Prologue

“Come on Mason, it’s been five years.”

I walked to the door, as if to walk in, but paused again for a second.

“If you don’t do it now, you will never do it.”

I sighed, as I walked past the door, and sat in a nearby chair, putting my head in my hands.

“You’re just being a coward. You’re gonna walk over to that door and walk in.”

I stood up and walked quickly to the door, hoping to not give myself enough time to back out. But somehow I still stopped. My hand was on the door handle.

“The people working here have probably noticed you hovering by the door. What’s going to be more awkward? Going in, or explaining this to them?”

“F*** it.” I muttered to myself as I knocked on the door. I had a good point. I could only imagine what the hospital staff were thinking.

“Come in.” came a voice from inside the room that I hadn’t heard in a long time. I opened the door slowly and made my way in. As I walked through the doorway, I saw her sitting upright on the hospital bed, hooked up to all of the medical equipment and holding a book. Emily.

“Hello.” she said, her tone friendly, but unsure.

“Hey.” I replied awkwardly, “How are you?”

“For someone in a car crash as bad as the one I am in, I’m doing okay.” Emily replied with a smile, “These painkillers are amazing though.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I had missed this. Emily still seemed a bit unsure, but that was to be expected. Still, I was surprised at how friendly she was being considering the circumstances of when I last saw her. Maybe she had forgiven me? Maybe the accident had caused her to see there are more important things in life.


“Look, I have to be honest with you, and this isn’t going to be easy to hear.” Emily said, starting to sound a little more serious.

“S***t, I thought things were okay.” I thought to myself.

“Truth is, when the car hit mine, my airbag didn’t go off, and I smacked my head pretty hard on the steering wheel.” Emily explained, “I’m lucky that I didn’t break my neck or anything, but it was a pretty serious head injury.”

I remained silent. I didn’t know where she was going with this.

“I can’t remember anything before I woke up here.” Emily said, “Not even my name. My mum said my name was Emily, and I’m still getting used to that. But what I am trying to say is that I don’t know who you are.”

“I’m Mason.” I replied, shocked by what I had just heard, “We went to school together.”

“How long ago was that?” Emily asked with a smile, “I’m sorry, I am still learning everything again.”

“No it’s fine, seriously.” I said, “We met when we were fifteen.”

“And I’m twenty four right? So are you?” Emily asked, grabbing a notebook from her bedside table, and writing something down, “So nine years?”

“Yeah that sounds right.” I replied. What I failed to mention was that five years ago, she told me she never wanted to see me again.

“So what have you been told so far?” I asked, trying to sound like I was just making conversation, instead of finding out if she knew what had happened between us.

“Not much to be honest,” Emily replied with a slight frown, “The doctors don’t want to overload me with too much information. Just my name, that I’m twenty four, I live in Melbourne and that I’m in my final year of university, though I can’t remember what I was studying.”

She flipped through her notebook trying to find it, however I already knew.

“Teaching. Secondary teaching.” I said, “But that’s all you know? I could only imagine looking through my phone after losing my memory, and taking all that in.”

“My phone has a passcode.” Emily said, tossing the iPhone off the bedside table to me, “A passcode that I can’t remember. It’s a glorified brick now. Same as my laptop. Everyone has told me to read through my Facebook messages, but I can’t get into my account to do that.”

There was an awkward silence, whilst I was silently and selfishly thanking God that Emily couldn’t remember that night from five years ago.

I noticed Emily look to my side and point, pulling me from my own thoughts.

“Is that a camera?” Emily asked, “Are you a photographer?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “At least, I hope so. I manage to get by taking photos, but that’s about it.”

“Can I see some of your photos?” Emily asked, sounding more and more curious.

I pulled the tablet from my camera bag, and opened up the photos app, pulling up a photo of the fireworks from last New Years Eve, and handed the tablet to Emily, who began scrolling through them.

“Wow, these are pretty incredible.” Emily said, “Where did you learn this?”

“I went to university for a year and learnt the basics, but dropped out.” I explained, “I spent more time there panicking about assessments and learning stuff that I didn’t really give a damn about, for a Bachelor of Arts that would get me nowhere anyway.”

Emily handed the iPad back, listening intently.

“I dropped out and made a point of spending my days taking photos. Helped me to become a better photographer than I ever would have there.”

Before either of us could say anything else, a nurse walked in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but visiting hours end in five minutes.” the nurse said.

“That’s fine. I’ll head off soon.” I replied, before the nurse walked out.

“Thanks for coming to see me.” Emily replied, “It gets pretty lonely here, and it’s comforting to know that one of my friends cares enough to come visit me. I was starting to think nobody would.”

“Wait, none of your friends have come to see you?” I asked, somewhat shocked.

“Nope.” Emily said, “They sent me texts, but I can’t reply, because of the whole passcode thing. They eventually stopped texting, and none made the effort to come out and see me. Every time some nurse would come in, I’d get excited thinking maybe its a friend, but nope. B****es.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. It must be horrible.” I repled.

“Before you go, can I ask a favour?” Emily asked, “Can you take a photo of us? For my notebook? Everything is all new to me, and I wanna make sure I don’t forget anything.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I grabbed my camera from the bag and put on a portrait lens, setting it to autofocus, and turning on the wireless remote, before placing the camera on the table at the opposite end of the room. I pulled my chair up against the bed, and sat next to Emily. That was the closest we had been in years. It felt foreign yet familiar.

“Smile.” I said, before pressing the button. There was a click as the mirror in the camera flicked up, and the shutter opened and closed within a second.

I packed up the camera, and put the chair back before making my way to the notebook.

“I’ll print that and bring it by tomorrow.” I said, before writing my phone number down, “If you need anything, and can get a hold of a phone, give me a call.”

“Thanks.” Emily replied, “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s fine.” I replied, “I’ll swing by tomorrow.”

I made my way out of the hospital to the carpark, and unlocked my car, before climbing in, and leaning back in my seat.

“That was completely different to how I thought it’d be.” I thought to myself, “I hate myself for thinking it, but maybe this could be for the best.”

I tried not to dwell on it too much. I turned the key, and the engine that sat behind me roared to life. I put my foot down, as the black Toyota MR2 began to move.

I arrived at my apartment an hour later, and made my way straight to my laptop on the kitchen bench, stopping by the fridge to grab a beer on my way there. I opened the laptop as the screen lit up, showing Skype from before I left to see Emily. The conversation was still open with a friend from a photography forum. Aperture.

WIthin a few seconds of me coming online, there was a new message.

“How’d it go??”

I opened the beer and took a drink before typing.

“Completely different to how I thought, but I am not sure if that’s a good thing.”

I took another sip as I waited. Soon there was a reply.

“How so?”


“She lost her memory in the accident. She couldn’t remember anything. But she was happy to see me. Apparently none of her friends have come to see her.”

“So you didn’t tell her what happened between you?”

“It wasn’t the right time. She doesn’t even know who Aaron was. It’d just upset her and make things awkward.”

“But will you tell her eventually right? I mean what if she sees her messages from back then? Or someone tries to tell her?”

“She can’t get into her phone, or her facebook account. And she is pretty pissed at her friends for not seeing her. I honestly don’t think she will find out.”

I grabbed another beer from the fridge, and opened that. I could feel it kicking in. I was more than used to that at this point.

“So what exactly happened between you guys??”

I took another sip, unsure of how to proceed.

“I loved her. That’s what.”