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“No, I didn’t do that… I couldn’t have!”

“You’ve been reluctant about it for so long, you said you…”

“You’re lying…” I whisper through a sob.

“Oh Adam…”

When she starts crying, I try to stop myself from getting upset and try to talk calmly to her.  “The scariest thing to me now is... that you might be telling me the truth.” I say softly, but it only makes her cry harder.  I slide myself across the carpet and take her in my arms; she throws her arms around me, crying into my shoulder.  “I’m sorry... I don’t... I don’t remember anything about it... about you...” I look around the room more.  This is my room, with the green ceiling, walls, and floor; the three computer towers and two monitors sitting on a thirteen-foot desk embedded in the far wall, the mini-fridge, and the Fichus tree by the window; everything except the girl in my arms.  The rain is still pounding into the roof and scraping at the window.

“I can’t believe my parents haven’t heard us.”  I say softly.  She stops crying and pulls away from me.  “Adam... there really must be something wrong.”  She says.  I shrug and slowly shake my head, loosening my grip on her.  “Adam, your parents drowned on a cruise earlier this year.”  I pull myself up, step away, and look at my body.  Before I get the chance to ask her about my parents, I look down at my body and see scant patches of hair across my chest.  I also notice that the distance between my head and the floor has been stretched.  “What is it?”  She asks as I look down at her.  “How old am I?”  I ask.  “Adam.  You’re twenty-three.”  I look at her a moment, waiting for her to crack a smile, but she only stares back with glassy eyes.  I run into the bathroom and look at my face in the mirror.  My hair is long, hanging down against my neck.  My face is skinnier; I have a goatee and stubble.  This was not what my face looked like the last time I saw it in a mirror.

“What the fuck is going on, Evelyn?  What the FUCK is going ON?”  I bang on the mirror, then press my hand into my reflection and pinch my eyes shut.  “Jesus Christ!  What the fuck is happening?”  When I walk back into my room, Evelyn is facing away from me without her bra on and now has on red panties.  I divert my eyes from looking at the side curve of her breast.  “Evelyn, what...” She turns and looks at me, I look at the floor.  “Adam, do you still love me?”  My mouth perpetually open in shock, I shake my head yet again.  “I... I don’t know.”  She grabs my arms and sits me on the bed, holding my hands.

“Adam.  My name is Evelyn Luminati.  You and I have been dating for two years.  We met at college, Temple University, I moved into the dorm room next to you in the beginning of the second semester of your sophomore year.  Four months after we met, just after your 21st birthday, you told me you loved me.  Do you remember any of that?”

“No. I...”

“You know your name, you know this is your house, what else do you remember?”

“I… applied to Temple.  I moved to this house just before I was supposed to go to college.  My parents are Joseph and Mary Drayton.  I have a brother who is going to Penn State and a sister who is married.”  I say, rushing my words.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

I look into her eyes

“I don’t know.”

“Then how do you know all that?”

“I don’t know!  I mean, you know me, what was the last thing we did?”

“We had sex and…”

“STOP SAYING THAT!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  But… the last thing you told me was that you loved me.”

“I don’t remember...”

“Adam, I love you.  I’ve never stopped loving you, but I have no idea what’s going on, and I’m getting scared.”

“It’s nothing compared to how scared I am.”

I notice that I’m shaking.  I glance down and catch sight of her breasts for a moment and look away again.  She puts on her bra and continues getting dressed.  “Adam, it’s Sunday, I have to be at my parent’s house for breakfast, you can come if you want...” I shake my head.  “Okay, as soon as I’m done I am coming back here, and you and I are going to figure out what’s happening to you.  Adam, I love you.”  Evelyn kisses me, picks up her purse and her keys off the desk, and then looks at me.

“Jesus, Adam.  How long has it been since you've eaten?”  I shake my head again.  “I figured if anything you’d be able to tell me.”  She laughs a little bit, even though I was being serious.  “Here...” There is a bowl of fruit on top of my mini-fridge, she takes an apple and tosses it to me.  “I'll be back later, okay?”  She walks out as I bite into the apple.  “I love you.”  She calls from the steps.  I wince as I look over at the door, then down at my knee.  I breathe in through my nose and decide I need a shower.

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