Chapter 1

The rock face of Smith Rock was sharp under my fingers.

I reached for the next hold, a small crimp.

My foot slipped.

Then, darkness.

I woke up in a hospital room.

A dull ache throbbed in my head.

A woman with kind eyes and brown hair pulled back in a ponytail sat beside me.

She smiled, a worried smile.

"Amy? You're awake."

"Chloe?" I asked. My voice was hoarse.

"Yeah, it's me. How are you feeling?"

"Head hurts. What happened?"

"You fell. Rock climbing. Gave us all a scare."

She looked relieved but still anxious.

"The doctor said you have a concussion, some memory loss might be possible."

I tried to sit up.

"Easy there," Chloe said, gently pushing me back.

"Do you remember Ethan?" she asked, her voice careful.

I frowned. "Ethan? Who's Ethan?"

Chloe's eyes widened.

She stared at me, her mouth slightly open.

"You really don't remember Ethan Cole?"

I shook my head. "Should I?"

Chloe took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay, Amy. Ethan is... was... your boyfriend. You guys just broke up."

Boyfriend? Breakup? I felt nothing. No flicker of recognition, no pain, no anger. Just a blank.

"I don't remember him at all," I said.

Chloe seemed to process this. "Wow. Okay. Selective amnesia, maybe? The doctor mentioned it."

She continued, "Amy, you were in love with Ethan for years. Since college. It was... a big deal for you."

I tried to recall a face, a feeling. Nothing.

"He was your world," Chloe said softly. "Even when you were together, it felt like you were more into it than he was."

Chloe's expression turned grim.

"He wasn't great to you, Amy. He was always distant. Preoccupied."

"With what?" I asked, a strange curiosity stirring.

"His ex-girlfriend. Isabella Rossi. He was always hung up on her, even when he was with you. It was a really one-sided thing, your relationship."

One-sided. The words felt cold, even without memory attached.

"The breakup was hard on you. Really hard. That's probably why you went climbing that difficult route. You were trying to... I don't know, prove something, escape something."

My head throbbed again, a dull counterpoint to Chloe's words.

Chloe said, "When you get home, there's a box. Under your bed. You called it your 'heartbreak box'."

A box. What was in it?

Later, back in my small Portland apartment, Chloe helped me find it.

It was a simple shoebox.

Inside, photos. A man with dark hair, a charming smile. Ethan, presumably.

In every picture with him, my past self looked at him with an expression of pure adoration. He looked... polite. Distracted.

There were ticket stubs, dried flowers, a small, worn teddy bear.

Chloe logged into an old cloud account I'd forgotten. More photos. More of that same dynamic.

Then, saved voicemails on an old phone.

"Amy, it's Ethan. Can't make it tonight. Something came up with Bella." His voice was cool, indifferent.

Another: "Amy, stop calling so much. I'm busy." Annoyance laced his tone.

My own voice, tearful, pleading: "Ethan, please, just talk to me. What did I do wrong?"

Listening to them, a ghost of pain echoed inside me, a pain that wasn't mine but belonged to the girl in the photos.

My eyes burned, not with my tears, but with hers.

This forgotten love felt like a heavy, suffocating blanket.

The amnesia, I realized, was a gift. A clean slate.

I looked at Chloe. "I don't want to remember him."

She nodded, understanding in her eyes.

"I'm going to delete everything," I said.

I dragged the photos on the cloud to the trash. Deleted the voicemails.

I went through my phone contacts. Ethan Cole. I pressed delete. It felt good. Liberating.

Chloe watched, a small, supportive smile on her face.

"Good for you, Amy."

Chloe's phone buzzed.

"It's work," she said, glancing at the screen. "Cole's Provisions. My brother needs me at the flagship store."

Her brother. Ethan.

"I have to go," she said, looking apologetic. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," I said, meaning it. This void where Ethan was supposed to be felt like freedom.

After Chloe left, I sat alone in the quiet apartment.

My phone rang. My parents. David and Sarah Hayes, from Phoenix.

I answered, trying to sound normal.

"Amy, honey, how are you? Chloe called us about the accident." My mom's voice was tight with worry.

"I'm okay, Mom. Just a bump on the head. Nothing serious." I decided not to tell them about the amnesia yet. It was too much to explain over the phone.

"We were so worried," my dad said. "That Ethan... he was never good for you. All that drama."

"He's not in the picture anymore, Dad," I said.

"Good," Mom said. "Listen, honey, we've been thinking. Maybe it's time for a change. Why don't you come home to Phoenix for a while? Get away from Portland. We know this nice young man from our church group, Mark. He's a doctor, very stable."

A nice young man. The idea was so far removed from the emotional wreckage Chloe had described, it was almost appealing in its simplicity.

"Maybe," I said, surprising myself. "Maybe a change is exactly what I need."

Appeasing them felt easier than arguing. And the thought of leaving Portland, leaving the ghost of this Ethan, felt right.

"I'm just tired," I told my mom. "Tired of... everything here."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it was true enough.

I needed a new start.

And my memory, or lack thereof, had just handed me one.