In the photo, I look like a teenager, wearing a coat. I can't make out where I was, because the picture focuses on me, but it was definitely taken during winter.
I take a look at the second photo. It's still the same photo of me but with a different angle. I can't help but wonder how Luke could have these photos.
I'm positive that they were taken years ago.
When I finally look at the third photo, I can't breathe. It's a photo of me and Luke, my hand on his cheek, his hand on mine.
We're gazing at each other with so much adoration in our eyes. The way we stare into each other's eyes looks as though we're...in love.
My hand shakes, and the photos drop onto the ground. To say that I'm shocked is an understatement. My mind goes blank, and I can only stare at the photos lying on the floor.
With my trembling hand, I pick them up again, and that's when I notice something written on the back of one of them, the one of me and Luke.
Hallstatt, Austria
Winter, 2014
I feel like my heart stops beating. It's seven years ago.
Luke and I have met before. Seven years ago.
But why can't I remember any of it? I know that seven years is a long time—I might have forgotten about it. But the problem is that I don't even remember ever going to Hallstatt.
It's in Austria, and I was there when I was like...18? I don't remember visiting a place that far away before I became a superstar.
What the hell is this all about? This is crazy. Is the picture playing with my mind? But these are real polaroid pictures.
They don't look like they were edited.
I look into the envelope again to make sure that I didn’t miss anything, and surprisingly, I did. There's a ring inside the envelope, and I observe it as it now lies on my palm.
It's Luke's ring, the one I saw on his finger when I met him for the first time. I thought it was a couple ring that he shared with Josephine, but why has he kept it inside an envelope that stores our pictures?
Chills run through my body. Did he share a couple ring with me instead? The lyrics of my latest song, “Winter Escape,” speak about a ring.
The song was drafted in my email in 2014. Was it from my own experience? Did I write a song about Luke?
How can I not remember all of this?
Something suddenly strikes my mind. I may have a good memory, but there's one period in my life that's impossible for me to remember.
It's when I had an accident years ago, in which I lost a part of my memory. It caused me to lose one year of memories prior to the accident.
It was the most absurd thing that had ever happened in my life, and Morgan kept telling me to not think too much about it, to forget about it.
It was so strange that it even felt like a dream.
My head pulses with sharp pain again as I try hard to rememberwhen it happened. It was in 2014 too, I guess, around autumn.
If I met Luke during winter at the beginning of 2014, then I must have forgotten him.
My hand is still shaking when I reach for my phone and dial Morgan's number. She must know something about this.
My heart is beating so fast—I'm afraid that it's going to burst out of my chest.
I wait for Morgan to answer, and to my amazement, she picks up the call.
"You finally realized that you still need me in your life?" her voice echoes in my ear, cold as ice. "You know that you're nothing without me, Cassie."
