The next morning felt normal.
Too normal.
That was the first thing that bothered me.
I woke up to the soft buzz of my alarm, sunlight slipping through the thin curtains of my room. The city was already alive outside, honking cars, distant voices, the usual chaos that came with mornings in Los Angeles.
Everything looked the same.
Everything sounded the same.
So why did I feel… off?
I sat up slowly, pressing my fingers to my temples as if that would steady whatever was shifting inside my head.
It was just a kiss, I told myself.
A strange, impulsive, completely out-of-character kiss.
Even now, thinking about it made my chest tighten.
I had never been that kind of girl. I didn't kiss strangers in the rain. I didn't let men with unreadable eyes get that close to me. In fact, even the ones I knew in the neighborhood couldn't get that close to me.
And yet… I had let this stranger.
I swung my legs off the bed and reached for my diary on the bedside table. I always wrote things down, important things, small things, everything. It helped me stay grounded.
Flipping it open, I scanned the page I had written the night before.
Rain.
Bookstore.
Met a man.
My pen hovered in the air.
That was it.
My brows furrowed.
"That's… not right."
I could remember more than that. I knew I could. There had been something else. Something important. Something that should have been written there.
But the space remained blank.
I stared at it for a long moment, a strange unease settling in my chest.
Then I snapped the diary shut.
"Forget it," I muttered. "You were just tired."
That had to be it.
By the time I got to school, the familiar buzz of campus life wrapped around me like a distraction I desperately needed.
Students gathered in clusters, laughing, arguing, rushing to classes. The scent of grilled tacos from a nearby vendor drifted through the air. Everything felt grounded again.
Real.
I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and headed toward my lecture hall, trying to shake off the lingering fog in my mind.
"Lara!"
I turned just in time to see Maya jogging toward me, her braids bouncing as she waved dramatically.
Maya never walked anywhere when she could run and make an entrance.
"Good morning, stranger!" she said, slightly out of breath. "Or should I say… madam mysterious?"
I blinked. "What are you talking about?"
She narrowed her eyes playfully, falling into step beside me.
"You disappeared last night. I called you twice."
"I told you I had to stop by the bookstore," I said.
"Yes, to get your precious literature text," she replied, rolling her eyes. "But that doesn't explain why you vanished like someone in a Hollywood thriller."
I laughed lightly. "You're being dramatic."
"Me? Never."
We entered the lecture hall together, sliding into our usual seats near the middle. The room was already filling up, the low hum of conversations blending into background noise.
Maya leaned closer, lowering her voice.
"So… what really happened?"
I hesitated.
There it was again, that strange pause in my thoughts, like my mind was skipping over something it didn't want to face.
"Nothing happened," I said finally.
She stared at me.
Then burst out laughing.
"Lara, please," she said, wiping imaginary tears. "You? Saying 'nothing happened'? That's how I know something definitely happened."
I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the heat creeping up my neck.
"It was just a normal night."
"Hmm." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Let me guess… you went to the bookstore, saw a tall, dark, handsome stranger, and decided to finally leave your 'good girl' era?"
I froze.
Just for a second.
But Maya noticed.
Her eyes widened in exaggerated shock.
"Wait… WAIT!" she gasped. "Don't tell me I'm actually right?"
I shook my head quickly. "You're not."
But my voice lacked conviction.
Maya leaned back in her chair, grinning like she had just uncovered the biggest secret of the year.
"Lara kissed a stranger," she sang softly. "Ah! The world is ending."
"I did not kiss a stranger," I snapped, a little too quickly.
She raised an eyebrow.
"You're getting defensive."
"I'm not."
"You are."
I sighed, rubbing my forehead.
"Okay fine," I muttered. "I met someone."
Maya gasped again, louder this time.
"My God," she whispered dramatically. "Write this date down. Lara has finally joined the living."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"It wasn't like that."
"Then what was it like?"
I opened my mouth to answer… and stopped.
What was it like?
The memory flickered in my mind—rain, streetlights, his face…
Then nothing.
Just blank.
I blinked.
"That's weird."
Maya leaned in. "What's weird?"
"I…" I hesitated. "I can't really remember."
She stared at me for a second.
Then burst out laughing again.
"Wow. It was that bad?"
"No!" I said quickly. "That's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean?"
I struggled to find the words.
"I remember meeting him," I said slowly. "I remember talking… but after that, it's just… fuzzy."
Maya's laughter softened into curiosity.
"Fuzzy how?"
"I don't know. It's like…" I frowned. "Like trying to remember a dream after you wake up."
She tilted her head.
"That's actually kind of creepy."
I forced a laugh. "You're the one making it creepy."
But deep down, I felt it too.
That unease.
That quiet, unsettling feeling that something wasn't right.
The lecture began, but I barely paid attention.
My pen moved across my notebook, copying notes automatically, but my mind kept drifting.
Back to the rain.
Back to him.
Adrian.
The name came suddenly, slipping into my thoughts like it had always been there.
I froze.
My pen stopped moving.
"Adrian," I whispered under my breath.
Maya nudged me. "What?"
I shook my head quickly. "Nothing."
But my heart had started racing.
I hadn't written his name down.
I hadn't seen it anywhere.
So how did I remember it?
And why did it feel like I was remembering something I had almost lost?
I swallowed hard, staring at the page in front of me.
Something was wrong.
I could feel it now.
Not just unease.
Not just confusion.
Something deeper.
After class, Maya grabbed my arm as we walked out.
"Okay, we're not done with this conversation," she said. "You met a mysterious man, possibly kissed him, and now you're acting like you've seen a ghost. I need details."
"I told you, I don't remember much."
She studied my face carefully.
"You're serious, aren't you?"
I nodded.
"For real, Maya… I don't remember."
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she shrugged lightly.
"Maybe you were just overwhelmed," she said. "It happens. First kiss and all that."
I laughed. "It wasn't my first kiss."
"Still counts if it was with a stranger," she teased.
I shook my head, but a small smile slipped through.
For a moment, everything felt normal again.
Simple.
Safe.
But as we walked past the school gate, something made me pause.
A feeling.
That same strange pull from the night before.
I turned slightly, scanning the street.
People passed by. Cars moved. Nothing unusual.
And yet…
For a brief second, I could have sworn someone was watching me.
My heart skipped.
I looked again.
Nothing.
Just the ordinary world moving on like nothing had changed.
But something had.
I knew it now.
I just didn't know what.
That night, I opened my diary again.
I wrote one word at the top of the page:
Adrian.
Then I paused.
My hand trembled slightly as I added another line beneath it:
I feel like I'm forgetting something important.
I stared at the sentence for a long time.
Then I whispered softly to myself:
"Please… don't let me forget."
Because deep down… I was starting to realize that whatever I had lost… was only the beginning.