On the side of the road, there I laid. So cold and confused. Not knowing where I was or why I was there. Out of nowhere, she came running. She looked panicked and she was looking at me. There she came, and that was when I saw it. It looked like I had had a bad fall. What was even more unsettling than this aching wound was that I had no recollection of how this had happened.

What happened to me? That is what she kept asking. Well what was I supposed to say? I was unable to answer this question for myself, what could I say to her? There she was, so kind and eager to help me.

When I told her of my own uncertainty, her response was surprisingly calm. She figured that I had probably hit my head on something and that my memory would come back shortly. She offered to take me back to her apartment and she would help me clean up. With no place else to go, I accepted her generous offer.

We soon arrived, not far from where she found me. She helped me clean up and led me around her apartment, where she ran me a bath. I lied there in the warm water, desperately trying to remember. I just couldn't. How did I end up here, in a place I had not one memory of? I felt as though I had woken up from a deep sleep, only to find myself in a world even more foreign to me than those in my dreams. I dried off and changed into some clean clothes Allison had left for me. I should have felt better, though, my stomach was still in knots. How could someone be so unaware of their own reality?

Still unable to shake off this unsettling feeling, I found my way into her kitchen. As I sat down on an old wooden stool, I thought of my circumstance. I thought of just how bad she must have felt for me. Me, a girl stranded, alone, with nobody looking for me. How could that be me? What am I to do with myself? Where do I go from here?

After a few short minutes, Allison came into the kitchen. "How are you feeling?" She asked. Such a strange question to ask.

"A little better," I responded. There was no need for me to answer, we both knew it wasn't true. She made dinner and we talked. She tried her best to make things more comfortable for the both of us. She told me of her of my family. She talked about her brother and her dad and her new roommate in college.

After much time was spent on forced conversation, I noticed a few photographs that were framed on her mantle. I asked who the woman was and, in a sort of shaky response, she told me it was her mother. Surprising to me, she began to tell me more. Her mother had passed not more than three weeks ago. I told her I was sorry for her loss, hoping it might end such a heavy conversation. Even with these words, she continued talking.

She grabbed a box from her room and began showing me old pictures of her mother. At first, most of them seemed to be taken not long before her passing. As she dug in the box, the pictures got older and older. Somehow the woman looked strikingly familiar. She pulled out a necklace. It was her mothers and she used to wear it everyday. It had a gold strand with a single pearl at the end. I had seen this before. I remember just a few days ago my mother had it in her drawer. I asked what it was and she told me she was going to give it to my sister for her birthday, which was just a few days away. I was shocked at the coincidence, but said nothing. She showed me a ring, too. This one I had never seen. It was unique, bright and sparking with one red ruby in each side.

I began looking in the box myself, when I came across old pictures. Suddenly they were all familiar. The faces were not that of stranger but rather people dear to me. All of these pictures had a striking resemblance to my own sister. It was then that I felt I could remember my past. It all came back to me. Everything. My mom, my dad, my sister and my two brothers. How could this be? Is my memory of my past something my mind has simply made up, or am I actually remembering my own life? I thought for sure that it wasn't true. Yet, something inside of me felt so strongly that my memory had come back. This couldn't be. I have stepped out into this world with no memory of a past and now, it must be that my mind is simply trying to make one up for me. Almost as if it is trying to give me some sense of comfort, some sense of security and assurance. With my mind going crazy, I told her that I felt it was time for me to go to bed. I laid there for what felt like an eternity. Trying to wrap my head around the day and distinguish what exactly was reality.

That is all that I remember. That's where it stopped. Next thing I know I was back there. On the side of the road, coming out of an unconscious state. Yet, this time it was different. I saw my mother, father, sister and my two brothers all crowded around. I saw our bikes, mine laying there on the ground. I remembered everything know. We had gone for a family bike ride on my sister's birthday That was all. Everything seemed normal to me know. As my mom stood me up, I could hear the rest of my family asking frantically if I was okay. I guess it was then that I decided to forget that bizarre dream. To forget what I had seen, tell myself it was fake. But that was when I took a good look at my sister. Something in me could not shake off the crazy "dream" I had had in my unconscious state. It was that same something inside of me that made me look down. I looked down at her hand. There it was, so bright and sparkling, with one ruby on each side.