Memory

I could see Lisa and my mom's sudden look on me. "What do you mean?" my mom inquired.

I gazed at them both, their expressions prompting me to repeat my question. "I said, who is Colin?" I asked, the name feeling unfamiliar on my tongue.

Lisa looked at me in shock. "Don't you remember Colin? He is your boyfriend. Well, he's not just your boyfriend anymore; he's your fiancé now," she explained.

"A fiancé?" I echoed, the concept feeling foreign and surreal to me.

"Yes," Lisa affirmed with a nod.

Struggling to process this information, I searched my memory for any trace of Colin, but my mind drew blank.

"Do I have a fiancé? But wait, am I not in college?" I voiced my thoughts.

Doctor!!" my mom's voice rang out,

A sudden piercing scream that startle me.

"Doctor!!" my mom's voice rang out again. "Doctor!! My daughter has lost her mind!" she shrieked again.

Lisa's eyes widened as she looked at me, taking a hesitant two step backward. "Selena, don't tell me you..." She began to speak but abruptly closed her mouth with a hand.

"Tell you what?" I asked confused about what was going on.

Lisa hesitated before she finally spoke. "Don't tell me you've lost... your... nah, nah, it can't be true!" Her sentence trailed off.

Meanwhile, my mom continued to call out for the doctors. Within moments, a Doctor rushed into the room.

"Dr. Andrew, I can't understand my daughter!" my mom exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Dr Andrew inquired, his gaze shifting from my mom to Lisa and finally settling on me.

"My daughter can't remember her fiancé, the very guy she keeps talking about for years now, the guy she always says she will love forever!" my mom interjected, her grip tight on Dr. Andrew's hand.

Dr. Andrew turned his attention toward me, taking measured steps closer. "Selena, do you remember me?" he asked, his voice gentle yet probing.

"Yes, I do," I replied.

"Really?" he probed further, seeking clarity in my response.

"Yes," I affirmed.

"Where were you before you found yourself in the hospital?" Dr. Andrew's questioned.

"I was... I was..." I struggled to grasp onto the elusive memories, but they slipped through my fingers like grains of sand.

"You don't know where you were before you found yourself in the hospital?" Dr. Andrew's inquiry pressed on, prompting me to confront the gaps in my memory.

"I can't recall," I admitted.

"Do you remember this nurse?" Dr. Andrew redirected the focus of the conversation, pointing towards the nurse who stood quietly by the doorway.

"Yes, I do. I see her whenever I come for my monthly check-up," I responded, a flicker of recognition sparking in my mind.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Dr. Andrew's questioning continued.

"Last month, when I came for my monthly check-up," I recalled, the memory of that routine visit standing out.

"Really?"

"Yes," I replied.

"In your memory, Selena, what's today's date?"

"Hmm, 7th of June," I replied, the date feeling strangely significant yet elusive in my mind.

"That's the date she got in an accident!" my mom interjected.

I turned to look at my mom, her face etched with concern and sorrow, as Dr. Andrew gently redirected my attention back to him.

"Look at me," he instructed, his steady gaze anchoring me in the present moment. "Like you said, Selena, today is the 7th of June, right?" he asked, seeking confirmation.

"Yes,"

"What did you do this morning?"

"Oh... I was getting ready for a modeling audition," I recalled, the memory.

"Yes, you were, Selena, but you insisted not to go because you were feeling funny, and you said you were going to the hospital," Lisa interjected.

"Huh?" I uttered.

"Where did you spend last night?" Dr. Andrew's inquiry probed deeper into the events leading up to this moment.

"At Lisa's,"

"Did she?" Dr. Andrew turned to Lisa for confirmation.

"Yes, we spent the night together because she was preparing for the audition," Lisa affirmed.

"I told y'all," I chimed in, with a smile.

"Where did she meet her fiancé?" he directed his inquiry at Lisa, his gaze shifting between us.

"They met when she fell from the school stairs back in college. He saved her and took her to the school hospital," Lisa responded.

"Which day?" Dr. Andrew pressed for details.

"Uhmmm, a day before the oral test," Lisa recalled.

Turning his attention back to me, Dr. Andrew's gaze met mine, "Selena, you fell from the stairs in college, right?" he inquired, his voice gentle yet probing.

“Yes!”

"What happened after you fell?" Dr. Andrew's question.

"I woke up and saw myself in the school hospital," I murmured, trying to piece together what had happened.

"Was there anyone with you there?" Dr. Andrew, inquired gently, his brow furrowed with worry.

"No," I replied.

"Colin was there, Selena. That's where you both met, that was where your feelings for him started, Selena," Lisa, interjected.

"No one was there, I woke up alone," I insisted, feeling a pang of emptiness in my heart.

"It's okay," Dr. Andrew reassured me, casting a sympathetic glance at my mother and Lisa.

"Selena lost a specific part of her memory, and that is the memory with her fiancé in it," Dr. Andrew explained with a solemn expression.

"She only lost the memory she has of Colin?" Lisa's voice cracked with concern.

"Yes," Dr. Andrew confirmed.

"She lost all the memories she has of her fiancé, and that's a whole lot," he stated with a sigh, his gaze filled with compassion.

"And that was six years ago. They met six years ago and started dating a year later. Selena, you lost six years memory of Colin for real? How is that even possible?" Lisa's voice quivered with disbelief as she struggled to comprehend my memory loss.

I met Lisa's gaze, "I think forgetting him might be a good thing for me," I uttered softly.

"Apart from that, she is okay. Selena, you can have your rest now. You can inform me if you need further clarity," Dr Andrew said, his tone gentle and soothing.

As Dr. Andrew left the room I turned to Lisa and my mom with a troubled expression etched on my face. "If he's really my fiancé, why didn't he come see me?" I questioned.

"I think it's for the best you forget him, Selena. He has made you go through pains within those years," Lisa remarked solemnly.

Perplexed, I probed further, seeking answers to the mysteries that shrouded my past. "How?" I pressed.

Lisa moved closer to my bedside,With a solemn expression, she retrieved her phone and began to show me a series of chats and voice notes that I had sent her over the years. Each message, each tear-stained voice note revealed a narrative of heartache and turmoil, all stemming from a man named Colin, my supposed fiancé.

As I listened to the snippets of my own pain and sorrow, a realization began to dawn upon me. Through the messages and voice notes, it became painfully clear that Colin had not reciprocated my love, nor had he shown me the respect I deserved.

"But why did I still stay?" I whispered to myself.

"Selena!” Lisa said softly “Do you recall sending me a Recording?"