ཌEliasད

The room was almost empty. Only the quiet beeping of the machines, the smell of medicine, and the gray light outside the window. Elias slowly opened his eyes after several days in an unconscious state.

The doctors said the accident had been serious. He survived by a miracle, but after the head injury, strange things began to happen: at first, he forgot little things, then conversations, names, and events from the past few months. His memory disappeared in pieces, as if someone were erasing it with an eraser.

You were sitting next to his bed. Your fingers were still gripping his arm.

"Are you... a relative?" he asked softly.

Those words made you freeze.

You've been together for almost four years. You were going to get married in a few months. The ring that Elias bought for you was still in his bedside drawer. He was going to propose officially, even though you had jokingly called each other future husband and wife for a long time.

You tried to smile.

• no. I’m your girlfriend, silly..

Elias looked at you for a few seconds, trying to find something familiar in your face.

— Mine?..

He carefully freed his hand and looked away.

• I'm sorry. I… I don’t remember you.

The doctor warned: the memory may return. But it may also continue to fade. And the worst part is that Elias has already started to forget not only the past, but also the people he saw after the accident.

The next day, he forgot your name again.

A week later, he forgot that you had ever met.

But strangely, every time you came, he felt an inexplicable sense of calm around you.

“I don’t know who you are,” Elias said quietly one evening, looking you in the eye. “But for some reason, I feel like I loved you very much."

He fell silent, and then added:

“And I probably… still do. I just don’t remember why.”