Two again

 Daniel looked down at the cup of coffee in his hands, still tasting the bitterness on his tongue. He puts it back down on the table, and begins to speak, struggling to piece his words together. “I...I’m…..me. I’ve always hated how bitter coffee is. Are you…..sure you haven’t mistaken me for someone else?” She replies instantly, almost like a reflex. “Hell no. You look and sound exactly how I remember you.” She takes a drink from her cup of coffee, savoring the taste, before speaking again. “I mean, almost exactly. Tell me, what do you remember about u-...me?” Daniel sits in silence, trying to recall something, anything. “I...I’m sorry uh...miss…uh…” The woman scowls at him, “What? Oh please, don’t bullshit me. You remember my name.” They both stare at each-other for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Her scowl goes away gradually, before speaking again. “That’s a…pretty bold lie, even from you.” Daniel watched as she poured the remains of his untouched coffee into her cup, the liquid sloshing quietly. He didn’t protest—he didn’t want it anyway—but her action felt oddly possessive, like she was reclaiming something from him. Her eyes flicked up to meet his, sharp and unyielding. “I’ll drink it if you’re not,” she said, her tone curt, “but don’t think you can leave yet. I still have questions for you.”

Daniel leaned back slightly, resting his hands on his legs. “Look, I’m not lying. Why would I lie about something like not meeting you ever? How would I even back that up? I don’t know who you are, and I for sure don’t know your name.” She titled her head, a bitter smile creeping onto her face. “Oh wow, that’s rich. Really rich. You’re saying you don’t even have a single memory about me? About us?”

Daniel’s attention became fully focused almost immediately after she finished speaking. “...Us? You mean…?” Her laugh was short and sharp, cutting him off. “Oh please.” She paused, finishing her cup of coffee. “In your dreams. We were nothing more than friends. Not like I could really call you that either, but you and I—we had unfinished business. Things you tried to keep from me and everyone else.” Daniel’s expression became more visibly frustrated by the minute, it felt like he was talking to a brick wall. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not lying for you to understand? Stop being so cryptic with me for the love of god.” She studied him for a long moment, her expression unreadable. “If that’s true,” she said softly, “then something’s seriously wrong. Did you...hit your head or something?”

“No. My life’s been perfectly normal before now. But you’ve asked me enough questions, what is your name?” The woman pauses, and they sit in silence again. “Elena.” She says, in a somewhat defeated tone. “As hard as it is for me to admit, I don’t sense that you’re...lying.” Daniel sighs, “I guess it was 3 times I had to tell you. Or was it 4…? God I don’t even remember that now…” Elena looks at Daniel again. “No, it wasn’t that. Your face, you didn’t smile at all when you said any of that.” Daniel tilts his head, with a confused look on his face. “Whenever you would lie to me, you’d smile uncontrollably. It took me a while to figure that out.” She sits up straight, “Anyways, answer me this, what happened to you 6 months ago?” Daniel regains his confused expression, “Six months ago?” He frowned, trying to think back. His mind felt hazy, like he was cutting through a thick fog just by thinking. “I mean…Just the usual I guess. In school, working part time. Why?”

Her expression hardened. “Nothing of note? No accidents, no big changes?”

The mention of “accidents” sent a chill through him. He recalled his father’s cryptic comment about him getting into a “fender bender” he couldn’t remember. “I...might have been in an accident. At least, that’s what my dad said. I can’t seem to remember anything happening though.” Elena leaned forward, her tone more serious. “Daniel. Six months ago, we got into an argument about…something. You stormed off, and I never heard from you again. I tried calling you, I tried to get in contact with you on social media, I…uh...went to see if you were at your job, but it’s like you vanished from existence. The next time I saw you was, well, last week.” She paused, zoning out a little before snapping her attention back to him. “But you’re telling me you don’t remember any of that?”

He scoffed, “No, of course not. That doesn’t make any sense, I never—”

“You did.” she cut him off, her tone cold and resolute. “This just...confuses the hell out of me. Look, as much as I don’t think I should help, whatever this is has me interested.” Just as she finishes, Daniel’s phone starts ringing. He pulls it out of his pocket. “Who is it?” she asks. Daniel looks at the screen, “It’s my dad. He’s probably wondering if I’m ok.” As he answers the phone, she mutters under her breath “You never did introduce me to your parents…”

“You sure are taking your sweet as- ahem, your sweet time getting whatever it was you needed. You didn’t get into another accident right?” Daniel looks at his watch, it’s been over 2 hours since he left. “I’m fine. Sorry, I didn’t realize how long I’d been out. I’m just…talking to a friend from uh...high school.” His dad laughs, “Oh, you’re fine. I was just messing with you a little. Who is it?” Daniel pauses for a moment and looks at Elena. “Hmm...no one you’d recognize.” Elena looks away. “I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.” Daniel finishes the call with his father, and puts the phone back in his pocket. “Sorry, I kinda forgot how long we’d been talking. I uh...want to keep in touch if you don’t mind. I want to get to the bottom of this too.” Elena hesitates, “F-fine.” She holds out her hand, asking for his phone non-verbally. Daniel passes it to her, and she enters her contact information into it. She hands it back, but pulls it away before Daniel can grab it. “But you better not call me out of the blue. Or text me about anything unrelated. Got it?” Daniel sighs, “Yes, of course.” He takes his phone back, doing a sort of peace sign towards her as he leaves. After he gets in the car, he sits staring out the window completely zoned out. “I don’t get any of this…” he thinks. Eventually, he starts driving home.

He pulls into the garage and shuts the car off. He sits for a moment, thinking “Maybe I should tell mom about this…” before shaking his head. “No. I’ll sound crazy.” He opens the car door, and makes his way inside. Daniel’s mother smiles to greet him. “Did you finish all your errands?” she says. Daniel stutters for a moment, “Uh...yeah! Sorry, I’m a little off today.” His mom goes back to washing the dishes, and Daniel walks to his room. He stops before he opens the door, and turns to his mom. “That uh...accident dad was talking about, how...long ago was that?” His mother turns to look at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. But it was around 6 months ago I’d say.” Daniel looks back at the door, and opens it. He slumps over on his bed, staring at the ceiling, until he remembers that he has an assignment to do today for school. “I completely forgot…!” he thinks, before bolting over to his computer. As he tries to complete the assignment, he can’t help but keep thinking about everything Elena said to him today. Before he knows it, hours go by and the deadline for the assignment passes. “Damn, I’m gonna have to turn this in late. What’s going on with me…?” Daniel stares at his phone on his desk, contemplating whether to message Elena, but decides not to yet. The rest of the day he is unable to fully focus on anything that isn’t Elena’s words or the accident his father mentioned. Despite heading out in search of answers, he only found more questions to burden him. He gets ready for bed, and looks over at his phone again. “I should...probably give it a while. She sounded like she didn’t want me to bug her too much.” He lays down in his bed, staring at the ceiling for a while before he’s finally able to get to sleep.

It’s pitch black all around again, and in the distance, a figure stands far away. It seems closer than before, but still too blurry to make out any details. It’s talking again, and Daniel can faintly hear something, “H….t…….h…………...a….” Daniel tries to focus on the sound, but like last time, it began to fade more and more, until suddenly being brought back into reality. He looks over at his alarm clock, but it’s only 1 AM. His phone vibrates next to him. “Who’s texting me at this hour?” He looks over, and sees Elena messaging him.