I didn't answer.
I only stared at her face.
The face that had appeared in my dreams over and over again. A face that always felt so close, yet every time I tried to remember it, everything turned to fog.
Now she was standing right in front of me.
Real.
Not a dream.
Not a shadow.
“Do you remember me now?”
Her voice was soft.
I shook my head.
“I… don’t know.”
She gave me a faint smile, but there was no happiness in it.
“You always say that.”
“What do you mean?”
She stepped closer.
I instinctively backed away.
But my back immediately hit the wall.
There was nowhere left to run.
“I waited for you here once.”
“When?”
“Back then.”
“When was back then?”
She fell silent.
Her eyes searched my face as if she were looking for something inside me.
“On the day everything changed.”
I frowned.
“What changed?”
“You.”
That single word made my chest tighten.
“Me?”
She nodded.
“You weren’t the same person after that day.”
I wanted to ask more, but suddenly my head began to throb.
It hurt terribly.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my fingers to my temples.
A sound reached me.
Laughter.
The voices of several people talking.
Then someone crying.
I opened my eyes quickly.
The room was still the same.
The girl in front of me was still standing there.
But for a split second, I saw something different.
The room was filled with people.
There was a table.
Chairs.
A whiteboard.
And I was sitting in one of the chairs.
I saw myself.
Younger.
Happier.
The same girl was sitting beside me.
We were laughing.
Then everything changed.
The lights flickered.
Someone entered the room.
I couldn't see their face.
But everyone suddenly fell silent.
The girl in front of me grabbed my hand.
Then she whispered,
“Don’t trust them.”
The vision vanished.
I jolted.
“What just happened?”
The girl didn't answer.
“I saw us.”
“Then you’re starting to remember.”
“What happened that day?”
She lowered her head.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Then tell me.”
“But you might hate me after you hear it.”
I stared at her in confusion.
“Why?”
“Because I’m the reason you forgot everything.”
I fell silent.
The atmosphere suddenly grew colder.
“You… what did you do?”
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone always says that.”
My voice began to rise.
“You too? Them too? Then who actually had a choice?”
She said nothing.
I felt tears beginning to well in the corners of my eyes.
“Why should I trust anyone?”
“Because I’m the only person who still remembers everything.”
“Then tell me.”
She let out a long breath.
“We used to be best friends.”
I fell silent.
“Not just school friends. We were always together. Wherever you went, I went too. Whatever happened, you always told me about it.”
I stared at her face.
Strange.
The more she told me, the more small pieces in my mind began to fall into place.
A bench beneath a tree.
Two lunch boxes.
Heavy rain.
Laughter.
Tears.
And a promise.
“I’m starting to remember,” I whispered.
She nodded.
“Then one day, you found something you were never supposed to know.”
“What?”
“A secret about this school.”
I swallowed.
“What secret?”
She hadn't had time to answer when the distant sound of a door opening reached us.
We both turned.
The sound of footsteps grew closer.
“We don’t have much time.”
“Who are they?”
“The people who made you forget.”
“How did they do it?”
She stared at me for a long moment.
“They didn’t erase your memories.”
I furrowed my brow.
“Then what?”
“They made you believe your memories had never existed.”
I fell silent.
The thought was far more terrifying than anything I had imagined.
“And you?”
“I tried to stop them.”
“But you failed.”
She gave me a bitter smile.
“Not completely.”
She reached into her uniform pocket and pulled out a small object.
A keychain.
It was shaped like a crescent moon.
I recognized it immediately.
My hand moved on its own.
“Where did you get that?”
“You gave it to me.”
I took the object.
The moment it touched my palm, my head began to throb again.
This time, the memory came back more clearly.
She and I were standing in a hallway.
I was crying.
She held both my hands.
“If you ever forget me…”
I saw myself smiling through my tears.
“I won’t forget you.”
“If you really do forget me, look for this.”
I saw myself giving her the crescent-moon keychain.
Then I said something.
Something that made my heart pound.
“If I say I don’t know you, don’t believe me.”
I opened my eyes.
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
“I remember.”
The girl smiled.
“You remember me?”
I nodded.
“You’re my best friend.”
For the first time, her expression changed.
Her eyes glistened with tears.
But before she could say anything, the footsteps stopped right outside the door.
Someone knocked.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
She and I looked at each other.
Then a voice came from the other side of the door.
“Open the door.”
My body instantly went rigid.
It was the voice of the person I had always trusted.
The person who had always been by my side.
The person who had always made me feel safe.
The girl in front of me whispered,
“Don’t answer.”
The knocking came again.
This time, louder.
“Open the door. I know you’re in there.”
I gripped the crescent-moon keychain tightly.
Suddenly, something flashed through my mind.
A memory that had never surfaced before.
I saw that person.
Standing in the same room.
Speaking to someone.
“If she starts remembering, we have to stop her.”
I covered my mouth.
No.
I stared at the door.
Then I looked at my best friend.
“They know.”
“Know what?”
“That I’ve started remembering.”
Her face went pale.
“Then we have to leave. Now.”
“Where?”
She pointed to a small door behind the shelves.
“To where it all began.”
I stared at the door.
And for some reason, a strange feeling rose inside me.
The feeling that behind that door were the answers to all the questions that had haunted me for so long.
About my dreams.
About my lost memories.
About the people who always made me afraid.
And about why I had once chosen to forget everything.
I drew a deep breath.
Then I took my best friend’s hand.
“This time,” I said softly, “I won’t run.”
A loud voice came from the other side of the door.
“Stop!”
We ran.
And as the secret door closed behind us, I heard a voice that brought me to a halt.
Someone was shouting from the room we had left.
“If she remembers everything, she’ll find out who she really is!”
I turned around.
My heart pounded.
Who was I, really?
For the first time, I felt that the answer might be far worse than everything I had forgotten.