The Town of Winchester

“Could you walk any slower, Kay?”

Grace is clearly impatient with me, but I can’t help that I’m a slow walker. I am also trying to take in the foreign surroundings as we pass them by. Front doors wide open, papers circling through the air without a care in the world, and the thing that is most eerie... the silence. Not even the sound of birds chirping or bugs making those annoying noises that they always make during the summer.

“It’s not a race, Grace. There is literally nobody here and we have nothing but time. I’m trying to take in the surroundings and see if anything looks familiar or if something will jog our memory.”

I am scanning each side of the road, watching like a hawk and careful not to miss anything, and that’s when I see it. A mailbox that reads Lexing. I don’t know how I know, but I know. That is my house. I sprint the remaining distance to the door and Grace follows. The door is red with dark blue trim and welcome mat says “wipe your paws”.

“That’s cute, I bet you picked that out didn’t you.” Grace says sarcastically.

“Actually that was my mom thank you very much. That’s not really my style. Mine would say ‘go away’.” Out of the corner of my eye I catch Grace smile and a pulse of pain runs through my head. My hand juts to my temple and my eyes squeeze shut from the pain.

“Are you okay?” Grace asks as she puts her hand on my back.

“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s keep moving.”

My hand remains on the door knob for a moment, nervous for what could lie behind. I take a deep breath and the door creeks as I open it ever so slowly.

“Mom? Dad?” I call out. No response.

“Alright, let’s look around. It’s odd that your house was such a wreck and mine is perfectly intact. It looks like my parents just went out for lunch or something.” Grace just shrugs her shoulders, unsure of what to say.

As I walk into the living room I glance at the walls and see family pictures. Memories start flooding my mind so quickly I have to look away for a moment and that’s when I notice a picture that makes everything stop. I reach down and pick it up. I’m staring at the picture so hard I feel like my eyes might get stuck squinting. No memories, no thoughts, nothing.

“Grace? Come look at this.”

Grace reaches out and takes the picture.

“Okay, so who is he? Looks like you two were pretty serious. Kay’s got a boyfriend. Interesting. Do you kiss and tell?”

“Ha. Funny. When I looked at the pictures of my family I got an overwhelming amount of memories that flooding my thoughts, but when I looked at this picture I got nothing. All the memories and thought ceased and it was like my mind went black. I have no idea who he is and I certainly don’t remember kissing him… like that.”

I don’t know why but in that moment, as soon as the words left my tongue I felt guilty. A feeling in the pit of my stomach that came and went in an instant, but it was there.

“Okay Kay, whatever you say.” The way she says it I can tell she doesn’t believe me, but I’m telling the honest truth. All I know is that I am passionately kissing this guy in this picture… and I have no idea who he is.

The recon the downstairs turned up nothing else of interest. We make our way upstairs and into my bedroom. A flood of memories come back to me. Staying up late studying for midterms, sneaking out to meet up with friends and getting scolded when I got home, those were the days. Once in my bedroom I feel confused. There are things that I remember, like my soccer trophies and basketball awards, but then there are things that I don’t have any recollection of, like pictures of me with the same guy from downstairs and letters from him that I have hung up on my wall. Oh, and they are not just normal letters…they are love letters.

“You guys are so cute! I can’t believe he wrote you so many letters…and so in depth. He really doesn’t hold back describing the times in the woods you two had together. You really don’t remember any of this? Maybe a name will jog your memory, he’s signed this one ‘Chris.’ Anything?” Grace asks with a lifted eyebrow, I think she’s more intrigued by my apparent love life than I am. I close my eyes and try to think back, try to scramble up any memories at all of this passionate love I once had. Then it hits me. Not a memory, but a feeling. The feeling of his hand on the back of my neck pulling me in, our lips touching and he pulls back teasing me and making me lunge forward for more. All of the feelings of wanting him so badly flood into my veins like blood spreading in water, but I can’t remember his face or what he looked like. At this moment two things become crystal clear to me. The first, I had a love that was filled with passion and intensity. The second, I want to know who and where Chris is.

“I remember.” The words leave my lips slowly and roll off my tongue gently.

“Annnnnd?” Grace’s eyes widen as she leans towards me.

“I can’t remember what he looked like, but I remember the feeling I had when we kissed and when he touched me. Something out of a movie. We need to find him.”

“Where do we start?” Grace asks as she walks over towards the window and notices that the sun has gone down.

“Honestly, I’m exhausted. Let’s say we get some rest and maybe when we wake up in the morning things will become clearer to the both of us.” I say this without any guilt, as I have found enough absolution for the day to allow me to let my body rest.

“Yeah, you’re right. I didn’t realize how tired I was until we slowed down a bit and the initial shock wore off.”

I walk over to the off white, rustic dresser in the corner and open the drawers. Bingo.

“Here.” I toss over a pair of purple pajama bottoms and an extra-large shirt to Grace.

“Thanks, Kay.”

With both of us changed and comfortable we slowly crawl into bed. There was no question about the sleeping arrangements. The both of us climbed into bed without words, like we’d done it a thousand times over. Was it because we didn’t want to split up? Was it because we had some sort of connection or we were friends before this? I’ll come back to these questions in the morning, but right now my eyes feel as heavy as concrete blocks.