A Permanent Memory Wipe

My phone chimed.

"Hello?"

My eyes were barely open, my head still foggy with sleep.

"Maeve Yule! What are you doing?" It was Yelena Anderson, my best friend. "I flew seven hours just to be your bridesmaid, and now they won't even let me into the hotel! And the bride is… Jolene Lanier? Who's that? What kind of game are you and Nathaniel playing? Are you messing with me?"

I shot upright, suddenly wide awake. "Who's getting married?"

Yelena sounded even more shocked than I felt. "What do you mean? Isn't today your wedding with Nathaniel?"

A cold sweat broke over me, and I retorted, "Who the hell is Nathaniel? You know I've always been single."

"Cut the crap, Maeve! You've been dating him for five years. There's a wedding photo of you two hanging on your damn wall!" Yelena sounded completely fed up.

I bolted out of bed and tore through my home, but there was nothing. No sign that a man had ever set foot in here.

"It's just a portrait of me on the wall," I snapped. "Seriously, I don't even own a double bed."

"No freaking way! Hold on. I'm on my way."

Yelena hung up before I could say another word.

The second she stormed in, she started yelling at me, convinced I was pretending to have amnesia just to screw with her. But then she looked around, and her face went blank while she kept muttering, "No way."

"I'll prove it to you!"

Yelena suddenly remembered that she had joined Nathaniel and me at our wedding photo shoot and taken some candid photos that she posted on Instagram.

In the photos, I was wearing a white wedding dress, smiling brightly as I held the arm of a good-looking man in a black suit and gold-rimmed glasses.

I went completely still. I didn't know the man in the picture. His face meant nothing to me, but for some reason, tears started pouring down my face. I brushed them away, and that was when it hit me.

"Leni! Do I have a long-lost twin sister or something? Is my little sister actually the one getting married?"

Yelena let out an annoyed sigh. "Are you two fighting again?"

I grew agitated. "I mean it! I honestly don't know any Nathaniel."

Yelena gave me a long, searching look, her concern deepening. "You're not actually losing your memory, are you? Did you hit your head or something?"

She snatched my phone and scrolled through my contacts, but there wasn't any Nathaniel listed. Out of ideas, she called him herself.

The line picked up, and a soft voice answered, "Hello?"

"Nathaniel, what the hell is going on?" Yelena snapped. "Mae says she doesn't know you! And now you're marrying someone else?"

Nathaniel paused briefly before asking stiffly, "May I ask… who is this?"

Yelena shot to her feet, yelling, "Nathaniel! What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull? Don't act like you don't recognize my voice!"

"Wrong num—" he started, but a frail woman's voice cut in between harsh coughs. "Who is it, Nate?"

"It's nothing… Just a wrong number," Nathaniel replied, flustered.

Before Yelena could say a word, the line went dead with a series of beeps. Nathaniel had hung up.

"This isn't right." Yelena bolted out the door without hesitation. "Stay here. I'll keep you posted."

She was determined to figure things out, but I couldn't have cared less. Strangers had never been my thing.