I’m No Longer His Girlfriend

After a car accident, Shane developed a rare memory distortion. He forgot me but believed Dana, his longtime admirer, was his ten-year girlfriend. He doted on her while treating me like a desperate stalker. I exhausted myself trying to reach him, clinging to the fact that he was alive.

One afternoon, I overheard him speaking with Justin in the stairwell. When Justin worried I would leave if I found out, Shane laughed it off. He admitted Dana was dying and confessed the crash and amnesia were staged to grant her final wish. He planned to blame a medical anomaly later and claim his memory returned.

I stood frozen at the top of the stairs, a bitter smile forming. All my sleepless nights researching specialists for his condition had been wasted. I had been trying to cure a lie.