you," I remind her.

She shrugs it off. "I only half count. What are you going to do?"

I hadn't thought this far ahead, and that's what I admit to her. "I don't know. One way or another, he expects a call in the morning, and I have no idea what I'll tell him."

Sage yawns. "Sleep on it. Maybe it'll be easier in the morning."

I laugh. "Or maybe this was all just a bad dream, and I'll wake up, and everything will be normal."

She crawls back under her covers and sets her head on her pillows. "I hope so."

As I walk back to my room, I mutter, "I hope so, too."