The Love That Could Have Been

1

Pain shot through my head as I attempted to open my eyes. I can hear the soft hum of machines, beeping monitors, and distant footsteps echoing in the background. My head feels heavy and there's this dull ache throbbing behind my eyes. The sterile scent of antiseptic hung in the air as my vision adjusted to my surroundings. The harsh fluorescent lights above me illuminated the room. White sheets, white walls, white everywhere—the hospital. I blinked, trying to make sense of the place and the questions that were running in my head. Who am I? What am I doing in this place? And why did I end up here?

I groaned, my head pounding with each thought. As I attempted to sit up, pain radiated through my body, reminding me that something horrific must have happened.

"Easy there," a voice said, and I turned my head to find a girl sitting at a nearby chair, her eyes filled with a mixture of relief and concern. "I'm glad you're finally awake, Dawn. You've been unconscious for three days already. How are you feeling?"

She stood up from her seat and approached me in the bed, making her appearance clearer to me. She seems to be about 18 years old. Her complexion was soft and natural like olive and her hazel eyes sparkled with warmth and kindness. Her dark brown hair was tied into a bun with her side bangs draping like a curtain at the front of her face. She placed her hand gently upon my shoulder.

"Who are you?" was the first thing that came out of my mouth. She seemed to be quite taken aback by my question as she mildly gasped, one of her hands trying to cover the shocked expression in her mouth. After what seemed to be seconds of pondering, she nodded at me as she crossed her arms in her chest. "You seriously think you can make a fool out of me, Dawn? C'mon, we've been friends since childhood. You think this is still a new joke to me?"

"No, I am serious. I don't know you and I don't have any idea what I am doing here. I don't even know myself to begin with. And I do not have the energy and the mental capacity right now to think and play mind games with anyone, so can you please just tell me what is going on here?" I said frantically.

My head is hurting from all the thoughts and questions that are repeatedly bombarding my mind. I feel like a lost person, without any memories of her past and without any ideas of what lies ahead in her future. I looked at the girl standing next to me, hoping that she'd see directly through my eyes all the confusion that was running through my head. Once more, I saw shock written across her face. She then dropped her shoulders, heaving a sigh.

"It seems you really forgot what happened, Dawn. You really don't remember me? It's me, Emily. Emily Swanson. We've been friends since we were 5. We pretty much went through everything together. I just came from Australia and you were on your way to supposedly meet me at the airport. But when you were on your way, your taxi driver did not notice that there was another car approaching. Unfortunately, he did not survive," she told me as tears started to form in her eyes. "I was really worried about you."

She hugged me in her embrace as she began breaking into a sob. "I thought I'd never see you alive again. It's only you and Mom that I have left. I never know what I'd do if I lost my friend just because she wanted to fetch me from my flight," she says with tears streaming down her face. Even if there are still a lot of questions in my mind that are left unanswered, I feel like this is not the proper time to rush Emily. Feeling the warmth of her embrace, I hugged her back, trying to comfort her by slowly moving my hands across her back.

After some time, she broke the hug between the two of us and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hands. "I am really sorry, Dawn. You have to lose your memory because of me. I know that this isn't much but to make up for it, you can always ask me anything. Anything you ever want to know about me? About you? Anything," she said as she held my hands, trying to put on a hopeful smile despite the sadness that you can see deep within her eyes.